Columbia

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Not to be confused with Colombia, the country in South America.

Look up columbia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Columbia (name) is a poetic name for America (in the sense of “European colonies in the New World”), and the feminine personification of the United States of America.
Columbia may also refer to:

Contents [show] 1 Companies 1.1 Music and entertainment 1.2 Other 2 Music 3 Persons 4 Places 4.1 Associated with the Columbia River 4.2 Canada 4.3 United States 4.3.1 California 4.3.2 Colorado 4.3.3 District of Columbia 4.3.4 Florida 4.3.5 Maryland 4.3.6 Massachusetts 4.3.7 Michigan 4.3.8 Missouri 4.3.9 New Hampshire 4.3.10 New Jersey 4.3.11 New York 4.3.12 Ohio 4.3.13 Oregon 4.3.14 Pennsylvania 4.3.15 South Carolina 4.3.16 Tennessee 4.3.17 Texas 4.3.18 Washington 4.3.19 Wisconsin 4.4 Outside North America 4.5 Fictional 5 Schools 5.1 School districts 6 Vehicles 6.1 Ships 6.2 Spacecraft 6.3 Other 7 Other uses 8 See also

[edit] Companies

[edit] Music and entertainment

• Columbia Records, an American record label founded in 1888, now owned by Sony Music Entertainment
  • Columbia Symphony Orchestra, a former part of the Columbia Records company
• Columbia Graphophone Company, a now-defunct British record company and label
• Columbia Music Entertainment, a Japanese record company
• Columbia Pictures
  • Columbia Pictures Television
    • CBS Columbia Square, in Hollywood, California, West Coast home of CBS radio and television
    • Columbia TriStar Television

[edit] Other

• Columbia Aircraft, taken over by Cessna
• Columbia Aircraft Corp, originally Columbia Air Liners Inc.
• Columbia Bicycles of Hartford, Connecticut
  • Columbia Automobile Company (1899–1913), originally expanded from the bicycle line
• Columbia Brewery in Canada
• Columbia Broadcasting System, CBS radio and television networks
  • Columbia Artists Management
• Columbia Comics
• Columbia Data Products
• Columbia Forest Products
• Columbia Games
• Columbia Gas Transmission, a gas pipeline between the U.S. Gulf Coast and New York
• Columbia Helicopters, based in Aurora, Oregon
• Columbia Industries
• Columbia Insurance Group
• Columbia Management Group
• Columbia Motors of Detroit, Michigan (1917–1924)
• Columbia Power Corporation, Canada
• Columbia Railway, historic Washington, D.C. streetcar company
• Columbia Radio Corporation, Pittsburg manufacturer of radio sets and equipment
• Columbia Sportswear, formerly the Columbia Hat Company
  • Team Columbia, a professional cycling team sponsored by Columbia Sportswear
• Columbia Transit, bus company serving Columbia, Missouri
• Columbia University Press, affiliated with Columbia University and publisher of Columbia Encyclopedia
• Columbia Winery
• Columbia Yachts

Space Shuttle Columbia

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Columbia OV-102
Columbia being transported to launch pad 39A prior to launching on STS-107
OV designation	OV-102
Country	United States
Contract award	July 26, 1972
Named after	Robert Gray’s Columbia Rediviva
Status	Destroyed February 1, 2003
First flight	STS-1 April 12, 1981 – April 14, 1981
Last flight	STS-107 January 16, 2003 – February 1, 2003
Number of missions	28
Crews	160
Time spent in space	300 days 17:40:22[1]
Number of orbits	4,808
Distance travelled	201,497,772 km (125,204,911 miles)
Satellites deployed	8

Space Shuttle Columbia (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-102) was the first spaceworthy Space Shuttle in NASA‘s orbital fleet. First launched on the STS-1 mission, the first of the Space Shuttle program, it completed 27 missions before being destroyed during re-entry on February 1, 2003 near the end of its 28th, STS-107. All seven crew members were killed. Following an independent investigation into the cause of the accident, NASA decided to retire the Shuttle orbiter fleet in 2010 in favor of the Constellation program and its manned Orion spacecraft.

Contents [show] 1 History 2 Prototype orbiter 3 Flights 3.1 Mission insignias 4 Final mission and destruction 5 Tribute 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] History

Construction began on Columbia in 1975 at Rockwell International‘s (formerly North American Aviation/North American Rockwell, now Boeing North America) principal assembly facility in Palmdale, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. Columbia was named after the Boston-based sloop ColumbiaRobert Gray, who in the 1790s explored the Pacific Northwest (including going upstream on its namesake river between Washington and Oregon) and which became the first American vessel to circumnavigate the globe. It is also named after the Command Module of Apollo 11, the first manned landing on another celestial body.^[2] After construction, the orbiter arrived at Kennedy Space Center on March 25, 1979, to prepare for its first launch. On March 19, 1981, during preparations for a ground test, two workers were asphyxiated while working in Columbia’s nitrogen-purged aft engine compartment, resulting in their deaths.^[3] captained by
The first flight of Columbia (STS-1) was commanded by John Young, a Gemini and Apollo veteran who was the ninth person to walk on the Moon in 1972, and piloted by Robert Crippen, a rookie astronaut originally selected to fly on the military’s Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL) spacecraft, but transferred to NASA after its cancellation, and served as a support crew member for the Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz missions.
Columbia was successfully launched on April 12,1981, the 20th anniversary of the first human spaceflightVostok 1), and returned on April 14, 1981, after orbiting the Earth 36 times, landing on the dry lakebed runway at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Columbia then undertook three further research missions to test its technical characteristics and performance. Its first operational mission, with a four-man crew, was STS-5, which launched on November 11, 1982. At this point Columbia was joined by Challenger, which performed the next three shuttle missions, while Columbia underwent modifications for the first Spacelab ( mission.

