Asteroid, Comet, Eclipse and Meteor

Asteroid 2012 DA14 hurtled by the earth on February 15, 2013, a few hours after a meteor hit a Ural Mountain town in Siberia, at a height of 17,150 miles with a speed of 17,400 miles per hour. The asteroid, first discovered last February, is of 150 ft wide and 143,000 tons of weight. If it struck the earth, it would have released 2.4 millions tons of TNT and wiped out 750 square miles. Compared to this asteroid, the one that had struck the earth and wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago was 6-mile wide.

In a totally unrelated incident of cosmic travesty, a 49-foot meteor entered the earth's atmosphere few hours earlier at a hypersonic speed of 40,000 mph and exploded 12 to 15 miles high, releasing 300 to 500 kilotons of energy near the Ural Mountain city of Chelyabinsk, a city of 1 million people. Because of the shock, at least 1,100 people were injured, mostly from broken glass shreds and other eartly objects. Most of the injuries were minor. The object that exploded over Russia came from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. This was the worst hit by a space object in more than a century. In 1908, a meteor hit a forested area in Tunguska, Siberia, flattening an estimated 80 million trees.

Meteors are pieces of space rocks, usually from a comet or asteroid that enters earth's atmosphere. Many of them burn out by friction from earth's atmosphere, but the ones that survive and strike the earth's surface are called Meteorites.

NASA Set to Launch First Test to Hit an Asteroid in Effort to Change Trajectory

NASA is set to launch a first of its kind test on November 23, 2021 to test out a still evolving technique to forcefully strike an incoming asteroid and veer its course off the earth in effort to eschew another dinosaur extinction-type blast by an asteroid. Scientists are still wary about a February 2013 explosion of a meteor  over the Russian Ural Mountain city of Chelyabinsk that had injured more than 1,600 and inflicted widespread property damages. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) is tentatively scheduled on November 23, 2021, involving a Space X rocket carrying a spacecraft in its destiny to collide heads-on with a smaller of the two gravitationally tied asteroids. The 1,344-pound, 59-foot craft will travel at a speed of 15,000 mph and, if things go as planned, in September 2022 will collide with Dimorphos, a 530-foot rocky body, orbiting its larger sibling, 2,600-foot Didymos. Dimorphos rotates completely around Didymos in an approximate 11 hours and 55 minutes. Didymos and Dimorphos are 0.6 miles apart. The craft will try to slow down the speed of Dimorphos by few seconds and adjust its rotational period. Although Dimorphos-Didymos pair is not in a trajectory to reach the earth, they will provide a great platform for our scientists to test an "asteroid intervention" approach. 

Asteroid-Chasing Craft Launched by NASA

On late November 23, 2021, Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, vehicle was launched on a Space X Falcon 9 rocket from Space Station Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California in its 6.8 million-mile journey towards its rendezvous, the smaller of a pair of gravitationally attached asteroids. 10 days before its collision with Dimorphos, tentatively around September 2022, DART vehicle will release a tiny observation spacecraft to observe and stream back to earth the collision and destruction of DART upon striking on the asteroid with a speed of 15,000 mph. The $330 million project will be a trial run for NASA in its series of potentially future tests to conduct experiments aimed at veering a possibly threatening incoming asteroid off its course and saving our planet from a dinosaur extinction-type collision. 

DART's Mission of Collision with a Vending Machine-sized Asteroid Called a Success

NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, vehicle has slammed into a 525-foot asteroid, Dimorphos, on September 26, 2022, creating a crater and forcing its trajectory as part of a serious test of whether humans stand any chance to save our planet from an incoming spatial object such as a meteor or a large asteroid. The answer, based on days of information and data gathered in the aftermath of the September 26, 2022, historic collision millions of miles away from our planet, is resoundingly yes as NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on October 11, 2022 said that the direct collision had altered the orbit of Dimorphos and shaved time of 11 hours and 55 minutes for a full circle around its companion, larger asteroid, Didymos, by 32 minutes, significantly higher than the anticipated 10 minutes. 

