Dream Big - Space, Limerick and Two Men's Quests to Reach for the Stars

by Cian O'Regan

Crowds of excited space enthusiasts descended on the Limerick Institute of Technology's Millennium Theatre on Wednesday evening, to hear from Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot Al Worden, and Limerick's very own Space Tourist Cyril Bennis.

Moderated by the brilliant Dr Niamh Shaw, the evening began when the two special guests were both asked what made them decide they wanted to dedicate their lives to space exploration.

Most Al Worden stories finish with whooping laughter, as seen here!
credit: Irish Space Blog(Cian O'Regan)

Worden was able to trace this all the way back to his humble beginnings growing up on a farm in Michigan, when he discovered that a life spent working the land simply wasn't for him;

"I made the decision, albeit at an early age, that I wanted to get as far away from the farm as possible."

Little would this farm boy know that years later he would travel a quarter of a million miles to the Moon to fulfill this promise.

With the full support and backing of his parents, Worden decided to follow the theme of the evening and dream big - firmly setting his sights on attending the prestigious United States Military Academy at West Point. However, he soon found out that things weren't going to be that straightforward.

"One big obstacle I had to face was that we didn't have enough money to send me to college," Worden said. "I did all my study at the side, and got myself set for a competitive exam in the state that I lived in, did well enough in that exam to get an appointment from one of the state senators, and that got me into West Point..

All I had to do was keep my nose clean, nose to the grindstone, shine my shoes, make sure my clothes were neatly folded in the closet, get up readily at six o'clock and be out there with the rest of them, do what I had to do, and I found out that I did okay!"

The twenty-three year old Worden graduated from the USMA as a member of the class of 1955, and thanks to a number of senior Air Force officers at the Academy, decided that flying aeroplanes would be his next big move.

"I found out that I had a knack for flying - it was almost second nature."

Having earned his Air Force wings, Worden decided that flying aircraft higher and faster than anyone else was what he wanted to do next. For any pilot with such lofty aspirations, Edwards Air Force Base in the high-desert of California - the kindergarten for astronauts - was the next logical step.

Following in the footsteps of some of America's first space explorers at Edwards(Gus Grissom, Frank Borman, Tom Stafford and Ed White to name just a few), and after spending time at the Empire Test Pilot School in Farnborough, England, Worden was selected as part of NASA's fifth group of astronauts in April 1966.

Cyril Bennis was just a young secondary-school student when John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth aboard his Friendship 7 spacecraft in 1962. A school visit by Glenn on a post-flight goodwill tour to Limerick was the source of inspiration for a young Bennis to reach for the stars.

"At that moment I thought that this is what I want to achieve in my life" said the former mayor of Stratford-upon-Avon in England. "I believe that absolutely everyone has a potential to do something great, and that something great for me I hope is to fly in space."

Like Al Worden, Bennis had the full backing of his parents to pursue a career in space, in particular from his mother.

"I would spend a lot of my time in school dreaming, dreaming of places I wanted to go..
My mother always used to say that I needed a rocket under me to get me going, well now when I make my flight - I'll have four under me!"

Widely tipped to become the first Irish citizen to fly in space. Bennis is due to make two flights with XCOR Space Expeditions. On his first flight, Bennis will zoom to the edge of space - 60 kilometers above the Earth aboard the company's Lynx Mark I spacecraft.

Bennis describing his flight profile using a scale model of the XCOR Mark I
credit: Irish Space Blog(Cian O'Regan)

His second flight will be aboard an updated Lynk Mark II, which will take him past the Karman Line(the internationally recognized boundary of suborbital space at an altitude of 100 kilometers), pull 4Gs on the way home, and in the process, become Ireland's first astronaut.

As the night went on, Worden, with NASA and Apollo 15 patches emblazoned on his flight jacket, told stories of his journey to the Moon with the same enthusiasm and excitement as if he had only returned a from the odyssey a few months ago.