Columbia astronauts Thomas K. Mattingly and Pilot Henry HartsfieldRonald Reagan, standing beside his wife, Nancy, upon landing in 1982. salute President

In 1983, Columbia, under the command of John Young for his sixth spaceflight, undertook its second operational mission (STS-9), in which the Spacelab science laboratory and a six-person crew was carried, including the first non-American astronaut on a space shuttle, Ulf Merbold. After the flight, Columbia spent the next three years at the Rockwell Palmdale facility, undergoing modifications that removed the Orbiter Test Flight hardware and bringing it up to similar specifications as that of its sister Orbiters. At that time the shuttle fleet was expanded to include Discovery and Atlantis.
Columbia returned to space on January 12, 1986, with the launch of STS-61-C. The mission’s crew included Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz, as well as the first sitting member of the House of Representatives to venture into space, Bill Nelson.
The next shuttle mission was undertaken by Challenger. It was launched on January 28, 1986, ten days after STS-61-C had landed. The mission ended in disaster 73 seconds after launch. In the aftermath NASA’s shuttle timetable was disrupted, and Columbia was not flown again until 1989 (on STS-28), after which it resumed normal service as part of the shuttle fleet.
STS-93, launched on July 23, 1999, was commanded by Lt. Col. Eileen Collins, the first female Commander of a U.S. spacecraft.

[edit] Prototype orbiter

Columbia launching during STS-1. Columbia’s distinctive black chines and “USA” painted on the starboard wing are visible. Columbia was the only orbiter launched with a white external tank.

As the second orbiter to be constructed, yet the first to be able to fly into space, Columbia was roughly 8,000 lb (3,600 kg) heavier than subsequent orbiters such as Endeavour, which were of a slightly different design, and had benefited from advances in materials technology.^[4] In part this was due to heavier wing and fuselage spars, the weight of early test instrumentation that remained fitted to the avionics suite, and an internal airlock that, originally fitted into the other orbiters, that were later removed for an external airlock to facilitate Shuttle/Mir and Shuttle/International Space Station dockings.^[5] This retention of an internal airlock allowed NASA to use Columbia for the STS-109 Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, along with the Spacehab double module used on STS-107. Had Columbia not been destroyed, it would have been fitted with the external airlock/docking adapter for mission STS-118, an International Space Station assembly mission, in November 2003.
Despite refinements to the launcher’s thermal protection system and other enhancements, Columbia would never weigh as little unloaded as the other orbiters in the fleet. The next-oldest shuttle, Challenger, was also relatively heavy, although 2,200 lb (1,000 kg) lighter than Columbia.
Externally, Columbia was the first orbiter in the fleet that originally had a mostly all-tile thermal protection system (TPS) with nomex Fiberous Reuseable Surface Insulation (FRSI) blankets in some areas on the wings and fuselage. This was later modified to incorporate thicker Advanced Fiberous Reuseable Insulation (AFRSI) blankets on the fuselage and upper wing surfaces as well after their successful use on shuttle Discovery and Atlantis. The work was performed during Columbia’s first retrofitting and the post-ChallengerColumbia were the black “chines” on the upper surfaces of the shuttle’s forward wing. These black areas were added because the first shuttle’s designers did not know how reentry heating would affect the craft’s upper wing surfaces. The “chines” allowed Columbia to be easily recognized at a distance, as opposed to the subsequent orbiters. stand-down. Also unique to
Until its last refit, Columbia was the only operational orbiter with wing markings consisting of an American flag on the port (left) wing and the letters “USA” on the starboard (right) wing. Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, Endeavour, and even the Enterprise all, until 1998, bore markings consisting of the letters “USA” afore an American flag on the left wing, and the pre-1998 NASA “worm” logo afore the respective orbiter’s name on the right wing. From its last refit to its destruction, Columbia bore markings identical to those of its operational sister orbiters — the NASA “meatball” logo on the left wing and the American flag afore the orbiter’s name on the right; only Columbia’s distinctive wing “chines” remained.
Another unique external feature, termed the “SILTS” pod, was located on the top of Columbia’s tailfin, and was installed after STS-9 to acquire infrared and other thermal data. Though the pod’s equipment was removed after initial tests, NASA decided to leave it in place, mainly to save costs, along with the agency’s plans to use it for future experiments. The tailfin was later modified to incorporate the drag chute first used on Endeavour in 1992.

Columbia on the launch pad before its first mission.

