 Who orbited the earth first? Ham the Chimp John Glenn Yuri Gagarin Laika the Dog
 Did you guess Laika? I did, and I was right. Laika was the first living creature to orbit the earth. She was launched on November 3, 1957, two years before I was born. Her achievement was also the beginning of the Space Race between the US and the USSR. Spaceships back then weren’t well built. We have more than 60 years of experience so we build better spaceships now. We even have a space station where people can live for months at a time.  Poor Laika! She only lived a couple hours after launch. This is a model of Sputnik 2. It doesn’t look very comfortable. I hope Laika was treated well before becoming a dog-o-naut. Before that Laika was a stray living in the streets of Moscow. Russian scientists thought a stray dog would have an easier time living in the harsh conditions in space. If you visit Star City, Russia, you’ll find a statue and plaque that honors Laika and her contributions to space science. Her statue is next door to where she trained for her space adventure and where Russian cosmonauts still train today. Now, can you guess who was 2nd to orbit the earth? Ham or John or Yuri Good luck!  I hope you guessed Ham. He won 2nd place, but only by a couple months. Ham was born in Cameroon in 1957, captured by trappers, and sent to a Rare Bird Farm in Florida. Really! The US Air Force bought him in 1959. He and 39 other chimps were sent to the Holloman Air Force Base. Ham made the top 18, then the top 6, then 1st prize. Back in 1959 he was known as #65 because the air force didn’t want a chimp, with a name, dying in space. Ham blasted off January 31, 1961 and returned 17 minutes later. I was almost 2 by then. The biggest difference between Ham’s flight and those of previous chimps was his ability to push levers. Ham was a fraction of a second slower in space than on earth. That was a big deal because he showed scientists that astronauts could work in space. Ham’s flight led to the launch of the first American astronaut. Alan Shepherd blasted off May 5, 1961. Thanks, Ham! Best of all, Ham lived to tell, another 22 years, first at the National Zoo in Washington DC, then at a zoo in North Carolina. If you’d like to visit Ham, go to the International Space Hall of Fame in Alamogordo, New Mexico. So, who was 3rd? Was it John Glenn, the American? Or was it Yuri Gagaran, the Russian? Good Luck!  Yuri came in 3rd. He orbited the Earth on April 12, 1961 in Vostok 1. He instantly became a world-wide celebrity, winning both medals and titles. Yuri never made it back into space again. He died in 1968 when his training jet crashed. It was only 7 years after his historic flight. I didn’t know that in 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin honored Yuri. They left a memorial satchel with Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Komarov’s medals on the moon. In 1971 David Scott and James Irwin from Apollo 15 left the Fallen Angel Memorial behind. They didn’t tell anyone until they returned to earth.  This is the Fallen Angel Memorial. It honors 14 American and Russian astronauts. Theodore C. Freeman - 1964 aircraft accident Charles A. Bassett III and Elliott M. See Jr. - 1966 aircraft accident Virgil I. Grissom, Roger B. Chaffee, and Edward H. White II - 1967 Apollo 1 fire Vladimir M. Komarov - 1967 Soyuz I re-entry parachute failure Edward G. Givens Jr. - 1967 car accident Cliffton C. Williams Jr - 1967 aircraft accident Yuri Gagarin - 1968 aircraft accident Pavel I Belyayev - 1970 illness Georgily T Dobrovolsky, Viktor I. Patsayev, and Vladislav N Volkov – 1971 Soyuz 11 re-entry pressurization failure And, last but not least, John Glenn. Sometimes it’s good to be last . . . John lived to the age of 95.  Meet John Glenn, the 4th to orbit the earth, but the first American. John was ready to go in January of 1962, but his flight was delayed 11 times because of equipment malfunctions, improvements, and the weather. John didn’t worry. He flew 70 more missions in the simulator and reacted to 189 simulation system failures. John was ready to go! Finally on February 20, 1962, Friendship 7 lifted off. Would you believe there were two failures during the flight? The automatic control system had problems. John had to manually control the 2nd and 3rd orbit and the reentry into the earth’s atmosphere. Sensors also said that the heat shield was loose. John talked with the ground controllers at NASA. They decided to leave a retrorocket pack in place, and John lived to tell. If the shield had been loose, Friendship 7 would have burned up on the way into the atmosphere, but John returned a national hero. He got a ticker tape parade in New York City. Confetti rained down on John to celebrate his 4 hour and 55-minute flight.  John was such a hero he wasn’t allowed to go up into space again. After he retired from the military, John got interested in politics. He served Ohio in the United States Senate from 1974 until 1999. He ran for president once but didn’t win the Democratic nomination. But he was successful in returning to space. In 1995 John read a book by NASA doctors about bone and muscle mass loss in space. That happens to older people too so John started lobbying NASA to let him return to space. He said they could experiment on him. NASA agreed, but John had to have a scientific reason to go, and he had to pass the same physical exam that the younger astronauts did. John did the research and passed the exam. In January of 1998 John got the announcement that at 77, he’d be the oldest person to fly in space. On October 29, 1998 John blasted off as a payload specialist on the Space Shuttle Discovery. In 2012 John said his biggest regret was that NASA didn’t continue to research aging by sending additional senior citizens into space.  John died on December 8, 2016. The phrase, “Godspeed, John Glenn,” was given to him by Scott Carpenter back in 1962. It followed him through his life and was part of his funeral too. When John died, he was the last of the Mercury Seven Astronauts. They were NASA’s founding space team. Here are the Mercury 7 from their photo taken on April 9, 1959. That was a month before I was born. Front row, left to right: Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, John H. Glenn, Jr., and M. Scott Carpenter; Back row, Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, and L. Gordon Cooper, Jr.
