The talk featured Dr. Peter Jakab, National Air and Space Museum's chief curator, talking about the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I this month.
I asked the kids to write about two things they learned from today's webinar.
Annabelle's insights are up first.
Today I learned that during World War 1, the Fokker tri-plane was one of the most popular planes at the time in Europe. The Fokker tri-plane used three short wing sets as opposed to one or two longer sets, granting it greater maneuverability and control. This came at the cost of making the plane much slower, though it made it especially convenient in tight conditions or close-range dogfights. It also became the Red Baron's plane of choice, due to its accuracy.
Also, today I learned that plane engines in World War 1 were only rotary engines, meaning the entire engine spun around a central shaft. While this did get the planes off the ground, it also had the rather unpleasant side effect of frequently hurling engine parts off itself. This would frequently be a problem during dogfights, which eventually lead to the production of the Radial engine.
CJ's takeaways are as follows. ...
Today I learned that World War I was often referred to (especially before the start of World War II) as "The War to End All Wars," in reference to its virtually unprecedented scope and level of destruction. In contrast to the vast majority of previous wars in human history, where spanning multiple continents was a rare occurrence, nearly every continent was involved in World War I in some way. In addition, World War I saw the first significant usage of tanks and aircraft in warfare, which enabled vast amounts of destruction and death to occur in battlefields.
I also learned today that women were involved in World War I to a larger extent than is widely known. For one example, many women worked in factories, assembling parts needed for machines in the war. A notable branch of an army that employed women was the British Empire's Royal Air Force, notable for employing Florence Green (the last known World War I veteran to die.)LUNCH LIFT OFF: I had a medical appointment midday. The kids waited in the car while I was indisposed. I left them with homework, including watching the SpaceX launch just after 12:30 our time today.
On the pad from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida was the Es’hail-2 satellite. Per a SpaceX press release, "Es’hail-2 also features multi-transponder Ka-band capacity, providing business and government sectors with secure communications across the Middle East and North Africa region. In partnership with leading service providers, Es’hailSat will offer a portfolio of broadcast and VSAT services to support business growth. The spacecraft’s multi-mission architecture will enable Es’hailSat to respond to demand for the fastestgrowing applications in the Middle East and North Africa, including content transfer, broadcast distribution, enterprise communications, and government services."
We learned that the satellite is a geostationary transfer orbit. In other words, it's not orbiting around our planet. It will be fixed in one spot in low Earth orbit.
This mission is another feather in the SpaceX cap, as the first stage of the Falcon 9 in today's launch has been used just months ago, for the Telstar 19 VANTAGE mission in July 2018. And as it went down in July, today, the first stage nailed the landing on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
You can watch a replay of the launch below. Liftoff launch actually happens about the 22 minute mark in this video.
FRANKIE: An email from the Library of Congress today alerted me to the fact that our national government now has the first Frankenstein movie archived and restored. Go, America! ;)
But seriously, it's a super interesting story about where the film has been for over 100 years prior. I would encourage you all to read a Library of Congress article entitled The First Film Version of Frankenstein, Newly Restored!
Just a couple weeks ago, we went to a fascinating lecture about Frankenstein at MoPOP. One of the speakers there was Leslie S. Klinger, one of the world’s foremost authorities on Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, H. P. Lovecraft, Frankenstein, and the history of mystery and horror fiction.
There, we learned so much about the Frankenstein lore, so when the email today came about the first ever motion picture being available for viewing, we were super interested to see it.
https://www.loc.gov/item/2017600664/?The movie's only 13 minutes long. I heartily encourage you to take a look.
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