Columbia was originally fitted with Lockheed Martin-built ejection seats identical to those found on the SR-71 Blackbird. These seats were active for the four orbital test flights, but were deactivated after STS-4STS-9. Columbia was also the only orbiter not delivered with head-up displays for the Commander and Pilot, although these were incorporated after STS-9. Like its sister ships, Columbia was eventually retrofitted (at its last refit) with the new MEDS “glass cockpit” display and lightweight seats. and were removed entirely after
After the STS-118 mission, Columbia’s career would have started to wind down. The shuttle was planned to service the Hubble Space Telescope two more times, once in 2004, and again in 2005, but no more missions were planned for it again until 2009 when, on STS-144, it would retrieve the Hubble Space Telescope from orbit and bring it back to Earth. Following the Columbia accident, NASA flew the STS-125 mission, using the Atlantis to perform the final service mission (incorporating the planned fourth and fifth servicing missions), and in the process, installed a “Soft Capture Docking Mechanism,” based on the docking adapter to be used on the Orion spacecraft, for an eventual atmospheric reentry and breakup, as this would occur after the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet in 2010.
Columbia was also scheduled to launch the X-38 V-201 Crew Return Vehicle prototype as the next mission after STS-118, until the cancellation of the project in 2002.

[edit] Flights

Space Shuttle Columbia flew 28 flights, spent 300.74 days in space, completed 4,808 orbits, and flew 125,204,911 miles (201,497,772 km) in total, including its final mission.
Columbia was the only shuttle to have been spaceworthy during the Shuttle-Mir and International Space Station programs and yet to have never visited either Mir or ISS. In contrast, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour have all visited both stations at least once, as Columbia was not suited for high-inclination missions. Challenger was destroyed before the Shuttle-Mir Program began, and Enterprise never flew in space.

#	Date	Designation	Launch pad	Landing location	Notes
1	1981, April 12	STS-1	39-A	Edwards Air Force Base	First shuttle mission. Launch witnessed by the band Rush; inspired the song “Countdown” on their 1982 album Signals.
2	1981, November 12	STS-2	39-A	Edwards Air Force Base	First re-use of manned space vehicle
3	1982, March 22	STS-3	39-A	White Sands Space Harbor	First mission with an unpainted External tank. Only time that a space shuttle has landed at the White Sands Space Harbor. This launch was dedicated by Ronald ReaganAfghanistan“. to “the people of
4	1982, June 27	STS-4	39-A	Edwards Air Force Base	Last shuttle R&D flight
5	1982, November 11	STS-5	39-A	Edwards Air Force Base	First four-person crew, first deployment of commercial satellite.
6	1983 November 28	STS-9	39-A	Edwards Air Force Base	First six-person crew, first Spacelab.
7	1986, January 12	STS-61-C	39-A	Edwards Air Force Base	Representative Bill Nelson (D–FL) on board/ final successful shuttle flight before Challenger disaster
8	1989, August 8	STS-28	39-B	Edwards Air Force Base	Launched KH-11 reconnaissance satellite
9	1990, January 9	STS-32	39-A	Edwards Air Force Base	Retrieved Long Duration Exposure Facility
10	1990, December 2	STS-35	39-B	Edwards Air Force Base	Carried multiple X-ray & UV telescopes
11	1991, June 5	STS-40	39-B	Edwards Air Force Base	5th Spacelab – Life Sciences-1
12	1992, June 25	STS-50	39-A	Kennedy Space Center	U.S. Microgravity Laboratory 1 (USML-1)
13	1992, October 22	STS-52	39-B	Kennedy Space Center	Deployed Laser Geodynamic Satellite II
14	1993, April 26	STS-55	39-A	Edwards Air Force Base	German Spacelab D-2 Microgravity Research
15	1993, October 18	STS-58	39-B	Edwards Air Force Base	Spacelab Life Sciences
16	1994, March 4	STS-62	39-B	Kennedy Space Center	United States Microgravity Payload-2 (USMP-2)
17	1994, July 8	STS-65	39-A	Kennedy Space Center	International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-2)
18	1995, October 20	STS-73	39-B	Kennedy Space Center	United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML-2)
19	1996, February 22	STS-75	39-B	Kennedy Space Center	Tethered Satellite System Reflight (TSS-1R)
20	1996, June 20	STS-78	39-B	Kennedy Space Center	Life and Microgravity Spacelab (LMS)
21	1996, November 19	STS-80	39-B	Kennedy Space Center	3rd flight of Wake Shield Facility (WSF)/ longest Shuttle flight as of 2006
22	1997, April 4	STS-83	39-A	Kennedy Space Center	Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL)- cut short
23	1997, July 1	STS-94	39-A	Kennedy Space Center	Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL)- reflight
24	1997, November 19	STS-87	39-B	Kennedy Space Center	United States Microgravity Payload (USMP-4)
25	1998, April 13	STS-90	39-B	Kennedy Space Center	Neurolab – Spacelab
26	1999, July 23	STS-93	39-B	Kennedy Space Center	Deployed Chandra X-ray Observatory
27	2002, March 1	STS-109	39-A	Kennedy Space Center	Hubble Space Telescope service mission (HSM-3B)
28	2003, January 16	STS-107	39-A	Did not land (Planned to land at Kennedy Space Center)	A multi-disciplinary microgravity and Earth science research mission. Shuttle destroyed during re-entry on February 1, 2003 and all seven astronauts on board died.