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Psyche Launched to Chase Asteroid of Same Name

A Space X rocket on October 13, 2023 launched the NASA spacecraft Psyche that would get into the orbit of asteroid Psyche in 2029 to transmit valuable data that would empower us to know more profound insight into the earth's core. The asteroid Psyche discovered in 1852 is in the Asteroid Belt and made up of mostly metallic rocks. The asteroid might have been formed from the inner core of a planetary object in our solar system. The $1.2 billion mission will take the spacecraft, Psyche, around the Mars in 2026 and leverage Mars' gravitational boost to hurl itself farther to reach the asteroid's orbit by 2029. The spacecraft is expected to circle the asteroid once it enters the orbit at a maximum distance of 440 miles and minimum distance of 47 miles. 

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COMET

NASA defines a Comet as a "cosmic snowball" made of frozen gases, rocks and dusts, which when heated by the sun, emits glowing aura brighter than planets. (Source: The Dallas Morning News April 5, 2024)

Debris from Halley's Comet to Display as Meteor Showers 

One of the most renowned, imaginative and sought-after celestial objects from the family of comets an asteroids is the Halley's Comet that has startled and prickled the human imagination and stimulated the curiosity of astronomers for centuries. Halley's Comet returns to solar orbit some every 75 years, and it leaves behind plenty of celestial detritus. When the earth crosses the path of Halley's Comet, it runs into abundance of glowing debris left behind by one of the most renowned comets. The meteor showers from Eta Aquarids, left behind as meteor debris by Halley's Comet, can be seen in naked eyes. The Dallas Morning News reported in its May 4, 2025, edition that the Eta Aquarids showersc an be visible between May 6, 2025 and May 28, 2025, with the brightest streak on May 6, 2025. Although Halley's Comet returns our solar system every 75 years, we see its debris and the display of their celestial showers two or three times a year when the earth passes the orbit of Halley's Comet. 

ECLIPSE

***************************  SOLAR ECLIPSE

Totality not to Arrive at Dallas until 2317

The April 8, 2024, presents a unique opportunity to millions of people in the path of totality and Dallas is the largest city in the path of totality. The last time that this area had seen totality was in 1878, and would not happen again until 2317. Totality refers to moon is going to cover the sun wholly, plunging the daytime into darkness. 

Cloudy Sky Predicted for the Most of North Texas

Based on the National Weather Service's forecast issued on April 5, 2024, most of the North Texas will be under some sort of cloudy weather, dampening, even by a little degree, the strong enthusiasm among millions of people who live in the path of totality in the region and an additional hundreds of thousands of people who are traveling to the region to see a unique celestial event that our region will not experience a second time until 2317. The totality will happen between 1:40 PM CT and 1:44 PM CT. 

As there is so much of hype and interest about the totality, this is also presenting as a unique opportunity for students and general public to learn more about space, celestial events, weather and clouds. Since a cloudy sky is anticipated for the most of North Texas, there are questions surrounding the type of clouds and degree of visibility for each type. According to a scholastic article published by the April 6, 2024, edition of The Dallas Morning News, there are three key cloud types that North Texas may expect to form during the time of eclipse:

* STRATUS CLOUDS

Low cloud layers appear more like ragged sheets and obscure the visibility. Lower cloud layers are in the region between 1,500 feet and 6,000 feet. Altostratus clouds may reach as high 20,000 feet and they are mid-level clouds. The so called high-level clouds, formally known as Cirrostratus clouds, may reach as high as 45,000 feet. Low Stratus clouds contain water balls and look like ragged sheets, thus obscuring the view of the eclipse watchers the most. Higher the clouds are, irrespective whether they are Stratus or not, they have more transparency because instead of water balls, they do have tinier ice formations. 

* CUMULUS CLOUDS

Often Stratus clouds do break up into individual Cumulus clouds which are puffier, brightening the viewability. 

* CIRRUS CLOUDS

Cirrus clouds are narrow-band clouds, often spotted at high altitudes and contain ice crystals. From the perspective of viewability, Cirrus clouds are most favorable and Low Stratus clouds are the least favorable to eclipse viewers if they eventually face a cloudy sky prediction. 

Totality Fosters Collaboration among Students from Small Towns, Big Cities Alike

The NASA and National Science Foundation have launched a citizens project to collect data on the day of totality by involving dozens of communities and empowering them with tools, technology and knowhow to collect eclipse-related data (photos, videos, etc.) that may be a treasure-trove for future research. The Citizen CATE (Continental-America Telescope Eclipse) 2024 Project, according to an April 8, 2024, article published by The Dallas Morning News, is an effective means for some rural communities such as Kemp to get involved and inspire their students to dream big and bold for a lifelong passion of science and space. The April 8, 2024, totality is expected to be a wider display of a majestic celestial event compared to the 2017 totality. This time, 31 million people will have opportunity to regale this unique event just by looking up in the sky. Totality also creates opportunities for a firmer scientific and community bond threading through big cities like Dallas and Cleveland as well as small towns such as Kemp. 

