What On Earth?-Column #21, February 2004

Let me start by saying that this is the month where we not only honor the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, as well as Valentines' Day. Speaking of which, there are lots of roses, cards, chocolates and Valentine's Day related products of all kinds out there, so if you haven't started your V-Day shopping, start it now! Also, we celebrate Groundhog Day on February 2. Also known as Candlemas, this is where, in Philly, Puxatawny Phil, the Groundhog, comes out to see his shadow. If he does see it, we get 6 more weeks of winter. But of course, we have to think about the big tragedy that hit Texas one year ago. But before we go into THAT, I'll take some time to talk about the predecessor.

January 28, 1986. It was a beautiful but cold day at the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Space Shuttle Challenger (the second of 5 Space Shuttles) was going on a mission, a mission with a first: Christa McAuliffe, the first schoolteacher in space. She and her fellow crew members Elison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Ron McNair, Gregory Jarvis, Dick Scobee, and Michael Smith. The mission was to deploy the TDRS-2, or Tracking Data Relay Satellite-2 and to fly the SPARTAN-203, or Shuttle-Pointed Tool for Astronomy-203. This was to help observe Halley's comet. Other payloads included the Fluid Dynamics Experiment (FDE); Comet Halley Active Monitoring Program CHAMP); Phase Partitioning Experiment (PPE); three Shuttle Student Involvement Program (SSIP) experiments; and the thing that would've made McAuliffe proud if she and the crew were still alive today, a set of lessons for Teacher in Space Project (TISP). Everything had gone well until 74 seconds into the flight. The right-sided rocket booster had produced small puffs of smoke, known as O-rings (because they were shaped like "O"'s). That booster then tears a whole into the external fuel tank (which is not re-used upon dropping, only the rocket boosters are re-used), which was holding over 3 gallons of hydrogen fuel. That, in turn, caused a huge explosion, which not only destroyed the shuttle, but all 7 crew members on board. Obviously, I was only 2 when this happened, so this is all that I can remember. Now, onto the more recent tragedy.

February 1, 2003. It was another beautiful but cold day at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Space Shuttle Columbia (the FIRST of 5 Space Shuttles) was going on a mission, like its predecessor was. This mission, however, was a multi-disciplinary microgravity and Earth science research mission with a multitude of international scientific investigations conducted continuously during 16 days in orbit. The crew included Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, David Brown, Laurel Clark, Ilan Ramon (the first Israeli astronaut), and Kalpana Chawla (the first Indian astronaut). The shuttle launched on January 16, 2003; 12 days to the 17th anniversary of the Challenger disaster. Everything had gone well for this flight, until that fateful day in 2003. When the shuttle had re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, it broke up over Texas, many Texans (not me, I was probably still asleep when it happened), had said that they'd heard a loud boom, and saw debris flying overhead. It had become apparent that the shuttle broke up when it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. Like Challenger before it, all 7 crew members were killed. Later, that day, President Bush addressed to the nation that "The Columbia is lost; there are no survivors." Believe it or not, some of the pieces from the shuttle hit parts of East Texas. Residents in that part of the state were told to stay clear of any pieces of the shuttle. Anyone who was caught with any shuttle pieces (and there were quite a few!) would be arrested. So far, there has been an investigation into the cause of this disaster, but no one will know what it is, until it's released. So, like Challenger before it, the Columbia disaster has once again placed the space shuttle program on hiatus. And speaking of the space shuttle program, only 3 shuttles remain: Endeavour, Discovery, and Atlantis.

For all you Millionaire fans, ABC's bringing back the once-blockbuster game show. As you know, it bowed out in 2002, after huge criticism from the show's fanactics for 2 reasons: First, they took out the phone game, and second, they went WAY OVERBOARD with the Celebrity versions! So, they decided to make the fans happy, by bringing it back, and calling it "Who Wants To Be A SUPER MILLIONAIRE?" Yep, the top prize is TEN MILLION DOLLARS! Here's the table: $1,000-$2,000-$3,000-$4,000-$5,000-$10,000-$20,000-$30,000-$50,000-$100,000-$500,000-$1 MILLION-$2.5 MILLION-$5 MILLION-$10 MILLION. The $5,000 and $100,000 levels are the guarantee points. We still have the usual 3 lifelines in 50:50, Ask The Audience, and Phone A Friend, but after the $100,000 question, in come 2 more lifelines, and they are both NEW: They are "Three Wise Men" (although a woman will be part of the trio in many of the shows) in which a triad of former major quiz show winners or high-level experts in a variety of fields will be isolated offstage on a video screen to provide consensus help to a player; and "Double Dip", where you'll have 2 chances to answer the question. Says the show's executive producer Michael Davies: "However, the risk factor is heightened because if you decide to go for a Double Dip, you give up your opportunity to walk away from the question. So, if you are at $1 million and say Double Dip on the $2.5 million question, you are automatically putting $900,000 at risk with no way out." So, just like the traditional 3 lifelines, these 2 lifelines have to used CAREFULLY as well!

This year also marks the 11th anniversary of the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing, where 6 people were killed, and over 1,000 were injured. As you may or may not have heard, there's a new memorial, with 2 reflecting pools, each reflecting the spots where the Twin Towers once stood. The memorials are in honor of the 3,000 killed on 9-11, and, to ensure that they aren't forgotten, the 6 who perished on 1993. As you know, the granite memorial built in 1995 with the 6 victims' names engraved in it, was destroyed in the 9-11 attacks, and a piece of that memorial is now on display. Go see it if you have the chance.

This year also marks the 1-year anniversary of the death of TV's legendary neighbor, Mr. Fred Rogers. Many of us grew up watching him, his toy trolley, and the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, hoping we'd learn from his lessons. We did, and reruns continue to air to this day. The series closed up shop in 2001.

Also, if you're into Texas Sports, 3 things happened on the same day, February 25: In 1987, Southern Methodist University (SMU) gave the football program the so-called "Death Penalty," suspending it for the full 1987 season, and the program itself decided to not play in 1988, so they came back in 1989. Speaking of 1989, that was the same day Jerry Jones bought the Cowboys, firing both Tex Schramm and Tom Landry. In 1994, the Big XII Conference was formed. A new era in college sports was beginning, and many of us are proud of the work they've done. Then, of course, 3 days later and 9 years after that, February 28, 2003, marked the end of an era, as the Dallas Cowboys released the NFL's all-time rushing leader, running back Emmitt Smith.

And it's also been a year since the BIG Blizzard of 2003, when snow covered up most of the nation. Here we are in 2004, a year later, and we got more snow than in 2003! But, as usual, we saw snow figures of all kinds, from regular snowmen (even though Christmas 2003 is gone, and Christmas 2004 is 10 months away!), to snowwomen.

In closing, I've got some good news (Other than saving a load of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico, and that's a joke!). This year is a LEAP YEAR. Yep, every 4 years, instead of ending on the 28th, February ends on the 29th. Wanna know what a leap year is? Well, here goes. According to the Gregorian calendar (used by most current countries), these 3 rules indicate a leap year: (a) Every year divisible by 4 is a leap year, (b) But every year divisible by 100 is NOT a leap year, and (c) Unless the year is also divisible by 400, then it is still a leap year. And why do we need them? Well, Leap years are needed so that the calendar is in alignment with the earth's motion around the sun.

Well, next month, I hit the big 21. I'll talk about it then. Until then, this is John Lee saying, "Go HOME!"