A Brief History On February 14, 2000, the American spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker orbited asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft from Earth to orbit an asteroid. Digging Deeper NEAR Shoemaker had been designed for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and was launched in 1996. Not only did the spacecraft make history with its orbit, a year later it made space history again by being the first spacecraft to touch down on an asteroid, the same 433 Eros. The spacecraft was named after Eugene Shoemaker, an American geologist that studied impact craters on the Earth, but also studied…
Browsing: Vehicles
A Brief History On February 10, 1862, during the American Civil War, the Union fleet won the battle of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, by sinking the Confederate “Mosquito Fleet.” So, what is a “mosquito fleet?” Digging Deeper Generally speaking, a mosquito fleet is an unofficial nickname for a fleet of small warships or gunboats, in the case of the Confederate mosquito fleet mentioned here, 5 gunboats and a single schooner. Other nations and navies have employed mosquito fleets, ranging from commandeered private yachts used for anti-submarine patrol during the World Wars to converted fishing or utility vessels pressed into military…
A Brief History On February 7, 1984, two astronauts from the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-41-B made space exploration history by taking the first untethered space walk outside of their space ship. Digging Deeper Not being attached by any sort of lifeline had to be a terrifying prospect, but astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart, both on their first space flight, operated outside the Challenger free of any safety line for over 5 hours. In 1972, President Richard Nixon announced the NASA Space Shuttle program, an ambitious program sadly remembered for the Challenger and Columbia disasters, but…
A Brief History This article, published on February 5, 2023, presents a compilation of our three recent videos that in some way mention the 2023 China balloon incident. Digging Deeper Our first video asks some questions about some top news stories of the first week of February 2023. Our second video answers the question posed at the end of the first video. Finally, our third video explores a bit more about the US political controversy concerning the balloon incident. Question for students (and subscribers): What are your thoughts about 2023 China balloon incident? Please let us know in the comments section…
A Brief History On February 5, 2023, America is abuzz with partisan bickering over the way President Biden handled the alleged Chinese spy balloon shot down on February 4th. Digging Deeper Despite Republican criticism that President Biden “waited” to decide to take action, the White House reports that Biden had ordered the balloon to be shot down back on February 1st, and that the military waited until the spy in the sky was over water for the safety of those on the ground. The balloon is reportedly the size of “three buses,” and presumably would weigh hundreds or even thousands…
