MajorTim.space have been invited to exhibit in the Discovery Zone (Cheltenham Town Hall) on the 9th and 10th June 2018, at Cheltenham Science Festival!
We will be running 3 different drop-in activities and some friction challenges:
Be Mystified – The Forces of Science!
MajorTim.space have some amazing drop-in STEM activities lined up for Cheltenham Science Festival
Build your own mini Hovercraft, make a Hoop Glider and a Thaumatrope, while learning the science behind them – All of which you can take away with you!
Plus, we have some friction challenges that will get you thinking!
So come and find us in the Town Hall to have some STEM fun!
Apollo 15 Astronaut, Alan Bean died on the 26th May 2018, aged 86.
He logged 1,672 hours in space, including more than 10 hours of spacewalks on the Moon and in Earth’s orbit.
Source – NASA
Alan Bean walked on the Moon while he was on Apollo 12, commanded the second Skylab crew and then resigned after 18 year as an astronaut to paint remarkable worlds and sights he had seen.
He was a lunar module pilot on the November 1969 Apollo 12 mission, the second moon landing. He and mission commander Pete Conrad explored on the Lunar Ocean of Storms and set up several experiments powered by a small nuclear generator.
During his career Alan Bean established 11 records in space and aeronautics and received many awards.
Lightning struck the Saturn V rocket about 36 seconds after launch, taking the fuel cells, thus most of the electrical power to the Command Module, offline. Quick coordination with Mission Control allowed the Apollo 12 crew to solve the problem, restore power and continue on into Earth’s orbit.
Throughout the 31-hour lunar surface stay by Pete Conrad and Alan Bean, Dick Gordon remained in orbit around the moon on the command module, “Yankee Clipper”.
Astronaut Alan Bean holds a sample container during the Apollo 12 mission! Source – BBC
His decision to retire from NASA to devote his full time to painting was, he said based on his 18 years as an astronaut , during which he visited places and saw things no artist’s eye had ever seen first hand.
He said he hoped to capture those experiences through his art.
Alan Bean surrounded by his paintings! Source – alanbean.com
Some of the tools he used on the moon were the same tools he use to create his uniquely textured surface. With careful observation you can see the imprints of Moon boots (not his actual boots, as they were left on the Moon to save weight) walking across the painting. These Moon prints are just like the ones the Apollo astronauts made as they went about their explorations. When you take a closer look you will see marks from the same hammer Alan Bean used to chip off rock fragments for return to Earth. There are also circular marks made by a sharpened core tube bit that he drove two meters into the lunar surface to collect several layers of soil.
With an even more careful inspection you can find small pieces of foil that provided insulation on the hatch between their Command Module Yankee Clipper and the Lunar Module Intrepid. You can also find pieces of the American flag, name tag, and NASA and Apollo 12 mission emblems that Alan Bean wore on his space suit. These became covered with dust as he walked and worked on the lunar surface so within each painting are minute amounts of Moon dust from the Ocean of Storms.
It is with these techniques and artifacts that Alan Bean created paintings with truly out of this world texture, unique in all of art history. Texture with impressions of moon boots and hammer and core tube bit marks, to further amplify the feeling of actually being there.
NASA said ” We remember Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean, who walked on the Moon in 1969, commanded the second Skylab crew in 1973 and went on in retirement to paint the remarkable worlds and sights he had seen like no other artist”.
We will be running our drop-in ‘build your own balloon car’ workshops and a quiz with prizes (including MajorTim.space Anniversary badges) at Techniquest Glyndwr’s Fun Day, in Wrexham this Saturday (26th May 2018)!
The event will be held in the old TJ Hughes building, in Wrexham!
From 11am until 4pm Techniquest Glyndwr will be opening the doors again to the public to this major building in the town centre situated between Chester Street and Henblas Square.
The event coincides with each of the monthly Wrexham Street Festivals that now take place on the last Saturday of the month in the town centre.
Our drop-in ‘build your own balloon car’ workshop is always extremely popular!
So come and find us, to have some fun and learn about astronomy, Newton’s Third Law of Motion and friction in the process!
On this day (18th May 2018) 27 years ago in 1991 – Helen Sharman Became the first British astronaut!
27 year old Helen Sharman, from Sheffield – blasted into orbit, from Baikonur cosmodrome in the Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, with fellow astronauts, Anatoly Artebartsky and Sergei Krikalyov – aboard the Soyuz TM-12 space capsule.
Source – RocketSTEM
“Astronaut wanted, no experience necessary”
A food chemist from Sheffield, heard the advertisement (‘Astronaut wanted, no experience necessary’) while flicking through the radio stations on her way home from ‘Mars’ (the confectionary company) – she was picked out of more than 13,000 other applicants!
Source – Getty
Helen is an inspiration to all – she speaks at events, giving lively and fascinating talks to engage everybody with STEM!
Please share this article to celebrate
Helen Sharman’s success –
27 years on from her launch!
‘Astronaut wanted, no experience necessary’- An inspiring two-part talk by Helen Sharman and Bas lansdorp, hosted by Dallas Campbell!
The talk was held on the 5th May 2018 as part of Leeds International Festival!
Held at the AQL, Salem Chapel – Owned by CEO and Founder of aql, Dr Adam Beaumont, who purchased the building in 2011 in line with plans to expand the business and house a large data centre. Continued restoration has seen the development of 3 data centres and an innovative interior. The sense of history can be seen throughout the building in the original features and the interior design, with a modern twist, houses cutting edge technology and innovative telecommunications.
