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Astronaut's diary found among fallen Columbia space shuttle debris added to National Library of Israel
May 30, 2024
The handwritten journal pages of Israel's first astronaut have been added to the country's national library in Jerusalem, more than 20 years after they were found among the debris from the NASA tragedy that claimed his life.
Ilan Ramon wrote most of the diary while he was in orbit aboard the space shuttle Columbia, serving as an STS-107 payload specialist on the winged spacecraft's last, ill-fated flight.
The found pages document Ramon's day-to-day life in space, from his hygiene routine to the research he performed on behalf of NASA and his home nation.
Also included were his notes on the Jewish practices that he was to demonstrate from high above Earth. "Identified among the restored pages was the Friday night blessing over wine, with Ramon's annotations.
Apparently aware he was to broadcast the 'Kiddush' live from space, Ramon wanted to make sure he did not forget a single word," read a release issued by the National Library of Israel on Wednesday (May 29).
After 16 days circling the planet, Ramon and his six STS-107 crewmates were lost on the morning of Feb. 1, 2003, when Columbia broke apart during its reentry into Earth's atmosphere.
A subsequent investigation found that a segment of foam that had come loose from the shuttle's external fuel tank during launch struck the orbiter's left wing and left a gaping hole in its leading edge.
As the vehicle descended back to Earth, hot plasma flowed through the hole into Columbia, weakening its structural integrity. The stresses of plunging back into the atmosphere tore the shuttle to pieces.
The tattered and stained Ramon diary pages were discovered among the 84,000 fragments that were spread across East Texas.
"Researchers believe that the lightweight nature of paper allowed the notebook to go into a slow glide, leaving it relatively undamaged, with most of the damage probably occurring after the return to Earth, having landed in a humid, swampy area," read the National Library of Israel release.
Ramon's other recovered personal effects included a copy of "Moon Landscape," a drawing by Petr Ginz, who was killed at Auschwitz; a small Torah scroll earlier rescued from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp; and some wine for blessing on the Sabbath.
There was also a letter from Ramon's son Assaf (who later as a fighter pilot was killed in a 2009 flight training accident), as well as a notebook that he used to jot down his experiences.
The diary was at first taken to the Israel Museum, where the pages were carefully restored and preserved, as aided by the Israel Police's forensic department.
Twenty years later, the document was delivered to the National Library by staff members and Ramon's two sons.
The diary was scanned and then placed into a vault with the institution's other rare items. The vault is climate controlled such that the conditions inside are monitored to keep its holdings safe.
"The diary is in good company here in the same room as Isaac Newton and Maimonides, along with Ilan Ramon's letter to Prof. Yeshayahu Leibovitz," Marcela Szekely, head of the conservation laboratory at the National Library of Israel, said in a statement.
Other items held by the library include a copy of the diary kept by NASA astronaut Jeff Hoffman, the first American Jewish man to fly into space.
Over the course of his five space shuttle missions between 1985 and 1996, Hoffman flew a number of Jewish items, including a Chanukah dreidel and a small Torah scroll from which he read from the Book of Genesis while in orbit.
According to Szekely, after being further studied and cared for, Ramon's diary will be considered for display, joining the library's permanent exhibits.
https://www.space.com/sts-107-columbia-astronaut-ilan-ramon-diary-israel-library
Japan constructs world's 1st wooden satellite
May 29 06:45 am
Japanese researchers said Tuesday that they have successfully constructed the world's first wooden satellite, with the tiny cube-shaped object expected to be sent into space aboard a SpaceX rocket launched from the United States, possibly in September.
"LignoSat," a blend of the words ligno, a prefix meaning wood, and satellite, is the outcome of about four years of development efforts by a team involving Kyoto University and Sumitomo Forestry Co, with the aim of harnessing the environmental friendliness and low cost of wood in space development.
Wooden satellites are seen as better for the environment when burning up upon reentering the Earth's atmosphere at the end of their operation, compared to conventional satellites made of metals, as they can create alumina particles, which may adversely affect weather and communications, according to the team.
The latest development is "an extremely valuable step for both the space and wood industries," Kyoto University and the Tokyo-based wood products company said in their joint press release, noting that it will help "open up the possibilities of the use of wood, which is a sustainable resource."
LignoSat is a 10-centimeter cube made from 4 to 5.5 millimeter-thick magnolia wood panels, with a frame partially constructed from aluminum. It has solar panels affixed to some sides and weighs roughly 1 kilogram.
It is built based on a traditional Japanese technique that does not use any screws or adhesive materials.The team said it has confirmed the durability of the wooden material even in the harsh environment of outer space.
"We would like to create a satellite, including the electronic substrate portion (contained inside), entirely made from wood in the future," said Takao Doi, an astronaut serving as a program-specific professor at Kyoto University.
The satellite will be turned over to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on June 4. It will be launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, bound for the International Space Station.
It will be released into space about one month after arriving at the orbiting laboratory, according to the press release. The team plans to explore the potential of wood by analyzing data sent from the novel satellite, it said.
https://japantoday.com/category/tech/Japan-constructs-world's-1st-wooden-satellite
Video Of Crashed “Alien” Spaceship/ Flying Saucer In Mars Discovered NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter. True or AI Fake
May 30, 2024
Here are the resurfaced video and photo from an alien spacecraft that resembles a flying saucer that crashed on Mars as seen by NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter.
The footage showed wreckage of what was described as otherworldly spacecraft and seeming components from a parachute on the surface of Mars.
On a further check to see if the clip and pictures were real, NASA confirmed it was, however, the space agency said the wreckage was not from aliens.
According to NASA, the wreckage was a component called a backshell that detached during the landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars in February 2021.
The discovery was made by NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter revealing the backshell, or the top half of the landing capsule that protected Perseverance and Ingenuity as they plunged through the Martian atmosphere, as well as the 70-foot-wide parachute that slowed the vehicles’ landing.
NASA revealed that the backshell which measures about 15 feet in diameter, shattered partially after it crashed on Mars ground at about 78 miles per hour, after they detached from the rover at an altitude of 1.3 miles.
https://igettalk.com/2024/05/video-of-crashed-alien-spaceship-flying-saucer-in-mars-discovered-nasas-ingenuity-helicopter-true-or-ai-fake.html
UFO captured zipping through the sky during Blue Angels airshow over New York beach
May 29, 2024, 11:45 a.m. ET
What a close encounter!
A UFO was spotted zipping past the Navy’s iconic Blue Angels while they performed during an air show on Long Island over Memorial Day weekend, according to a report.
The small sphere flew past the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet over Jones Beach on Friday in bizarre footage obtained by TMZ.
The unidentified object only appears in the footage for about a millisecond.
However, a slow-motion video shows the UFO gliding directly in front of the jet before darting from the camera’s frame.
The craft appeared to be approximately 36,500 to 41,000 feet in the air, according to a report filed with the National UFO Reporting Center.
It remains unclear what the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) could be, given its incredible speed and the fact that the object left no trail as it darted forward.
UAP is the new term government agencies and officials use for what was once known as unidentified flying objects (UFOs).
UAP sightings around the Big Apple have recently seen a major uptick with multiple instances reported.
https://nypost.com/2024/05/29/us-news/alleged-ufo-spotted-during-blue-angels-air-show-over-new-york-beach/