EPISODE · Apr 30, 2010 · 8 MIN
Blueshift - April 30, 2010: At the Edge of Space
from NASA Blueshift · host NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
When you were a kid, dreaming of the future, did you expect to have a flying car someday? Or to live on the Moon? Traveling into space has fueled the dreams of many people, but the reality is that space flight is difficult and expensive. Though escaping Earth's gravity to reach orbit is a real challenge, it is much easier and less expensive to take sub-orbital flights - that is, those that reach an altitude of 100 km (approximately 62 miles) above Earth. This may prove to be an affordable way for scientists to do science in space, especially with the technology to do these getting close to being ready for use. One of our scientists, Joe Hill, builds x-ray and gamma ray instruments... and she also wants to be an astronaut. Recently, she was given the opportunity to participate in sub-orbital scientist training, which took her one step closer to realizing her dream of going into space.
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Blueshift - April 30, 2010: At the Edge of Space
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