Dallas Campbell’s lively personality kept the audience captivated before, after and in between the talks!
Bas Lansdorp, Co-Founder of Mars One – A one-way mission, which aims to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars!
Bas gave a fascinating talk about the why and how of Mars exploration and permanent settlement – there is no return trip, he’ll discuss the complexities of finding a crew capable of leaving their friends, family – and indeed planet – behind them!
Helen Sharman CMG OBE – A food chemist from Sheffield, who became the first British astronaut in 1991!
Helen kept the audience engaged as she described her journey to the audience, from hearing the advertisement (‘Astronaut wanted, no experience necessary’) on her way home from ‘Mars’ (the confectionary company) – to being picked out of more than 13,000 other applicants and her incredible experience of being in space!
A fantastic, inspiring and motivating afternoon!
Thanks to Leeds International Festival, Helen Sharman, Bas Lansdorp and Dallas Campbell!
We are extremely excited to announce that Apollo 15 astronaut, Al Worden has become the patron of MajorTim.space!
Here is a quote from Al explaining why he has endorsed MajorTim.space:
“The most important thing we can leave for our descendants is a love of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). These are the tools that will enable us to survive in today’s world and help us find a safe place in the future in which to prosper. I encourage all young people to focus on these disciplines to become part of the solution rather than the problem. It is our future that you hold in your hands and this website is a good source of information!” – Al Worden
Our thanks and greatest gratitude go to Al Worden for being our patron!
NASA’s InSight Mission launched Saturday, 5th May 2018!
The NASA InSight spacecraft launched on-board a United Launch Alliance Atlas-V rocket, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California
The is the first interplanetary mission from the West Coast and NASA’s InSight is the first outer space robotic explorer to study the interior of Mars!
NASA’s Mars Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission is on a 300-million-mile trip to Mars to study for the first time what lies deep beneath the surface of the Red Planet.
InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) is a NASA Discovery Program mission that will place a single geophysical lander on Mars to study its deep interior. But InSight is more than a Mars mission – it is a terrestrial planet explorer that will address one of the most fundamental issues of planetary and solar system science – understanding the processes that shaped the rocky planets of the inner solar system (including Earth) more than four billion years ago.
By using sophisticated geophysical instruments, InSight will delve deep beneath the surface of Mars, detecting the fingerprints of the processes of terrestrial planet formation, as well as measuring the planet’s “vital signs”: Its “pulse” (seismology), “temperature” (heat flow probe), and “reflexes” (precision tracking).
The NASA InSight spacecraft launches on-board a United Launch Alliance Atlas-V rocket, Saturday, May 5, 2018, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to study the “inner space” of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core! Photo source – NASA/Bill Ingalls
InSight is scheduled to land on the Red Planet on the 26th November 2018 where it will conduct science operations until the 24th November 2020, which equates to one year and 40 days on Mars, or nearly two Earth years.
The InSight lander will probe and collect data on marsquakes, heat flow from the planet’s interior and the way the planet wobbles, to help scientists understand what makes Mars tick and the processes that shaped the four rocky planets of our inner solar system.
Previous missions to Mars investigated the surface history of the Red Planet by examining features like canyons, volcanoes, rocks and soil, but no one has attempted to investigate the planet’s earliest evolution, which can only be found by looking far below the surface.
The InSight mission is part of NASA’s Discovery Program. It will rely on proven technologies used on NASA’s Mars Phoenix mission, and will send a lander to the Martian surface that will spend two years investigating the deep interior of Mars – as well as the processes that not only shaped the Red Planet, but also rocky planets throughout the inner solar system.
April 12th 1961 – Yuri Gagarin is about to see what no other person has seen in the history of humanity – the Earth from space. In the next 108 minutes he’ll see more than most people do in a lifetime. What sights awaited the first cosmonaut silently gliding over the world below? What was it like to view the oceans and continents sailing by from such a height?
In a unique collaboration with the European Space Agency and the Expedition 26/ 27 crew of the International Space Station, this fascinating new film has been created to give an insight to what Yuri Gagarin first witnessed fifty years ago.
By matching the orbital path of the Space Station, as closely as possible, to that of Gagarin’s Vostok 1 spaceship and filming the same vistas of the Earth through the new giant cupola window, astronaut Paolo Nespoli and documentary film maker Christopher Riley, have captured a new digital high definition view of the Earth below, half a century after Gagarin first witnessed it.
Weaving these new views together with historic, recordings of Gagarin from the time, (subtitled in Englsih) and an original score by composer Philip Sheppard, the spellbinding film has been created to share with people around the world on this historic anniversary.
Watched over 3.3 million times on YouTube and screened publically at over 1600 venues in more than 130 countries, First Orbit has now been translated by the fans into more than 30 languages.
Due to popular demand the film now has a multi-language version on DVD and Blu-Ray.
On the 12 April 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space when he was launched aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft.
Source – ESA
After Soviet Union decided to launch a human being to space, a secret nationwide selection process was started in 1960 and Gagarin was chosen with 19 other pilots. Gagarin was further selected for an elite training group known as the ‘Sochi Six’, who would make up the first cosmonauts of the Vostok programme.
Gagarin and the other prospective cosmonauts were subjected to experiments designed to test physical and psychological endurance; he also underwent training for the upcoming flight.
Out of the 20 selected, the eventual choices for the first launch were Gagarin and Gherman Titov, because of their performance in training, as well as their physical characteristics — space was at a premium in the small Vostok cockpit and both men were rather short. Gagarin was 1.57 metres tall.
