Category Archives: Space Travel

The discoveries of exoplanets in recent years have been absolutely extraordinary, and they could relatively soon be reached by our technology. At Cape Canaveral in Florida, on April 18, 2018 at 6:51pm, the Falcon Nine rocket was launched to send NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite or TESS space telescope into orbit. It is a probe that scans the sky for planets about 100 light years away orbiting stars similar to our Sun.

Over the next decade, scientists expect TESS to fulfil its primary mission, which is to discover thousands of exoplanets. Exoplanets are planets that lie beyond the solar system. This is a golden age as far as discoveries are concerned. Only some 20 years ago we did not know that there were Earth-like planets in the Universe and it is hard to believe how many more things will come to light at such a pace. It is difficult to keep up with today's discoveries: as of May 1 this year, there were 5,017 exoplanets.

Only recently, thanks to the development of satellites and high-power, high-definition telescopes, has it been possible to study neighbouring planets more accurately, particularly those capable of harbouring life. In the past, the idea that Earth-like planets could exist in the galaxy was not only inconceivable, but was also considered heretical blasphemy (Giordano Brunos execution was a case in point).

In the early 1990s astronomers, although with high-powered telescopes, were unable to detect distant planets. It is not easy to see an exoplanet: just imagine looking at a firefly next to a reflector. The process is extremely difficult because stars shine with their own light and planets reflect their light: generally speaking, a star is about 10 billion times brighter than a planet but, thanks to remarkable technological advances, two astronomers - Polish scientist Aleksander Wolszczan and Canadian scientist Dale Frail - detected two planets - Poltergeist and Phobetor - through a terrestrial telescope, near the newly discovered pulsar star B1257+12.

The case of 51 Pegasi b (Bellerophon-Dimidium), which was spectroscopically detected by the Swiss Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz in 1995, is different. It orbits a Sun-like star (51 Pegasi) and is therefore considered to be the first exoplanet in all respects. On October 8, 2019, the two Swiss scientists received the Nobel Prize in Physics.

The search had already intensified ten years earlier, in 2009, with the launch of Kepler, the first space telescope designed to detect exoplanets. In 2018 Kepler was replaced by the aforementioned even more powerful TESS. The most interesting aspect of TESS is that it was designed for the specific purpose of detecting exoplanets using the transit method, which detects the decrease in brightness of a star's light due to the transit of a planet. The decrease in brightness signals the transiting body and the orbit is determined, based on the frequency. It is an excellent method for finding new planets.

Although the search for exoplanets was initially aimed at establishing how many planets in the galaxy orbit the stars, the results are staggering: our galaxy has about 400 billion stars and, according to recent discoveries, on average each star hosts at least one planet: this means that there are at least 400 billion planets in our galaxy, the Milky Way.

The discovery of such a large number of exoplanets is a radical change in our knowledge of the Universe, but the idea that millions of planets might not only be able to host other life forms, but also to generate them, is even more extreme. To this end, astronomers and astrophysicists are searching for planets in a region they call the habitable zone. The habitable zone is the area around the star that enables the planet to maintain water in a liquid state. Scientists are looking for a planet in an optimal location, not too close or far from the parent star, that has enough oxygen and water to make the atmosphere, and probably even life, possible.

Scientists are astounded at the amount of planets discovered in the habitable zone that could harbour life forms: as mentioned above, there are at least 400 billion planets in our galaxy - hence even just one per cent equates to four billion planets that could potentially be habitable. The discovery of exoplanets has radically changed the way we think about the entire Universe: almost all scientists believe that other forms of life may exist. Despite the large number of habitable exoplanets, many scientists argue that only microbial or bacterial life forms could exist outside the Earth.

They are wary of what they call far-fetched theories that planets could harbour more sophisticated and evolved intelligent life forms, probably equipped with more advanced technologies than ours. Japanese-born astrophysicist Michio Kaku - a summa cum laude graduate of Harvard University - said: 'Think about it. The Universe is about 13.8 billion years old, while the Earth is only 4.6 billion years old. How many civilisations could have arisen and fallen in this time span before the formation of the Earth?"

The theory, coupled with the practical discovery that the galaxy teems with Earth-like planets, has triggered a revolution in the scientific community. It is believed that most of the planets in the habitable zone are home to life forms very similar to ours. In the Atacama Desert, Chile, in August 2016 astronomers announced the discovery of a planet orbiting the closest star to our solar system, namely Proxima Centauri. The planet in question, Proxima B, is Earth-like and close enough to its star to harbour life. Proxima B is one of the most interesting and recently discovered exoplanets: it is about 1.3 times larger than Earth. Scientists believe it is rocky and may be similar to our planet. Proxima B may be habitable and is being studied with telescopes in more detail; images will be available over the next ten years.

Despite the immense distance, an ambitious programme to study it by spacecraft is underway. The Breakthrough Starshot project is the brainchild of Israeli citizen Russian philanthropist Jurij Milner and the late, famous cosmologist, Stephen Hawking (1942-2018). Milner said: For the first time in the history of mankind, we will not only be observing the stars, but we will also be able to reach them. The goal of Breakthrough Starshot is to send small probes a few centimetres in size to the nearby planet.

The microchip will be fitted with a sort of parachute propelled by laser beams that will inflate the sails and deposit the probe on the nearest star. The device will travel at cruising speed, but can accelerate up to 20% of the speed of light so that it will easily reach the nearest stars. Although travelling at very high speeds, the probes will take twenty years to complete the journey.

Light travels at a finite speed: the sun rays take about eight minutes to reach the Earth. Many bodies are thousands or millions or billions of light years away.

In recent years, an increasing number of astrophysicists have speculated that mankind could unravel the mysteries of interstellar space travel much sooner than previously thought. They believe the key is to use a theoretically possible structure known as wormhole: a space-time curve theorised by Albert Einstein that could make interstellar travel times not only shorter but almost instantaneous. Wormholes are capable of curving space and would play a key role in space travel. They are studied in the current theory of gravity and general relativity.

A wormhole is a tunnel that connects two separate ends that are folded on themselves: they are commonly called stargates, because they enable travel over considerable distances in less time than light would take, but without exceeding the speed of light. In theory, spacecraft capable of creating wormholes could travel to distant exoplanets in a few hours or a matter of seconds, respecting Einsteins laws.

Mount Palomar, California, October 6, 2013: a red supergiant star in the constellation Pegasus. ten times larger than the Sun, exploded in a colossal supernova. For the first time, scientists could witness the death of a supergiant star in real time but, as the dying star was 160 million light years from the Earth, astronomers witnessed an event that had happened 160 million years ago.

One of the basic concepts of astronomy is that almost everything we see happened in the past because light does not travel instantaneously. A supernova is a stellar explosion that wipes out all the planets around it, including any civilisations or life forms, but the whole process occurred in the distant past. The violent death of the star in the constellation Pegasus provides dramatic confirmation that the Universe is an ancient and dynamic unit.

Billions of years from now, our star, the Sun, will turn into a supernova and the day is inexorably approaching when we should migrate to another habitable planet. It is not reassuring that the event will occur in the very distant future, as thinking about it today will save us tomorrow.

At La Silla Observatory in Chile, in August 2011 astronomers announced the discovery of a large Earth-like planet in the constellation Orion: the planet is in the habitable zone and the star around which it orbits is very similar to ours, thus making it suitable for hosting life. Hence the goal for us earthlings is to discover a stable solar system, like the one Earth is in.

However, specific resources are needed before practice can be developed from theory. In Los Angeles, in June 2019 TransAstra Corporation announced a partnership with NASA to launch a new project into space, namely asteroid mining. TransAstra Corporation was established in 2015, at the time when entrepreneur Elon Musk with SpaceX, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos with Blue Origin, and others were devising cheap and effective ways to travel to space. By having rockets capable of going into orbit cheaply, a business could be created in space like that of mining asteroids for precious metals of great value on Earth.