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 I'm starting with a map to show you where the ship was supposed to go on Sunday after we left Cienfuegos, and where the ship actually went. We were supposed to spend a day sailing west around Cuba, and then head east towards Havana. That didn't happen! Hurricane Michael had already popped up on the western end of Cuba. When there’s a hurricane, a captain takes his ship out to sea away from the storm. So instead of going west Sunday night, our captain took us south toward the Cayman Islands. Not all the way there, but far enough to avoid high seas.  Here’s what the weather map looked like Monday night. I found this after I got home to Ohio. Michael was a Category 1 storm with winds of 74-95 mph (miles per hour). That’s faster than your parents drive down interstate. Michael was sitting where we were supposed to go, but I’m glad we didn’t go. His Category 1 waves were big enough for me. By Wednesday when Michael moved north to the Gulf Coast of Florida, he was a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 111-129 mph. That's hide in the basement fast! Y-I-K-E-S!!! Sometime Tuesday the captain started sailing west on our original course to Havana. We were supposed to get there Tuesday morning, but we made it off the ship by 5PM Tuesday night. That gave us a little time to explore that night, then on Wednesday we had till 5PM. Not as much time in Havana as scheduled, but enough to time to meet and love Havana. Enough time to want to return again.
I took these pictures on Monday from the deck on the 6th floor. The ship was rocking and rolling, literally! The waves don’t look too bad, but they’re higher than they look…15-19 feet tall. The wind was blowing, about 20-30 knots. Not sure what those numbers mean? Wait for it…I’ll explain the numbers like I did back in the day when I was a 2nd grade teacher.
Why pinball? I told you the ship was rocking and rolling, but no one could walk, unless wobbling counts. I felt like I was a pinball bouncing back and forth across the passage. It was the oddest feeling. I didn’t fall over, but I didn’t wind up walking where I’d planned. The rocking sent us from one side of the hallway to the other. Do you know what’s hanging from the rail in the 2nd picture? Yes, ‘barf’ bags! I prefer sick bags! I was blessed…I enjoyed the out-of-control sensation. I’m a retired teacher, and I prefer to be in control. This is one of the few situations where I had no control, so I decided to enjoy. Plus as a writer, I got to ‘enjoy’ storm force wind and waves. We don’t have that in Ohio. And someone from California told me it was like an earthquake, just a lot longer. An earthquake is only about 30 seconds. We don’t have those in Ohio either. I think it’s fabulous that I got to experience a stormy sea and hyper-extended earthquake, and I didn’t have to pay a dime for the extra experience. Remember the wind blowing 20-30 knots? I didn’t know what that meant. This link help me… https://www.calculateme.com/speed/knots/to-miles-per-hour/ That’s about 23-34.5 mph, the speed your mom or dad drives in town, or on the edges of town. Not super fast.  If you’re wondering why an elephant’s here, it’s because my second graders had trouble figure out what measurements really mean. This is an African elephant. If you measure one from its shoulder to its toe, it’s about 8 to 13 feet tall. Look at the side chart, it’s in meters. If a wave is 15- 20 feet tall, it’s 4.5-6 meters tall. If you don’t want to check my math, here’s a link to help you… https://www.calculateme.com/length/feet/to-meters/ Here’s another way to think of 15 feet. Take a look at your mom. I’m a mom, and I’m 5’5”. If I wanted to stand as tall as that wave, it would take 3 of me/your mom. 4 to be 20 feet tall.  A final way to look a 15 feet is to look at a classroom. In my last room, each block was 1 square foot. Walk 15 blocks forward and look back. That’s what 15 feet looks like. In my classroom, it was half my room. That’s big!  My husband found this shot on his phone. He wanted to get rid of it, and I can’t believe how happy I am to see these. It’s like pulling up great memories. I spent almost 10 years in this room. Good times!
