August 2013

C. Gordon Fullerton official picture (Photo NASA)

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Yesterday the former astronaut C. Gordon Fullerton died. He had a career that lasted 50 years as an Air Force pilot and test pilot. Born on October 11, 1936, he flew on three Space Shuttles: the prototype Enterprise, the Columbia and the Challenger.

NASA's new astronaut candidates in front of an Orion spacecraft mockup. From left to right are Tyler N. (Nick) Hague, Andrew R. Morgan, Jessica U. Meir, Christina M. Hammock, Nicole Aunapu Mann, Josh A. Cassada, Anne C. McClain and Victor J. Glover (Photo NASA/Robert Markowitz)

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Yesterday at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, NASA officially introduced eight new astronaut candidates. They were selected from more than 6,100 applicants in a process that lasted over a year. Their names were already announced about two months ago but yesterday there was their official introduction along with the last version of NASA’s Global Exploration Roadmap (GER).

Sylvester McCoy in 2008

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Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith, this is his real name, was born on August 20, 1943 in Dunoon, Scotland. With the stage name Sylvester McCoy he had a long career especially in theater and television. He’s famous especially as the Seventh Doctor in the “Doctor Who” saga. Lately he’s playing Radagast in the Hobbit saga.

Necropath by Eric Brown

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The novel “Necropath” by Eric Brown was published for the first time in 2009. It’s the first book of the Bengal Station trilogy. It’s a revised and expanded version of the novel “Bengal Station”, published for the first time in 2004.

The study of Arabidopsis thaliana aims to understand how the effects of hypobaric environments on the International Space Station determine plant growth in microgravity (Image NASA)

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In late May, NASA selected 31 proposals for biological research to be carried out on the International Space Station. In the list there are many types of research, ranging from the growth of plants to cell growth, from researches related to the development of new vaccines to others concerning the strength of human bones. These studies will benefit from a truly unique environment thanks to microgravity and other features that don’t exist on Earth.