1 February 2013 will be the tenth anniversary of the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia and its crew. After a routine science mission the orbiter was making a daytime re-entry over the southern US when it catastrophically broke up. All on board, Rick D. Husband, William C. McCool, Michael Read more…
Perhaps you haven’t noticed but new Astronotes posts have been a little short on the ground of late.I’d love to be able to say that this was because I was offworld on the International Space Station, but sadly the real reason was I’ve been ill (indeed I did spend some Read more…
NASA’s final Shuttle flight is due this week, in this article Colin Johnston reveals what this historic space project has meant to him. (This article is a sequel to Apollo and me which appeared in the July 2009 issue of Astronotes. It’s another indulgent wallow in shameless nostalgia so Read more…
Could you or someone you love actually be an astronomer? There are tell-tale warning signs, try our exciting quiz to discover if you are one of these creatures of the night! Amateur Astronomy is a fascinating and rewarding hobby, enjoyed by people from all walks of life and all ages. Read more…
An older generation will never forget where they were when they heard the news of President Kennedy’s murder Alas, I have three such memories. The 2001 terror attacks in the US, the destruction of Columbia and its crew in 2003 and the loss of Challenger are events whose horror has Read more…
Who am I? I’m Colin Johnston, Armagh Planetarium’s Science Education Director. How did I get here? “According to their biographies, Destiny’s favoured children usually had their lives planned out from scratch. Napoleon was figuring out how to rule France when he was a barefoot boy in Corsica, Alexander the Great Read more…