ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, MAY 6, 2021 SCIENCE 11

Space

1st American in space marked 60th ’versary: Tourists lining up for space trip CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., May 5, (AP): Sixty years after Alan Shepard became the first American in space, everyday people are on the verge of following in his cosmic footsteps. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin company is finally opening ticket sales for short hops from Texas launched by a rocket named New Shepard. Details are coming Wednesday, the 60th anni- versary of Shepard’s Mercury flight. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic aims to kick off tourist flights next year, just as soon as he straps into his space- skimming, plane-launched rocketship for a test run from the New Mexico base. And Elon Musk’s SpaceX will launch a billionaire and his sweepstakes winners in September. That will be followed by a flight by three businessmen to the International Space Station in January. “It’s a huge leap, right?” said NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, commander of SpaceX’s most recent flight to the space station. “But it’s pretty cool ... citizens will be able to have the chance to go to space and experience what we get to.” It’s all rooted in Shepard’s 15-min- ute flight on May 5, 1961. Shepard was actually the second per- son in space - the Soviet Union launched cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin three weeks earlier, to Shepard’s ever- lasting dismay. Shepard The 37-year-old Mercury astronaut and Navy test pilot cut a slick sci-fi figure in his silver spacesuit as he stood in the predawn dark- ness at Cape Canaveral, looking up at his Redstone rocket. Impatient with all the delays, including another hold in the countdown just minutes before launch, he famously growled into his mic: “Why don’t you fix your little problem and light this candle?” His capsule, Freedom 7, soared to an altitude of 116 miles In this July 2020 photo, provided by Robin Perry, (second from right), she poses with her family in Mauston, Wis. In the (back row from left) are Cooper, Reece, (186 kilometers) before parachuting into the Atlantic. Robin and Aaron. In the (front row from left) are Quin, Tucker and Hutch. Robin and Aaron Perry are anxiously waiting for federal officials to approve COVID-19 Twenty days later, President John F. Kennedy committed to vaccinations for children between the ages of 12 and 15. The Perrys’ oldest son, 17-year-old Cooper, has been battling leukemia and the family hopes vaccinating landing a man on the moon and returning him safely by 12-year-old Tucker and 15-year-old Reece will bolster protection for him. (AP) decade’s end, a promise made good in July 1969 by Apollo 11s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Command Coronavirus Shepard, who died in 1998, went on to command Apollo 14 in 1971, becoming the fifth moonwalker - and lone lunar golfer. Since Gagarin and Shepard’s pioneering flights, 579 people have rocketed into space or reached its fringes, according to ‘It could be a game changer’ NASA. Nearly two-thirds are American and just over 20% Soviet or Russian. About 90% are male and most are white, although NASA’s crews have been more diverse in recent decades. US parents excited over jabs for kids A Black community college educator from Tempe, Arizona, sees her spot on SpaceX’s upcoming private flight as a sym- MISSION, Kan., May 5, (AP): After bol. Sian Proctor uses the acronym J.E.D.I. for “a just, equi- more than a year of fretting over her table, diverse and inclusive space.” 13-year son with a rare liver disease, Biden aims to vaccinate 70% NASA wasn’t always on board with space tourism, but is Heather Ousley broke into tears when today. she learned that he and millions of “Our goal is one day that everyone’s a space person,” other youngsters could soon be eligi- NASA’s human spaceflight chief, Kathy Lueders said follow- ble for the COVID-19 vaccine. of American adults by July 4 ing Sunday’s splashdown of a SpaceX capsule with four “This day is the best day in the his- WASHINGTON, May 5, (AP): of about 965,000 per day - half the astronauts. “We’re very excited to see it starting to take off.” In this May 5, 1961 file photo, astro- tory of days!!! I love this day!!!” she President Joe Biden set a new vac- rate of three weeks ago, but almost Twenty years ago, NASA clashed with Russian space offi- naut Alan Shepard sits in his capsule texted, joining other parents and edu- cination goal to deliver at least one twice as fast as needed to meet cials over the flight of the world’s first space tourist. at Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard a cators in welcoming the news that the shot to 70% of adult Americans by Biden’s target. California businessman Dennis Tito paid $20 million to Mercury-Redstone rocket. Freedom 7 Food and Drug