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Distinguished astronomer honored NASA NEWS RELEASE Posted: January 10, 2006 NASA Administrator Michael Griffin awarded the agency's Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal posthumously to acclaimed American astronomer and astrophysicist John Bahcall. His lifetime of achievement included work on development of the Hubble Space Telescope. Griffin presented the medal Tuesday to Bahcall's widow, Neta Bahcall, during a ceremony at the 207th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington. In addition to work on the Hubble, Bahcall was honored for extraordinary service to NASA's space astronomy program and leadership of the National Research Council's Decadal Survey. The Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal recognizes significant scientific contributions toward achieving NASA's missions of exploration and discovery. "In his 70 years, John Bahcall was a legend in this community," Griffin said. "I have followed the career of John Bahcall and long admired his scientific accomplishments and passionate advocacy for space-based astronomy." Among Bahcall's five decades of accomplishments was his groundbreaking work in the 1960s toward explaining the scientific mysteries of the sun. He later partnered with astronomers Lyman Spitzer and George Field to develop the bold concept that became Hubble. Bahcall was a Richard Black Professor of Astrophysics in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., and a guest lecturer at Princeton University. He served as president of the American Astronomical Society and president elect of the American Physical Society. In 1992 he received the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal. In 1998 he received the National Medal of Science from President Clinton. "John always did what he loved, and he did it until the end," said Neta Bahcall. She is a professor of astrophysical sciences at Princeton. "We had an incredible 40 years together. We were best friends; we were scientific colleagues; and we were the love of each other's lives." |
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This film looks at the highlights in NASA's history from its creation in the 1950s, through the glory days of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, birth of the space shuttle and the loss of Challenger, launch of Hubble and much more.
If at first you don't succeed, keep on trying. That is what the astronauts of space shuttle Endeavour's maiden voyage did in their difficult job of rescuing a wayward communications satellite. Spacewalkers were unable to retrieve the Intelsat 603 spacecraft, which had been stranded in a useless orbit, during multiple attempts using a special capture bar. So the crew changed course and staged the first-ever three-man spacewalk to grab the satellite by hand. The STS-49 astronauts describe the mission and narrate highlights in this post-flight presentation.
The mission for the crew of space shuttle Challenger's April 1984 flight was two-fold -- deploy the experiment-laden Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) and then track down the crippled Solar Max spacecraft, capture it and perform repairs during spacewalks. Initial attempts by the astronauts to grab the craft while wearing the Manned Maneuvering Unit spacewalk backpacks failed, but the crew ultimately retrieved Solar Max and installed fresh equipment while it was anchored in the payload bay. The crew narrates this post-flight presentation of home movies and highlights from mission STS-41C.