A Brief History On July 26, 2005, Mumbai, India, received an incredible 39.17 inches of rain in a 24 hour period. Mumbai is the most populous city in what is now the most populous country in the world, with 12.5 million inhabitants. Obviously, such an enormous amount of rain created massive flooding, and sadly about 1,100 people died in the floods. Digging Deeper To put this enormous amount of rain in perspective, Cleveland, Ohio, a typical US city, has a record 24 hour rainfall of just 4.59 inches on September 7, 1996. The contiguous states US record for a single…
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A Brief History On July 25, 1984, Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya exited her Salyut 7 space capsule while in orbit, thus becoming the first woman to ever engage in an EVA, or “extravehicular activity” in space. Most of us usually call such activity a “spacewalk.” Digging Deeper The US has had 56 women in space, and the world has now sent into space about 75 ladies. The Soviets were the real pioneers with women in space with Valentina Tereshkova becoming the first woman space traveler in 1963. The Soviets did not send another woman into orbit until 1982, with the…
A Brief History On July 22, 1962, the US space agency, NASA, launched Mariner 1, the first in a series of probes designed to visit other planets in our solar system. After several delays in launching the spacecraft, the rocket lifted off and drifted off course, necessitating an “abort” procedure that resulted in blowing up the ill-fated spacecraft. Digging Deeper The Mariner program consisted of 10 un-manned spacecraft to be launched into space to visit other planets and gather information for NASA scientists. Venus, Mars, and Mercury were flown past by Mariner drones, the first man-made craft to fly by…
A Brief History On July 15, 1975, the United States and the USSR simultaneously launched manned spacecraft, an American Apollo capsule and a Soviet Soyuz capsule, bound for a rendezvous in space, the first ever international space effort. Digging Deeper The mission was part of an ongoing diplomatic effort to ease Cold War tensions between the superpowers, with the 3 man Apollo capsule docking with the 2 man Soyuz capsule via an intermediate docking section. Aside from the feat of a successful space docking between spacecraft from separate nations, the crews performed joint space experiments and their first ever in…
A Brief History On July 14, 1791, a buddy of Benjamin Franklin triggered a series of riots in England eponymously named “The Priestly Riots.” Digging Deeper English scientist and polymath, adept in the ways of chemistry, electricity, philosophy, theology, grammar, politics and education, he even invented carbonated water. His main crime in the eyes of English traditionalists was supporting the ongoing French Revolution, especially in regard to religion, with “reason” replacing much of the religious tenets of more mystical themes and his dissent against the Church of England. Not only did Priestly support the French Revolution, he had also been…