PS- I think I'll take a travel break and take a trip down Memory Lane before I head to Havana Na Na Na! When you look at a mountain, do you think volcano? Me, never! But if you lived in Guatemala, you might…The 2nd picture's an ad for a trio of volcanoes that you can hike, if you travel to Guatemala. They're known as The Central Highlands Trilogy. One is Agua (water), another’s Fuego (fire), and the third's Acatenango. Why, I don't know! You can hike all 3 volcanoes, 26 miles in 36 hours. Me, no thanks! That’s too much walking!
When you look at these volcanoes, do you wonder what stage they’re in…active, dormant, or extinct? When I look at them, I want to say dormant or extinct, and 2 of them are…but one’s active. Can you guess which one…Fuego? I’d never, ever, hike anywhere near it! Below are 2 maps of Guatemala. It’s in Central America. That’s the land that connects North and South America. I picked the 1st map because it shows where Guatemala is, next door to Mexico. Do you see the red triangle? It’s my favorite active volcano, Fuego.
I picked the 2nd map because it shows Guatemala’s major volcanoes. Can you find the 3 we could hike together, Agua, Fuego, and Acatenango? I’d be happy to use a map to find them. I might take a walk around them, but not a 36 hour hike. No thanks! The pictures below are beautiful, but deadly. That’s because the volcano is awake. How can you tell? Steam. Mountains don’t steam...volcanoes do.
An eruption starts with magma flowing deep underground. That flow starts earthquakes that make fissures, cracks in the earth. Then the volcano spews steam, carbon dioxide, sulfur, and other poisonous gases. It’s pretty, but dangerous.
Can you see the fissures on Fuego? Magma’s lighting them up in the first picture. Ash and dust blew out in the second one. How hot is that magma? Ready, 1300-2400 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s 1000 degrees hotter than boiling water. Ouch!
Fuego is literally building up steam, but not like a rain cloud. That’s a pyroclastic flow of hot gas and rock. At 450 mph you can’t outrun it, and its temperature is 1830 degrees Fahrenheit. Double ouch! The second picture was taken at night, but that’s not fire. It’s hot magma, lava. Can you imagine being hit by a bit of lava, ash, or rock? I read about someone was struck by a piece…it burned right through their leg and broke the bone. Triple ouch!
If you are anywhere near an active volcano like Fuego, you’d want some kind of head gear to help you breath good air, not air poisoned by volcanic gases. It’ll kill you first. You’ll also find yourself surrounded by ash, like in the second picture shows. Would you want to walk across it? Me, no thanks! I see red in that picture, and it’s probably red hot lava. YIKES!!!
These 2 pictures are post-eruption. In the first nothing’s left, except a burned-up tree. Can you imagine returning home to find this? Awful! And when you return, you’re going to spend time each day sweeping away ash because you’re still under an ash advisory. The picture below shows the ash that’s still erupting. It’s from my last source. You can check it anytime to see what’s happening with the volcano  Fuego volcano Volcanic Ash Advisory: RPRTS OF VA EM Thu, 28 Jun 2018, 16:15 Volcanic Ash Advisory Center Washington (VAAC) issued the following report: ...more [read all]  Fuego is not the only active volcano right now. Look at the map to see what’s happening on the big island of Hawaii. It has two volcanes but only Kilauea is active. It erupted Thursday, May 17th, throwing an ash plume 30,000 feet above the island. Wow, that’s 5.68 miles above the earth. Incredible! Volcanoes are a force of nature. They can make ash go airbourne, or create new land, like in the middle picture. I can’t believe people are actually standing on that lava cliff. I see red, and that means hot lava to me. Ouch! Magma is also beautiful! That’s why I picked the last picture.
Here’s the latest notice on Kilauea: (BIVN) – The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory has issued a new Volcanic Activity Notice that changes the current Aviation Color Code for Kīlauea from RED to ORANGE. The current Volcano Alert Level remains at WARNING. Sources: 1. https://sciencing.com/stages-volcano-eruption-8549867.html 2. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/guatemala-volcano-death-toll-up-to-69-expected-to-rise/ar-AAycpc4?OCID=ansmsnnews11 3. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/17/us/eruption-volcano-hawaii-kilauea.htmlT 4. https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/fuego/news/69563/Fuego-volcano-Volcanic-Ash-Advisory-RPRTS-OF-VA-EM-.html 5. http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2018/06/25/volcanic-activity-notice-no-longer-aviation-hazard-kilauea-now-orange/  One of my daughter’s friends, Kayla commented on this post saying, “Such a tragedy for the Guatemalans and Hawaiians. I remember hiking at the Pacaya volcano almost one year before Fuego’s eruption “ I asked if she had any pictures to share, and she sent these, taken before the eruption. I’m glad I can share them with you!
Look at those clouds! I’m glad Kayla had good air for her trip!
Look at the dirt. It looks like volcanic ash to me. And the town, I wonder how much they’ve ash swept away since last year.
