2000 – After 18 months of observations, NASA’s
Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite, or SWAS, announces the detection of water vapour throughout interstellar space. “We can think of these stellar nurseries as giant chemical factories that are producing water vapour at a tremendous rate. The large amounts of water vapour present in regions of star formation will help the interstellar gas to cool, perhaps eventually triggering the birth of a future generation of stars.” David Neufeld, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at
Johns Hopkins University.
Birthdays
1958 – Peter Jeffrey Kelsay ‘Jeff’ Wisoff was born in Norfolk, Virginia, USA. Selection NASA Group 13, 1990. Time in space: 44d 8hr 9min. Missions: STS-57, STS-68, STS-81, STS-92
1933 –Stuart Allen ‘Stu’ Roosa was born in Durango, Colorado. In 1966, NASA selected him as an astronaut in selection group 5. After training, he became part of the crew of Apollo 14, the third lunar landing mission, which took place from January 31 to February 9, 1971. Roosa was the command module pilot for that mission; afterward, he was a backup pilot for Apollo 16 and 17 and participated in the space shuttle program. He retired from the Air Force and NASA in 1976 with the rank of colonel. (d. of pancreatitis 12 December 1994)