They are called precious metals because they are becoming scarce on Earth. Hence where can we find asteroids?

Metals such as rare earth elements, gold, copper, zinc and platinum have been mined on Earth for thousands of years and are vital to civilisation, but their supply is limited partly because they do not come from our planet. The Earth originally was a mass in a molten state: many precious metals were drawn inwards. As a result of that process, the heavy elements sank to the centre of the Earth; as they cooled down, a crust of light materials was formed.

It is widely known that without the use of metals, technology and civilisation would not have existed. Luckily for us, it is estimated that about 3.8 billion years ago trillions of asteroids crashed into the Earth, depositing a layer of heavy metals on the Earth's crust. Those materials did not come from the Earth: they were deposited on our planet by comets and asteroids that crashed into the Earth a long time ago. All the precious metals we mine on Earth come from celestial bodies. The bombardment of asteroids deposited metals that made the Bronze Age, the Iron Age and today's technological civilisation possible, but many metals - including the rare earth elements needed for technology - are increasingly unavailable.

This is the reason why many scientists and experts believe that the asteroid belt could come in handy. An asteroid, even a small one, has more rare earth elements than have been mined on Earth in the history of mankind: it is estimated that if extractions were made from even ten of the over six thousand asteroids - whose existence is recorded in the NASA database - they would produce resources equivalent to 1.5 trillion dollars. The asteroid belt could meet our civilisation's needs for thousands of years and centuries to come.

The most sensible choice is to build spacecraft to find asteroids, extract material and take all the advantages and benefits.

Mountain View, California, April 2013: scientists at NASA's Ames Research Centre discovered two new potentially habitable exoplanets, Kepler 62E and 62F, thanks to the Kepler Space Telescope. Planets 62E and 62F are called water worlds because they are covered by a global, all-encompassing ocean and are promising because they are located in the habitable zone and are covered by the ocean.

This means that in a phase of expansion and space migration, not only raw materials are needed, but also water which, once broken down and split into hydrogen and oxygen, could be used as fuel with the processes that are at the forefront, which I have analysed in some of my previous contributions.

It is firmly believed that the search for life forms will further undergo a revolution very soon. On December 25, 2021, NASA launched the James Webb telescope, a space telescope for infrared astronomy, capable of analyses considered impossible until a few years ago, i.e. taking detailed, full-colour images of an exoplanet. The James Webb telescope is completely different from those in space. It gives the possibility to observe the reflected light of exoplanets and the electromagnetic spectrum in order to detect potential biological traces.

The future lies in research, the past in war. The certainty is many graves if we stand still.

Professor Giancarlo Elia Valori is a world-renowned Italian economist and international relations expert, who serves as the President of the International World Group. In 1995, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem dedicated theGiancarlo Elia Valori chair of Peace and Regional Cooperation. Prof. Valori also holds chairs for Peace Studies at Yeshiva University in New York and at Peking University in China. Among his many honors from countries and institutions around the world, Prof. Valori is an Honorable of the Academy of Science at the Institute of France, as well as Knight Grand Cross and Knight of Labor of the Italian Republic.

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Space exploration and the future exploitation of asteroids - Israeldefense.co.il

Heres all you need to know about ISROs three major missions in 2022- Gaganyaan, Aditya L-1 and Chandrayaan- 3

Heres all you need to know about ISROs three major missions in 2022- Gaganyaan, Aditya L-1 and Chandrayaan- 3

The story so far: On May 13, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully tested the HS200 solid rocket booster, an integral part of its upcoming manned mission in space, called Gaganyaan.

This rocket booster is used for the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk-III (GSLV Mk-III), which will be a part of the Gaganyaan mission. The successful completion of the test marks a major milestone for the human space flight mission as the first stage of the launch vehicle is tested for its performance for the full duration, according to a statement by ISRO.

ISROs upcoming missions this year focus on manned space travel (Gaganyaan), studying the sun (Aditya L-1) and soft-landing on the moon (Chandrayaan-3). Apart from these three missions, several satellite launches (both domestic and foreign) are also scheduled by ISRO throughout the year.

Gaganyaan:

Indias crewed mission in space Gaganyaan is scheduled to undertake its unmanned flights in the second half of 2022. The project will demonstrate ISROs capability for human spaceflight to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and safe return to the Earth. Gaganyaan comprises two unmanned missions and one manned mission, as approved by the Centre. The manned mission is expected to take up to seven days.

The mission will also lay the foundation for a sustained Indian human space exploration programme. With its manned space mission in 2023, India aims to become the fourth nation to send humans to space after US, Russia and China. India also aims to set up its own space station for conducting research on fundamental, applied and engineering sciences after the completion of Gaganyaan.

In response to a Parliamentary query, the Centre revealed that a new training centre for astronauts has been constructed at the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC)ISROs nerve centre in Bengaluru.

Shortlisted astronauts are currently being trained for the mission. Further, rehearsals for crew recovery operations and detailed operational requirements for nominal missions have been finalised. Conceptual designs for microgravity experiments are under review.

For the Gaganyaan mission, ISRO has indigenously developed new technologies including a human-rated launch vehicle, crew escape systems, a habitable orbital module, and a life support system. The designing of all systems and sub-systems has been completed, and the realisation of each system is at different stages of progress. The construction of the integration facility for the orbital module has almost been completed.

In August 2021, ISRO completed a long-duration qualification test for the human-rated cryogenic engine and the first phase testing of the Vikas Engine for the core L110 liquid stage of the human-rated Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV Mk-III) vehicle. With the completion of this test, the engine qualification requirements of the mission were successfully completed.

ISRO has also received inputs for the mission from Glavkosmos, a subsidiary of Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos,as well as the French governments National Centre for Space Studies (CNES.)

The entire Gaganyaan programme is estimated to cost approximately Rs 9,023 crores. Apart from ISRO, the Indian Armed Forces, Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO), Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard, Shipping Corporation of India, National Institute of Oceanography, National Institute of Ocean Technology, Indian Meteorological Department, CSIR Labs and several academic institutes and industry partners are a part of the project. While Gaganyaans unmanned flight was to take place in 2021, the onset of COVID-19 pushed it to 2022.

Aditya L-1:

Indias first mission to study the Sun, Aditya L-1 aims to place a 400kg satellite in the halo orbit around the Lagrangian point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system to continuously view the sun without any eclipses. While initially only one payload the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) was planned, the satellite is now scheduled to carry six payloads to the halo orbit around L1, located at a distance of 1.5 million km from Earth.

Aditya L-1 payloads| Photo Credit: ISRO

The payloads of Aditya L-1 comprise:

Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC): Developed by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), VELC will engage in imaging and study of the magnetic field and other parameters of the solar corona the outer layers of the sun extending to thousands of kilometres above the disc (photosphere).

Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT): Created by the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics (IUCAA), the SUIT will image the spatially resolved solar photosphere and chromosphere in the ultraviolet (200-400 nm) band. It will also measure solar irradiance and its variations.

Aditya Solar wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX): Designed and developed by the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), the ASPEX will study solar wind properties, its distribution and its spectral characteristics.

Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya (PAPA): Jointly developed by the Space Physics Laboratory (SPL) and VSSC, the PAPA will analyse the composition of solar wind and its energy distribution.

Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS): Created by the ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), the SoLEXS will monitor X-ray flares in the suns corona to study its heating mechanism.

High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS): A joint venture by ISAC, Udaipur Solar Observatory (USO) and PRL, the HEL1OS will observe dynamic events in the solar corona and estimate the energy used to accelerate particles during eruptive events, such as flares and coronal mass ejections.

Magnetometer: Jointly developed by ISAC and the Laboratory for Electro-optic Systems (LEOS), the magnetometer will measure the magnitude and nature of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field the solar magnetic field emanating from the solar corona and spanning the solar system.

While this mission was to be launched in 2019-2020, it has now been pushed to 2022.