As one of the 24 men to have flown to our nearest neighbour, and one of only seven men to have orbited the Moon alone as Command Module Pilot as he did in 1971, you could hear a pin drop as the audience listened intently to tales ranging from launching atop the 363-foot tall Saturn V rocket into space, to what was visible outside the porthole-sized windows of his spaceship Endeavour.

"I had a full panorama of the heavens! Because of the rotation of the spacecraft I would watch the Sun go by, the Moon go by and then the Earth go by." Shaw was quick to ask what goes through a person's mind after seeing something so unique.

"You don't process it much in flight because you're still in awe that you're there.. Those thoughts come to you a couple of weeks after, and you relive what you saw and all those thoughts in your head start to come out."

For Worden, he found the best way express what he saw and felt was through the art of poetry;

"When we got back to Houston, we would get up early and debrief with the whole Mission Control team. Every single second of the flight had to be debriefed, and it took us two weeks to go through all that.

Afterwards I began to have strange thoughts.. I was at home by myself at night, so I'd sit in my living room, turn off all the lights, and these thoughts would come to me. So one day I got a legal pad and I start writing and writing and writing, never really thinking about what I was writing as it was just sort of coming to me. That resulted in a book of poetry!"

Worden discussing his days as a West Point cadet
credit: Irish Space Blog(Cian O'Regan)

Bennis, who has yet to see the Earth from space, told the audience that he'd hopefully be able to answer the same question in the not too distant future.

DREAMING BIG

In their closing remarks, both men focused on the power of aiming high, and stopping at nothing until you've set out what you wanted to achieve in the first place.

"I think it's good to have two feet on the ground and be humble about things" said Limerick man Bennis. "If you dream, you can do these things."

Recalling R-Day(Reception Day - the first day of a cadet at the USMA) at West Point, Worden admitted to feeling way out of his depth.

"I went into West Point that day with something like 850 cadets, and I looked at all those guys and I said to myself "I don't know why I'm here. These guys are so much better than I am. They're the star quarterback on the football team, the straight-A student, the student body president - really great, great guys, and I'm just a little kid off the farm competing with these big city kids."

It took me about three months to figure out that they were no better than I was!

If you want something badly enough, you're going to find a way to do it. You've got to have the dream, the goal, the persistence and the determination to reach that goal, and you'll find that if you can go through life with that kind of attitude, you can do anything you want. Don't ever short-change yourself."

Niamh Shaw, who recently attended Elon Musk's keynote speech at the 67th International Astronomical Congress in Mexico,(an event overshadowed by a straight-up weird Q&A session dominated by over-enthusiastic fans of the billionaire) thankfully did not face such a dilemma as she opened the floor to questions ranging from thoughts on conspiracy theorists to the growth of the commercial spaceflight industry.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end as the night had to come to a close. Yet with everyone already smiling from ear-to-ear after hearing such wonderful stories and adventures, we couldn't not take a special Space Week group selfie!

On behalf of everyone in attendance that night, I would like to sincerely thank the Blackrock Castle Observatory for organising this fantastic Space Week event in association with LIT and Lough Gur Heritage Centre, and of course offer my sincerest thanks to the superb duo of Al Worden and Cyril Bennis for their stories and inspiration.

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Reader's Top 5 Space Events of 2015

Earlier this month we asked our readers to submit what they thought was their favourite astronomical/space event of the past year. We were flooded with responses ranging from the solar eclipse of March 20 to meteor showers to the New Horizons flyby of Pluto.

So without further ado, here are your favourite space events of 2015!

1. "Supermoon" Lunar Eclipse

By far the most popular event, receiving twice the number of votes than second place, it's clear that the lunar eclipse on September 28 has a special place in our reader's hearts. And why wouldn't it? 

