German astronaut to become 600th person to fly into space Spaceflight Now – Spaceflight Now

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Astronauts Matthias Maurer, Tom Marshburn, Raja Chari, and Kayla Barron arrived at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final launch preparations. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now

Astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, Matthias Maurer, and Kayla Barron flew from their home base in Houston to NASAs Kennedy Space Center Tuesday to begin their final few days of launch preparations before blasting off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for the International Space Station Sunday.

Three of the crew members Chari, Maurer, and Barron are first-time space fliers. Maurer, a German-born European Space Agency astronaut, will be the 600th person to fly into space, according to NASA statistics.

Chari will be the 599th, and Barron will be the 601st person to reach space since 1961, when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin launched into orbit at the beginning of the Space Age.

I was the lucky one that got the round number, but we will all have fun in space, Maurer said Tuesday after arriving at Kennedy aboard a NASA Gulfstream jet.

Being No. 600 in 60 years, it makes 10 persons per year, Maurer said. But I think in a very few years we will see an exponential rise of that because now were entering the era of commercial spaceflight, and all the suborbital flights, they also count in the statistics.

NASAs spaceflight statistics include every person who has reached an altitude of at least 50 miles (80 kilometers), the boundary of space also recognized by the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. military.The Krmn line at an altitude of 62 miles (100 kilometers) is where space begins according to theFdration Aronautique International.

The FAA has awarded commercial astronaut wings to pilots and crew of Virgin Galactics SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, which flies above the 50-mile boundary but does not reach the internationally-recognized 62-mile threshold.

Twenty people have joined the list of space fliers under the U.S. government definition since the beginning of this year. Seventeen of those are not professional astronauts or cosmonauts, with most of them flying as passengers on suborbital trips on Virgin Galactic or Blue Origin vehicles.

The arrival of the Crew-3 astronauts at Kennedy Space Center marks the start of a busy few days leading up t0 liftoff Sunday.

We are super excited to be here at Kennedy, said Chari, commander of the Crew-3 mission.

We got to see the pad flying in, which was amazing, he said. The last few days have been full of reviews. Weve had the benefit of getting to focus on training while our leadership teams have been making tough decisions and getting the vehicle ready to make it safe for us to fly. And were ready to go.

The only technical issue under review by NASA and SpaceX engineers involves the toilet on the Crew Dragon spacecraft. The waste system malfunctioned on the most recent Dragon crew mission last month, when SpaceX launched four private citizens into orbit on the first-of-its-kind all-commercial Inspiration4 mission.

A glued joint in a line that carries urine into the spacecrafts waste tank became disconnected during the three-day flight. SpaceX welded the joint in the waste system on the Dragon spacecraft for the Crew-3 mission to avoid having the same problem.

NASA teams are reviewing the modification before formally giving the go-ahead for the Crew-3 launch this weekend. Agency officials are also studying the condition of the toilet system on the Crew Dragon spacecraft currently docked at the space station, which will be used by four astronauts to return to Earth next week.

Chari and his crewmates will spend this week reviewing flight plans, rehearsing for launch day, and taking some time off before their scheduled blastoff to the International Space Station at 2:21 a.m. EDT (0621 GMT) Sunday from pad 39A.

Assuming an on-time launch, the Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft the newest member of SpaceXs crew capsule fleet will dock at the station around 12:10 a.m. EDT (0410 GMT) Monday.

The Crew-3 astronauts will spend six months at the space station, performing experiments and maintaining the complex as part of a seven-person long duration crew. Three other crew members launched on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

The new crew will spend a few days getting briefings and updates from the outgoing Crew-2 astronauts, who arrived at the space station in April on SpaceXs Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft. The Crew-2 mission will end Nov. 4 or 5 with an undocking from the station and a splashdown off the coast of Florida.

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Space Perspective planning to offer world’s first luxury spaceflight experience as ‘space balloon tourism’ is set to take off, says GlobalData -…

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Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin have made sub-orbital space travel a reality for those travel adventurers and space explorers with the desire and disposable income to pay up to $450,000 for a ticket. Both of these companies have demonstrated that space tourism is a potentially massive market and, whilst not without risk, can be accomplished safely. As more companies like Space Perspective enter this fledgling market with their own innovative spaceflight solutions, travelers will inevitably be offered more choice as the market segments on price, transportation method and the longevity and quality of the experience, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

It could be argued that at this time segmentation in the space travel market is based on the simple functionality of launching a traveler into space and returning them safely back to earth. From lift off to touch down, a flight in Blue Origins New Shepard lasts 11 minutes, while an expedition on Virgin Galactic lasts between two to three hours. By comparison, Space Perspective plans to offer space tourists a more relaxing and luxurious experience, with a flight into the stratosphere scheduled to last six hours from lift off to touchdown.