***************************  SOLAR ECLIPSE

Solar Storm Biggest in Six Years

The January 22, 2012, solar flare-up was the biggest in six years, and occurred at 10PM US central time. A solar eruption follows one-two-three punch: First comes electromagnetic radiation, second comes radiation in terms of Proton, and third comes Coronal Mass Ejection--plasma from the sun itself--most noticeable and impactful event on the earth.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, PATENTS AND MISCELLANEOUS

********************************* SUPER COLLIDER *******************************

Physicists About to Narrow the Range of "God Particle"

Two teams of scientists have reported on December 13, 2011 the research findings on the so-called building blocks of the Universe, i.e., Higgs Boson, named after the British Physicist Peter Higgs who, along with others, theorized 40 years ago that sub-atomic particles--the so-called the building blocks of Universe--have mass. Before Higgs' theory, scientists used to think that atom is the least possible obtainable block with mass. Higgs Boson has fascinated scientific community for long time, and often referred to as "The God Particle". However, until recently, scientific community was unable to pinpoint the range of mass for Higgs Boson. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) underneath the Alps on the Swiss-French Border has been used to estimate the range of mass for Higgs Boson. The $10 billion LHC, also known as Big Bang Machine, is apt to create the scenario of the mini-Universe during the time of inception by using the super-power magnets to race protons at the 99% speed of light and colliding among each others. The LHC is run by the European Organization for Nuclear Research, also known as CERN, based near Geneva. Two teams who have reported the recent findings on Universe are: (1) Team, led by Italian Physicist Fabiola Gianotti, involved in the so-called ATLAS experiment. (2) Team, led by Guido Tonelli, involved in the so-called CMS experiment. Both teams have reported that the most likely range of the mass of Higgs Boson is between 114 and 130 billion electron volts. One billion electron volt is roughly the mass of a proton. This is the first time scientific community has grasp of some finite mathematical range of the mass of Higgs Boson with high confidence.

Blueprint of Next Gen Collider Unveiled

On March 31, 2025, The planners associated with the European experiment into fundamental composition of the particles and what make them so unique have unveiled a blueprint for the successor of Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, that will consist of 56-and-1/2-mile loop of atom smasher underneath the Swiss-French border and spanning underneath the Lake Geneva. The Future Circular Collider, or FCC, blueprint next goes to the CERN, or European Organization for Nuclear Research, member nations, all of which barring Israel are in Europe. 

The CERN member nations will make a final decision in 2028 on whether to go forward with the $16 billion plan. If the blueprint is implemented, the first phase will focus on completing the component related to the high-precision experimentation by 2040s, followed by a more complex second-phase high-velocity collision experimentation facility by 2070s. The experimentation involving FCC will lead to a spurt of innovation in Cryogenics, super-conducting magnet technology, vacuum technology and more insight into Higgs Boson particles, founding block of the Universe. 

********************************* SUPER COLLIDER *******************************

Pollution-Free Fusion Energy Production Possible, even for a Fraction of Seconds

It remains an enigma on how or whether we may one day generate pollution-free energy like Sun. The answer to that mysterious question is found by a team of researchers at a novel test at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California when a combination of more than 192 lasers and temperatures more than three times hotter than the center of the Sun has produced, even for a split of a second, a near pollution-free fusion energy. The research has been published in the Nature on January 26, 2022. The end-goal for the scientists to scale up the pollution-free fusion energy like Sun does it by pressing hydrogen atoms to combine into helium, which releases torrent of energy. What more than 100 scientists have accomplished is a "spark" to produce, for a split of a second, the near pollution-free fusion energy. Their next step is to achieve "ignition" that helps fuels burn on its own and generate more energy. 