[edit] Mission insignias

Mission insignia for Columbia flights
STS 1	STS 2	STS 3	STS 4	STS 5	STS 9	STS 61-C	STS 28
STS 32	STS 35	STS 40	STS 50	STS 52	STS 55	STS 58	STS 62
STS 65	STS 73	STS 75	STS 78	STS 80	STS 83	STS 94	STS 87
STS 90	STS 93	STS 109	STS 107

[edit] Final mission and destruction

George W. Bush’s address on the Columbia’s destruction, February 1, 2003.

Main article: Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

Columbia was destroyed at about 0900 EST on February 1, 2003 while re-entering the atmosphere after a 16-day scientific mission. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board determined that a hole was punctured in the leading edge on one of Columbia’s wings, made of a carbon-carbon composite. The hole had formed when a piece of insulating foam from the external fuel tank peeled off during the launch 16 days earlier and struck the shuttle’s wing. During the intense heat of re-entry, hot gases penetrated the interior of the wing, destroying the support structure and causing the rest of the shuttle to break apart. The nearly 84,000 pieces of collected debris of the vessel are stored in a 16th floor office suite in the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center. The collection was opened to the media once and has since been open only to researchers.^[6][7]

[edit] Tribute

The shuttle’s final crew was honored in 2003 when the USGS‘s Board of Geographic Names approved the name Columbia Point for a 13,980-foot mountain in Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains, less than a half-mile from Challenger Point, a peak named for America’s other lost shuttle. The Columbia Hills on Marsother memorials were dedicated in various forms. were also named in honor of the crew, and a host of
Fans of the original Star Trek television series were largely responsible for NASA naming the first Space Shuttle Enterprise. In the television series Star Trek: Enterprise both the first and second starships of the human-built NX-Class, registry numbers NX-01 & NX-02 respectively, were named in honor of pre-existing NASA space shuttles. The second vessel’s name was first revealed in the season 3 episode “E²” to be Columbia, in honor of the space shuttle Columbia following its destruction on February 1, 2003. Uniforms on NX-02 Columbia bear a crew patch depicting 7 stars, in honor of the astronauts who died in the shuttle accident.

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Space Shuttle Columbia

• List of human spaceflights
• List of Space Shuttle crews
• List of space shuttle missions
• Timeline of Space Shuttle missions

Heaven Uranus Uranium

Heaven Uranus Uranium

G3772 ïšñáíüò   Perhaps from the same as G3735 (through the idea of elevation); the sky; by extension heaven (as the abode of God); by implication happiness, power, eternity; specifically the Gospel (Christianity):—air, heaven ([-ly]), sky.

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
Aerial view of JSC in 1989
Agency overview
Formed	September 1963
Preceding agency	Manned Spacecraft Center
Jurisdiction	U.S. federal government
Headquarters	Houston (Texas, USA)
Employees	3,200 civil service
Agency executive	Mike Coats, director
Parent agency	NASA
Website
JSC home page

The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration‘s center for human spaceflight training, research and flight control. The center consists of a complex of 100 buildings constructed on 1,620 acres (656 ha) in Houston, Texas.^[1] Johnson Space Center is home to the United States astronaut corps and is responsible for training astronauts from both the U.S. and its international partners. It is often popularly referred to by its central function, “Mission Control“.

The center, originally known as the Manned Spacecraft Center, was constructed on land donated by Rice University and opened in 1963. On February 19, 1973, the center was renamed in honor of the late U.S. president and Texas native, Lyndon B. Johnson.^[2] JSC is one of ten major NASA field centers.

Contents [show] 1 History 2 Facilities 3 Personnel and training 4 Research 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] History

Flight controllers celebrate the Apollo 13 splashdown April 17, 1970; Gerry Griffin (l) became JSC director in 1982.

Entrance to JSC on February 1, 2003, with a makeshift memorial to the victims of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

Johnson Space Center has its origins in legislation shepherded to enactment in 1958 by then-U.S. Senator Lyndon Johnson. After President John F. Kennedy made the goal in 1961 to put a man on the Moon by the end of the decade, the Space Task Group was formed with Langley Research Center engineers to lead the Apollo Project.^[3] The group would need test facilities and research laboratories suitable to mount an expedition to the moon. In July 1961, NASA Administrator James E. Webb headed the site selection team. Requirements for the new site included the availability of water transport and an all-weather airport, proximity to a major telecommunications network, availability of established industrial workers and contractor support, an available supply of water, a mild climate permitting year-round outdoor work and a culturally attractive community. Houston was initially included because of the proximity to the 4,700-acre (19 km²) United States Army San Jacinto Ordnance Depot located on the Houston Ship Channel, and to regional universities, including Rice University, University of Texas, and Texas A&M University.^[3] The selection of Houston for the site was announced in September 1961. The land for the new facility was donated by Rice University and was situated in an undeveloped area 25 miles (40 km) southeast of Houston near Galveston Bay.^[4][5] Construction of the center, designed by Charles Luckman, began in April 1962, and the facility was officially opened for business in September 1963.^[6][7] When opened, the 1,620-acre (660 ha) facility was originally designated the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) and was to be the primary center for U.S. space missions involving astronauts.^[4][5]

The center’s Mission Control Center has been the operational center of every American human space mission since Gemini IV. The control center manages all activity on board the spacecraft and directs all space shuttle missions. Mission Control Center was constructed in 1962.^[3] By 1965, JSC was fully operational and has been responsible for coordinating and monitoring every crewed NASA mission since the Gemini Project.

