Shuttle Glides to an Incident-Free Landing article

This article talks about the shuttle Atlantis coming back to Earth. It spent 12 days in orbit to help the construction of the international space station. They were a bit worried about the mission, because the memory of the 2003 Columbia incident was still there. That was when the shuttle Columbia disintegrated while trying to reenter the Earth's atmosphere because of the broken part of the wing.

When reentering the atmosphere, there is a lot of accelerations involved. First off, the shuttle had to slow down 205 mph. Then, gravity began to bring it down at about 32 feet/second. When entering the atmosphere, the shuttle reaches a terminal velocity when the air resistance pushing up equals gravity's acceleration. When the shuttle is reaching this terminal velocity, the friction from the air causes a tremendous amout of heat. That heat is what made Columbia desintegrate.

I can't wait for the international space station to finish being constructed. It will be the next step toward sending a human to another planet. If they get this space station working well, they can start constructing other stations further and further away. These stations can be used kind of like rest stops along the way to another planet. A ship could refuel there to let it go on the next leg of the journey. But we have quite a bit of work ahead of us before we can get there.

Puzzling Puffy Planet Article

This article is about a planet scientists have discovered orbiting around a star 450 light years away. The planet is considered puffy because it has about the same density as cork. It is a bit bigger than Jupiter, yet it only has about 1/4th the density of water (Jupiter has a density of 133% of water). They believe the puffiness might be caused by heat from the star and heat from the friction of hydrogen and helium separating into layers in its atmosphere.

They said that the planet has an almost circular orbit around the star. Technically, the planet is accelerating, because its velocity is changing. It isn't gaining or losing speed, but since it is always turning around the star, the direction is changing. If it is like the planets in our solar system, its speed is constant.

Testing Limits article

This article was about Peggy Whitson, an astronaut who stayed on the space station to perform experiments. It talks about how life was in outer space. In order to do her work, she must use tools that attach to velcro so they don't float away. Also, when she has to work with liquids, she cannot pour them, because they would just form floating blobs and cause havoc. I think it would be a lot harder to do experiments in zero gravity. If I were in zero gravity and I was to perform the motion lab we did in class today, I would find it incredibly difficult to get accurate results. Just trying to keep all of the necessary instruments in the correct place and to get the sonic motion detector to read a proper distance would increase the challenge.
The article also explained what inspired Dr. Whitson to become an astronaut. When she saw the original moon landing, she knew she wanted to go in space. I've always thought about becoming an astronaut. The idea of floating in zero gravity to solve some of the greatest mysteries of the universe has always caught my fancy. I remember the first time I saw the movie Apollo 13, I was captivated the entire time. I guess that's my version of the original moon landing.