De-carbonized Energy Produced in Lab

Scientists used laser to carry out fusion ignition for the first time to generate more energy than what is in the laser. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, announcing the generation of clean energy, said on December 13, 2022 that the fusion "ignition allows us to replicate for the first time certain conditions that are found only in the stars and the sun". Granholm has added that the fusion ignition is "one of the greatest scientific feats of the 21st Century". Appearing alongside White House Science Adviser Arati Prabhakar, Granholm said that the successful outcome happened on December 5, 2022 at Lawrence Liverpool National Laboratory in California. President Joe Biden hailed the scientific marvel and expected a lot of "good news on the horizon". 

In the nuclear fusion reaction, LLNL scientists leveraged a laser to exert tremendous pressure and heat to fuse two Hydrogen isotopes (Tritium and Deuterium) to mesh together to form Helium. There are other byproducts too: leftover neutrons and a large amount of energy. The amount of produced energy is as large as 1.5 times the laser used to carry out the nuclear fusion ignition. There is no nuclear waste, thus creating an environment as safe as possible. The nuclear fusion is a fascinating area that has offered scientists a tantalizing potential for generating clean energy. The occurrences are littered all across our universe, including stars and our sun. The concept remains simple: when two atoms blend each other to form a third atom with a mass less than combined mass of the original two atoms, the excess energy will be formed. 

The key challenge now is how to scale us the nuclear fusion technology to a level of electricity generation on a sustainable, dependable and scalable manner. 

Saturn's Moon Has the Best Shot of Supporting Life

The Dallas Morning News reported on June 15, 2023 that based on the data sent by NASA's Cassini mission, a key element, Phosphorus, that had been thought of missing was eventually found in the subsurface ocean in Saturn's moon Enceladus. Six basic elements--CHNOPS (Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus and Sulfur)--form the sextet of elements that along with water and energy act as the fuel for nurturing and sustaining life. Now, with the discovery of traces of Phosphorus in the subsurface ocean of Enceladus, there may be a supporting ecosystem for life. After 13 years of collecting data and researching on Saturn and its moons, NASA had directed a managed destruction of Cassini by plunging the spacecraft into the gaseous giant in 2017. 

A New Epoch Has Started in Mid 20th Century, A Geological Working Group Says

The Dallas Morning News reported in its July 16, 2023, edition that a new geologic epoch, Anthropocene Epoch, might have started between 1950 and 1954. The idea was first floated by a Nobel Prize-winning chemist, Late Paul Crutzen, at a science conference about 20 years ago. A working group of geologists was subsequently formed to assess and analyze the geologic evidence and markers to conclude whether there was indeed a new epoch that had begun. The working group, Anthropocene Working Group, is now proposing that a new epoch has begun sometime between 1950 and 1954 as the "effects of humans overwhelm the earth system". The impact of humans in creating an entirely new epoch is comparable, but on a much smaller scale, to the meteoric strike 66 million years ago that has led to the Cenozoic Era. The Ground Zero of the Anthropocene Epoch is the Crawford Lake in Canada. The site has been chosen over 11 other places as Crawford Lake preserves the human effects on earth's environment with different layers of sediments in the lake reflecting those impacts and imprimatur in a surprisingly unperturbed levels. 

Geologic time is split on a narrowing scale into (1) Eons, (2) Era, (3) Periods, (4) Epochs and (5) Ages. The effects of humans on the earth system is consequential enough to trigger a new epoch, but not a period as the ongoing Quaternary Period that has begun 2.6 million years ago is still associated and linked to permanent ice on the poles. However, rapid pace of Global Warming may chip away the permanence of icing layers on the poles in few hundred years, triggering the beginning of a new period. Anthropocene Epoch followed the Holocene Epoch that started about 11,700 years ago at the end of ice age. Geologists are proposing a new age too with the start of a new epoch. They are calling it Crawfordian Age, naming it after the lake in Canada. Prior to making it official, three other working groups of geologists have to give their approvals which are expected in the next several months. 

PATENT: DOJ Files on Behalf of Moderna

Two small biosciences firms--Arbutus BioPharma and Genevant Sciences--filed lawsuits in 2022, accusing Moderna of unauthorized use of their patented technology to speed up COVID-19 vaccines. The U.S. Department of Justice intervened in this case, according to Meng Xi who had penned an article in the June 17, 2024, edition of The Dallas Morning News. The Biden administration's argument hinges on a World War I-era statute, Section 1498, that can be leveraged by the government during the time of the war and national emergencies to allow the patent of a firm to be leveraged for a scaled-up and mass production in exchange for compensation for the firm's patent, or patented technology. Meng Xi accused Democrats and Progressives of pushing the Biden administration to increasingly use Section 1498 as a tool to push drug prices lower. In this respect, Meng Xi referred a June 2022 letter co-written by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, urging the U.S. Health and Human Services to use Section 1498 to weaken the patent protection to lower drug prices.  