Chandrayaan-3:

ISRO aims to launch Chandrayaan-3 in an attempt to soft land on the moon, after Chandrayaan-2 hard-landed on the lunar surface in 2019.

The Centre informed Parliament that based on the learnings from Chandrayaan-2 and suggestions from a national level committee, special testing of many hardware components has been successfully completed. The launch of Chandrayaan-3 is scheduled for August 2022.

On July 22, 2019, Chandrayaan-2s rocket successfully lifted off with the Vikram Lander and Pragyan rover housed in it. The lander was scheduled to soft-land (i.e. landing of spacecraft on the lunar surface intact without crashing) on September 7, 2019, near the lunar south pole, 71 degrees to the south of the equator and 22.8 degrees east. Two hours after its landing, the hatch was scheduled to open, lowering the ramp and allowing the rover to roll out. The six-wheeled, solar-powered rover was designed to explore the south lunar surface 500m at a time and send its results to the lander which would be in communication with the orbiting satellite (Chandrayaan-1).

However, on September 7, 2019, after the Vikram Lander began its landing sequence, there was a large deviation in the altitude and velocity during the pipe breaking phase. While the lander descended from 30 km to 2km smoothly, it lost communication with ISROs Deep Space Antenna and fell to the surface of the moon a hard landing. The crashed lander with the rover stuck inside was was located by NASA on December 3, 2019.

While the three missions listed above are major projects for ISRO in 2022 , the space agency has also scheduled several satellite launches this year.

These include two Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) missions , one commercial and one for launching the EOS-06 earth observation satellite; two developmental flights of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV); and one Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) mission for launching the NVS-01 navigation satellite.

ISRO has also scheduled one communication satellite mission (GSAT-24) and one Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk-III) mission both for commercial customers.

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ISRO's upcoming space missions in 2022: From Chandrayaan-3 to Aditya L-1 - The Hindu

58% of the American population are fascinated and excited about our space program

When did the space program begin? Why did the man want to fly in space? Why are they so into space?

Was the first American space rocket the Saturn V? Who was our first Astronaut? What was the name of the last NASA astronaut to stand on the moon? Did men lose their lives while we were learning to fly in space?

The new book Space Travel Impossible to Reality answers all these questions. The author shares many stories from the floor of Mission Control. Author Al Bond was a member of the Mission Control Team and had a front-row seat to history being made. Al was at his console in Mission Control when Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. You wont get any closer than that!

This compelling book is written in first-person perspective and is a fantastic storybook. Al provided thorough knowledge on one of the most remarkable explorations in the history of the world. In addition, the thousands of people at NASA showed their love, struggles, and dedication to putting the man on the moon and returning him safely.

The proceeding chapters provide impeccable detail about the incredible adventure and experiences the members of Mission Control have experienced.

Get ready to witness and live this adventure with the author. This fantastic book is written for you.

Media ContactCompany Name: Amazon Pro Hub,Contact Person: Al BondEmail: Send EmailPhone: +1 214-236-4500Country: United StatesWebsite: http://www.almbond.com

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New Book Titled Space Travel Impossible to Reality, Written By Al Bond - Digital Journal

A new video gives us a dramatic look at the space startup SpinLaunch's unique liftoff strategy.

SpinLaunch plans to accelerate rockets to tremendous speeds on terra firma using a rotating arm and then fling them high into the sky, where they'll light up their engines and power their way to orbit. This novel methodology will allow SpinLaunch to loft satellites at a low cost and high cadence, company representatives say.

SpinLaunch has been testing the idea out using the 165-foot-tall (50 meters) suborbital accelerator it built at Spaceport America in New Mexico. On April 22, for example, the California-based company conducted its eighth flight test from the facility, slinging a 10-foot-long (3 m) test vehicle into the sky at more than 1,000 mph (1,600 kph).

Incredible technology: Space travel and exploration

That vehicle carried a digital camera, a first for a SpinLaunch test flight. And on April 28, the company posted some of the resulting footage on YouTube.

The 70-second video is quite a sight, showing the reddish-brown New Mexico desert spinning rapidly beneath the soaring test vehicle. But fear not, those with weak stomachs: the spin begins to slow toward the end, and we even get a brief view of the blackness of space.

Putting a camera on the test vehicle had definite gee-whiz value, as the recent video shows. But that's not the main reason SpinLaunch did it.

"Flying with the digital camera system onboard marks an important step towards integrating complex payloads into SpinLaunch flight test vehicles," company representatives said in a description of the YouTube video.

SpinLaunch recently announced that NASA has signed on to loft a payload using the suborbital accelerator, on a test flight expected to occur later this year.

Such work will help the company continue building toward orbital flight, which SpinLaunch aims to achieve by 2025. The first orbital launches will occur from a coastal site in the United States, which the company says it will announce soon (opens in new tab).

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There (opens in new tab)" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).

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Watch SpinLaunch sling a payload high into the sky in epic test flight video - Space.com

There may be a seemingly endless supply of podcasts available today, but it can be difficult to find ones that toe the line between style and substance.

They do exist, though. Heres a shortlist of fact-filled podcasts that are interesting, informative, andbest of allentertaining.

Youll laugh. Youll learn. And youll be glad you added them to your podcast player.

With a name like Stuff You Should Know, this podcast better deliver. Thankfully, it does.

New episodes drop nearly daily, last around 45 minutes, and run the gamut of topics: artificial banana flavoring, nose jobs, mysterious crimes, even a breakdown of Rodney Dangerfields act.

If youre looking to cram as many fun facts as you can in as little time as possible, Curiosity Daily is right up your alley.

As the name implies, this is a once-daily podcast. It covers a wide range of subjectsa few per episodeand lands at about 15 minutes a pop. Its a great vehicle for ingesting a bunch of fun facts without spending too much time doing it.

If you like TED Talks, youll love TED Radio Hour.

This weekly podcast features episodes that average about 50 minutes and tackle deep-thought issues put forth by big thinkers. If youre looking to not only learn but also expand your horizons at the same time, this is a good place to start.

Good Job, Brain!bills itself as part quiz show, part offbeat trivia, and all awesome.Thats a pretty good description for this weekly podcast, which features episodes that last about and hour and covers a truly dizzying array of topics spanning science, history, language, and beyond. Its unpredictable, its weird, and its fun.

Looking to lean a little toward the science-y side of things? The BBCs Discovery podcast is a must-listen.

Episodes surface weekly and last about a half hour each, covering topics such as why peoples hair turns white, how Wi-Fi works, whats next for space travel, and much more.

Its a wonderfully informative look at past, present, and future issuesall presented in easily accessible, well-produced episodes.

Smart People is an interview-style podcast with two hosts who pick the brains ofyou guessed itsmart people.

Episodes appear each week, last between 45 minutes and an hour, and feature a great mix of compelling questions after which the hosts get out of the way so their guests can shine.

Topics lean ever so slightly toward self-help without being too cheesy about it. Youll learn a bunch of cool stuff about health, business, and other matters, and perhaps even better yourself in the process.

The perfectly-named podcast I Should Have Known offers up engaging tidbitswith a twist.The podcasts trio of hosts tackles a single issue, unraveling a series of facts about it. However, one of the facts is always a lie. Itll keep you on your toes for sure.

Episodes last about 15 minutes and come out once a week.

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These podcasts are as entertaining as they are educational - Fast Company

The first time I talked to Vangelis, the Oscar-winning composer of Chariots of Fire, he was in a recording studio in Paris. (I was calling from L.A.) I asked if he lived in Paris, and he said, No, just passing through. Where do you call home? I asked. Well, thats a difficult question, he chuckled. Could be London, could be Paris ... could be anywhere. Could be outer space? I joked. Oh yeah, he said. Thats every day.

There was something extraterrestrial about the manwhose body died in Paris last week at age 79and it wasnt just his music. In his later years, Vangelis became more and more obsessed with space travel, writing music for NASA missions and a piece for Stephen Hawkings funeral that was literally broadcast into the heavens. When I interviewed him back in 2016, he kept steering the conversation away from my silly earthbound questions about Blade Runner and into the cosmos.