Administration is July Fourth as he tackles the vex- “I’d like to get it 100%, but I think visit the space station, launching atop a Russian rocket. was the first American manned subor- expected to authorize Pfizer’s vaccine ing problem of winning over the realistically we can get to that place Virginia-based Space Adventures arranged Tito’s weeklong bital space flight, making Shepard the by next week for children ages 12 to “doubters” and those unmotivated between now and July Fourth,” trip, which ended May 6, 2001, as well as seven more tourist first American in space. (AP) 15. to get inoculated. Biden said of his new goal. flights that followed. Ousley, who is president of the Demand for vaccines has He said the administration would “By opening up his checkbook, he kicked off an industry 20 school board for the 27,000-student dropped off markedly nationwide, focus on three areas as it tries to with some states leaving more than ramp up the pace of vaccinations: yrs ago,” Space Adventures co-founder Eric Anderson tweet- Shawnee Mission School District in ■ Discovery Kansas, plans to get her 13- and half their available doses unordered. Adults who need more con- ed last week. “Space is opening up more than it ever has, and Aiming to make it easier to get vincing to take the vaccine. for all.” 15-year-olds promptly vaccinated and shots, Biden on Tuesday called for ■ Those who have struggled or There’s already a line. then celebrate with ice cream. They states to make vaccines available are in no hurry to obtain a shot. A Russian actress and movie director are supposed to US birth rate falls: The US birth rate have been learning from home with ■ fell 4% last year, the largest single-year on a walk-in basis and he will direct Adolescents aged 12-15, once launch from Kazakhstan in the fall. They’ll be followed in their younger brother since the start of many pharmacies to do likewise. federal authorities approve vacci- December by Space Adventures’ two newest clients, also decrease in nearly 50 years, according to a the outbreak. government report being released His administration for the first time nation for that age group. launching on a Russian Soyuz rocket. SpaceX will be next Pfizer is also anticipating the FDA also is moving to shift doses from Acknowledging that “the pace of up in January with the three businessmen; the flight from Wednesday. will endorse use of its vaccine in even The rate dropped for moms of every states with weaker demand to areas vaccination is slowing,” Biden pre- Florida’s Kennedy Space Center was arranged by Axiom major race and ethnicity, and in nearly age younger children sometime this fall. with stronger interest in the shots. dicted the inoculation effort is Space, a Houston company run by former NASA employ- group, falling to the lowest point since fed- And results are expected by the middle “You do need to get vaccinated,” “going to be harder” when it comes ees. And as early as 2023, SpaceX is supposed to take a eral health officials started tracking it more of this year from a US study of Biden said from the White House. to convincing “doubters” of the Japanese entrepreneur and his guests around the moon and than a century ago. Moderna’s shots in 12- to 17-year- “Even if your chance of getting seri- need to get their shots. back. Births have been declining in younger olds. ously ill is low, why take the risk? It He said the most effective argu- While no fan of human spaceflight - he prefers robotic women for years, as many postponed moth- could save your life or the lives of ment to those people would be to explorers - Duke University emeritus history professor Alex erhood and had smaller families. Vaccinations somebody you love.” protect those they love. “This is Roland acknowledges the emergence of spaceflight compa- Birth rates for women in their late 30s Officials are hoping that extending Biden’s goal equates to delivering your choice: It’s life and death.” nies might be “the most significant change in the last 60 and in their 40s have been inching up. But vaccinations to children will drive at least the first shot to 181 million Biden’s push comes as his not last year. adults and fully vaccinating 160 mil- administration has shifted away years.” Yet he wonders whether there will be much interest down the nation’s caseload even fur- lion. It’s a tacit acknowledgment of from setting a target for the US to once the novelty wears off and the inevitable fatalities occur. “The fact that you saw declines in births ther and allow schools to reopen with even for older moms is quite striking,” said the declining interest in shots. reach “herd immunity,” instead Then there’s the high price of admission. minimal disruption this fall. Already more than 56% of focusing on delivering as many The US, Canadian and Israeli entrepreneurs flying SpaceX Brady Hamilton, of the US Centers for It could also reassure parents and