In addition to housing NASA’s astronaut operations, JSC is also the site of the former Lunar Receiving Laboratory, where the first astronauts returning from the moon were quarantined, and where the majority of lunar samples are stored. The center’s Landing and Recovery Division operated MV Retriever in the Gulf of Mexico for Gemini and Apollo astronauts to practice water egress after splashdown.

In the wake of the January 28th, 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, then-President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy traveled to JSC on January 31 to speak at a memorial service honoring the astronauts. It was attended by 6,000 NASA employees and 4,000 guests, as well as by the families of the crew. During the ceremony, an Air Force band led the singing of “God Bless America” as NASA T-38 Talon supersonic jets flew directly over the scene, in the traditional missing-man formation. All activities were broadcast live by the national television and radio networks.

One of the artifacts displayed at Johnson Space Center is the Saturn V rocket. It is whole, except for the ring between the S-IC and S-II stages, and the fairing between the S-II and S-IVB stages, and made of actual surplus flight-ready articles. It also has a real (though incomplete) Apollo CSM, intended to fly in the canceled Apollo 19 mission.

In September 2008, NASA’s Johnson Space Center celebrated its 50th year of leading America into space.^[8]

On April 20, 2007 a hostage situation developed in Building 44, the Communication and Tracking Development Laboratory where a gunman killed one person, injured another, and took a hostage for over three hours until finally committing suicide.

On September 13, 2008 Hurricane Ike hit Galveston as a Category 3 Hurricane and caused minor damage to the Mission Control center and other buildings in the Johnson Space Center.^[9] The storm damaged the roofs of several hangars for the T-38 Talons at Ellington Field.^[9]

[edit] Facilities

Further information: List of buildings in the Johnson Space Center

The Johnson Space Center is home to Mission Control Center (MCC-H), the NASA control center that coordinates and monitors all human spaceflight for the United States. MCC-H directs all Space Shuttle missions and activities aboard the International Space Station. The Apollo Mission Control Center, a National Historic Landmark can be found in building 30. From the moment a spacecraft clears its launch tower until it lands back on earth, it is in the hands of Mission Control. The Mission Control Center houses several Flight Control Rooms, from which Flight controllers coordinate and monitor the spaceflights. The rooms have many computer resources to monitor, command and communicate with spacecraft. When a mission is underway the rooms are staffed around the clock, usually in 3 shifts.

The center handles most of the planning and training of the US astronaut corps and houses training facilities such as the Sonny Carter Training Facility and the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, which is a critical component in the training of astronauts for spacewalks. The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory provides a controlled neutral buoyancy environment a very large pool containing about 6.2 million US gallons (23,000 m³) of water where astronauts train to practice extra-vehicular activity tasks while attempting to simulate zero-g conditions.^[10][11] The facility provides pre-flight training in becoming familiar with crew activities and with the dynamics of body motion under weightless conditions.^[12]

The center is also responsible for direction of operations at White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, which serves as a backup Shuttle landing site and would be the coordinating facility for the Constellation program, which was planned to replace the Space Shuttle program after 2010.^[1]

The visitor’s center of Johnson Space Center is Space Center Houston since 1994. One of the JSC buildings (Building 2) once housed the JSC Visitor’s Center.

The Johnson Space Center Heliport (FAA LID: 72TX) is located on the campus. Ronald C. Bailey manages the heliport.^[13]

Mission Control Center.

Space Shuttle Challenger, atop its Boeing 747 SCA, flying over JSC.

Astronaut photograph centred on the JSC.

Belief in outer space life

José Gabriel Funes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

José Gabriel Funes
Born	January 31, 1963  ARG Córdoba
Residence	VAT
Fields	astrophysics
Institutions	Vatican Observatory

Fr. José Gabriel Funes, S.J. (born January 31, 1963 in Córdoba), an Argentine Jesuit priest and astronomer, is the current director of the Vatican Observatory.

Contents [show]

[edit] Biography

He has a master’s degree in Astronomy from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba in Argentina and a doctorate from the University of Padua in Italy. He has also a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from University del Salvador in Argentina and a bachelor’s degree in theology from Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. A member of the Society of Jesus, he was ordained a priest in 1995. He joined the Vatican Observatory as a researcher in 2000, and was named its director on August 19, 2006 replacing Fr. George Coyne.