Ralph Hollister, Travel and Tourism Analyst at GlobalData, comments: With such vast sums of money currently being paid for a ticket, the companies that can offer the best balance of a luxury experience which you would expect at these price tags with more time onboard, while maintaining a sense of safety and wellbeing throughout the flight, will deliver a better sense of value for money and a richer experience gained which will be more appealing to customers.

Space Perspective plans to deliver a distinctly unique space travel experience focused on price, longevity and luxury. Space Perspective offers a markedly cheaper ticket price with tickets for its Spaceship Neptune being sold at $125,000 a seat. This price point is significantly lower than a current Virgin Galactic seat on its VSS Unity space plane, which costs $450,000.

Hollister adds: Space Perspectives current price point is hardly all inclusive, but it means that space travel is a possibility to a much wider pool of prospective space tourists. According to GlobalDatas macroeconomic database, 43% of US households are in the income bracket of $75,000+. This percentage suggests that there is a sustainable market for space travel in the US at the current pricing level which is where Space Perspective is based and will launch from. However, prices will continue to come down, potentially opening up the market to millions.

Sustainability is a key focus for Space Perspective. The travel experience is contained within a pressurized capsule attached to a balloon supported by hydrogen, which will carefully transport travelers to an altitude of approximately 100,000 feet. This will provide a relaxing journey without the need for jet fueled rockets as a propellant. The capsule, which will also have a bar, will offer space tourists an all-round view of the darkness of space and the curvature of the earth.

Sustainability is now one of the biggest consumer trends driving purchasing decisions, especially in tourism. All tourism companies are under increasing pressure to contribute towards decreasing harmful emissions and Space Perspectives plans not to use jet fuel will appeal to the 45%* of global consumers, who say that environmental issues are now extremely important.

Hollister concludes: The emerging market segment of space balloon tourism is not just exclusive to Space Perspective. Companies such as World View are also looking to become leading players in space balloon experiences. At $50,000 per ticket, the company plans to offer an even lower price point, which will make the market less exclusive and drive further segmentation as companies grab a bigger slice of what is anticipated to be a growing cash rich market.

*GlobalDatas Q3 2021 Consumer Survey.

4,000 of the world"s largest companies, including over 70% of FTSE 100 and 60% of Fortune 100 companies, make more timely and better business decisions thanks to GlobalData"s unique data, expert analysis and innovative solutions, all in one platform. GlobalData"s mission is to help our clients decode the future to be more successful and innovative across a range of industries, including the healthcare, consumer, retail, financial, technology and professional services sectors.

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A Space Exploration Project Inclusive of People With Disability Takes Flight – LatestLY

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Washington, November 1: A team of scientists, engineers and social workers are working on a project that aims at inclusive space exploration for people with disability. As part of the project named AstroAccess a group of 12 disabled scientists, veterans, students, athletes and artists launched into a zero-gravity environment last month. Conducted by the Zero Gravity Corporation (Zero-G), the flight was aboard a plane equipped with a special padded section that flies up to an altitude of around 32,000 feet and then begins a rapid descent at about 4 miles per second. This quick descent creates a free fall, or microgravity, weightless effect lasting roughly 30 seconds.

Afterwards, the plane climbs back up to a stable altitude, and repeats the process again. On the October 17 flight, the process was repeated roughly 15 times. The historic parabolic flight aimed to address how disability looks like in a weightless, microgravity environment-like space. "The whole point of this project is to demonstrate that people with disabilities are able to fly safely into space," said Dr. Erik Viirre, director of The Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at the University of California San Diego, and a neurologist at UC San Diego Health. "What we're working on in this initial flight are demonstrations of a variety of different tasks that our Ambassadors will have to carry out, including navigating up, down, left and right; clear communication; and being able to move to a set location," he added. Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin To Build A Private Space Station By 2030.