 1. What's the main idea? 2. As you read, name the 4 hurricanes, in order. 3. Why aren’t hurricanes K and L in this post? Answers are at the end of this post.  This was Hurricane Harvey on Aug. 25th. (Post: 9/12/17) It was the first in a series of hurricanes that hit the US last fall. On Sept. 6th Irma blew through the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Florida. Jose threatened the Caribbean but never showed up. Thank goodness! On Sept. 22nd Maria appeared. Look at the picture below. That’s what Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands looked like after Hurricanes Maria and Irma. (Post: 10/21/17)
This picture was taken mid-October. I was so surprised. Now, not so much. I just visited Houston where Harvey rained for 5 long days. You can’t see the damage outside, but inside people are still rebuilding their homes. I hope the USVI is recovering like Houston, but it’s harder. Building materials/new supplies come in by boat. It’s more expensive and takes longer. In November I decided to adopt a classroom. I wanted to help another teacher, another classroom. In December I opened my email and found this: Congratulations! You've been matched with... School Name and Address: Lockhart Elementary School, St. Thomas Mailing Address: P.O. Box XXX, St. Thomas, VI 00801 Teacher's Name: Ms. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Grade Level: 1st Grade Number of Students: 21 Primary Needs: Dry erase board markers, File Folders, Printer paper & ink, Tape, Construction paper, Crayons, Glue, Hand soap, Hand sanitizer, Disinfectant wipes, Healthy snacks, Broom & dust pan, Bottled water Message to Adopter: Thank you!
Next step, shopping! By January I had everything on their list. I boxed it and mailed it to the US Virgin Islands. Amazon sent the things I couldn’t, like bottled water and ink.
On Jan. 22nd I got an email saying everything arrived, and this picture. What a great looking class! Their happiness makes me happy too. But I was also sad. I learned half the kids moved away over Christmas vacation, off the island to new schools in new places. I can’t imagine losing half my class over Christmas vacation. These kids survived so much, 2 hurricanes, putting their homes back together again, and now losing classmates. They’re my heroes, and it makes me happy to do something for them. So… To Lockhart first graders, Thank you for letting me help you! I had a ball shopping for you. I hope you have a wonderful finish to your school year. You deserve it! All the best, Mrs. Beach  Update on an Update
1. What’s the main idea? Ex: The main idea is to update the reader about what has happened in the US Virgin Islands since the fall hurricanes. 2. As you read, name the 4 hurricanes, in order. Harvey, Irma, Jose, Maria 3. Why aren’t hurricanes K and L in this post? Ex: They didn’t affect Texas, Florida, or the US Virgin islands.  1. What is the author’s purpose? 2. What is the worst thing that happened to me? Defend your answer. 3. What is something bad that happened to you, that turned out for the best? Answers are at the end of this post. This is what my lake house usually looks like…peaceful…quiet…heaven. But things can change quickly, and they did Saturday, November 18th, the Saturday before Thanksgiving.  I was at the lake, watching the OSU/Illinois game. The Buckeyes were ahead 38-0 at halftime. The weather in both places was beautiful. Then 3rd quarter hit, and Columbus weather turned terrible. Driving rain, the kind that soaks you in 2 seconds. YUCK! I was glad to be in warm, sunny Tennessee! But two hours later, the front and its pouring rain hit Tennessee. It was too dark to watch the storm, and the TV and internet stopped, started, then died for good. I gave up and went to bed, but before I could fall asleep, I heard a noise. I usually don’t go out in the dark, in a rainstorm, but I peeked out the door. The first 2 pictures show what I saw in the dark.
Look at that last picture again. You don’t see the chairs because they were to the left of the grill. When I looked in the dark, the deck caught the chairs and a grey strip. That strip belongs to our patio door. It could have blown anywhere, been miles away, and I would never have found it. Thank goodness for a great catch! After I found the chairs, I started looking for the grill. It’d blown down the steps and landed by the trees. I decided I couldn’t do anything in the dark. Everything could wait till tomorrow.
Usually things look better in the morning. Not this time! Sunday morning I looked closer and took pictures for my husband. I thought the grill landed upright. Not! It was on its side, gas tank and doors knocked loose, laying off to the side. That’s also when I looked up the path that runs beside the house. I discovered what happened to my cable and internet, and I knew that it wasn’t coming back anytime soon. Look below…you’ll see what I saw.
A huge log, I thought, was leaning on my roof. Do you see the other one on the ground? Both of them were dead trees. They were standing behind that thicket of bushes. My husband thought he’d gotten rid of all the dead trees. Not! The storm knocked these two loose. One fell harmlessly to the ground. The other hit the roof and knocked out my internet and TV. Boy, did I miss them!