Fruit Fly Employs Smart Techniques to Locate Food

A research article published on July 26, 2024 in the Current Biology provides interesting insight how fruit flies may find their food using appropriate strategies and odor-based approach. Scientists at the University of Nevada used genetically modified fruit flies, Drosophila Melanogaster, that had light-activated neurons in the antenna acting like a nose, but instead of being triggered by food, it would be tickled by turning on light. 

The researchers have concluded based on experiment that when there is wind, the fruit flies employ cast and surge technique. The cast and surge technique helps the flies to fly upward when there is breeze and subsequently, when they lose the odor, they fly sideways to locate the source. 

When there is no wind, the fruit flies employ sink and circle strategy, according to the research. This strategy helps flies to circle around moving downward as part of the technique to locate the source of food. 

Earth's Inner Core Changing, Research Finds

A tantalizing research is published in Nature Geoscience on February 10, 2025 that has driven home some key insights about the morphing through which the earth's inner core is undergoing. The inner core is changing in shape too. The earth is composed four distinct layers:

* Inner Core: Made of iron and nickel, it's of 759 miles in radius and as hot as under 9,800 degree Fahrenheit

* Outer Core: 1,400 miles in radius, and composed of iron and nickel fluid

* Mantle: It's the thickest of all four layers, and 1,800 miles in depth

* Crust: It's 19 miles deep in reference to the surface, and at the bottom of the ocean, it extends an additional 3 miles beyond sea floor. 

U.S. Launches Space Academy

NASA will have now an university to train generations of future astronauts. President Donald Trump on August 28, 2026 signed an executive order during a visit to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to create the U.S. Space Academy. Although the president likened the U.S. Space Academy to the Republic's military academies, the space program will be strictly a civilian program. President Trump awarded Congressional Space Medal of Honor to each of four Artemis II astronauts. 

SEA AND OCEAN EXPLORATION

Deepest Point on the Planet

Billionaire adventurer Richard Branson on April 8, 2011 announced a risky plan to send a one-man submarine to the deepest point in the earth: Marina Trench (36,200 ft) located in the Pacific Ocean near Guam. In 1960, a two-man submarine explored the maximum depth (35,797 ft) at the Marina Trench.

Some of the Key Features

* 1083 ft: World record for the deepest scuba dive

* 5280 ft: Deepest Angler fish found

* 9800 ft: Deepest recorded dive by a sperm whale, the deepest diving of all mammals

* 12506 ft: Resting place for RMS Titanic

* 21325 ft: Maximum depth of the Japanese submersible Shinkai

* 29035 ft: Height of Mount Everest

************************************ TITAN **************************************

Search and Rescue Operation Ramped up as Every Hour Matters 

In a captivating search-and-rescue operation trying to find a submersible and rescue its crew and passengers, U.S. Coast Guard and other rescue agencies are sending equipment and personnel to North Atlantic Ocean. On June 18, 2023 around 6:30AM local time, Titan with five people--Stockton Rush, pilot and CEO of the exploration operator, OceanGate; British adventurer Hamish Harding; French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet; Pak business mogul Shahzada Dawood; and his teenage son, Suleman--submerged to explore the area where Titanic had been resting for more than a century. Soon after, outside world lost contact with Titan, leading to a massive search operation encompassing a large swath of the foggy and stormy area of North Atlantic. At least two robotic equipment are sweeping through near the ocean floor in that vast desolate area. The submersible has 96-hour supply of oxygen, implying that oxygen can be depleted as early as June 22, 2023, morning. There are numerous complaints about the reliability and safety of the submersible operated by OceanGate, and there has been a lawsuit filed in 2018 by the then-company's Director of Marine Operation David Lochridge. 

Titan Reported to have been Imploded; Five Lost in the Ocean

Authorities on June 22, 2023 divulged the tragic news to the world that Titan had imploded near Titanic at a depth of circa 12,500 ft, killing all five men on board. 

