Preparing for Future Missions at the Armstrong Flight Research Center

Pilots Troy Asher and Wayne Ringelberg walk out of NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center’s (AFRC) hangar in Palmdale, California, toward the flight line. via wordpress https://wp.me/p4wJUi-6Pv

The Veins of Heaven

Transfusing sunlight through a darkened sky, this beautiful display of noctilucent clouds was captured earlier this week, reflected in calm waters from Nykobing Mors, Denmark. From the edge of space, about 80 kilometers above Earth’s surface, the icy clouds themselves still reflect sunlight, though the Sun is below the horizon as seen from the ground. Usually spotted at high latitudes in summer months the night shining clouds have made an early appearance this year as northern nights grow short. Also known as polar mesopheric clouds they are understood to form as water vapor driven into the cold upper atmosphere condenses on the fine dust particles supplied by disintegrating meteors or volcanic ash. NASA’s AIM mission provides daily projections of noctilucent clouds as seen from space. via wordpress https://wp.me/p4wJUi-6PB

Picture of the day for June 19, 2020

Wikipedia picture of the day on June 19, 2020: Daniel Souček playing for Czechia in European Under-21 Championship 2021 Qualifying Round between the Czech Republic and Greece https://ift.tt/2YRqSH1

Nasdaq is up 1.09% in premarket

June 19, 2020 Stock Futures Premarket Data 08:55AM ET S&P 500 1.19% Nasdaq 1.09% Dow Jones 1.34% Performance S&P 500 1d 0.06% 5d 2.43% 1m 6.58% 3m 29.3% 6m -2.81% 1y 6.45% 5y 47.65% 10y 179.85% Nasdaq 1d 0.33% 5d 3.69% 1m 8.25% 3m 39.05% 6m 11.88% 1y 24.49% 5y 94.31% 10y 334.37% Dow Jones 1d -0.15% 5d 1.85% 1m 7.74% 3m 29.83% 6m -8.09% 1y -1.6% 5y 44.76% 10y 149.75%

Art Quote of the Day

“Interpretation is the revenge of the intellectual upon art.” – Susan Sontag

Wikipedia article of the day for June 19, 2020

Wikipedia article of the day is George Washington and slavery. Check it out: https://ift.tt/2qxr7nM Summary: George Washington was a slaveowner and Founding Father who became uneasy with the institution of slavery but provided for the emancipation of his slaves only after his death. Most of his slaves worked on his Mount Vernon estate. They built their own community around marriage and family, and resisted the system by various means, from feigning illness to absconding. As a young planter, Washington demonstrated no qualms about slavery. His first doubts about the institution were economic, prompted when the transition from tobacco to grain crops in the 1760s left him with a costly surplus of slaves. After the American Revolution, he privately expressed support for the abolition of slavery by a gradual legislative process but never spoke publicly on the issue. In the mid-1790s, he considered plans to free his slaves, but his business remained dependent on slave labor. He stipulated in his will that his slaves were to be freed on the death of his wife.