David Blanchflower captured this stunning image of the eclipse
from Newcastle, England (credit: David Blanchflower)

Encompassing more than half the planet, those lucky enough to catch a glimpse between clouds were wowed by what they saw, and those who stayed up into the wee hours of the morning were kindly rewarded for their efforts.

For many, it will be remembered as the night the Moon turned blood red- a "blood Moon." 

However, this was no ordinary lunar eclipse. What made this one special was the fact that it occurred during a Supermoon- when the Moon is full at its closest point to Earth in its orbit. While lunar eclipses happen all the time, supermoon lunar eclipses are rare- with the next one occurring in 2033!

2. The New Horizons Flyby of Pluto

Pluto seen by New Horizons at a distance of 280,000 miles
(credit: NASA)

                                                  

On July 14 2015, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft made history by becoming the first space probe to make a close flyby to observe dwarf planet Pluto and its moons.

Launching from Florida in 2006, it took over nine years for New Horizons to reach the distant Kuiper Belt object. In fact, the journey took so long that Pluto was demoted from a planet to a dwarf planet during its transit. But Pluto didn't disappoint, with New Horizons capturing stunning images like these which allowed scientists back on Earth try and understand how dwarf planets first came into existence.

Now that Pluto has finally been checked off the list of heavenly bodies in our solar system to explore, New Horizons is now setting its sights on a new target to explore. It's currently headed for Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 with arrival scheduled for January 1 2019.

3. Solar Eclipse of March 20

There's no better way to demonstrate the alignment of objects in our solar system than a solar eclipse. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes in front of the Sun- turning day into night and back again all within a few minutes. 

The solar eclipse of March 20 was visible from most of Europe with totality only visible from the Faroe Islands. Unfortunately most eclipse hunters who made the trip to the islands in the North Atlantic were clouded over. But it wasn't all bad news as some great shots of the total solar eclipse were captured by people in aircraft flying above the clouds. Check out this cool video taken from a plane flying high over the Atlantic where the view was much, much more spectacular.

For the rest of Europe a partial solar eclipse was visible, allowing viewers on the ground to view and take photographs of the rare celestial event. The next partial solar eclipse visible from Ireland takes place on August 21 2017, when viewers situated in a long corridor spanning the United States will witness totality.

4. The Perseid Meteor Shower

In the northern hemisphere the Perseid Meteor Shower always ranks among the favourite astronomical events of the year- never failing to disappoint. With up to fifty meteors per hour visible in dark skies, it's easy to spend hours looking up and watching debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle slam into the Earth’s upper atmosphere at around 210,000 kilometers (130,000 miles) per hour, lighting up the nighttime with fast-moving shooting stars.

Check out this amazing shot of Perseid meteors and the Milky Way over Mount Ranier in Washington State(credit: Matthew Dietrich).

5. The discovery of liquid water on Mars

On September 28 NASA announced that liquid water has been discovered on the surface of Mars!(See: NASA Has Found Liquid Water on Mars)

Based on images taken over several years from the NASA's Mars Reconaissance Orbiter(MRO), currently orbiting the red planet, there is enough evidence to suggest that liquid water does in fact exist on the surface of Mars today. MRO has been orbiting Mars since 2006.

“This is a significant development, as it appears to confirm that water - albeit briny - is flowing today on the surface of Mars.” -John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. 

Recurring Slope Lineae at Hale Crater, Mars
(credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)

Using the orbiter's imaging spectrometer, scientists have observed that dark streaks on the Martian surface appear to ebb and flow over time. These darks streaks are known as recurring slope lineae(RSL) and appear to flow down steep slopes during warmer months, then fade away during colder months.

September 28 will go down in history as the day when humans stopped thinking of the existence of water on Mars as science fiction and instead turned it into science reality. In the words of Grunsfeld, "Stay tuned to science because science never sleeps and we've got lots of discoveries(left to make)."