Disease Control and Prevention, the lead American adults have received at shots into arms as possible. early next year are paying $55 million - each - for their 1 1/2- teachers alike. While children rarely least one dose of a COVID-19 vac- Officials said Biden’s vaccination week mission. author of the new report. get seriously ill from the coronavirus, The CDC report is based on a review of cine and nearly 105 million are fully target would result in a significant Virgin Galactic’s tickets cost considerably less for minutes then can still get sick and spread it to vaccinated. The U.S. is currently reduction in COVID-19 cases versus days of weightlessness. Initially $250,000, the price is more than 99% of birth certificates issued others. last year. The findings echo a recent administering first doses at a rate heading into the summer. expected to go up once Branson’s company starts accepting Associated Press analysis of 2020 data from “I don’t even think we realized how reservations again. 25 states showing that births had fallen dur- much energy is spent on worrying vaccines for students 16 and up, with dents in middle schools and high As for SpaceX’s private flight on a fully automated Dragon ing the coronavirus outbreak. until we are able to set aside the worry, some scheduling vaccine clinics dur- schools vaccinated, that makes it even capsule, tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman won’t say what he’s The pandemic no doubt contributed to and then thinking about what this ing school hours and dangling prize safer for greater numbers of students paying. He considers his three-day flight a “great responsibil- last year’s big decline, experts say. Anxiety means for all of our kids in the dis- drawings and other incentives. to be in school.” ity” and is taking no shortcuts in training; he took his crew- about COVID-19 and its impact on the trict,” Ousley said. In New York’s Erie County, a Seventy-four-year-old Pat Shepard, mates hiking up Mount Rainier last weekend to toughen them economy likely caused many couples to Pfizer in March released prelimi- prom-themed vaccine clinics were a retired Spanish teacher from Lincoln, up. think that having a baby right then was a nary results from a study of 2,260 US held this past weekend, including one Nebraska, who has worked as a substi- “If something does go wrong, it will set back every other bad idea. volunteers ages 12 to 15, showing with a tropical feel where health care tute during the outbreak, is eager to see person’s ambition to go and become a commercial astronaut,” But many of the 2020 pregnancies began there were no cases of COVID-19 workers wore grass skirts and 16- and eligibility expand, saying students are Isaacman said recently. well before the US epidemic. CDC research- among fully vaccinated children com- 17-year-olds went home with gift bags increasingly resisting wearing masks. John Logsdon, professor emeritus at George Washington ers are working on a follow-up report to pared with 18 among those given of masks and hand sanitizer. Similar “You are starting to see more and University, where he founded the Space Policy Institute, has better parse out how the decline unfolded, dummy shots. Hamilton said. efforts are expected to draw in 12- to more of them wearing them down mixed feelings about this shift from space exploration to That is welcome news for Robin 15-year-olds. below their nose because they are just adventure tourism. The current generation is getting further and Aaron Perry of Sun Prairie, away from having enough children to tired of it,” she said. “And then, too, “It takes the romance and excitement out of going to space,” Wisconsin, who have five boys, ages 5 Comfortable they want to get out and do more Logsdon said in an email this week. Instead of the dawn of a replace itself. The US once was among only a few to 17. Their oldest, Cooper, has been Dan Domenech, executive director things.” new era like so many have proclaimed, it’s “more like the end developed countries with a fertility rate that battling leukemia and contracted of AASA, The School Superintendents Keri Rodrigues, a co-founder of the of the era when space flight was special. I guess that is prog- ensured each generation had enough chil- COVID-19 in November, in what his Association, said the anticipated education advocacy group the National ress.” dren to replace it. About a dozen years ago, mother described as a “terrifying” time authorization to vaccinate younger stu- Parents Union, said she rushed out to Also: the estimated rate was 2.1 kids per US. for the family. The disease spread to dents would help make parents feel get vaccinated after becoming eligible woman. But it’s been sliding, and last year the rest of the family. more comfortable to send their chil- but has more trepidation about immu- LONDON: The wine is out of this world. The price is appropri- dropped to about 