Do you see the Hughes Net dish? It’s bent in two. The Direct TV dish is bent, but not as badly. I know wind is a powerful force, but it’s usually powerful somewhere else. This time it hit in my back yard when I was alone, all by myself. Can you imagine yanking those 2 tree trunks out of the ground and tossing them around like sticks? Or the power to bounce a tree around on the roof? I’m glad I didn’t see it. This wasn’t a hurricane or tornado, just wind. Amazing! My husband wondered if we had a mini-tornado with the chairs and grill blowing one way, and the tree trunks blowing the other. Tornado, I don’t know. I didn’t hear anything except rain. No wind, no grill hitting the ground, no tree hitting the roof, and I am so glad!
After looking at my pictures, my husband decided to head south and see for himself. We cancelled our Ohio Thanksgiving. No family, no Thanksgiving turkey, no fixings. It sounds like everything went wrong, completely wrong, but it didn’t. It went right, in a completely different, and unexpected way.
Instead we had our first Thanksgiving at the lake. It was simple, grilled chicken and roasted yam slices, and we didn’t over-eat. A very good thing! We didn’t have a feast to prepare for, or to clean up after. We did the things we love to do. I wrote and enjoyed my lake view. I’m a city girl. My husband, country boy and project engineer, enjoyed his yard. He’s been reclaiming it from the woods for over 2 years. See the lake view? When we moved in, you couldn’t see it for all the trees. Remember the two tree trunks? He burned them in the picture above, but he was just getting warmed up, LOL
He scrounged around and found more branches and brush to burn, but they didn’t burn fast enough so he made his own blast furnace. It worked! Can you see the difference between the 2 fires? Wayne channeled his inner Bill Nye science guy/Tim Allen. He made his own blast furnace with the leaf blower. Then he pulled me outside to teach the teacher. He demonstrated how the blower,(red handle) fed in oxygen to feed the fire. So when life goes wrong, look around and find what’s right. We did! We enjoyed Thanksgiving at the lake and time together. It’s lovely when all’s well that ends well!  When What Goes Wrong, Turns Out to be Quite Right
1. What is the author’s purpose? My author’s purpose was to persuade you that when things go wrong, sometimes it’s for the best. . 2. What is the worst thing that happened to me? Defend your answer. Example: The worst thing was no TV. I missed the noise of TV and watching my favorite shows. 3. What is something bad that happened to you, that turned out for the best? Example: When I missed the bus, mom drove me to school and picked up hot chocolate for me. Yum! These pictures are especially important to me. Some were taken by family in Texas facing Harvey . Some were taken by family after Irma hit the US Virgin Islands. I got permission before putting them on here.  Facing Down a Hurricane Questions. Answers either Harvey or Irma. 1. I was the first hurricane time-wise, and alphabetically. 2. I was the strongest hurricane to ever hit the Caribbean. 3. I hung around raining for days. 4. Flooding was my worst effect. 5. I did so much damage that for the first time in 300 years, no one can live where I went over. 6. My damage is causing problems because another hurricane is coming. See bottom for correct answers.
On Friday the 25th Hurricane Harvey made land in Corpus Christi, Texas. On Saturday he should have disappeared, but not Harvey. He was a record-setting hurricane.  The maps above and below show how he did it. Harvey kept his backside spinning over water. It fed him and kept him alive. But when his front side made land, he slowed down. Harvey circled Houston for 5 days before leaving town Wednesday, August 30th.  Can you imagine 5 straight days of rain? Houston wants to forget. Usually it rains 50 inches a year, but Harvey did it in just 5 days.
These are from my son and daughter-in-law’s house. They don’t live on a river. That’s their street. The rain tried to come in from Saturday night till Sunday morning. The Texas Beaches stayed up all night watching it, just in case. They put down a tarp, sandbags, and a few rocks. They jammed towels between the two entry doors. It worked! The towels were soaked, but the water stayed outside. The rain finally stopped on Tuesday and drained away. My Texans had 6 straight days of rain. I forgot that rain arrives before the hurricane. My kids were so lucky! Towels and tarps don’t work when your neighborhood gets hit with 50 inches.
The first picture is from Sept. 1st. That’s when our Texas cousins posted a picture of their parents’ house on gofundme.com. It was just 2 days after Harvey left Houston. This was all these grandparents could see of their home. Now they’re staying with family until repairs can be done. They can’t even get inside to see what survived. Can you imagine? The 2nd picture is from Sept.9th when they finally go inside their home. But where there are hardships, there are also blessings. Friends, church friends, and family came in and worked. They wore boots, gloves, and masks. It was the only way to work safely. A neighbor saw them and brought in food. Sometimes the worst of times bring out the best in people.