[edit] Selected Papers

Author	Title	Journal	Year
LAPASSET E. and FUNES J.G.	The peculiar behaviour of the photometric variability of V508 Ophiuchi.	Astrophys. Space Sci., 113, 83-87	1985
CORSINI E.M., PIZZELLA A., FUNES J.G., VEGA BELTRAN J.C. and BERTOLA F.	The circumnuclear ring of ionized gas in NGC 3593.	Astron. Astrophys., 337, 80-84	1998
VEGA BELTRAN J.C., ZEILINGER W.W., AMICO P., SCHULTHEIS M., CORSINI E.M., FUNES J.G., BECKMAN J. and BERTOLA F.	Mixed early and late-type properties in the bar of NGC 6221: Evidence for evolution along the Hubble sequence?	Astron. Astrophys., Suppl. Ser., 131, 105-114	1998
BERTOLA F., CAPPELLARI M., FUNES J.G., CORSINI E.M., PIZZELLA A. and VEGA BELTRAN J.C.	Circumnuclear Keplerian disks in galaxies.	Astrophys. J., 509, L93-L96	1998
CORSINI E.M., PIZZELLA A., SARZI M., CINZANO P., VEGA BELTRAN J.C., FUNES J.G., BERTOLA F., PERSIC M. and SALUCCI P.	Dark matter in early-type spiral galaxies: the case of NGC 2179 and of NGC 2775.	Astron. Astrophys., 342, 671-686	1999
BERTOLA F., CORSINI E.M., VEGA BELTRAN J.C., PIZZELLA A., SARZI M., CAPPELLARI M. and FUNES J.G.	The bulge-disk orthogonal decoupling in galaxies: NGC 4698.	Astrophys. J., 519, L127-L130	1999
SARZI M., CORSINI E.M., PIZZELLA A., VEGA BELTRAN J.C., CAPPELLARI M., FUNES J.G. and BERTOLA F.	NGC 4672: A new case of an early-type disk galaxy with an orthogonally decoupled core.	Astron. Astrophys., 360, 439-446	2000
FUNES J.G. and CORSINI E.M.	Galaxy disks and disk galaxies. (Conference highlights).	Publ. Astron. Soc. Pac., 112, 1510-1511	2000
VEGA BELTRAN J.C., PIZZELLA A., CORSINI E.M., FUNES J.G., ZEILINGER W.W., BECKMAN J.E. and BERTOLA F.	Kinematic properties of gas and stars in 20 disc galaxies.	Astron. Astrophys., 374, 394-411	2001
VENNIK J., FUNES J.G., RAFANELLI P. and RICHTER G.M.	Structure of the Seyfert 2 galaxy Mkn 955.	Astron. Gesellschaft Abstract Ser., 18, 210-210	2001
SARZI M., BERTOLA F., CAPPELLARI M., CORSINI E.M., FUNES J.G., PIZZELLA A. and VEGA BELTRAN J.C.	The orthogonal bulge-disc decoupling in NGC 4698.	Astrophys. Space Sci., 276, 467-473	2001
VEGA BELTRAN J.C., ZEILINGER W.W., PIZZELLA A., CORSINI E.M., BERTOLA F., FUNES J.G. and BECKMAN J.E.	Kinematics of gas and stars in 20 disc galaxies.	Astrophys. Space Sci., 276, 1201-1210	2001
PIGNATELLI E., VEGA BELTRAN J.C., BECKMAN J.E., CORSINI E.M., PIZZELLA A., SCARLATA C., BERTOLA F., FUNES J.G. and ZEILINGER W.W.	Modeling gas and stellar kinematics in disc galaxies NGC 772, NGC 3898 and NGC 7782.	Astrophys. Space Sci. Suppl., 277, 493-494	2001
PIGNATELLI E., CORSINI E.M., VEGA BELTRAN J.C., SCARLATA C., PIZZELLA A., FUNES J.G., ZEILINGER W.W., BECKMAN J.E. and BERTOLA F.	Modelling gaseous and stellar kinematics in the disc galaxies NGC 772, 3898 and 7782.	Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 323, 188-210	2001
PIZZELLA A., BERTOLA F., SARZI M., CORSINI E.M., VEGA BELTRAN J.C., CAPPELLARI M. and FUNES J.G.	NGC 4672: a new case of an early-type disk galaxy with an orthogonally decoupled core.	Mem. Soc. Astron. Ital., 72, 797-800	2001
FUNES J.G.	Kinematics of the ionized gas in the inner regions of disk galaxies. (Dissertation summary).	Publ. Astron. Soc. Pac., 113, 257-257	2001
FUNES J.G., CORSINI E.M., CAPPELLARI M., PIZZELLA A., VEGA BELTRAN J.C., SCARLATA C. and BERTOLA F.	Position-velocity diagrams of ionized gas in the inner regions of disk galaxies.	Astron. Astrophys., 388, 50-67	2002
FUNES J.G., REJKUBA M., MINNITI D., AKIYAMA S. and KENNICUTT R.C.	Star formation in the disk of NGC 5128.	American Astron. Soc. meeting, 201, #20.23	2002
COCCATO L., CORSINI E.M., PIZZELLA A., MORELLI L., FUNES J.G. and BERTOLA F.	Minor-axis velocity gradients in disk galaxies’.	Astron. Astrophys., 416, 507-514	2004
LEE J.C., KENNICUTT R.C., FUNES J.G., SAKAI S., TREMONTI C.A. and VAN ZEE L.	11HUGS: The 11 Mpc H-{alpha} and ultraviolet galaxy survey.	American Astron. Soc. meeting, 205, #60.04	2004
KENNICUTT R.C., LEE J.C., AKIYAMA S., FUNES J.G. and SAKAI S.	An H-{alpha} imaging survey of galaxies in the local 11 Mpc volume.	American Astron. Soc. meeting, 205, #60.05	2004
KRALL C. and FUNES J.G.	H-alpha and UBR imaging of elliptical galaxies with dust lanes.	American Astron. Soc. meeting, 205, #92.04	2004
MINNITI D., REJKUBA M., FUNES J.G. and AKIYAMA S.	Optical counterparts of X-ray point sources observed by Chandra in NGC 5128: 20 new globular cluster X-ray sources.	Astrophys. J., 600, 716-728	2004
MINNITI D., REJKUBA M., FUNES J.G. and KENNICUTT R.C.Jr	The most exciting massive binary cluster in NGC 5128: clues to the formation of globular clusters.	Astrophys. J., 612, 215-221	2004
VILLEGAS D., MINNITI D. and FUNES J.G.	HST photometry of the binary globular cluster Sersic 13N-S in NGC 5128.	Astron. Astrophys., 442, 437-442	2005
GUTIERREZ C.M., ALONSO M.S., FUNES J.G. and RIBEIRO M.B.	Star formation in satellite galaxies.	Astron. J., 132, 596-607	2006
LEE J.C., KENNICUTT R.C., FUNES J.G., SAKAI S. and AKIYAMA S.	The star formation demographics of galaxies in the Local Volume.	Astrophys. J., 671, L113-L116	2007

