Space Shuttle Discovery Credit Nasa

The year 2006 will mark the 25th anniversary of the first Space Shuttle
orbital flight. Since the launch of Columbia for the first time on April
12th 1981 there have been 114 flights carrying nearly 300 Astronauts and
Cosmonauts to and from Earth Orbit.

Out of those 114 flights two have ended in tragedy.

On January 28th 1986 the Space Shuttle Challenger broke up 73 seconds after
launch from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. Seven Astronauts,
including the first civilian in space Christa McAuliffe, died in the
accident. The crew were to deploy a NASA communications satellite and also
deploy and retrieve another that would observe Halley's Comet.

On February 1st 2003 the Space Shuttle Columbia also broke up with the loss
of seven Astronauts. This time the accident happened during reentry as the
shuttle was returning to the Kennedy Space Centre after a 16 day science
research mission. Amongst the crew was Ilan Ramon the first Israeli
Astronaut.

How and why these accidents happened and how the crews died will be the
subject of Astronomy Ireland's 2006 New year lecture to be given by Colm
J.Cannon. The accident's impact on the future of American spaceflight will
also be examined.

To book click here and say how many tickets you wish to book and include your name.                            
To get tickets by post send cash cash/cheque/postal order/bank draft and a SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED (48cent) ENVELOPE to: Astronomy Ireland, P.O.Box 2888, Dublin 5.