The 12 AstroAccess Ambassadors selected for this first microgravity flight included four blind or low-vision Ambassadors; two deaf or hard-of-hearing Ambassadors; and six Ambassadors with mobility disabilities, all carrying out a variety of tasks and challenges in the weightless environment. One of the challenges was seeing whether all crew members could perform basic safety and operational tasks, like navigating to oxygen masks. The crew also tested a procedure to see whether sound beacons can be used for blind members to orient themselves, and the effectiveness of haptic devices in communicating commands. They're also investigating how American Sign Language will be impacted by microgravity. To get a better idea of what is needed for more inclusive space travel, AstroAccess plans to conduct a series of follow-on parabolic flights after this inaugural launch, the researchers said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 01, 2021 05:14 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).

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Blue Origin plans to build a ‘mixed-use’ space station by the end of the decade – Archinect

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Image: Blue Origin

Blue Origin, the space company owned by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is teaming up with other firms to build a space station in Earth orbit. The group announced its plans on Monday, revealing the latest concept for a privately built orbital outpost that could replace or complement the International Space Station. The New York Times

Called Orbital Reef, the proposed space station is described as a mixed-use business park in space. The projects announcement comes months after Blue Origin completed its first human space flight, which included Bezos along with three others. Partners in the project include Sierra Space, Boeing, Redwire Space, Genesis Engineering Solutions, and Arizona State University.

As per Blue Origins announcement, Orbital Reef will provide the essential infrastructure needed to scale economic activity and open new markets in space. The company intends for the station to serve a range of customers from space agencies to media and travel companies. They also claim that the station will start operating in the second half of this decade.

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Lesson of the Day: A Future for People With Disabilities in Outer Space Takes Flight – The New York Times

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Lesson Overview

Featured Article: A Future for People With Disabilities in Outer Space Takes Flight by Amanda Morris

Recently, 12 passengers with disabilities traveled aboard a parabolic flight in an experiment testing how people with disabilities would fare in a zero-gravity environment.

In this lesson, you will learn about their experience and the efforts being made to ensure that the future of spaceflight is more inclusive. Then, you will think about accessibility and universal design in your community.

Do you want to travel to space? When we asked students this question in February, many of them were excited about, or at least interested in, this possibility. Before reading the featured article, consider the two additional questions below in writing or class discussion.

What limitations or barriers are there to your traveling to space?

Have you ever considered how ability or disability affects your possibilities for space travel? Why or why not?

Read the article and then answer the following questions:

1. In what ways has the history of spaceflight been exclusionary? How does the nonprofit organization AstroAccess attempt to make spaceflight more accessible?

2. Why do the participants in the AstroAccess flight argue that it is important to consider accessibility in private space travel now, rather than later?

3. What is the purpose of the space travel testing that AstroAccess is currently doing?

4. Tim Bailey, the executive director of a nonprofit organization focused on space education, said at first that he was concerned about people with disabilities on a zero-gravity flight. What assumptions did he make? Why did he change his mind?

5. What were some of the designs that were tested on the AstroAccess flight to address various accessibility needs?

6. How are space agencies and private spaceflight companies becoming more inclusive or not for astronauts and everyday people with disabilities who are interested in space travel?

7. The article featured the personal stories and reflections of several of the passengers on the AstroAccess flight. Choose one story that you found particularly interesting and share what stood out to you about that passengers experience.

The featured article focuses on accessibility for people with disabilities in space. Learn more about accessibility here on Earth by exploring one or more of these articles:

Inclusive Design: Did you know there is a whole movement dedicated to accessible and inclusive architecture and design? It is sometimes called universal design, or inclusive design. You can learn more about inclusive design by reading about a museum exhibit dedicated to accessible designs, or an architectural reflection of changes to design following the American With Disabilities Act. Or you can learn about accessible cosmetics designs or home designs for older people.

Choose one article and, as you read, make note of any design features that you had not considered before. Would any of these benefit a space you go to often, such as your school, your home or your local grocery store? How so? What additional questions or reflections do you have about accessible design in your community?

Accessibility at Work: Making Work Accessible, an illustrated article from the Scratch column, profiles Krystal Bailey, a vocational rehabilitation counselor in the Bronx who helps people with disabilities enter the work force. As you read, consider how Krystals experience using a wheelchair has made her interested in this kind of work. Then, make note of how she helps her clients find work and the different elements she must consider in terms of accessibility.

Want more Lessons of the Day? You can find them all here.

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Lesson of the Day: A Future for People With Disabilities in Outer Space Takes Flight - The New York Times

Huge solar flare could supercharge northern lights on Halloween – Space.com

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A massive solar flare from the sun could lead to a dazzling (and maybe spooky) northern lights display for parts of the northern United States this Halloween, according to a NASA scientist.

