Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Wednesday 8 august 2018

First of Christa McAuliffe's lost lessons released from space

By MARCIA DUNN the center's educators and water, food coloring and a
AP Aerospace Writer directors gathered for an felt pen. Another lesson will
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) annual meeting. Several of be posted online in a few
— The first of Christa McAu- them took turns asking Ar- weeks.
liffe's lost lessons finally was nold about teaching and Altogether, about four are
released from space Tues- life in space. planned, including demon-
day, 32 years after she died "From the day after the strations of fluids and bub-
aboard Challenger. Challenger accident when bles in weightlessness, and
NASA and the Challenger I knew that NASA would Sir Isaac Newton's laws of
Center for Space Science continue the mission, I motion.
Education posted a vid- prayed that we could con- Arnold, a former science
eo of astronaut-educator tinue the education mis- teacher, said it's been "an
Ricky Arnold performing sion," Rodgers, an educator incredible honor" to com-
one of McAuliffe's experi- herself, told Arnold. plete McAuliffe's lessons. In
ments aboard the Interna- Many teachers have orbit since March, Arnold is
tional Space Station. worked to make this pos- due to come home in Oc-
McAuliffe, a high school sible, she noted, "but you tober.
social studies teacher from This Sept. 26, 1985 photo made available by NASA shows give us the culmination of A s t r o n a u t - e d u c a t o r
Concord, New Hampshire, astronaut Sharon Christa McAuliffe. the dream for Christa's les- Joe Acaba also carried
never got to teach from Associated Press sons to come to life." out some of McAuliffe's
space. She perished during June Scobee Rodgers, fered an emotional thank The first 4 ½-minute lesson planned lessons, before re-
the launch of shuttle Chal- widow of Challenger com- you to Arnold during a live demonstrates how a mix- turning to Earth in February.
lenger on Jan. 28, 1986, mander Dick Scobee and TV linkup. ture separates into its indi- NASA calls their back-to-
along with her six crew- the Challenger Center's She spoke from Arlington, vidual parts. Arnold uses back missions a "year of
mates. founding chairwoman, of- Virginia, where dozens of chromatography paper, education on station."q

Cancer study of nuclear test site expected to finish in 2019

By RUSSELL CONTRERAS in the federal Radiation Ex- were "culturally insensitive"
Associated Press posure Compensation Act. and for months the insti-
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) Descendants say the Trinity tute wasn't communicating
— A long-anticipated study Test caused generations of about the study's progress.
into the cancer risks of New families to suffer from rare "We had been kept in the
Mexico residents living near cancer and economic dark," Cordova said.
the site of the world's first hardship. Steve Simon, the principal
atomic bomb test likely will Currently, the law only investigator of the study
be published in 2019, the covers areas in Nevada, and a staff scientist in the
National Cancer Institute Arizona and Utah that are institute's epidemiology
announced. downwind from a different and biostatistics program,
Institute spokesman Mi- test site. said researchers made it a
chael Levin told The Associ- Scientists working in Los priority to include expertise
ated Press that researchers Alamos, New Mexico, de- from New Mexico residents
are examining data on diet veloped the atomic bomb in the study design process.
and radiation exposure on as part of the Manhattan "To keep the communities
residents who lived near Project, which provided well informed about the
the World War II-era Trinity enriched uranium for the status of the study, the NCI
Test site, and scientists ex- weapon. The secret pro- team has sent regular email
pect to finish the study by gram also involved facilities updates," Simon said.
early next year. in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, This July 16, 1945 photo, shows the mushroom cloud of the first The institute said it may re-
The study will then be pub- and Hanford, Washington. atomic explosion at Trinity Test Site, New Mexico. lease the study's findings
lished in a peer-reviewed The bomb was tested in a Associated Press to descendants before
scientific journal and could stretch of desert near towns the study's publication de-
be available by next spring, with Hispanic and Native ma and Nagasaki and the winders Consortium, said pending on the scientific
Levin said. American populations. war ended. descendants have been journal's policy.q
The announcement comes Residents did not learn that Monday is the 73rd anni- anxiously waiting for results
as descendants of families the test had involved an versary of the Hiroshima from the National Cancer
who lived in nearby com- atomic weapon until the bombing. Institute study. But Cor-
munities are pressuring U.S. dropped bombs on the Tina Cordova, co-founder dova said she worried the
Congress to include them Japanese cities of Hiroshi- of the Tularosa Basin Down- questions researchers used