The perennial cry to “Save Earth” is odd. Planet Earth survives massive asteroid strikes — it’ll survive anything we throw at it. But Life on Earth will not.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (Astrophysicist)
Monday Morning Inspiration
Monday Morning Inspiration #66
We are what we repeatedly do.Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
–Aristotle
VSS Unity First Powered Flight
VSS Unity flew beautifully, going supersonic for the first time under rocket power in Mojave, California on 5th April, 2018.
Monday Morning Inspiration: First African American Woman in Space
“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations…If you adopt their attitudes, then the possibility won’t exist because you’ll have already shut it out … You can hear other people’s wisdom, but you’ve got to re-evaluate the world for yourself.”
— Dr Mae Jemison
Dr. Mae Jemison is an American Astronaut & Physician. She was born on October 17, 1956 in Decatur, AL. She obtained her BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Stanford in 1977 and an M.D. from Cornell University in 1981. She served in the Peace Corps for 2 1/2 years and became the first African American selected to the NASA Astronaut Program in 1987.
She also became the first African American Women in Space when she orbited the Earth for 190 hrs, 30 minutes, and 23 seconds, with six other astronauts on STS-47 mission on September 12 1992.
After leaving NASA in 1993, she taught at Dartmouth College, and currently runs BioSentient Corp, a medical technology company. She continues to be a strong advocate for science eduction
March is Women History Month and Women of Aviation Month.
See Also:
Biography.com
NASA Astronaut Bio
Air and Space
Monday Morning Inspiration: First American Woman in Space
Sally Ride
Photo Courtesy: NASA
Sally Ride was born on May 26th, 1951 in Encino, CA. Older of two daughters, her interest in science grew at an early age. She went on to get a bachelor of science in Physics, a bachelor of arts in English, a master of science and a PhD in physics from Stanford University.
When NASA was looking for woman astronaut candidates in 1977, Sally Ride was one of the six women selected. She became the first American woman in space when she flew aboard Space Shuttle Challenger on June 18th, 1983.
She made two shuttle flights, and later became a champion for science education and a role model for generations. She wrote five science related children’s books and co-founded, Sally Ride Science, to encourage children, especially girls, to study science.
She died of cancer in 2012.
March is Women History Month & Women of Aviation Month.
See Also:
Monday Morning Inspiration: Suzanne Asbury-Oliver
Love in the Clouds
Photo Courtesy: Smithsonian
Suzanne Asbury-Oliver is the only professional female skywriter in the world. She started flying gliders when she was only 14, soloing at 15 and by the time she was 18, she was a Certified Flight Instructor.
She has been skywriting the skies of United States and Canada for Pepsi Cola Company since 1980. In fact, she met her husband Steve Oliver at the Kentucky Derby while she was skywriting for Pepsi and he was banner towing advertisements in his 1941 Stearman. She and her husband own their own plane and skywriting business called Olivers Flying Circus.
March is Women History Month and Women of Aviation Month.
See Also:
Smithsonian Women in Aviation & Space
Olivers Flying Circus
Monday Morning Inspiration: Blanche Stuart Scott
First Women to Fly
Blanche Scott was the first women to drive across the United States and the first women to fly.
Born in 1889, Blanche Scott’s life spanned from the era of airplane invention, to seeing the first man walk on the moon. In an age when women couldn’t vote and their place was considered to be at home, she became the first woman to drive across the US. There were only 218 miles of roads outside the cities.
Photo courtesy Wikepedia: Blanche Stuart Scott seated at the controls of a Curtiss Model D, circa early 1910s.
Some aviation firsts:
- She became the first women to take a shot solo hop in the air, when an aircraft she was taxing lifted off the ground.
- She was the first and only women to receive flight instruction from Glenn Curtiss.
- She made her first public flight in October 1910.
- She set the women’s long distance record for flight of 10 miles and later 25 miles in 1911
- She became the first women test pilot in America, the first woman stunt pilot or The Tomboy of the Air
- She played the lead role in The Aviator’s Bride, the first movie about flying
- She was also the first women passenger to ride in a passenger jet
March is Women History Month, and Women of Aviation Month.
See Also:
National Women’s Hall of Fame
Smithsonian – Women in Aviation and Space History
Early Aviators
Monday Morning Inspiration: The youth of tomorrow
Monday Morning Inspiration: Starman
Don’t Panic!
*Made on Earth by humans*
Courtesy: SpaceX
Monday Morning Inspiration #59
The Price
Whatever the freedom we ownSomebody has striven and tried for it;By war through the years it has grownBy strength of the men who have died for it;Each stone in the structure of truth–Some one has made ready and right for it.Some one has spent heart’s blood and youth,Some one has been willing to fight for it.Not always has blood been the payBut always a price has been paid for it;The worth of achievement to-dayIs gauged by the struggle we’ve made for it.There need not be rancor or hateNor bitterness, terror and blight for it,But nothing is worthy or great,Unless you are willing to fight for it.You cannot buy progress with gold(You get but the emptiest shell of it);But to win it and earn it and holdYou must go through the heat and the hell of it,You must suffer the sweat and the pain,You must toil all the day and the night for it,For nothing worth while you can gainUnless you are willing to fight for it.–Berton Braley (Virtues in Verse)
Note: Berton Braley was born on January 29th, 136 years ago today in 1882.
