Nov 20 2004
From The Space Library
NASA launched the Swift satellite from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. NASA and an international team of participants had designed the spacecraft to detect and analyze gamma-ray bursts (GRB s) ~ ephemeral explosions that occur throughout the universe, usually far from Earth. GRBs may indicate a number of significant cosmological events, such as the collision of extremely dense celestial bodies or the formation of black holes. Swift was equipped with three telescopes to study GRBs, including the Burst Alert Telescope, which could detect and locate GRBs, and the X-ray Telescope (XRT) and Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT), two telescopes that could study the bursts' afterglows. Among the many participants in the Swift mission were the Italian Space Agency and the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council of the United Kingdom.(NASA, “NASA Successfully Launches Swift Satellite,” news release 04-382, 22 November 2004; New York Times, “NASA Starts Hunt for Celestial Bodies,” 21 November 2004.
Donald R. Puddy, longtime NASA Flight Director who had supervised numerous human spaceflight missions, died at the age of 67 in Houston, Texas. Born in Oklahoma, Puddy had joined NASA's JSC in 1964 and had spent 22 years at JSC's Mission Control Center. Puddy was only the 10th person to become a NASA flight director. He had later served in many other positions at NASA's JSC, ARC, and Headquarters. As JSC Flight Director, Puddy had led flight-control teams during the Apollo Program, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, and the Skylab missions, as well as serving as Flight Director for the first Space Shuttle mission. He had also created and managed projects related to aircraft-safety procedures and had played a significant role in early cooperative efforts between the space programs of the United States and the U.S.S.R. Among the numerous awards Puddy had received for his achievements were the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal. (Mark Carreau, “Donald Puddy, Veteran NASA Flight Director,” Houston Chronicle, 24 November 2004; NASA JSC, “NASA Honors Memory of Mission Control Veteran Don Puddy,” news release J04-054, 23 November 2004.
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