These 2 pictures were taken on the 14th. A lot was done on the inside. It’s laying outside, ready to be pitched. It can’t be saved because of mold and muck. I can’t imagine how difficult this would be. A lifetime of things to say goodbye too. It’s heartbreaking. Now, finally, it’s time to start again, to rebuild. Thanks to gofundme and 60 generous people, our cousin’s family raised 80% of their goal. 20% to go! If you’d like to help, message me. There are also so many other families in need, in Texas and now in Florida. Charities like The Red Cross, Samaritan’s Purse, or your local church will ensure your contributions go to the families who need it. It’s a good feeling to know that you helped someone
After Harvey, I didn’t want to see another hurricane, but Irma covered TV like she covered the Caribbean. Her Sept. 6th headline read, ‘the most powerful hurricane in recorded history smashes into tiny Caribbean islands.’ Compare the two maps, and you’ll see why. She hovered over every island east of Puerto Rico and smashed them to bits. Irma was a Category 5 hurricane with winds of over 185. With wind and water, she was devastating. This headline says it all, ‘for the first time in 300 years, there is no one living on the island of Barbuda.’ Imagine, no one, not a soul living in your hometown. It’s a ghost town. The pictures below show you why. St. Thomas was hit later, but Barbuda took Irma’s 2nd hit. It hurts to imagine anything worse.
These are from my cousin’s daughter. She lives on St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. Usually it’s paradise, but not any more. In time it will be again. Can you imagine the power you’d need to throw a boat or a car around? A Cat 5 hurricane does it with a few blasts of wind.
Her pictures are from September 8th, when I decided to write this post. They show a small part of St. Thomas’. The island’s hospital was destroyed, its airport looked like a war zone, 80% of the island was demolished, 40,000 people were homeless, and no power for 6 – 12 months. I can’t imagine. How awful for a place that was heaven, a mere month ago. Since the 8th, Hurricane Jose, a Cat 4 storm, threatened the island. Large scale evacuation by ferry was impossible with storm debris and sea conditions. Private charter boats pitched in to take half the 4500 residents to safety. Jose gave the islands a break and passed to the north, but now Maria’s threatening. On Wednesday the 20th, she’s supposed to hit as a Cat 3. My cousin just wrote, “Preparing to lose everything, for the 2nd time in 2 weeks.” I hope not. For her sake and for St. Thomas’, I pray that Maria will follow Jose’s path and head north, out to sea.
Destruction like this doesn’t disappear overnight. It takes time and money to rebuild. I hope this post will give you an opportunity to look around to see how you can help. Maybe it’s a donation. Maybe a prayer. Those who faced the hurricanes will be grateful for your help.  Harvey or Irma? 1. I was the first hurricane time-wise, and alphabetically. Harvey 2. I was the strongest hurricane to ever hit the Caribbean. Irma 3. I hung around raining for days. Harvey 4. Flooding was my worst effect. Harvey 5. I did so much damage that for the first time in 300 years, no one can live where I went over. Irma 6. My damage is causing problems because another hurricane is coming. Irma Q & A 1. What are the 5 signs that totality is approaching? 2. When is the next solar eclipse? How old will you be? 3. What is the main idea? Give 2 supporting details. (Answers below) Look familiar? This is the path a solar eclipse takes from start to finish.  The sun starts on the left side of this diagram. In the next 5 pictures, the moon moves across the sun until it reaches totality, or full eclipse, in the 7th picture. In the last 6 pictures, the sun and moon move back into their regular orbits.  If you could view an eclipse from space, and could connect the dots, this is what it would look like. Find the white lines that touch the earth. If you were standing anywhere between them, you’d get to see part of the eclipse. But, if you were standing at the end of the black cone, you’d see the whole entire eclipse from start to finish, the entire totality. Lucky you!  This is the Great American Eclipse’s map of totality. You can follow the 3 lines from Oregon to South Carolina. I was close in Lafollette, Tennessee, but we drove 90 minutes southwest to Sweetwater. It was our sweet spot, and totally worth the drive!  Want to know what time the eclipse starts? Google it! I found a chart that takes you from Oregon to South Carolina, but it didn’t have Sweetwater, so I googled again. In Sweetwater the eclipse started at 1:04. Totality at 2:32. We saw 2 minutes and 33 seconds of totality. Their site said so!
The first picture is totality. Did you know that one minute before totality, the sun starts giving you signs that it’s almost time? I didn’t. The second picture shows that first sign, shadow bands. The earth’s atmosphere refracts the last rays of the sun. Refracting bends the light, like with a rainbow. If you want to see shadow bands, look at something white or light colored. We watched a white truck in the parking lot. My husband spotted them first, of course!
Do you think the first picture looks like a diamond ring? Scientists did! It’s the 2nd sign, and it happens about 10-15 seconds before totality. The ring is the sun’s corona. The diamond is the last burst of sunlight. I think it looks like the 6th picture, right before totality.  When the diamond fades, the corona’s left. It’s the sun’s outer layer of atmosphere. The sun’s surface is 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit, but the corona is 200-300 degrees hotter. Water boils and becomes steam at 180 degrees. Can you imagine how hot the sun is? YIKES!!!