1.6, the lowest rate on They all pulled through, and Cooper dren back to classrooms and ease con- nizing her oldest son, who is 13. ately stratospheric. record. (AP) and his parents have all since been vac- cerns among some teachers. She plans to go ahead with it, Christie’s said Tuesday it is selling a bottle of French wine ❑ ❑ ❑ cinated. But his mother can’t wait for “Say you have a class where every though, in part because he is demand- that spent more than a year in orbit aboard the International her 15-year-old, Reece, and 12-year- student is vaccinated and so is the ing it. Space Station. The auction house thinks a wine connoisseur ‘Ban pesticide’: A federal appeals court on ordered the Environmental Protection old, Tucker, to get their shots so their teacher. That becomes a very different “He has cabin fever and he wants to might pay as much as $1 million to own it. brother is as protected as possible. environment,” Domenech said. get out,” explained Rodrigues, who The Pétrus 2000 is one of 12 bottles sent into space in Agency to quickly determine whether a pesticide linked to brain damage in children “Our personal situation, it feels like “Schools were very pleased when lives near Boston. November 2019 by researchers exploring the potential for more security around Cooper with a the CDC came out with the 3-foot The group’s survey from March of extraterrestrial agriculture. It returned 14 months later subtly should be banned, saying the agency had delayed acting on the widely used bug-killer compromised immune system,” Robin spacing as opposed to the 6-foot spac- 1,100 parents around the country altered, according to wine experts who sampled it at a tasting chlorpyrifos for nearly 14 years. Perry said. “It’s just being part of the ing, because that immediately allowed found that others are also conflicted. in France. In a 2-1 decision, the San Francisco- solution. That’s what excites me the them to have more students in school Forty percent planned to get their chil- Tim Tiptree, international director of Christie’s wine and based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals most. It’s an added level of protection. at one time. This will have a similar dren vaccinated immediately, 21% spirits department, said the space-aged wine was “matured in ordered the EPA to act on a possible ban Maybe you can take a deeper breath.” effect,” he said. “If now you can have eventually and 24% never, and the a unique environment” of near zero-gravity aboard the space within 60 days. Educators have already embraced a significant population of your stu- remaining 15% were unsure. station. “The EPA has spent more than a decade The trip turned a $10,000-a-bottle wine known for its com- assembling a record of chlorpyrifos’s ill plexity, silky, ripe tannins and flavors of black cherry, cigar effects, US District Judge Jed S. Rakoff box and leather into a scientific novelty - and still a fine bottle wrote. “Yet, rather than ban the pesticide or of wine, Tiptree said. reduce the tolerances to levels that the EPA “This is a vast overreach, a clear abuse of prove a ban was warranted. “It’s just a very harmonious wine that has the ability to age can find are reasonably certain to cause no our discretion,’’ Bybee wrote. A spokesman has said that the EPA is superbly, which is why it was chosen for this experiment,” he harm, the EPA has sought to evade, through The decision comes after a yearslong reviewing the court decision. President Joe said. “It’s very encouraging that it was delicious on return to one delaying tactic after another, its plain battle over the pesticide, which is widely Biden signed an executive order this year to statutory duties. used on oranges, soybeans, almonds and review the Trump EPA’s decision to keep Earth.” other crops. Private space startup Space Cargo Unlimited sent the wine Rakoff and US Circuit Judge Jacqueline chlorpyrifos on the market. H. Nguyen ordered the EPA to decide with- During the Obama administration, the Environmental groups said a ban of into orbit in November 2019 as part of an effort to make plants EPA had initiated a ban, but the agency on Earth more resilient to climate change and disease by expos- in 60 days whether the pesticide is safe, chlorpyrifos is long overdue. including for infants and children, or ban it. reversed that decision shortly after President “The court got it right: EPA’s time is now ing them to new stresses. Researchers also want to better under- US Circuit Judge Jay S. Bybee, in dissent, Donald Trump took office in 2017. The up,” said Patti Goldman, managing attorney stand the aging process, fermentation and bubbles in wine. said 60 days was too short, “likely predeter- EPA rejected a legal challenge in 2019, say- at Earthjustice, one of the groups that chal- mining EPA’s option’’ and forcing a ban. ing environmental groups had failed to Trump Rakoff lenged the Trump-era decision. (AP)