For me, he said, music is science more than art. And it is the main code of the universe. But thats a big subject.

It was hard to keep up with him when he got going on cosmology, but I was informed that was all he really cared to talk about anymore. So I tried. Why does your music have such a deep connection to the cosmos? I asked.

Its not me, he said. You too. Maybe you dont know that. ... We are connected, whether we want it or not. He talked about millions of years of memory, and not the memory that yesterday Ive been to that restaurant, this thing, and I did that and that and that. No, its the memory of the whole thing, of the universe. We are part of the universe, and the music is the code.

At the end of our chat, he pulled a little whirring toy out of his pocket that made sounds like a baby spaceship. He giggled as he activated it and held it to the microphone. He was mysterious, but also mischievous.

This mystical philosopher, as elusive and elliptical an interview as he proved to be, was exactly what we hoped Vangelis would be. Where else would such cosmic, spacey music come from other than this galactic Greek brain? When I interviewed the very earthy directors he worked with, though, I got a slightly different picture.

Completely assertive, Ridley Scott said. Hes one of the boys. Said, You want a cigar? Yeah, yeah. You want some wine? Yeah. OK. So we did, in his studio in London, we did that. Id be coming in, hed say, What do you want? Chinese food? Yeah. Hed always ask about the food first, cause he likes food.

It was always fun, Scott said. Always fun, never pretentious. And hes inordinately approachable. Really nice man.

Singer and Yes cofounder Jon Anderson, who recorded four absolutely killer synthpop albums with Vangelis in the 1980s and early 90s, added yet another dimension to this man of mystery.

Instant good energy, Anderson wrote in an email about their first meeting in Paris. As I walked in he had a longbow and some arrows, which he proceeded to fire down the very big hallway. The arrows went through the very large curtained window. I explained he could kill someone. He just laughed saying he was Greek. Dont worry, Jonny.

Vangelis was a bit of a shapeshifter before taking his final form as Celestial Synth Wizard, but the prophecies were there all along. Technically, he was born Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou on March 29, 1943, near Volos, Greecebut its easier to imagine him arriving in a craft from another planet. He began playing the piano and composing as a child, and his earthly parents briefly enrolled him in music school, but it didnt take. I was lucky not to go, he told the Daily Telegraph in 2005, because music schools close doors rather than open them.

When he received a Hammond organ as a teenager, he painted it gold. It was a totally new thing for me, so I treated it without any previous memory of other peoples playing, he told Keyboard in 1982. I treated it more like a synthesizer than an organ. To me it was always, Find the sound possibilities. Later on, he played the synth like a church organist.

Rock n roll was a waystation: Barely out of high school, he formed Greeces first popular rock band, the Forminx, but left home during the 1967 military coup. He lived in Paris as an exiled alien, where he cofounded the prog rock band Aphrodites Child.

They were hugely popular in Europe, but Vangelis was restless in the confines of commercial rock. When Anderson invited him to join Yes after keyboardist Rick Wakeman left the band, Vangelis refused. He hated pop, said Anderson, and much like me, felt that music is an adventure more than anything.

He moved to London in 1974 and emerged as VANGELISmaker of cosmic, conceptual solo albums. Heaven and Hell took the vibe of prog rock into an electronic depiction of the afterlife, alternating jazzy jam sessions with ecclesiastical choirs. Spiral was a bubbling, swirling tone poem that abandoned all acoustic and human noises and yet still resulted in ear candy.

Listening to a Vangelis album is like setting sail through an ocean of stars; sometimes the stars sing gently, sometimes you hit waves of turbulence, and sometimes you turn a corner and the firmament clears out into a giant dance floor. There are Vangelis tracks that are absolute bangers. Just listen to the sticky hook and throbbing beat of To the Unknown Man, which builds and builds to an ecstatic climax:

When Carl Sagan created the head-tripping 1980 PBS series Cosmos, he used some of the liquid stardust from Heaven and Hell as his main theme. Vangelis was creating the sound of the futurewarbling electronic symphonies full of drama and pulsating melody, all of it soaked in so much reverb that it sounded both like church music and outer space. It was the perfect soundtrack for out-of-body drug voyages and, ultimately, the silver screen.

Chariots of Fire director Hugh Hudson had the unorthodox idea of hiring Vangelis for his staid British film set in 1924, about a pious Christian runner and his Jewish teammate. I didnt want it to be a heritage film, Hudson said. Ridley Scott was developing Blade Runner when the film came out, and he loved the score.

The music was so off-piste, as it wereif you ski, Scott told me a few years ago. Im not a skiersounds pretentiousbut it was so off the idea of a pre-Second World War Olympic Games film. It was off the mark, but worked like a son of a bitch.

Vangelis was residing in Nemo Studios, the musical spacecraft he built near Marble Arch in London, fittingly named after Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. [It] looked like, to me, itd been an old womens institute or something, said Scott. I used to go in there every night, literally as I was cutting, and sit with him till 1 oclock in the morning, where he would, with incredible enthusiasm, show me what hed been doing during the day.

Blade Runner had been a fraught production, with Scotts American crew nearly staging a mutiny and tons of studio pressure to make the film more accessible. But working on the music was pure joy.

Im a loose cannon, Scott said. Thats why Ive usually been fairly unpopular as a director, because my methods are kind of unorthodox. And yet, by the time I did Blade Runner Im in my 40s, Ive got two very successful companies, Ive done prizes at Cannes, Ive done the fuckin Alienso I think I know what Im fucking doing, right? So I didnt want to actually pretty well discuss anything with anybody, because Im doing alright by myself. But when you meet another loose cannon, you trust them. So theres two loose cannons sitting in this room, and we had a good communion of being loose cannons, he laughed.

Scott vividly remembered when Vangelis called him over to play what hed written for the opening shots of a fiery, future Los Angeles. Honestly, my hairs stood on end, Scott said, and from that moment on I knew I was in good shape. Fundamentally, in a sentence, Ill say he was the soul of the movie.

Immediately when I saw some footage, Vangelis told me in 2019, I understood that this is the future. Not a nice future, of course. But this is where were going.

Scott also pointed out the scene where Harrison Fords Deckard is drunk, sitting at a piano and looking through old photos. Thats eight fucking minutes of music, said Scott, and it couldnt intrude, it had to sit there behind and doing its job, which is an emotional push and shove. ... While hes at the piano, he goes into a reverie, and in the reverie we see a unicorn, which is a dream, right? And its the only bit of green you see in the entire fucking movie, so its kind of a green explosion of beauty. And from that he was transposed into making that an eight-minute section of dreams, and it carries right through to him meeting with Rachael, and the beginning of their communion, their coming togethercarries right through that.

Vangelis told Scott: Watch this. Im going to begin the music on Harrisons blink.

He used to watch the actors, Scott said. Hed sit there all day in this huge black space by himself ... staring at the movie, and his inspiration always came from footage. Because hes a very visual musician. And as you know, music is very visual, right? If music isnt drumming images in your head then the musics not workingI dont give a shit whether its Bach or Mozart.

Blade Runner was a commercial failure when it came out in 1982, but it slowly percolated as a bona fide sci-fi masterpiece, owing in large part to its stunning visuals and dreamlike tone. Vangeliss glacial synth chords and hazy, future-noir love theme contributed massively to the vibe, and even as the music passed from sounding like the future to sounding like the 80s version of the future, it persevered as timeless.

Jhann Jhannsson, who I spoke to while he was writing the score for Blade Runner 2049, admired the original score when he saw the film as a teenager in Iceland. Theres a tremendous sense of space, and theres a sense of monumentalism, he said in 2016. His use of spaceartificial space, like reverbs and things like thatwas way ahead of his time, and very influential.

