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The Last Moonwalk

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Project Apollo was a NASA spaceflight program dedicated to the goal of “landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth” proposed by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961 during an address to the joint session of Congress.  From 1969 to 1972, six Apollo missions made successful Moon landings, and twelve men walked on the Moon.

The final mission of the Apollo program, Apollo 17, launched on December 7, 1972 for a 12 day journey to the Moon and back.  It was the last time humans traveled beyond 1,240 miles (2,000km) from Earth, landed on the Moon, and walked its surface.  During a three day stay on the Moon, Apollo 17 astronauts, Eugene A. Cernan (mission commander), and Harrison H. Schmitt (lunar modular pilot) made three walks (totaling 22 hours, 2 minutes) while Ronald E. Evans (command module pilot) remained in lunar orbit in the command service module.

I’m on the surface; and, as I take man’s last step from the surface, back home for some time to come – but we believe not too long into the future – I’d like to just [say] what I believe history will record. That America’s challenge of today has forged man’s destiny of tomorrow. And, as we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind. ‘Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17’.  — Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 17 mission commander 

 

A big, bright full moon over the Santa Monica Mountains from Malibu Road was a moon gazers delight

Man has been fascinated with the Moon for thousands of years, and moon gazing is an aesthetic custom with a spiritual component.

 

 

 

Since its launch 20 years ago and 2004 Saturn orbit insertion, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft has provided images that have led to significant discoveries.The international Cassini mission has resulted in dramatic photos and new discoveries during an amazing 20-year exploratory journey to Saturn.

 

 

The short documentary “Overview” (from Planetary Collective) explores a cosmic worldview with reflections from “Earth gazing” astronauts and philosophers as well as beautiful space imagery. Watch it, and be inspired by the “unity and oneness of all life on Earth”.

 

 

The last moonwalk during the Apollo 17 NASA mission provokes reflection on vision, commitment and courage.The feature photo of Apollo 17 mission commander, Eugene A. Cernan, was taken by astronaut/lunar module pilot, Harrison H. Schmitt, on December 13, 1972 (NASA, Public Domain). Cernan is the last human to have walked on the Moon.

 

Information/References:

Apollo Space Suit in 3D – View every detail (close-up/inside & out) of the space suit that made walking on the moon possible (Smithsonian Digitized 3D) 
Spaceflight NASA: The Apollo 17 Mission
NASA’s Return to the Moon.  On November 29, 2018, NASA announced plans are underway to send humans back to the surface of the moon and on to Mars.

In the Shadow of the Moon (2007) is an award-winning documentary that will take you back to the years of the Apollo mission through archival footage and the surviving astronauts telling their personal stories about what it was like to fly to the moon and back.  Click/Tap the image to view via Amazon (If you purchase a product or service directly through the link, Zeester Media LLC may earn a small commission.  This in no way affects the price you pay for the purchase.)

 

 

 

On July 16, 1969, the huge, 363-feet tall Saturn V rocket launches on the Apollo 11 mission from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, at 9:32 a.m. EDT.
Apollo 11 Launch, July 16, 1969, NASA PD

Continuing through 2019, a new, state-of the art traveling exhibition, Destination Moon: The Apollo Mission, commemorates the first lunar landing in 1969 with tour stops in Houston (October 14, 2017–March 18, 2018), Saint Louis (April 14–September 3, 2018), Pittsburgh (September 29, 2018–February 18, 2019), and Seattle (March 16–Sept. 2, 2019) before returning to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC for permanent display.  [Photo of Apollo 11 launch on July 16, 1969, from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, at 9:32am ED]

 

 

 

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The Overview Effect

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The iconic Earthrise photo was taken in 1968 by NASA astronaut William A. Anders during the Apollo 8 mission, the first manned spaceflight to orbit the Moon. Never before had a human observed the Earth rising, and Anders’ amazing, first-ever color photo of our stunningly beautiful planet emerging from a lunar horizon still takes your breath away.

“We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.” — William A. Anders

 

 

To See The Earth As It Truly Is* 

[su_quote cite=”Frank Borman “]It was very, very sobering to see this little blue marble in the middle of all that darkness.  [/su_quote]

The awe-inspiring effect of seeing the whole Earth from the vantage of space (known as “Earth gazing”) is most often described as an overwhelming sense that Earth is an “interconnected whole with one destiny”. An understanding that’s key to our survival. Of course, we can’t see it and feel it firsthand (only 24 humans out of 7.3 billion world population have had the experience) until space travel becomes practical for the general public, but innovative technology continues to provide us with more and better information and visuals.

The short documentary Overview (from Planetary Collective) explores a cosmic worldview with reflections from “Earth gazing” astronauts and philosophers as well as beautiful space imagery. Watch and be inspired by the “unity and oneness of all life on Earth”.

 

Earthrise: Remembering Apollo 8.  Launched on December 21, 1968, Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to reach the Moon, orbit it and return, and its crew became the first humans to see and photograph the Earth emerging from behind the lunar horizon.  Watch as the Griffith Lab All Space Considered team recalls the lead up, events and discoveries of this historic mission in celebration of its 50th anniversary.

