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Special Section:
Life on Mars?

Sites of the Week for January 1997

Week of January 6, 1997

Rockets in the Rockies

People usually don't think of the state of Colorado as a major player in the aerospace business. A special report by the Rocky Mountain News newspaper several months ago, though, showed that aerospace companies in Colorado like Lockheed Martin are making the state one of the key centers for aerospace in the United States. This multi-part report is available on the Web site, along with links to relates sites, sounds and images, and other information.

http://www.denver-rmn.com/rocket/rocket.htm

UN Office for Outer Space Affairs

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs works to support space-related activities of developing countries and serve as an intermediary between developed spacefaring countries. These purposes are reflected in their Austrian-based Web site, with links to UN outer space treaties, satellite registries, conference and meeting proceedings, and future plans.

http://www.un.or.at/OOSA/index.html

Week of January 13, 1997

Mike's Spacecraft Library

This JPL site is an excellent source of information about spacecraft missions. All different types of spacecraft from the United States, Soviet Union/Russia, and other nationas are included. The site aims to provide information for the general public, not "those fluent in aerospace geek speak," and succeeds in that task.

http://leonardo.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/home.html

The Spaceguard Foundation

This international organization seeks to support efforts to locate near-Earth asteroids and comets which could threaten to impact the Earth. The organizations seeks to promote and coordinate a network of telescopes to systematically search for these objects. This low-key site has information about the organization and near-Earth objects, as well as how to support this worthy cause by joining the organization.

http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~marsden/SGF/

Week of January 20, 1997

Handbook of Space Astronomy and Astrophysics

The Handbook of Space Astronomy and Astrophysics is an online version of a popular printed reference text. There are tables of reference information in all fields of astronomy and astrophysics and well as aeronautics, matematics, and radiation safety(!). The content of this Web site is images of scanned-in pages from the book, so the information can be a little cumbersome to read sometimes, but otherwise this is an excellent online resource!

http://adswww.harvard.edu/books/hsaa/

The 2111 Foundation for Exploration

The goal of this foundation is to support expeditions and other efforts which link Earth-based environmental work and the exploration of space, and to educate the public and students about those efforts. The name of the organization comes from thr 200th anniversary of the first successful South Pole expedition in 1911; the foundation plans to mount a commemorative expedition to the south pole of Mars in 2111. The Web site has information on current projects and how you can contribute to their work.

http://twentyone-11.org/

Week of January 27, 1997

NASA Apollo Mission Apollo-1

Thirty years ago -- January 27, 1967 -- tragedy struck the American space program when a fire killed the three-man crew of the first Apollo mission during a training exercise on the launch pad. The NASA History Office is marking this occasion with a Web site about the accident. The site features detailed biographies of astronauts Roger Chaffee, Gus Grissom, and Ed White; a history of the accident and investigation, and links to official reports.

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollo204/

FAS Space Policy Project: Challenger Accident

Nineteen years and one day after the three-man crew of Apollo 1 perished, the seven astronauts onboard the shuttle Challenger died after an explosion ripped apart the shuttle 73 seconds after launch. The Federation of American Scientists' Space Policy Project has assembled a detailed list of online resources about the accident. You can access the Rogers Comission report on the accident, information on the cultural significance of the tragedy, and engineering considerations behind the accident and the possibility for another. You can also provide your own memories about the event.

http://www.fas.org/spp/51L.html