Jhannsson was dropped from the sequel shortly after, and replaced by Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch. (He died in 2018.) The stated reason by director Denis Villenueve: The movie needed something different, and I needed to go back to something closer to Vangelis.

Hollywood came to Vangelis during its synthesizer boom, when artists like Tangerine Dream, Giorgio Moroder, and John Carpenter were giving movies a sequenced, robotic pulse. But despite winning an Oscar for Chariots of Fire, he only scored a handful of films after Blade Runnernamely Costa-Gavras Missing (1982), the Japanese film Antarctica (1983), and The Bounty (1984) starring Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson. He was simply too idiosyncratic and too restless to contort himself into the workmanlike role.

I never thought I was going to become a film composer, he said in 2016. And maybe some people thought, Oh yes, thats the new career of Vangelis. Hes going to become Hollywood composer. Not at all. I can score a film tomorrow, and I can write an opera after tomorrow, and I can write next month a ballet, and I can do, I dont know, a jazz recordwhatever. I feel free to do whatever I like.

I never saw myself like a typical composer that is going to live from writing scoresthree or four or five scores a year, and running after Oscars, he laughed. I think music is much more interesting, and much more rich than to lock yourself in one kind of area.

As synths were fading in fashion, he scored 1492: Conquest of Paradise for Scott in the early 90s and, a decade later, Alexander for Oliver Stoneboth defiantly electronic accompaniments to ancient stories. I wanted to get in touch with the ancient times, said Stone, and I thought that Vangelis could get there.

Listening to the track Eternal Alexander on my laptop, Stone closed his eyes and smiled. If Alexander had been able to hear this, he would have marched all the way to fucking India and beyond, he laughed. He would have kept going to China.

Stone instinctively felt that Vangelis would understand the soul of a fellow larger-than-life Greek explorer. He gave the man grandeur and scope. Going to outer space or going to the far reaches of the universe, at that time, was the same thing ... I can watch it and it brings tears.

Vangelis continued to make solo albums, and he also wrote music for the London Royal Ballet, the Olympics, and a symphonic oratorio, Mythodea, to commemorate NASAs mission to Mars. From the beginning, he often added live instruments and choir to his musicbut synths were always at the heart.

He watched as synth music was cast aside as New Age, then became commercially uncoolthen became retro cool as modern software rendered those old oscillator-and-filter sounds a mere mouse click away. Vangelis always insisted on his own old-school, custom method of performance: He rigged up a bank of analog synths in a way that allowed him to play various voices in real time, like conducting a live electronic orchestra.

Im not using computers, he told me in 2016. Ill do everything manual. I created a system which gives me the opportunity to act as fast as possible, faster than a computer, in order to obtain the final result. He didnt use overdubs, and simply trusted the flow of the moment. I dont want to involve any thought, any personal opinion the moment that I do that. And this is because I prefer to have the music as pure as possible.

Daniel Lopatin, who produces and scores films under the name Oneohtrix Point Never, was hugely inspired by Vangeliss sound and approacha lyrical, soloistic voice carrying the listener through an atmosphereand he wrote the closest thing to a classic Vangelis score for Uncut Gems, directed by Benny and Josh Safdie.

A lot of people concentrate maybe on the Blade Runner score, which is incredible, Lopatin said. But his studio recordswhen he set up Nemo in London, and really, really found his own voicethose are the most interesting today, for me. I think they could teach us the most about where modern score can go, not necessarily his score work itself.

Jhannsson felt that, unlike the sequencer-heavy music of his contemporaries like Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk, Vangelis was more of a classically romantic composer. He used high-tech instruments, but used them more like an orchestra to write sweeping, liquid oceans of melody. I think he has more in common with a great melodist like Verdi or something like that, said Jhannsson. Hes someone who has a great gift for creating very memorable melodies, and very memorable phraseswhich would sound great on any instrument.

The second time I was going to interview Vangelis, when I wrote about Blade Runner and its new sequel, he pulled out at the last minute. He doesnt like to talk about his personal life, I was told by his assistant. He is bored to talk about his career. He prefers to talk about the music in a more philosophical way. The music in connection with the sciences, the space, the man, the nature and the civilization. That is the reason why he rejects so many interview requests.

The last time I talked to him, in 2019, he was promoting an album of piano music that he baldly made out of obligation to Decca Records. He was unsparing in his criticism of the music industry, and talked about how money ruins everything. He lamented how badly humans have treated the planet, and how its clearly tired of us. Once again, he kept trying to steer the conversation away from the hits in his past and onto a more ethereal plane.

I dont give interviews, he said, because I have to try to say things that I dont need to say. And the only thing I need to do is just to make musicand thats it. He sighed. Too much blah blah blah blah, you know what I mean?

But I was very grateful for the blah blah blah I got with Vangelis. He was funny, easygoing, and kindeven as he was maddeningly evasive about the strange and gorgeous music he created. He would argue that the music does all the talking, and Ill allow that he was probably much wiser than me on that count. And now that his corporeal body is gone, the music is still communicating.

One of the reasons that music is so important, he said in our last chat, is because, deep down, people need the music. Even bad music. They cant get away from the music. Of course, they are music. We are music. We are space. Were everything. Theres no division.

Tim Greiving is a film music journalist in Los Angeles and a regular contributor to NPR, the Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post. Find him at timgreiving.com.

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Memories of Vangelis: Ridley Scott + Oliver Stone on the Late Composer - The Ringer

The global travel and tourism sectors post-pandemic recovery is gaining pace as the worlds pent-up desire for travel rekindles. The difference in international tourist arrivals in January 2021 and a similar period in January 2022 was as much as the growth in all of 2021. However, with $4.5 trillion in GDP and 62 million jobs lost in 2020 alone, the road to recovery remains long.

A few factors will greatly determine how the sector performs. These include travel restrictions, vaccination rates and health security, changing market dynamics and consumer preferences, and the ability of businesses and destinations to adapt. At the same time, the sector will need to prepare for future shocks.

The TTDI benchmarks and measures the set of factors and policies that enable the sustainable and resilient development of the T&T sector, which in turn contributes to the development of a country. The TTDI is a direct evolution of the long-running Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI), with the change reflecting the indexs increased coverage of T&T development concepts, including sustainability and resilience impact on T&T growth and is designed to highlight the sectors role in broader economic and social development as well as the need for T&T stakeholder collaboration to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, bolster the recovery and deal with future challenges and risks. Some of the most notable framework and methodology differences between the TTCI and TTDI include the additions of new pillars, including Non-Leisure Resources, Socioeconomic Resilience and Conditions, and T&T Demand Pressure and Impact. Please see the Technical notes and methodology. section to learn more about the index and the differences between the TTCI and TTDI.

The World Economic Forum's latest Travel & Tourism Development Index highlights many of these aspects, including the opportunity and need to rebuild the travel and tourism sector for the better by making it more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient. This will unleash its potential to drive future economic and social progress.

Within this context, we asked four business leaders in the sector to reflect on the state of its recovery, lessons learned from the pandemic, and the conditions that are critical for the future success of travel and tourism businesses and destinations.

Tony Capuano, CEO, Marriott International

Despite the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the future looks bright for travel and tourism. Across the globe, people are already getting back on the road. Demand for travel is incredibly resilient and as vaccination rates have risen and restrictions eased, travel has rebounded quickly, often led by leisure.

The way many of us live and work has changed because of the pandemic and the way we travel has changed as well. New categories of travel have emerged. The rise of bleisure travel is one example combining elements of business and leisure travel into a single trip. Newly flexible work arrangements, including the opportunity for many knowledge workers to work remotely, have created opportunities for extended travel, not limited by a Monday to Friday 9 to 5 workweek in the office.

To capitalize on this renewed and growing demand for new travel experiences, industry must join governments and policymakers to ensure that the right conditions are in place to welcome travellers as they prepare to get back on the road again, particularly those who cross international borders. Thus far, much of the recovery has been led by domestic and leisure travel. The incremental recovery of business and international travel, however, will be significant for the broader industry and the millions who make their livelihoods through travel and tourism.

