Aug 11 2008
From The Space Library
NASA’s ESA spacecraft flew by Saturn’s moon Enceladus, photographing the ice jets that spew from gorges at the Enceladus’s south pole and taking measurements of them. The craft passed within 30 miles (48.28 kilometers) of the moon’s surface, traveling at 64,000 miles per hour (102,998.02 kilometers per hour), while snapping the highest-resolution images ever taken of the ice jets. The photographs revealed the features of the gorges known as “tiger stripes,” which are approximately 980 feet (298.70 meters) deep. Tiger stripes have V-shaped sides that are strewn with large chunks of ice and dusted with a fine material, apparently composed of snow-like ice particles. Scientists were interested in studying Enceladus’s ice jets because of the possibility that they might indicate the presence of liquid water beneath the moon’s surface.
Space.com, “ESA Spots Icy Jet Sources on Saturn Moon,” 15 August 2008, http://www.space.com/5738-cassini-spots-icy-jet-sources-saturn-moon.html (accessed 25 July 2011); Kenneth Chang, “NASA Has Its Closest Look at Geysers on Saturn Moon,” New York Times, 16 August 2008.
John S. Bull, a member of NASA’s original class of 19 astronauts, died at the age of 73. He had never flown in space. Bull had begun to train as an astronaut in 1966. In early 1967, NASA had chosen him as a member of the crew of LTA-8, a thermal-vacuum test of the Moon lander. However, sinus problems had prevented him from participating in the mission. In November 1967, NASA had selected Bull for the support crew of the Apollo 8 mission. However, he had resigned from the astronaut corps in July 1968 because he had a rare pulmonary disorder. Bull had obtained a Master’s degree and a PhD from Stanford University, returning to NASA in 1973. He had performed flight-test research at NASA’s ARC until 1986 and had then managed NASAwide research programs in autonomous systems technology for space applications, until his retirement in 1989.
Collectspace.com, “John S. Bull, Former NASA Astronaut, Dies,” 14 August 2008, http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-081408a.html (accessed 15 July 2011).
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