What was your favourite space event of 2015? Let us know by tweeting us @irishspaceblog
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How to See the September 28 Supermoon Lunar Eclipse

There is no denying that a lunar eclipse is one of the most beautiful astronomical phenomenon we witness on planet Earth. There's a lunar eclipse happening on September 28(depending on your location) and here's how you can see it.


What is a lunar eclipse?
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through the shadow of the Earth(called the umbra) and for a short time changes in colour from the bright white full Moon that everyone's used to seeing into a beautiful reddish orange, before emerging from the shadow once more.

The Moon will appear to be tinted red because of sunlight passing through particles in the Earth's atmosphere hitting the lunar surface. It's the exact same reason why the sky appears red, orange and pink during sunset.

A visual explanation of the eclipse(Note: All times are in EDT)
credit: NASA

How to see it
You don't need any fancy equipment to view a lunar eclipse- no fancy telescopes or binoculars- just a clear sky and a view of the Moon.

Start observing the Moon at around 2 a.m. Irish Standard Time on the morning of September 28. The eclipse officially begins at 02:07 a.m. when our nearest neighbour makes first contact with Earth's umbra. At this stage the Moon will slowly begin growing reddish-orange in colour.

Mid-eclipse occurs at 03:47 a.m. The Moon will then exit the umbra at 05:27 a.m.

The eclipse will be fully visible in Europe, South/East Asia, Africa, much of North America, much of Central America, all of South America and much of Antarctica.

If you're clouded over or live in a part of the world in which the eclipse is not visible- don't worry- NASA will be live-streaming the whole thing which you can check out here.
We will also be live-tweeting pictures and videos of the eclipse from around the world so be sure to follow Irish Space Blog on Twitter.

What makes this eclipse of the Moon special is that it coincides with a Supermoon. A Supermoon occurs when a full Moon takes place while it is at its closest point to Earth in its orbit, called its perigee. As a result, the Moon may appear up to 30 percent brighter than average.
Astronomy Ireland said that the eclipse on the 28th of September would be "The best we'll see until 2029!"

So get the flasks, wooly hats and cameras at the ready for what promises to be one of the most beautiful astronomical events of the year!

Clear skies!

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NASA's Orion Spacecraft Completes First Test Flight

NASA's next generation crew vehicle Orion, designed to take astronauts to deep space destinations such as the Moon, an asteroid and Mars, has completed its first test flight around the Earth.

Atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket, Orion lifted off from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 12:05 p.m. GMT. This uncrewed mission, designated Evaluation Flight Test-1(EFT-1) tested systems critical to future crew safety, also marks the first time that a spacecraft designed to carry humans has gone beyond the bounds of low-Earth orbit and into deep space since the days of Apollo.

Less than eighteen minutes of powered flight, Orion reached its initial orbit. After completing one revolution around the Earth, the second stage of the Delta IV fired its engines once again for a 4-minute, 45-second engine burn to raise Orion to a higher orbit, now 5,800 kilometers above the Earth(15 times higher than the orbit of the International Space Station).

Passing through the Van Allen Radiation Belts, data recorders on board measured the radiation levels being received by the spacecraft in order to analyse the doses of radiation astronauts would receive on future missions on Orion to deep space. Two cameras on board were also in a position to capture images of Earth from 5,800 kilometres above the planet.

Trial by Fire
Nearly three and a half hours after launch, Orion separated from its Service Module and the Delta IV Heavy, then fired its thrusters to set it on course for a fiery re-entry through the Earth's atmosphere. Traveling at around 32.000kmh during re-entry, Orion's heat shield experienced temperatures of 4000 Degrees Celsius, 80% of the temperature that would be experienced on a return journey from the Moon, as it made its journey home.

Stunning views of Earth from Orion cameras. credit: NASA TV

During this time there was an expected 2.5 minute loss of communications(LOS) between Orion and Mission Control teams in Houston, who were led today by Flight Director Mike Sarafin, as superheated plasma formed around the vehicle itself, blocking signals both in and out.