Looking ahead to future challenges to the sector, be they public health conditions, international crises, or climate impacts, global coordination will be the essential component in tackling difficult circumstances head-on. International agreement on common or at least compatible standards and decision-making frameworks around global travel is key. Leveraging existing organizations and processes to achieve consensus as challenges emerge will help reduce risk and improve collaboration while keeping borders open.

Shinya Katanozaka, Representative Director, Chairman, ANA Holdings Inc.

At a time when peoples movements are still being restricted by the pandemic, there is a strong, renewed sense that people want to travel and that they want to go places for business and leisure.

In that respect, the biggest change has been in the very concept of travel.

A prime example is the rapid expansion of the market for virtual travel. This trend has been accelerated not only by advances in digital technologies, but also by the protracted pandemic. The travel and tourism sector will not be able to survive unless it adapts to this new market.

However, this is not as simple as a shift from real to virtual. Virtual experiences will flow back into a rediscovery of the value of real experiences. And beyond that, to a hunger for real experiences with clearer and more diverse purposes. The hope is that this meeting of virtual and actual will bring balance and synergy the industry.

The pandemic has also seen the emergence of the sustainability-conscious traveller, which means that the aviation industry and others are now facing the challenge of adding decarbonization to their value proposition. This trend will force a re-examination of what travel itself should look like and how sustainable practices can be incorporated and communicated. Addressing this challenge will also require stronger collaboration across the entire industry. We believe that this will play an important role in the industrys revitalization as it recovers from the pandemic.

Mobility the movement of people and goods provides access to jobs, education, healthcare and trade.

The World Economic Forums Platform on Shaping the Future of Mobility works in four different industries: automotive, supply chain and transport, aviation travel and tourism, and aerospace and drones. The platform aims to ensure that the future of mobility is safe, clean, and inclusive for a rapidly growing global population.

Contact us for more information on how to get involved.

Gilda Perez-Alvarado, Global CEO, JLL Hotels & Hospitality

In the next few years, I think sustainability practices will become more prevalent as travellers become both more aware and interested in what countries, destinations and regions are doing in the sustainability space. Both core environmental pieces, such as water and air, and a general approach to sustainability are going to be important.

Additionally, I think conservation becomes more important in terms of how destinations and countries explain what they are doing, as the importance of climate change and natural resources are going to be critical and become top of mind for travellers.

The second part to this is we may see more interest in outdoor events going forward because it creates that sort of natural social distancing, if you will, or that natural safety piece. Doing outdoor activities such as outdoor dining, hiking and festivals may be a more appealing alternative to overcrowded events and spaces.

A lot of lessons were learned over the last few years, but one of the biggest ones was the importance of small business. As an industry, we must protect small business better. We need to have programmes outlined that successfully help small businesses get through challenging times.

Unfortunately, during the pandemic, many small businesses shut down and may never return. Small businesses are important to the travel and tourism sector because they bring uniqueness to destinations. People dont travel to visit the same places they could visit at home; they prefer unique experiences that are only offered by specific businesses. If you were to remove all the small businesses from a destination, it would be a very different experience.

Steve Kaufer, Co-Founder & CEO, Tripadvisor

Were on the verge of a travel renaissance. The pandemic might have interrupted the global travel experience, but people are slowly coming out of the bubble. Businesses need to acknowledge the continued desire to feel safe when travelling. A Tripadvisor survey revealed that three-quarters (76%) of travellers will still make destination choices based on low COVID-19 infection rates.

As such, efforts to showcase how businesses care for travellers - be it by deep cleaning their properties or making items like hand sanitizer readily available - need to be ingrained within tourism operations moving forward.

But travel will also evolve in other ways, and as an industry, we need to be prepared to think digitally, and reimagine our use of physical space.

Hotels will become dynamic meeting places for teams to bond in our new hybrid work style. Lodgings near major corporate headquarters will benefit from an influx of bookings from employees convening for longer periods. They will also make way for the bleisure traveller who mixes business trips with leisure. Hotels in unique locales will become feasible workspaces. Employers should prepare for their workers to tag on a few extra days to get some rest and relaxation after on-location company gatherings.

Beyond the pandemic, travellers will also want to explore the world differently, see new places and do new things. Our data reveals that the majority want to explore destinations in a more immersive and experiential way, and to feel more connected to the history and culture. While seeing the top of the Empire State building has been a typical excursion for tourists in New York city, visitors will become more drawn to intimate activities like taking a cooking class in Brooklyn with a family of pizza makers who go back generations. This will undoubtedly be a significant area of growth in the travel and tourism industry.

Governments would be smart to plan as well, and to consider an international playbook that helps prepare us for the next public health crisis, inclusive of universal vaccine passports and policies that get us through borders faster.

Understanding these key trends - the ongoing need to feel safe and the growing desire to travel differently - and planning for the next crisis will be essential for governments, destinations, and tourism businesses to succeed in the efforts to keep the world travelling.

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The future of travel and tourism as per 4 sector leaders | World Economic Forum - World Economic Forum

SpaceX rocket fumes are toxic to humans and the planet's climate, according to a warning by scientists in a new study.

The researchers concluded that rockets made by SpaceX, Blue Origin, and other private rocket manufacturers release hazardous airborne particles that pose health hazards and contribute to atmospheric pollution or air pollution.

Over recent years, rocket emissions have been a subject of raging debates, including by the United Nations (UN), due to their known impact on the Earth's atmosphere where gases and other toxic air particles go into.

The emissions come from the exhaust fumes of rocket engines as part of a current space technology dominated by fluid dynamics models.

This technology uses various gases and chemicals, including carbon dioxide, to ignite these space rockets to give their boost toward their ascend from Earth.

Amidst the challenges, calls for the use of space rockets for cleaner fuel are increasing.

(Photo : Photo by Red Huber/Getty Images)

In a new research article published in the Physics of Fluidson March 2, scientists have addressed the repercussions of air pollution from space rockets to human health, the environment, and the climate using high-resolution computation fluid dynamics simulations.

With this, scientists from the University of Nicosia in Cyprus collectively asserted the necessity to tackle the issue of the atmospheric pollution caused by the exhaust fumes involving commercial space flights, which are reportedly expected to increase in the future.

To determine the dangers of rocket exhaust gases, the scientists simulated the development of a plume at several altitudes similar to the trajectory of a standard present-day rocket.

In the prototype example, the research team employed the two-stage rocket process where people were transported and loaded into Earth's orbit and beyond.

In its model, the Cyprus-based researchers used the Thaicom 8 launch mission of the Falcon 9 rocket of SpaceX based on their available data to resemble the actual rocket launch.

As a result, the scientific team found nitrogen oxide from the exhaustion can remain in the atmosphere at high altitudes.

In addition, a mass of carbon dioxide is also found emitted into the atmospheric layer mesosphere.

Also Read:Trash to Gold: Another Solution to Combat Pollution

The study predicted that commercial space flights will continue to increase due to the low cost offered by "reusable space vehicle technology" that allows space transportation possible and frequent.

The scientists mentioned that such recent flights were evident like the ones from Elon Musk's Space X and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, as well as the New Shepard space ships.

As part of the increasing demand for space tourism, round-trip commercial flights to and from the orbits of Earth and the Moon are offered by SpaceX, in coordination with NASA.

Similar space travel packages are also started to be offered by other private rocket manufacturers in a reported era of the space race.

Previous studies have shown that rocket launches significantly contribute to atmospheric pollution due to the consistent uptick of space flights.

In the study from the University of Nicosia, the scientists summarized this past research have suggested the need for thorough investigation when it comes to rocket propellant types.

In an article posted in the Scientific Americanin November 2017, there are already notions regarding how rocket launches and the re-entry of space debris affect the Earth's atmosphere.

However, the extent of this damage was not yet fully understood at that time.