[edit] Extraterrestrials

In an interview in May 2008^{[1] [2]} he stated that the possible existence of intelligent extraterrestrials did not contradict church teaching^[3][4] and ruling out the existence of aliens would be like “putting limits” on God’s creative freedom.^[5] He has speculated that such alien life forms could even be “free from Original Sin … [remaining] in full friendship with their creator.”^[6] Funes’ statements have clearly similar points to what the Vatican’s Corrado Balducci also previously has expressed.

[edit] References

1. ^ “L’extraterrestre è mio fratello” L’Osservatore romano, 14 May 2008 Full text of the original interview (in Italian) conserved on the Vatican’s Website
2. ^ Full text of L’Osservatore Romano interview translated into English.
3. ^ L’Osservatore Romano: The extraterrestrial is my brother, Vatican astronomer says believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God.
4. ^ “Vatican says aliens could exist”. BBC. 13 May 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
5. ^ “It’s OK To Believe in Aliens”. Associated Press. 13 May 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
6. ^ mental_floss Blog » “Aliens Are Our Brothers,” says Vatican.

[edit] See also

• List of Jesuit scientists

[edit] External links

• Curriculum Vitae

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (“FISA” Pub.L. 95-511, 92 Stat. 1783, enacted October 25, 1978, 50 U.S.C. ch.36, S. 1566) is an Act of Congress which prescribes procedures for the physical and electronic surveillance and collection of “foreign intelligence information” between “foreign powers” and “agents of foreign powers” (which may include American citizens and permanent residents suspected of being engaged in espionage and violating U.S. law on territory under United States control).^[1]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Protect America Act of 2007

Wikisource has original text related to this article: FISA Amendments Act of 2008

Contents [show] 1 Subsequent amendments 2 History 2.1 Bush administration warrantless domestic wiretapping program 3 Scope and limits 4 Provisions 4.1 Electronic surveillance 4.1.1 Without a court order 4.1.2 With a court order 4.2 Physical searches 4.3 FISA court 4.4 Remedies for violations 4.5 Lone wolf amendment 5 Constitutionality 5.1 Before FISA 5.2 Post FISA 6 Criticisms 7 Amendments 7.1 Terrorist Surveillance Act of 2006 7.2 Protect America Act of 2007 7.2.1 Subsequent developments 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Subsequent amendments

The Act was amended in 2001 by the USA PATRIOT Act, primarily to include terrorism on behalf of groups that are not specifically backed by a foreign government.
An overhaul of the bill, the Protect America Act of 2007 was signed into law on August 5, 2007^[2]. It expired on February 17, 2008.
The FISA Amendments Act of 2008 passed by the United States Congress on July 9, 2008.^[3]

[edit] History

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was introduced on May 18, 1977 by Senator Ted Kennedy. The bill was cosponsored by the nine Senators: Birch Bayh, James O. Eastland, Jake Garn, Walter Huddleston, Daniel Inouye, Charles Mathias, John L. McClellan, Gaylord Nelson, and Strom Thurmond.
The act was signed into law by President Carter in 1978.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act resulted from extensive investigations by Senate Committees into the legality of domestic intelligence activities. These investigations were led separately by Sam Ervin and Frank Church in 1978 as a response to President Richard Nixon’s usage of federal resources to spy on political and activist groups, which violates the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.^[4] The act was created to provide Judicial and congressional oversight of the government’s covert surveillance activities of foreign entities and individuals in the United States, while maintaining the secrecy needed to protect national security. It allowed surveillance, without court order, within the United States for up to one year unless the “surveillance will acquire the contents of any communication to which a United States person is a party”. If a United States person is involved, judicial authorization was required within 72 hours after surveillance begins.