 

*”To see the earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold — brothers who know now they are truly brothers.” Archibald MacLeish (1892 – 1982) American poet

A beautiful view of planet Earth captured by NASA satelliteTake a virtual ride on a satellite for awesome views of Earth 

 

 

 

Apollo 17 photo taken December 13, 1972 on the lunar surface
Moonwalk (December 13, 1972) NASA

Want to see more of what’s out there in space?  The short video documentary, “The Last Steps” will take you to a ‘back to the future’ moment in time with original film footage, photographs and audio recordings from Apollo 17, NASA’s final Apollo program mission, and the last time a human walked on the moon. Watch more “out of this world” videos via the “Cosmos Channel“, free to watch, on-demand.

 

 

Since its launch 20 years ago and 2004 Saturn orbit insertion, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft has provided images that have led to significant discoveries.A retrospective look at discoveries and images of Saturn
captured during the 20 year Cassini Mission, plus some
info on when and how you can see Saturn in 2017

 

 

 

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“The Overview Effect” is an edited version of an article originally published on the “Zblog” by Zeester Media LLC.

Earthrise photo credit:  NASA

Mysteries of a Galaxy

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“A galaxy is composed of gas and dust and stars – billions upon billions of stars. Every star may be a sun to someone.”
— Carl Sagan

 

The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy that contains our Solar System.
Milky Way, artist’s concept, NASA PD

Our Solar System is located within the “Milky Way Galaxy” about 2/3 out from the center, the name deriving from its appearance as a band of hazy light when seen from Earth.  It looks as it does because the Earth view of the Milky Way is from inside the galaxy structure.  The Milky Way is a ‘barred spiral’ shaped galaxy with a diameter between 100,000 to 180,000 light years, and contains an estimated 100 to 400 billion stars and 100 billion planets or more.  Getting a good shot of the Milky Way is tough even with all the space telescopes floating around because of location and dust cloud coverage;  therefore, the 2015 artist’s concept drawn using data sourced from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (“WISE”) was the best image available until the European Space Agency (‘ESA’) released the amazing Gaia’s Sky in Colour on April 25, 2018 showing an all-sky view of our Milky Way based on measurements, brightness and color of nearly 1.7 billion stars observed by the ESA satellite Gaia between July 2014 and May 2016.  Now, we can see just how beautiful our home galaxy is!

 

Our first really good look at the Milky Way came from the satellite Gaia on April 25, 2018
Gaia’s Sky in Colour, Copyright: ESA/Gaia/DPAC, 4-25-2018

Brighter regions seen on the image indicate denser concentrations of exceptionally bright stars, while the darker regions correspond to patches of sky where there are fewer bright stars.  The bright horizontal structure is the Galactic plane (the flattened disc that contains the majority of the stars). In the middle of the image, the Galactic centre appears vivid and teeming with stars.  In the lower right side of the image, the two bright objects are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two dwarf galaxies that orbit the Milky Way.

But, as incredible as it is, our Milky Way is just one of many billions.

It’s estimated there are 200 billion or more galaxies within the Universe, ranging in size from dwarf (containing a few billion stars) to giants with 100 trillion stars.  In addition to stars, galaxies contain stellar remnants (endpoints of star evolution), gas, dust and dark matter, all held together by a gravitational pull while orbiting a center mass, and they are classified by their form and structure: elliptical (almost featureless, bright profile and stars orbit randomly), spiral (flat rotating disk shaped with spiral-like arms), barred spiral (a spiral galaxy with a bar-shaped formation in its center, e.g. Milky Way), and irregular (no shape, chaotic in appearance).  About 25% of all galaxies are irregular, and while they may seem ordinary when compared to the other galaxies with symmetry and shape, irregulars are invaluable to the study of galaxy evolution and interaction.

The formation of a galaxy involves gravity, gases, star formation, and stellar explosions as well as a lot of time, but exactly how it happens has not yet been determined.  There are different theories as to how spiral galaxies such as our Milky Way are formed that can be generally categorized into two basic types: 1) “top-down” which describes a large scale collapse of a large gas cloud during a period of 100 million years, and 2) “bottom-up” referring to small ‘clumps’ of stars (or globular clusters) merging to create a large galaxy.

 

 

WATCH the video Galaxies Across Space and Time for a quick exploratory VR trip through the Universe to see galaxies via the Hubble Space Telescope.  It’s a bit like taking a ride with Captain Kirk and a NASA tour guide on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.

 

Apollo 17 photo taken December 13, 1972 on the lunar surfaceSee more wonders of the Universe on “The Cosmos Channel”, a collection of On2In2™ favorite videos FREE 2 WATCH, and discover its cosmic mysteries at Explore the Universe.

 

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Feature image is the Messier 74 galaxy (aka NGC 62) taken using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.  Located about 32 million light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Pisces, M74 is a stunning example of a spiral galaxy with about 100 billion stars (making it slightly smaller than the Milky Way).  M74 can be viewed from Earth nearly face-on, allowing observers to see its perfectly symmetrical spiral arms emanating from the central nucleus along with dotted clusters of young blue stars and glowing pink regions of ionized hydrogen.  Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, Public Domain

Image of Milky Way (2015 artist’s concept) NASA/JPL-Caltech, Public Domain

Images of galaxies in gallery are courtesy of NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, Public Domain

Information/Resources:
Galaxies, nasa.org
Wikipedia:  Galaxies, Milky Way, Galaxy formation and evolution