Related Article: Space Explorations Could Pose a Threat of Alien Organisms Contaminating Earth

2022 NatureWorldNews.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

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SpaceX Rocket Fumes are Hazardous to Both Humans and the Climate: Scientists Issue Warning - Nature World News

On November 23, 1963, the morning after he swore the oath of office in an impromptu ceremony aboard Air Force One, President Lyndon B. Johnson called Bob Waldron to commiserate about the colossal burden that had just been placed upon his shoulders.

A native of Arp, Texas, a town of fewer than 1,000 inhabitants some 125 miles east of the city where Johnsons predecessor, John F. Kennedy, had just been assassinated, Waldron, 36, was an administrative assistant for Representative Homer Thornberry, Johnsons heir to the Tenth Congressional District seat in Texas. Waldron had moved to Washington in 1955. By 1959, though technically still in Thornberrys employ, he had essentially become a member of Johnsons Senate staff, one of several people whom allies and benefactors loaned to the thenSenate majority leader during his decades-long political rise. Johnson had initially recruited Waldron for his quick note-taking skills, but he soon became something much more significant: a combination of aide, travel companion, and personal confidant. Waldrons role gradually expanded to body man, that term for an all-purpose gofer so particular to Washingtonwhere some in positions of authority view menial tasks such as inserting contact lenses and picking their daily wardrobe as beneath their dignity. In time, Waldron became a fixture in Johnsons retinue outside the office, once attending dinner at the Johnson home, by his own estimate, 14 nights in a row.

But just as Waldron was about to fulfill a lifelong ambition to work for the president of the United States, forces beyond his control were preparing to ensure that he would be prevented from doing so. For nearly half a century, no graver sin existed in the black book of American politics than homosexuality. From World War II until the end of the Cold War, untold thousands of gay men and women were either purged from government service or denied employment altogether, solely because of their sexual orientation.

At the same time, some of the most important prerequisites for success in the nations capitalthe ability to work long hours on a low government salary, a willingness to travel at a moments notice, prioritizing career over familyare more easily attained by those without a family to support, a set of circumstances that made Washington an especially attractive place for gay people, gay men in particular. The city has long attracted the archetypical best little boy in the world, the author Andrew Tobiass term for a certain type of gay young man who diligently channels the adversity engendered by his secret into academic pursuits, so many of whom have made their way to Washington because of its peculiar appetite for the skills that secret bred.

James Kirchick: The struggle for gay rights is over

Bob Waldron was one such man. He was not a senior adviser to Johnson, and his name appears just once in Robert Caros magisterial, multivolume biography of the 36th president. And yet, for several years, he was for Johnson something very close to a substitute son. Had Waldron not been burdened with the same secret that thwarted the dreams of so many other young men and women in American politics, and that eventually spelled the ruin of his own, he might have achieved power and prominence in his own right. Waldrons experience, captured in now-declassified government records and told in full here for the first time, reveals just how much these gay Americans sacrificedand how even someone unwaveringly loyal to one of the countrys most skillful politicians was vulnerable to destruction.

By the fall of 1963, Johnson had decided to bring Waldron onto his executive-branch staff. As vice president, Johnson had a limited number of positions he could fill, fewer than when he was Senate majority leader. To work around this obstacle, he decided to place Waldron on the payroll of the National Aeronautics and Space Council, the body that President Dwight Eisenhower created in 1958 to coordinate government efforts on space exploration, and of which President Kennedy had appointed Johnson chairman at the outset of his administration. On October 31, Waldron filled out a formal job application.

As any gay man in American politics had to be, Waldron was protective of his secret. But he had not gone to extraordinary lengths to mask or suppress his personality traits (a certain fastidiousness, a slight effeminacy, an interest in the arts) stereotypically assigned to his sexual orientation. Youd have to be a blind person and deaf not to realize Bob was gay, one friend, Bill Wiley, told me. According to Johnsons older daughter, Lynda Bird, Waldron did not acknowledge his homosexuality while working for her father, nor did her father ever discuss the subject in her presence. Waldron never said, I am a homosexual, she told me. In those days, you would just never ask anybody about that.

To work at the space agency, Waldron was required to undergo a background check. For the next several weeks, Civil Service Commission (CSC) investigators interviewed his current and former neighbors, landlords, employers, co-workers, friends, and acquaintances, nearly all of whom provided glowing assessments. In the time I have known Bob, I have never seen or heard of a thing which would raise any questions in my mind concerning his character, habits, or moral conduct, reported a man who had rented Waldron a basement apartment.

Mixed in with these fulsome testimonials, however, were intimations of something aberrant. He is very much interested in antique collection and is very interested in beautiful antique objects, one former landlord observed. He struck me as being a rather odd, queer sort of fellow, remarked a schoolteacher who once lived down the street from Waldron. A former roommate in Austin considered him to be a funny bird in that he did not care anything about girls. Several of the people interviewed commented on the sophistication of Waldrons clothes (and, in particular, the tightness of his pants). Ultimately, of the more than 100 individuals whom the CSC interviewed for its investigation, about half commented on his effeminate characteristics and many suspected homosexual tendencies.

This circumstantial evidence would finally be confirmed when an investigator sat down to interview Wendal Lee Phillips, an assistant vice president of the Capital National Bank in Austin. Phillips told the CSC and, later, the FBI, that he had first met Waldron in late 1958, when Phillips popped into Homer Thornberrys Austin district office to drop off a letter inviting the representative to speak before the citys junior chamber of commerce. Waldron happened to be working there that week, and after making small talk, the two men became friendly. They kept in touch by mail and over the phone, and Waldron stayed at Phillipss house for two six-week periods in 1961 and 1962 while Congress was in recess.

One evening during the latter visit, Phillips recalled, he was sharing a double bed with Waldron when he crowded me a little more closely than usual and his hands stayed in such a manner as to arouse my suspicions. Yet nothing untoward happened, and so Phillips more or less dismissed it as an accident.

The following May, after completing Naval Reserve duty in Norfolk, Virginia, Phillips spent a week at Waldrons home in Washington. Waldrons friends impressed me as being strange, Phillips recalled, in that they liked cultural events, and seemed obsessed with re-decorating their houses; they were just not very masculine. As they had in Austin the previous year, Waldron and Phillips shared a double bed. The first two nights transpired without incident. But then Waldron made a pass. Phillips thought his friend might be dreaming; indeed, he hoped this was the case.

Bob, do you know what you are doing? he asked.

Yes, Waldron replied.

I had hoped you didnt.

Waldron instantly withdrew his hand. According to Phillips, Waldron grew despondent, and confessed that he had had this problem for as long as he could remember. It was something out of his control, a physical ailment, and an affliction that he had to live with. Waldron told Phillips that he had always been attracted more by men than by women and had no desire ever to marry. Although it was acceptable for a hairdresser to be homosexual, Waldron allowed, for a man in business or government work, it was a disgrace. He confessed that he was worried to death that the episode would not only ruin their friendship but threaten his career, and he promised Phillips he would never make another approach. Phillips seemed to take the matter in stride, as evidenced by his decision to stay at Waldrons home, and sleep in Waldrons bed, for the rest of the week.

Read: A glimpse into 1970s gay activism

In recounting these experiences to the government investigator, though, Phillips imbued them with a foreboding he had not seemed to feel when they occurred. Robert Waldron is a good friend of mine, but I believe that national security comes before personal friendship, he explained. I am an officer in the local military reserve and realize the importance of maintaining strong national security. Robert Waldron has demonstrated homosexual tendencies toward me. Still, regarding the question of whether Waldrons sexual deviance affected his suitability for employment, Phillips was more sympathetic. I believe that he is very much a loyal American citizen, and even though he has homosexual tendencies, I would still recommend him for a position involving national security on the basis of his past responsible government work and other personal characteristics.