Finally, over 4.5 hours after launch in Florida, with its three parachutes fully deployed, Orion, now traveling at less than 30kmh, Orion splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, around 270 miles off the coast of Baja, California at 4:29 p.m.

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden later said in a statement:
“Today’s flight test of Orion is a huge step for NASA and a really critical part of our work to pioneer deep space on our Journey to Mars.. The teams did a tremendous job putting Orion through its paces in the real environment it will endure as we push the boundary of human exploration in the coming years.”

Recovery
Members of the US Navy aboard the USS Anchorage were in the vicinity of the landing zone to recover the Orion spacecraft. Once the vehicle was made safe, cables were attached by divers and Orion was towed into the flooded deck of the ship. Once secure, the vessel began the journey home to port in San Diego.

What Happens Next?
Once data from today's flight has been analysed the focus for the NASA teams working on Orion systems will turn to the next flight of Orion. Mission EM-1 will involve another test flight of the Orion Crew Module, this time attached to a Service Module designed by the European Space Agency. This mission will fly beyond the Moon in 2017. The first crewed flight of Orion to the Moon is expected for 2021.

Orion will be used to carry astronauts to an asteroid that will be placed in a stable lunar orbit in the 2020s as part of the Asteroid Redirect Mission. Designed to carry four people to deep space, Orion will facilitate the exploration of other bodies in our solar system for the first time in over forty years.

On a sidenote..
Orion was originally scheduled to lift off from the Cape at 12:05 p.m. GMT on Thursday December 4, but a fault in one of the Delta IV's valves meant launch had could not take place inside the specified launch window, resulting in the scrubbing of the launch by 24-hours.

Also, legendary former NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz, who led teams in Mission Control on numerous Apollo flights to the Moon, was a special VIP guest in the Mission Control Center in Houston this week. Kranz was one of the Flight Directors on Apollo 17, a mission which marked the last time humans have traveled to and returned from deep space.

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Meeting a Man Who Went to the Moon and Back

On September 16 2014, former NASA astronaut and Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot, Al Worden, gave a lecture in Limerick IT's Millenium Theatre in Limerick City.

The lecture was organised as part of the Share Learn Inspire event in which Worden gave fascinating insights into his early career as an Air Force pilot, as well as his experiences on his voyage to the Moon and back in 1971. The stage was set for a magnificent night, and I think I speak for everyone in attendance in saying that we got value for money for sure!

The doors of the Millenium Theatre in LIT's state of the art campus opened at 6:45 p.m. In an effort to make the most out of this Apollo 15 Astronaut Experience, I arrived there pretty early with my father so that I could get the opportunity to shake the hand and meet the man who guided the Apollo 15 Command Module to the Moon and back.

I had only ever met one astronaut before- when I was lucky enough to interview ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli in Dublin three years ago. However, for some reason, this encounter felt that bit different. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was about to have my picture taken with a man who spent three days orbiting the Moon by himself, and the first man conduct a spacewalk, or Extra-Vehicular Activity(EVA) on the journey home from the Moon, forty three years ago. Either way I have to admit I was kind of nervous!

However, these nerves were soon put to rest when Al greeted me and my dad with a great big smile and a handshake- how cool was that! So we had our photos taken. Al was wearing a suit and tie, with the NASA Astronaut Pin stuck onto his blazer. And here I was, wearing a black sports jacket with a space shuttle mission patch stuck onto the chest. In an effort to look as much like a wannabe astronaut as possible, I also brought along my lucky NASA lapel pin for the added touch!

Apollo 15 CMP Al Worden and I before the lecture.

Before the rest of the audience showed up and things got busy, I went back over to Al to ask him a question. At the moment there are divided opinions regarding the next move NASA will take in its efforts to some day fulfill the goal of landing a man on Mars. I asked if he thought going back to the Moon to practice things such as landing, rendezvous and docking, all key elements of a journey to another heavenly body, would be a good idea. He looked up at me, smiled and slowly shook his head. What seemed like a good idea to me, didn't seem like such a good idea to him.

