Christopher Gainor

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Articles

The best books about the exploration of space

Apr 22, 2024 | shepherd.com | Christopher Gainor |Andrew Chaikin |Meredith Bagby |Roger D. Launius

I have read many books about the Apollo astronauts and their journeys to the Moon, but this very readable book is the only one that took me along on the greatest human adventure in space. Chaikin also left me knowing each one of these astronauts better than I did when I started. Why should I read it? 6authors pickedA Man on the Moonas one of their favorite books, and they sharewhy you should read it. What is this book about?
The Total Solar Eclipse of April 8, 2024

Apr 19, 2024 | chrisgainor.blogspot.com | Christopher Gainor

The author and the eclipse on April 8, 2024 The millions of people who saw a total solar eclipse for the first time on April 8, 2024, now know about the power and magnificence of this celestial spectacle. The April eclipse was the second of two total solar eclipses that were visible in North America in recent years, the first being the eclipse of August 21, 2017, that crossed the United States.
Asteroid (20041) Gainor

Nov 10, 2023 | chrisgainor.blogspot.com | Christopher Gainor

A representation of the orbit of (20041) Gainor, with its position on November 9, 2023 (NASA JPL)This week the Working Group on Small Bodies Nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) published its latest list of about 40 new names it had approved for minor planets. Twenty of them were named after Canadians, including a number of people I know from my involvement in astronomy. One was named (20041) Gainor, after me.
Canada World Youth, 50 years later

Aug 2, 2023 | chrisgainor.blogspot.com | Christopher Gainor

The author and friends in Fiji, 1974Fifty years this week I boarded an Air Canada flight that took me from my home in Edmonton to Toronto, which I had never visited before. I was just a few weeks out of high school, and like many other people at that point in their lives, I was unsure about what direction my life would take in the years ahead, aside from a general intention to go to university.
Peter Armitage, NASA Engineer worked at Avro Canada 1929-2023

Jul 18, 2023 | chrisgainor.blogspot.com | Christopher Gainor

Peter Armitage (left) with Astronaut Virgil I. Grissom during Mercury recovery testing exercise in 1961. Peter Armitage, one of the last of the British and Canadian engineers who helped form the nucleus of NASA’s early human space programs, died on July 10 at age 94 in Houston, Texas.
Artemis II Is Far From NASA's First Lunar Flight With Canadian Content

Apr 6, 2023 | chrisgainor.blogspot.com | Christopher Gainor

Tom Kelly (left) and Owen Maynard (centre) at the NASA Mission Control Center in Houston during the flight of Apollo 11 in 1969 (NASA). Officially, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen is part of the crew of the upcoming Artemis II flight around the Moon thanks to an agreement between NASA and the Canadian Space Agency which will see Canada build Canadarm 3 for the Lunar Gateway space station that is part of the Artemis program.
The Bomb and America's Missile Age

Mar 21, 2023 | audiobooks.com | Christopher Gainor

The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), designed to quickly deliver thermonuclear weapons to distant targets, was the central weapons system of the Cold War. ICBMs also carried the first astronauts and cosmonauts into orbit. More than a generation later, we are still living with the political, technological, and scientific effects of the space race, while nuclear-armed ICBMs remain on alert and in the headlines around the world.