Do you see the tiny beads of light in the 1st picture? The diagram calls them Baily’s Beads. They show up 5 seconds before totality. I missed them, but my husband saw them, of course. Baily’s Beads aren’t real beads. During an eclipse, the sunlight travels through the moon’s mountains and valleys. From earth the light looks like beads.  See the red ring again? It’s called the chromosphere, and it’s the middle layer of the sun’s atmosphere. You see it just a few seconds before totality. Then the other 2 layers of the sun’s atmosphere make it disappear once more.  After 90 minutes the moon made the sun disappear. It also made Sweetwater colder and darker. At 2:30 in the afternoon a few stars came out. Finally! Totality! It was incredible! The whole town cheered, including hundreds of visitors. Google Sweetwater, and you can see and hear us. We also took off the special eclipse glasses. Totality is the only time you can look at an eclipse without them. Before , and after totality, we wore them. Outside the totality zone, you didn’t see stars in the middle of the day, and you couldn’t take off the glasses, at all. I’m glad we made the drive. Totally!
With totality over, the stars disappeared, and the signs reappeared, but in reverse order. First Bailey’s Beads, then the Diamond Ring, the Corona, and finally the Shadow Bands.
When the 1st Diamond Ring appeared, we were on the 6th picture of the diagram. Within 4-5 minutes of time, we were on the 2nd Diamond Ring and the 7th picture. My family stayed to watch for a few more minutes as the moon kept moving away from the sun. Then we left. I’m glad we did! The roads back to the Lafollette were packed, even when we got off interstate and onto back roads. When totality was over, it seemed like everyone in Tennessee was leaving Sweetwater. Looking back at the Great American Eclipse, just 10 days ago, I am so glad we drove to totality, and that I can share it with you. If you weren’t in the zone this time, you’ll have another chance, in only 7 years. Mark your calendar! The next one is coming to a state near you on April 8, 2024. Be there or be square!  https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/total-solar-eclipse.html
My biggest source for this post is this link. My husband found it and printed out a packet. Without this source, we would have missed things like shadow bands. Thanks to the folks at timeanddate.com for teaching the teacher, and the engineer! Q & A 1. What are the 5 signs that totality is approaching? Shadow bands, diamond ring, corona. Baily’s Beads, and chromosphere 2. When is the next solar eclipse? How old will you be? April 8, 2024, and you’ll have to do your own math 3. What is the main idea? Give 2 supporting details. Main: It’s about the how the great American Eclipse of 2017 came in and out of totality. Supporting detail: The sun goes through 5 stages in the last minute before Totality. Not a supporting detail: I watched totality in Sweetwater, TN.
You never know who you’re going to meet at the Armstrong Air and Space Museum! This summer I ran into 2 former students. Carson was at the June space camp. He’ll be in 5th grade at Spencerville this year. Sorry, Carson, I forgot to get a picture! Carmen’s picture is above. She’s going into 6th grade at Elida. Go Dawgs go! I love seeing my ‘old’ students, and most of all I love them remembering me! Carmen was at the museum the day I manned the Zero Gravity trainer.
When you think zero gravity, do you picture a satellite, or an astronaut in outer space? They’re both heavy! Neil’s suit weighed 188 pounds. It’d sink in water but float in outer space. The satellite is even heavier, but it floats too! Imagine that! Would you like to experience zero gravity? It’s not cheap! Going to the moon will cost $300-600 million per person. If a few friends chip in, you’d only pay $100 million each. Going into space is a little cheaper. In 2009 Guy Laliberte, owner of Cirque De Soleil, paid $35 million for a 12-day voyage to the international space station. Guy said it was worth every penny. Google said it’s about $10,000 per pound now to get you into space. If you weigh 100 pounds, that’s $100 million. Ouch! Time for a diet!
See the people flying? They’re taking a plane ride with Zero-G for $4,950, plus 5% tax. $5450 gets you 15 parabolic maneuvers (one is shown in the graph above). Each one will last 20-30 seconds. BTW, a parabolic maneuver is like taking a roller coaster ride in and out of the atmosphere, into outer space. If you don’t like coasters, don’t go…its nickname is ‘The Vomit Comet.’ YUCK!!  Speaking of roller coasters, how about this zero gravity ride? You can find at amusement parks like Cedar Point. Best of all, it’s cheap. Really! An all-day pass at Cedar Point is only $49. Let’s ride! But there’s something less expensive, the Armstrong Air and Space Museum zero gravity trainer. Adults can visit for $8 a day, $4 for kids. 5 and under is free.
This is the zero gravity trainer. It works like a hover board. Carmen loved it! So did the kids from the Delaware summer program who spent the day at the museum. I was their zero gravity guide, but I felt a carnival worker. I kept the line moving so everyone got a turn, and those who loved it got seconds.
If you visit the museum, here are my your zero gravity tips…Put a foot on the outside edge of the black hoses. Get comfortable. Someone from the museum will switch on the motor (it looks and sounds like a vacuum cleaner). Voila! You will be floating on air. Only by a couple inches, but you’ll still be floating! The bars help you push and pull your way around. I wonder how real astronauts move. A swim stroke?