"I think the Moon is nearly acting as an obstacle on our route to Mars", he told me.

I then asked if he thought the International Space Station was providing a sufficient platform that would allow us to take the next step and explore other planets in our solar system. This time thankfully, he agreed! He said the best thing we could do is to turn the space station from the orbiting laboratory it is today, into an inter-planetary gas station, which would certainly make things a whole lot easier for spacecraft making the long journey to the red planet in years to come.

It was fast approaching eight o'clock, and it was time to take our seats.

The lecture kicked off with a short speech from Paul Ryan, founder of the Apollo 15 Experience, and without whom this evening would not have been possible. Paul introduced Dr Norah Patten, Communications and Outreach Manager with the Irish Centre for Composites Research. Norah told us about the links between Ireland and science on the ISS. We learned of the St Nessan's community college in Limerick, and their experiment which flew to the station earlier this year aboard the Orbital Sciences Cygnus cargo craft. The experiment examined the effects of microgravity on reinforced concrete using Irish Cement.

Now for the main event- a speech from Al Worden, Apollo 15 CMP.

Al began by saying what a privilege it was for him to be invited to Ireland, and how impressed he was with the places he had visited during his tour of Limerick.

Worden visiting local schools. credit: broadsheet.ie

Worden described his training as a test pilot, in particular at the Empire Test Pilot's School in Farnborough, England and how it gave him a great launch pad that enabled him to join the astronaut corps in 1966. Al made an effort to get the youngsters in the audience to dream big, by telling them that when he was a kid growing up, there were no such thing as astronauts!

He moved on to describe his voyage into space as the Command Module Pilot for Apollo 15, as well as all the hardships, training, and funny stories that went along with it. He lauded Apollo 15 as man's most daring mission to the Moon, and told his experiences about his own spacewalk to retrieve film from a camera that he got to do while on the way home from the Moon.

He joked that while he was alone in lunar orbit, mission commander Dave Scott and Lunar Module Pilot Jim Irwin explored the surface below, he though about leaving them behind, which was greeted with roars of laughter from the audience. He treated us with fabulous images and video of his mission to the Moon, but there was one image in particular he showed that really had an affect on me personally.

 

Al showed us a magnificent shot of the crescent Earth that he took while in lunar orbit. Here we see just how small and fragile our home planet really is. He put it simply- "That's home."

Of course everyone in the room was amazed by such a photo because it shows the Earth as it really is. Out there in the blackness of space. Alone. I guess it had such an impact on me because here was a man who had seen the fragile oasis on which we live, from a distance of a quarter of a million miles away. I'm sure I wasn't the only one in the audience who felt that extra sense of responsibility for taking care of our planet that bit more. You can see what Al had to say about the matter for himself in the above video.

The Apollo 15 mission was a success in every sense of the word. The only failure being that one of the three parachutes didn't deploy after atmospheric re-entry(This didn't make any real difference, because the CM was designed to be able to land with only two chutes), and also the fact that Al couldn't grow much of a beard, having spent two weeks in space!

The event came to a close when Al answered a few audience questions on the subject of the Apollo 1 fire, the Space Shuttle as well as the future of the manned space programme. 

On behalf of everyone in attendance that night, I would like to sincerely thank Paul Ryan, organiser of this magnificent event, Dr Norah Patten of ICOMP, and of course, Mr Al Worden, for coming to Ireland to tell his stories of his adventure to the Moon.

On a sidenote

I had learned about a week before the event at LIT, that ESA astronaut Leopold Eyharts was coming to Dublin to give a lecture in Dublin's Science Gallery. What a shame that the two events were on the same day! I guess astronauts coming to Ireland are like buses. They rarely come along, and then two show up at the exact same time!

Thank you for reading Irish Space Blog!