[edit] Bush administration warrantless domestic wiretapping program

Main article: NSA warrantless surveillance controversy

The Act came into public prominence in December 2005 following publication by the New York Times of an article^[5] that described a program of warrantless domestic wiretapping ordered by the Bush administration and carried out by the National Security Agency since 2002 (a subsequent Bloomberg article^[6] suggested that this may have already begun by June 2000).

[edit] Scope and limits

For most purposes, including electronic surveillance and physical searches, “foreign powers” means a foreign government, any faction(s) or foreign governments not substantially composed of US persons, and any entity directed or controlled by a foreign government. §§1801(a)(1)-(3) The definition also includes groups engaged in international terrorism and foreign political organizations. §§1801(a)(4) and (5). The sections of FISA authorizing electronic surveillance and physical searches without a court order specifically exclude their application to groups engaged in international terrorism. See §1802(a)(1) (referring specifically to §1801(a)(1), (2) and (3)).
The statute includes limits on how it may be applied to US persons. A “US person” includes citizens, lawfully admitted permanent resident aliens, and corporations incorporated in the US.
The code defines “foreign intelligence information” to mean information necessary to protect the United States against actual or potential grave attack, sabotage or international terrorism.^[7]
In sum, a significant purpose of the electronic surveillance must be to obtain intelligence in the U.S. on foreign powers (such as enemy agents or spies) or individuals connected to international terrorist groups. To use FISA, the government must show probable cause that the “target of the surveillance is a foreign power or agent of a foreign power.”[3]^[8]

[edit] Provisions

The subchapters of FISA provide for:

• Electronic Surveillance (50 U.S.C. ch.36 subch.I)
• Physical Searches (50 U.S.C. ch.36 subch.II)
• Pen Registers and Trap & Trace Devices for Foreign Intelligence Purposes (50 U.S.C. ch.36 subch.III)
• Access to certain Business Records for Foreign Intelligence Purposes (50 U.S.C. ch.36 subch.IV)
• Reporting Requirement (50 U.S.C. ch.36 subch.V)

The act created a court which meets in secret, and approves or denies requests for search warrants. Only the number of warrants applied for, issued and denied, is reported. In 1980 (the first full year after its inception), it approved 322 warrants.^[9] This number has steadily grown to 2224 warrants^[10] in 2006. In the period 1979-2006 a total of 22,990 applications for warrants were made to the Court of which 22,985 were approved (sometimes with modifications; or with the splitting up, or combining together, of warrants for legal purposes), and only 5 were definitively rejected.^[11]

[edit] Electronic surveillance

Generally, the statute permits electronic surveillance in two scenarios.

[edit] Without a court order

The President may authorize, through the Attorney General, electronic surveillance without a court order for the period of one year provided it is only for foreign intelligence information;^[7] targeting foreign powers as defined by 50 U.S.C. § 1801(a)(1),(2),(3)^[12] or their agents; and there is no substantial likelihood that the surveillance will acquire the contents of any communication to which a United States person is a party.^[13]
The Attorney General is required to make a certification of these conditions under seal to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court,^[14] and report on their compliance to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.^[15]
Since 50 U.S.C. § 1802(a)(1)(A) of this act specifically limits warrantless surveillance to foreign powers as defined by 50 U.S.C. §1801(a) (1),(2), (3) and omits the definitions contained in 50 U.S.C. §1801(a) (4),(5),(6) the act does not authorize the use of warrantless surveillance on: groups engaged in international terrorism or activities in preparation therefore; foreign-based political organizations, not substantially composed of United States persons; or entities that are directed and controlled by a foreign government or governments.^[16] Under the FISA act, anyone who engages in electronic surveillance except as authorized by statute is subject to both criminal penalties^[17] and civil liabilities.^[18]
Under 50 U.S.C. § 1811, the President may also authorize warrantless surveillance at the beginning of a war. Specifically, he may authorize such surveillance “for a period not to exceed fifteen calendar days following a declaration of war by the Congress.”^[19]

[edit] With a court order

Alternatively, the government may seek a court order permitting the surveillance using the FISA court.^[20] Approval of a FISA application requires the court find probable cause that the target of the surveillance be a “foreign power” or an “agent of a foreign power”, and that the places at which surveillance is requested is used or will be used by that foreign power or its agent. In addition, the court must find that the proposed surveillance meet certain “minimization requirements” for information pertaining to US persons.^[21]

[edit] Physical searches

In addition to electronic surveillance, FISA permits the “physical search” of the “premises, information, material, or property used exclusively by” a foreign power.
The requirements and procedures are nearly identical to those for electronic surveillance.