When the ride’s over, stay put. Someone will switch off the motor, then you wait for the board to touch down. Want to go again? Just get in line! Come and enjoy! What’s a great way to spend the day if you love books and kids? Volunteer at the Armstrong Air & Space Museum!  That’s what I did on Tuesday, April 25th. It was library day, and my day as Volunteer Reader. Christopher Moynihan, Director of Programming and Education, picked two great reads, “Eight Days Gone” and “To the Stars! The First American Woman to Walk in Space.” Both nonfiction, but so different!  Eight Days is about the Apollo moon launch in 1969. I was 10 years old when Neil and Buzz landed. It’s fun to share a story I remember, and then try to make it real for preschoolers. As a retired teacher, I love helping kids understand science words like orbit. My young audience did a great job listening and sharing. It’s amazing what they absorb!  To the Stars...is the story of Kathy Sullivan, who really did travel to the stars. Then she walked in space and co-authored this book. It was a more challenging read for my young audience. It was longer, had more real facts, and was written for older kids, but the preschoolers did a great job. They liked learning how they were like Kathy, and different. I think a few would hop aboard a plane or rocket, if they got the chance. Who knows? Maybe someday, today’s listener could be tomorrow’s astronaut.  After the books came the action part…Museum Executive Director, Chris Burton entered dressed in a spacesuit, something like this. At first the kids were shy but they got over it. They loved trying on the helmet, and their parents loved snapping pictures.  Library Day finished with a rocket craft from Kristine Spyker, library youth service director. Our young astronauts made their own spaceship, complete with crepe paper flames. Best of all, a popsicle stick turned the rocket into a puppet so kids can invent their own adventures. Finally many thanks to museum educator, Katie Meyer, who made sure everything ran smoothly, especially the thirty rockets let loose in the museum.
Please check out the Museum's Facebook post for April 25th. You can see eight pictures of Library day, and catch a video of me reading. Sorry, no sound! If you love space like I do, here are two special summer events for your calendar: July 22-23 Summer Moon Festival- family fun with inflatables, rides, concerts, science Demonstrations, education activities, rocket launches…AND Buzz Aldrin from the 1st moon landing. Aug. 26-27 Space Station Armstrong- Work together using recycled materials to build a kid-sized space station. You can construct the station Saturday and inhabit it Sunday. As a writer, you use critiques and criticism to get better. As a teacher, you try to get things right, and you correct mistakes. Greg, my Armstrong museum friend and colleague, pointed out a few mistakes, and here are my corrections:  Neil never flew this plane over Korea, but he did fly it later as a test pilot for NASA. Neil flew everything from bombers to experimental rocket planes to futuristic simulators. Greg said this plane is an F5D Skylancer. I googled and discovered it was once cutting edge technology! Neil flew it low towards a marker, then rocketed up 7000 feet into the atmosphere, like 1.3 miles. He did a loop, rolled the plane upright, and finished with a smooth unpowered landing. Wow, what a ride! But, this plane led Neil to even bigger and better things. As a test pilot, he once flew 39.2 miles into our atmosphere. He didn’t make it into outer space, yet. You have to go 50 miles to get there, and Neil did!  This is the real F9F Panther. Neil flew planes like this over Korea. He didn’t fly 72 combat missions. He flew more…78. Here’s the best fact Greg gave me: In 1951 Neil flew a bombing run over North Korea and ejected because his plane was damaged. Aren’t you glad he made it back safely!  The only correction for the Gemini 8 mission is that Neil and Dave only stayed in space for 10 hours and 40 minutes. I don’t think Neil was thinking about those seats. I bet he was disappointed his 3-day ride was cut way too short.  This is Neil’s suit, but I’m sorry to tell you, it didn’t make it to the moon. But, it really was his back-up suit, and it really was one of the three suits made just for him. The suit you see weighed about 47 pounds, but, when Neil was completely dressed for spacewalks, he wore 190 pounds of suit. Talk about heavy duty! With all that weight, Neil could survive outside the space capsule for 6 hours. His back-up life support gave him an extra 30 minutes, in case he had an emergency. This post reminded me that it’s OK to make mistakes. It’s even better to correct them. But the best thing… is to learn from them. I learned, for anything technical about air and space, I need to proof my content with an expert before posting. Greg read this before I published it, and you can bet I’ll check with him in the future!
I hope you’ll learn from my mistakes too. I also hope you’ll get something good from them like learning more about Neil and the Armstrong Museum exhibits. That’s a great thing! Here’s to mistakes, and, turning them into opportunities! |
AuthorWhen I write, I can only have one voice in my head, mine. A little noise is fine. But too much, or worse yet, WORDS, and I must change rooms or pull out headphones. Then I can write on! Archives
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