Canada Launches Its Investigation

Canada's Transportation Safety Board on June 24, 2023 announced that it was conducting an investigation of the implosion of Titan that had killed five people. Titan's debris had been found few hundred feet from Titanic at a depth of 12,500 feet. TSB Chair Kathy Fox said on June 24, 2023 that since the mother ship, Polar Prince, was a Canada-flagged vessel, it became the responsibility of Transportation Safety Board of Canada to conduct an investigation in addition to the U.S. Coast Guards and National Transportation Safety Board. 

On June 16, 2023, Polar Prince left Newfoundland, towing Titan and carrying 17 crew members plus 24 others, towards the location of North Atlantic where the Titan submerged with five people on board. 

U.S. Coast Guard Probing Titan Implosion

U.S. Coast Guard announced on June 25, 2023 that it was investigating the implosion of Titan that had killed five people. Capt. Jason Neubauer, the chief investigator, said that the Coast Guard had convened Marine Board of Investigation, the highest level of Coast Guard probe, that would collaborate with other international agencies such as Transportation Safety Board of Canada, U.S. NTSB, French marine casualty investigation board and U.K. Marine Accident Investigation Branch. 

Titan's Owner Suspends Operation

Titan's owner, OceanGate, an Everett, Washington-based company, on July 6, 2023 issued a statement on its website, saying that it "has suspended all exploration and commercial operation". 

Coast Guard Hearings Portray Submersible Operator CEO as Egotistic, Demeaning

At the hearings held by the U.S. Coast Guard's investigating agency, many former employees blamed a culture of unnecessary risks and rash behavior of OceanGate's Former CEO Stockton Rush as one of the factors that had led to the eventual disaster of the submersible on June 18, 2023. The Marine Board of Investigation, the U.S. Coast Guard's highest-level investigation arm, held hearings at North Charleston, South Carolina on September 16, 2024 and September 17, 2024. 

On September 16, 2024, the former director of Engineering testified that he had refused to pilot the Titan mission as he had no trust in Rush or operation crews. On September 17, 2024, David Lochridge, former OceanGate operations director, said that he had seen first hand in 2016 how Rush, while piloting a separate submersible, Cyclops I, mistakenly rammed into another sunken ship, Andrea Doria. Andrea Doria sank in 1956 off the coast of Massachusetts. 

The hearing has begun on September 16, 2024 and will run through September 27, 2024.

************************************ TITAN **************************************

Earthquake: Why Tsunami from One of the Largest Earthquakes Fades Away Across Pacific

The Dallas Morning News on August 3, 2025 brought a very insightful report on why one of the strongest earthquakes off the Russia's Far East Coast in the Bering Sea had not led to proportionate degree of strong tsunamis in Americas' coastal areas. National Weather Services on July 30, 2025 withdrew the tsunami advisory for the Washington coastal areas in the midmorning, hours after one of the strongest earthquakes was recorded hours ago on July 30, 2025 local time off the Russian Far East Coast. First and foremost, the other side of Pacific Ocean just got lucky. However, SMEs are also attributing three key factors for insignificant outcome in terms of tsunami stemming from one of the strongest earthquakes.

(1) Bathymetry, or underwater topography, as the undersea mountains, massive rock build-ups and other obstacles did mitigate the force of the sea waves as they headed to the East

(2) Angle of Approach, which dictates how the beams of waves are going to splash the coastal areas and sometime a slant hit, instead of direct hit, has a less more forceful impact. The July 30, 2025, tsunami is one of them

(3) Timing is crucial as the high waves do occur in the evening during this time of the year in Western Washington's Pacific coasts while the tsunami waves from the July 30, 2025, earthquake reaching the Washington shorelines in the early morning when the tides are low

First Man In Space

April 12, 1961 marked a landmark day for the former Soviet Union as the first man was lifted to the space aboard the spacecraft called Vostok. Yuri Gagarin's flight to space followed another milestone: October 1957 launch of Sputnik, the world's first manmade satellite. Gagarin, then 27, stayed in space for 108 minutes. Twenty-three days later, on May 5, 1961, Mr. Alan Shepard became the first American, he second cosmonaut, to go in space and spent 15 minutes. However, John Glenn on Feb 20, 1962 achieved the feat of the first globe-trotting U.S. cosmonaut following the streak of Gagarin. However, Gagarin's adventure in space spurred U.S. to multiply its effort and enthusiasm in space research that would ultimately lead to lunar landing on July 20, 1969.