As the CSC wound down its investigation in early December, Lyndon Johnson was barely a few weeks into his unexpected presidency. Waldron was, according to a friend, seldom out of Johnsons sight in this period. Two days after the Kennedy assassination, he was attending Sunday morning services at St. Marks Church with the new president and first lady when a Secret Service agent brought Johnson the shocking news that Lee Harvey Oswald had been shot in Dallas. Waldron traveled with Johnson in the presidential limousine to Kennedys burial at Arlington National Cemetery, and for the first two weeks of the new administration, he assisted Juanita Roberts, Johnsons principal secretary, in setting up shop at the White House. But while he was helping Johnson assume the responsibilities of leader of the free world, a group of men in a building a few blocks away were compiling a report that would throw his life into disarray.

In the course of conducting its background check, Space Council Executive Secretary Edward Welsh told the longtime Johnson aide Walter Jenkins, the CSC discovered that Waldron had participated in homosexual activities. Hiring Waldron to join the White House staff, therefore, was impossible. Jenkins told Welsh that he would relay this news to the president, and Waldrons job application was formally rejected in January 1964. Waldron was further banned from the White House grounds, a development that left him, in the words of a friend, very depressed.

Waldron did not share the results of his background check with many people, nor, apparently, did Johnson. Nobody ever said to me Bob cant work at the White House, because hes gay, Lynda Bird recalled. Waldron joined the faceless masses of men and women either dismissed from their job or denied one in the first place because of their sexual orientation. The Lavender Scare, the purge of gays and lesbians from the federal government that had begun in the early 1950s, was still grinding on well into the following decade; just a few months after Waldron was jettisoned from the White House, the State Department announced that it had fired 63 people as security risks the previous year, 45 of them on account of homosexuality.

Once a welcome presence in Washingtons most exclusive salons and at the apex of American political power, Waldron was now persona non grata. That May, in an envelope marked PersonalConfidential, Waldron mailed a letter to the man in whom he had entrusted his most intimate and consequential secret.

Dear Lee,

I had often heard the expression one doesnt need enemies with friends like yours. But I never knew the true meaning of that expression until last December. I am sure you well know what I mean, as you succeeded in planting the seed that would eventually completely destroy meprofessionally and financially; keep me from attaining the one goal for which I had so diligently worked; and cause me to lose my commission. Then to make it more complete, your efforts will prevent me from holding any Civil Service position of any significance or any position with any firm directly connected with the Federal government, to say nothing of the final effects on my family

Should you ever become faced with a similar problem in one of your children, I do hope you will have compassion and understanding and realize that it is quite a common problemand one that needs the love and understanding of those close to overcome it. Your betrayal, as in my case, will merely drive the child right into the final stages as he will have no other place to go

Please know that you have absolutely nothing to fear from me and I assure you that I will not contact you in the future. Should I ever again be contacted about you, you may rest assured that I can only give a good report.

Sincerely,

Bob Waldron

Ironically, the man responsible for carrying out Waldrons dismissal, Walter Jenkins, himself became the subject of a gay scandal when, three weeks before the 1964 election, he was arrested for soliciting another man for sex in the basement bathroom of the YMCA around the corner from the White House. Jenkins became a front-page news story and the butt of jokes on the campaign trail. (Either way with LBJ read the placards at rallies for Johnsons Republican opponent, Senator Barry Goldwater.) In the ensuing FBI investigation into Jenkins, Waldrons name resurfaced, threatening to tar the Johnson administration with another homosexual scandal. Johnson convinced FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to cover it up, and the tragedy of Bob Waldron remained largely a secret, until now.

Read: Pay no attention to the G-man behind the curtain

The tragic downfalls of the Johnson aides occurred against a backdrop of historic achievement for other minority groups also suffering the brunt of discrimination. Earlier that year, Johnson had employed the full force of his beingrhetorical, political, emotional, and physicalin passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a momentous piece of legislation outlawing discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex, and national origin. Just a few months later, in connection with a Senate Internal Security Subcommittee investigation that called more than 100 witnesses and generated some 20,000 pages of testimony, a senior State Department official asserted that homosexuality is the most disturbing security problem the agency faced. An era of tremendous legal and moral progress for some American citizens remained a time of despair for gay and lesbian ones.

Rejected by his government, Waldron left town but would eventually return to Washington, becoming one of its premier interior decorators. He counted among his clients a diplomatic register full of ambassadors, the Organization of American States, the Johnsons after they left the White House, and numerous other prominent Washingtonians and storied institutionsa tribute to his ingenuity and perseverance, perhaps, but also a cautionary tale for any gay person with political ambition. In 1995, at age 68, Waldron died of AIDS, another agent of destruction against gay men.

In his anguished 1964 letter to Phillips, Waldron explained that, once identified, homosexuals were marked by our societywhich does not permit a return. Even at the height of the Cold War, it was safer to be a Communist than a homosexual. A Communist could break with the party. A homosexual was forever tainted.

Two weeks after the 1964 election, savoring his historic landslide victory, Johnson discussed Waldrons fate with Deke DeLoach, the deputy associate director of the FBI and the bureaus liaison to the White House. The Justice Department was deciding whether to prosecute Waldron for having answered no to the question Have you had or have you now homosexual tendencies? on his application to join the Air Force Reserve, a matter about which Johnson took no position. Although Johnson believed that his erstwhile aide, travel companion, body man, stenographer, and substitute son should be left alone, what happened to Bob Waldron was ultimately of no consequence to the president. For he was gone and forgotten, Johnson said. Nobody would pay any attention to him.

This article is excerpted from James Kirchicks forthcoming book, Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington.

When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic.

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Being Gay Was the Gravest Sin in Washington - The Atlantic

Anuj Bhatia

For the Fall 2017 collection, fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld took his audience to space with a 35-meter tall rocket that launched during the shows finale at the Grand Palais. While reviewing the ZenBook 14X OLED Space Edition, I had a similar feeling of being sucked into the vision of creating a world that explored the idea of space travel, with Elton Johns Rocket Man playing in the background. I used the ZenBook 14X OLED Space Edition for a few days, and heres what I think about this collectors item.

Design and aesthetics

From its design to packaging, everything is inspired by the Asus P6300 laptops trip to space for use on the Mir space station in 1997. The ZenBook 14x OLED Space Edition is a true icon of laptop design and, thanks to its exceptional aesthetic and build quality, it has become even more special. Its a very cool looking laptopfuturistic and classic at the same time. The notebook feels exceptionally well-built. It has a full aluminum body that feels sturdy, with no flex in the screen or the keyboard deck.

The ZenBook 14X Space Edition is a travel-friendly machine. The device is compact and smaller than I thought, weighing just 1.31kg. On the laptops right side is an HDMI port and two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and on the left is a USB 3.2 Gen 2 (Type-A) port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Theres a 720p webcam as well, which is very average in nature. Its grainy and not great. The laptops Harman Kardon speakers, on the other hand, are excellent.

Display and keyboard

The notebook has a 14-inch OLED touch screen (2880x 1800 resolution) that displays sharp images and text. The screen is both bright and offers excellent levels of contrast with much deeper blacks than any other laptop display Ive seen. The laptop also supports a 90Hz refresh rate, meaning the display is ideal for viewing fast-moving movies or gaming.

The keyboard on this notebook is solid. The Touchpad is smooth and responsive, though sometimes it feels a bit off.Performance and battery

This is a high-performance laptop, although not designed for gaming. The notebook is powerful enough for light productivity tasks, like word formatting or checking emails. It can even handle demanding tasks, like rendering videos. The battery is a mixed bag. You can get through a 6-hour workday on a full charge if you are only doing light productivity tasks, but itll be slightly shorter if you play a lot of videos and edit photos.

Should you buy or skip it?

Starting at Rs 1,14,990, the ZenBook 14X OLED Space Edition is best described in two words: timeless and classic. It has a captivating element that attracts enthusiasts and purists alike. And its price says it all.

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ASUS ZENBOOK 14X OLED Space Edition: Its one of the coolest laptops - The Financial Express