The sun storm, a powerful X1-class solar flare, erupted from the sun on Thursday (Oct. 28) and sent a vast cloud of charged particles toward Earth that should arrive over Halloween weekend, and possibly even the haunted day itself. Those particles will slam into the Earth's atmosphere to amplify the regular northern lights caused by the sun's solar wind.

The solar flare, the second most powerful eruption from the sun this year, sparked a strong geomagnetic storm that should supercharge the northern lights, and could make them visible from as far south as New York, Idaho, Illinois, Oregon, Maryland and Nevada, said C. Alex Young, NASA's associate director for science at the Heliophysics Division of the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

Related: The sun's wrath: Worst solar storms in history

See the northern lights?

If you take a photograph of the Halloween northern lights from the solar flare, send images and comments in to spacephotos@space.com.

"This could be a great show for people in the mid-to-upper U.S. latitudes for aurora," Young said in an email late Thursday. "Especially those in Canada, [Upper Peninsula of Michigan], Alaska, Iceland, Norway, Scotland, etc."

Seeing auroras at such low latitudes is rare and can be difficult, especially if you live in a big city filled with streetlights and other light pollution. To get your best chance at seeing any auroras this weekend, try to get away from city lights and find the darkest sky possible.

Also, don't expect to see the dazzling, sweeping displays common at higher latitudes, Young warned. It won't be as dynamic a show as the ribbons of light seen far northern regions known for such light shows, or those seen by astronauts from space.

If you're hoping to see the northern lights for yourself, check out our guides on where and how to photograph the aurora, as well as the best equipment for aurora photography and how to edit aurora photos once you have your snapshots. If you need equipment, consider our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography to start out.

Young said the solar flare was accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME), a huge eruption of radiation, that spewed solar particles away from the sun at a mind-boggling 2.5 million mph (4 million kph).

"The current estimates for the CME are that it will reach Earth on Oct. 31," Young said.

Thursday's solar flare erupted from an active sunspot called AR2887 that is currently located in the center of the sun as it makes its way across the star's face, as seen from Earth. Another active sunspot, called AR2891, rotated into view this week for its own two-week trip across the sun's face. It fired off a moderate, M-class solar flare on Sunday (Oct. 24).

X-class solar flares are the strongest type of sun eruptions. When they're aimed directly at Earth, the most powerful ones (the X1 flare on Thursday is the lowest level) can endanger astronauts in space, interfere with satellite communications signals and affect power grids on Earth. Thursday's solar flare caused a temporary radio blackout for high frequencies, as well as a GPS blackout for systems that use low-frequency signals, Young said.

"The flare will probably have no impact on the ISS," he added, referring to the International Space Station, which is home to seven astronauts from the U.S., Japan, France and Russia. Four more astronauts will launch to the station on SpaceX's Crew-3 mission on Halloween.

As for the rest of us, there's no need to worry, either, Young said.

"We dont have much to worry about as far as impact to our daily lives but there could be more space weather impacts in the future as we continue to move towards solar max around 2024-2025," he added.

The sun is currently in the beginning phase of its latest 11-year solar cycle, called solar cycle 25, in which its activity rises and falls over time. Currently its activity is relatively low.

"And the sun can always surprise with an unexpected large flare/CME/SEP combo," Young said. "Historically, those often come after we pass solar max but the Sun, she always aims to keep us on our toes.

Email Tariq Malik attmalik@space.comor follow him@tariqjmalik. Follow us@Spacedotcom,FacebookandInstagram.

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This is what Earth looks like from the moon’s south pole (video) – Space.com

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The weird motions of planet Earth and its sun will be a fun sight for future NASA astronauts standing on the south pole of the moon, if a new agency animation is any indication.

NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland released the short video compressing a simulated viewpoint over three months (or a little over three lunar days) into two minutes. You can see Earth bobbing up and down while the sun does a more graceful glide around the horizon.

If you keep a close eye on the video, after a while you'll be treated to an eclipse of Earth passing in front of the sun, which is the opposite of lunar eclipses that we can see from Earth.

"For observers on Earth, this is a lunar eclipse, in which the moon passes through the shadow cast by Earth. Viewed from the moon, however, this is an eclipse of the sun," the NASA studio said in the video description.

