Expedition 12 Liftoff

The Expedition 12 crew, plus the third paying 'space tourist', has just launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on their way to the International Space Station.

Roberts is In!

John Roberts was confirmed and sworn in today as Supreme Court Chief Justice. Meanwhile , the usual suspects are already howling and shrieking about the next nominee before he/she is even named.

Rita Fading

Rita has done severe damage and cause disruption of people's lives. However, the devastation that could have happened didn't, especially in the Houston area.

Rita Rising



Hurricane Rita is approaching landfall early Saturday along the Texas/Louisiana coast after an unprecedented evacuation of Houston and other areas. Here is CNN's continuing update page.

While the eye of Rita will likely pass a little east of the Houston area, NASA is taking no chances, pulling the 'rideout crew' out of Johnson Space Center.

We need to keep all those affected by this storm in our prayers.

Return to the Moon Plan

NASA today publicly unveiled its plan to resume human exploration of the Moon within the next fifteen years. Images released show vehicles that appear to be enlarged versions of the pioneering Apollo spacecraft, but equipped with 21st Century software and electronics.

Big Picture Thinking

While recovery from Hurricane Katrina and determining the direction of the Supreme Court demand the attention of our leaders right now, Phil Smith, writing in The Space Review, looks at the long term future of humanity and the vision and policy needed to get there.

In practical terms, this means very little to most people. However, it really should mean something to our nation’s leaders, because recognizing the beginning of a revolution in thought is the essence of vision, and vision is essential to leadership. For the first time, life is poised to leave the Earth for permanent residence in space. This represents the most significant biological event since the emergence of life itself about four billion years ago. A leader who recognizes this can more aptly produce a policy that will guide us into space.

Lest We Forget...

...today is the fourth anniversary of the horrific attacks on the nation. Yesterday, I went over to the Pentagon where the public was allowed to see the (now rebuilt) site where the plane had crashed, including a memorial shrine and chapel.

Taming the Floods

CNN reports that Federal officials in charge of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts in New Orleans said that pumping the water out of the city is the "number one challenge", while the Army Corps of Engineers says the outlook is improving.

According to the Army Corps of Engineers, 32 of the 148 pumps in and around New Orleans were operating as of noon Saturday.

Allen said the pumps are steadily coming back on line.

"Everything is related to the unwatering at this point," he added.

The Army Corps of Engineers Saturday revised its timetable for draining the flood waters from New Orleans, saying the draining should be completed in October, far sooner than previous estimates.

While not understating the immense suffering already experienced and the challenges ahead, the amazing resiliency of human beings once again may bring about recovery faster than predictions made in the darkest days of the crisis.

Katrina Update

Here is today's update from CNN, including the continuing evacuation of New Orleans, status of levee repair and pumping of water out of the city, and W's request for additional federal funds for the Gulf Coast region.

And here's a list of organizations and ways to help.

Honoring a Giant in American History

I went downtown after work earlier this evening to pass through the Supreme Court and pay my respects to the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist. (Fox News article here)

Chief Justice Rehnquist left his mark in many ways. Early in his Supreme Court service, he proved to be on the right side of justice and history by dissenting, along with Justice Byron White, from the infamous 1973 decisions which imposed abortion-on-demand on American Society.

Hubble in 'Two Gyro Science' Mode

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Has been reconfigured to carry out science observations on two gyroscopes instead of three. This will help extend the telecope's life while awaiting a possible Shuttle servicing mission.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist, 1924-2005

The Chief Justice passed away Saturday evening.

Having the Chief Justice slot open as the Senate hearings for John Roberts for Associate Justice are about to begin and as the nation begins the long work of recovery from a massive natural disaster is the latest twist in the drama of history.

Aftermath

The day after Hurricane Katrina struck, the devastation in the Gulf Area is becoming apparent. Breaches in the levees around New Orleans mean the situation there may get worse before it gets better. The Governor of Louisiana has ordered an evacuation of those remaining in the city. (I haven't heard how this will be accomplished logistically.) MSNBC's web site provides an index of articles and a list of organizations accepting donations for post-storm aid. And we need to keep everyone involved in our prayers.

Katrina Targets New Orleans



The massive Hurricane Katrina approaches the Gulf Coast as residents evacuate or take shelter. May they be in our thoughts and prayers.

UPDATE: Monday 8/29 ~8:30 PM.
Katrina veered slightly to the east, sparing New Orleans from the worst case scenario, but there is still much devastation in the Gulf Region to recover from.

Hubble Peaks at the Moon

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was used last week to observe sites on the lunar surface in a test of remote sensing of lunar resources, according to Maggie McKee, who writes for New Scientist magazine.

"We're trying to ascertain the potential of ultraviolet spectra for indicating lunar resources," says Bruce Hapke, a planetary scientist at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, US. He is one of a team of six researchers led by NASA's chief scientist, Jim Garvin, using Hubble to view the Moon.

In particular, the team hopes to be able to identify a mineral called ilmenite - or iron titanium oxide - which has previously been found in lunar soil samples. "It has properties which would be useful in constructing a lunar base," Hapke told New Scientist.

The article goes on to state the observations' relevance to NASA's exploration plans.

He adds that the time for the Hubble observations would probably not have been allocated were it not for US president George W Bush's "Vision for Space Exploration", which calls for returning people to the Moon by about 2018.

A Giant Leap For Nanotubes

Along with the biomedical development described in yesterday's post, this nanotechnology breakthrough could also have a big impact on society.

Space Tech Could Alter Stem Cell Field

A technology derived from NASA micro-gravity research could provide a new ethical and more effective source of stem cells, as reported at CNET.

Microgravity technology developed by NASA can multiply stem cells from a newborn's blood in large enough quantities to be used to regenerate human tissue, London scientists have found.

Researchers at U.K.-based Kingston University have discovered primitive stem cells in the umbilical cord blood of infants that are similar to those from human embryos, which can be used to develop into any tissue in the body. The newly discovered human cells, called "cord-blood-derived embryonic-like stem cells" or CBEs, are more versatile than adult stem cells, found in bone marrow, which can mend damaged tissue during life.

WYD 2005



Young people from around the world are gathering with Pope Benedict XVI in Cologne, Germany, providing a spark of Faith in Christ much needed in Europe right now. Amy Welborn provides a list of links and blogs for the event.

NET March 2006...

...for resumption of Space Shuttle flights.

Evolution and Design

Frederick Turner has an interesting analysis that transcends the conventional assumptions about evolution and Intelligent Design as being two mutually exclusive concepts.

A perfect creator would surely have no need to step in once the process was going. He would not be a "god of the gaps", where we bring God in just when we can't explain some connection in the history of the universe, on the assumption that this was where God had to fix some imperfection in the process. A perfect creator would not be hostage to the possibility that one by one the gaps would be filled by good clear science. He would not need to be successively robbed of the credit for making the warmth and light of the sun, the thunder and lightning, the motions of the planets, and the wonders of digestion and muscular contraction and psychological motivation as they are explained by science, because he could take the even greater credit for having created the natural process that produced all of them.

While there is much subtlety in the discussion of this whole topic, I find this article to be the most satisfying I've seen so far. I would add that this does not preclude God from intervening in human history, which He did by sending His Son to save us from our sins.