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Moehat, do you remember Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space in 1963. Still alive at the age of 89 and still the only woman to do a solo trip. Recall her being quite a sensation at the time, throughout the world.
The first American woman – Sally Ride – was not until 1983 aboard a Space Shuttle.
Difficult not to get political about this.
A reminder that the USA is capable of achieving great things with the current mission. How much more they could put into it if they weren’t obsessed with blowing the middle east up.
Also a reminder of what Russia in its guise as the Soviet Union was capable of. How the mighty have fallen.
Splashdown due shortly after 1am tonight our time for the night owls. Straight over to the news after the golf
I remember her name but not the event. Remember Yuri Gagarin being rather dishy but didn’t realise until recently that he died in an aeronautical accident. All this current moon thing is doing is making me realise how incredibly brave those early pioneers of space travel were. Might just nip out and have a look at the moon; we’re blessed with the clearest of skies here. Except when there’s a meteor shower because the sky always manages to cloud over on those nights.
I hadn’t realised that the long term plan was to drill for minerals on the moon. With the US, China and India all wanting to do so.
Yep, we’ll plunder Earth to oblivion then move on to the moon. Thankfully for Mars et al they’re too far away.
The story of Gagarin’s mission is brilliantly told in the book “Beyond” by Stephen Walker. It is a must read for anyone interested in space exploration and all the Cold War politics that surrounded the scramble to put the first human into space.
“How incredibly brave those early pioneers of space travel were.”
Their bravery was off the charts. As Tom Wolfe so memorably put it, they were made of The Right Stuff.
They were following in a long tradition of bravery in exploration. In the age before longitude could be accurately measured, travelling on the high seas was almost as insanely dangerous as travelling into space.
Except when there’s a meteor shower because the sky always manages to cloud over on those nights.
I went to Penzance to watch the total eclipse of the sun in 1999. Guess what, it was cloudy, though the couple of minutes of eerie darkness was memorable enough. The previous day was clear as was the afternoon of the day itself. Hey ho, good old British weather.
Next one visible in the UK is in 2090 though there’s a very decent partial eclipse on August 12th this year with around 95% of the sun covered in the west down to around 90% in the east. Here’s hoping for a clear day.
The Perseid meteor shower every July/August can be quite spectacular.
Welcome home Artemis II
Yes I recall the eclipse, my parents’ house was just outside the path of totality so I think we went to Torquay where it was equally cloudy but nonetheless memorable.
The one in August this year will pass over western Iceland and northern Spain. I say pass over because if you think it was cloudy here, you should see what Iceland can throw up, even in the height of summer.
The Perseids are my favourite although unfortunately I’m always back in Derby for them. I always used to crawl into work shattered after a night of stargazing albeit with little success.
In the age before longitude could be accurately measured, travelling on the high seas was almost as insanely dangerous as travelling into space.
The book Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel, about the invention of the marine chronometer by John Harrison is a good read.
It was made into a C4 series starring Michael Gambon as Harrison which is available on youtube, and equally good.
John Harrison of course also finally made the Trotters rich in the proper last episode of Only Fools and Horses.
I went to Penzance to watch the total eclipse of the sun in 1999. Guess what, it was cloudy, though the couple of minutes of eerie darkness was memorable enough.
It was a similar story for me. My aunt lives on the Devon and Cornwall border. Unfortunately it was cloudy but it did go dark.
The one in August this year will pass over western Iceland and northern Spain.
Spain is quite lucky because there is another total solar eclipse there next year. This time it will be in the south. I have thought about going to Cadiz (one of my favourite places) to view the spectacle but I expect it will ridiculously expensive. Gibraltar is in the totality zone as well and is no doubt already counting the fortune it is going to make from the mass influx of tourists.
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