Related: Every single mission to the moon ever

The virtual camera in the animation is on the rim of Shackleton Crater, partially visible in the bottom right, and is aimed at Earth.This is approximately the same region that NASA is targeting for its Artemis moon-landing missions.

The agency hopes to put boots on the surface later in the 2020s, with a suite of robotic explorers joining the effort. Those payloads, collectively known as the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, may touch down on the moon as early as 2022.

NASA's Artemis 1 mission, an uncrewed loop around the moon and then back to Earth again, is expected to launch in February 2022, the agency announced last week. The mission was delayed several times due to technical issues.

The next planned mission is Artemis 2, a crewed lunar orbiting mission that will fly the first international astronaut (a Canadian) to the moon's vicinity. The very tentative date for that is 2023. NASA then hopes to have Artemis 3, a landing mission, touch down in 2024.

But these dates may change as Artemis 1 is finalized and technology development and funding are further along. The spacesuits for Artemis, for example, appear to be too far behind to make a 2024 deadline, according to NASA's inspector general.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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This is what Earth looks like from the moon's south pole (video) - Space.com

Flying for Work | National Air and Space Museum – National Air and Space Museum

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Not only did Mary Haizlip and Blanche Noyes make names for themselves through competitive flight, but they also made money by flying. The women worked as test and demonstration pilots, one of the many ways they contributed to the field of aviation. Discover their stories.

Mary Haizlip was the second woman in the United States to hold her commercial pilots license. She was a test pilot for Spartan Aircraft, American Eagle, and Buhl Aircraft.

In addition to her work flying, Haizlip also held the world's speed record for women for seven years. In 1930 she flew a Cessna racer, finishing second in a race and posting the fastest pylon time for the Cessna racer. In ten days at the 1931 Cleveland National Air Races, she competed in six different high-performance aircraft. Haizlip was the second highest money winner, man or woman, at the 1931 National Air Races.

Haizlip was the first woman pilot inducted in the Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame on December 17, 1982.

Blanche Noyes left a promising theater and movie career to marry an airmail pilot who wound up teaching her to fly. Dewey Noyes bought Blanche her first plane in 1929 and taught her to fly because he wanted to prove that anyone could do it. She soloed on February 15, 1929 and earned her license in July of the same year, becoming the first woman pilot in the Cleveland area. She immediately entered the Women's Air Derby from Santa Monica to Cleveland and placed fourth.

Noyes was a demonstration pilot for Standard Oil in 1931 and continued flying with various corporations until 1935. Following the death of her husband in a crash in 1935, Noyes joined the Air Marking Group of the Bureau of Air Commerce in the summer of 1936, and later was a member of the Women's Advisory Committee on Aeronautics. Blanche was the copilot for Louise Thaden when Thaden won the 1936 Bendix Trophy Race, a first for a woman. For many years, she was the only woman pilot allowed to fly a government aircraft.

Noyes, who raced in nearly every national air race for women, was inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame in 1970. In recognition of her 35 years of government service for air safety, Noyes became the first woman to receive a gold medal from the Commerce Department.

This content was migrated from an earlier online exhibit, Women in Aviation and Space History, which shared the stories of the women featured in the Museum in the early 2000s.

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Out of This World: CEO and Founder of Space Perspective, Jane Poynter on Luxury Space Travel – Prestige Online

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The CEO and founder of Space Perspective, Jane Poynter, talks to us about launching space travels very first luxury experience.

The commercial space race has been dominated by headlines from Bezos, Branson and Musk. Their rocket ships herald a new era in space flight and tourism for a select few. But hot on the heels of these high-profile space bros is another relatively more accessible offering that aims at an altogether gentler, more luxurious experience.

Imagine sipping on a martini, breathing deeply and looking over the blue layers that demarcate the edge of the atmosphere as the sun edges up slowly in the curved horizon. Youre dressed in your favourite cocktail club outfit and cast your eye, scanning the coastline below, a stars view of where land slowly meets the oceans on planet Earth. It might sound more like science fiction, but its closer to reality than you think.

Jane Poynter and Taber MacCallum, partners in business and life, have launched a unique experience onboard the ground-breaking, pressurised Spaceship Neptune, a luxury-cruise experience in the sky. Travellers in a piloted pod will ascend into the edge of space, some 100,000 feet high, using flight technology used for decades at NASA another of Poynter and MacCallums companies, Paragon Space Development Corporation, has supplied life-support system equipment to the agency for years and state-of-the-art space-balloon-engineering.

Space Perspectives trips will enable eight people, plus a pilot, in each Spaceship Neptune capsule to experience 360-degree, 725-kilometre views of space, the stars, sunrises and sunsets, as well as epic, breathtaking views of Earth below. The profound, six-hour, once-in-a-lifetime journey can be shared with friends and family, and even be the setting for special events, such as small weddings or concerts.

This summer, for the first time ever, your ticket to explore space with Poynters company is available to book online. Start saving.

Our entire careers have been devoted to looking at ways of taking people to space in a way thats more accessible, and rockets just didnt seem to be it yet. I mean, theres a lot of energy with a rocket, right? And its still a fairly nascent technology. And experientially, I think getting on a rocket is difficult for a lot of people to get their heads around and weve got high Gs and a lot of vibration and training. So we were looking for a way for people to have that astronaut experience in a much more comfortable, relaxed, gentle way.

When Taber was in his early teens, he saw his astrophysicist father send a large gamma-ray telescope under a space balloon to study our Milky Way he was actually on the team that discovered the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. Taber remembered seeing these balloons going up and remembered the elegance and how gentle they were. He walked into my office one day and said, What do you think about taking people up under a space balloon? And that was it. Thats the idea. Thats exactly what we were looking for.

Its expensive and definitely for the wealthy, but I actually expected it to be more. Well, its less than half the price of Virgin Galactic actually it was half the price, as Virgin has gone from about US$250,000 to $425-450,000. So its quite likely youll see our price go up in the future, but we want this to be accessible to as many people as possible. The demand is such that well almost certainly be putting the price up before it comes down. Our long-term vision is for it to come down, but I think it would be a while before it does.

Its even smoother than being on a plane theres going to be a bar, therell be food. Theres no zero gravity or space suit, so you can lounge, and theres a bathroom. When youre in an aeroplane youre going through the air, so you sometimes get that buffeting. Were going up through the air, but were going so slowly, at 12mph [20km/h], that its incredibly smooth Its not the same mechanism as a hot-air balloon, but I suppose by analogy and experientially its similar. So, its not really like anything youve ever experienced before, but its very smooth.

We talked with a lot of astronauts about what the quintessential experience of being in space is. And you know what almost the universal response is? Its experiencing Earth from space. The zero-G part is cool, but it can also be kind of annoying. The rocket ride is like, OK but its really that experience of looking down at Earth, which youll be able to see.

It takes two hours to go up to space. And then youre really sitting on top of the atmosphere for about two hours, floating, and about two hours to come back down again. If you think about that, were in that last 1 percent of the atmosphere, and were 20 miles above the planet. And that last 1 percent extends for many, many, many miles beyond the International Space Station. So everything that you think of in low Earth orbit, thats all in that last 1 percent of the atmosphere.

So 80 percent of them at the moment are American and I think thats mostly because its where the majority of our press has been to date. And the rest is from all over the world. About 70 percent of those whove booked are men, which doesnt mean to say they arent going to take female companions with them. We also dont know exactly, for some of the flights, who the other customers are. About 45 percent of our flights have been booked as complete capsule flights between people. So sometimes well have somebody call and they say, Would you book two seats for me right now? But could you hold the rest of the capsule for a few days? Im just gonna go call some friends. And then a couple of days later, theyll call back and go, OK, I need the whole capsule.

I think that having more and more people go into space translates into a greater understanding of what the space industry at large brings to our everyday lives. Eventually with millions of people having that experience of seeing Earth in space, whether its from where were flying in suborbital flight, or from the moon or Mars, or from low Earth orbit in a space hotel one day, its going to have a huge ripple effect, because its the kind of experience that you dont un-experience, right? Once youve had that perspective change, you cant go back to the way you were before.

This article first appeared on Prestige Online Hong Kong.

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Out of This World: CEO and Founder of Space Perspective, Jane Poynter on Luxury Space Travel - Prestige Online

Halloween northern lights from huge solar flare thrill skywatchers – Space.com

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A huge solar flare from the sun has spawned an eerie green glow over some parts of Earth in a Halloween northern lights show that has stargazers over the moon.

A powerful X1 solar flare from the sun on Thursday (Oct. 28) unleashed a wave of charged particles that reached Earth last night just ahead of Halloween (Oct. 31). It spawned what scientists call a G3-class geomagnetic storm in the Earth's upper atmosphere, and could make the northern lights (auroras typically seen around the Earth's north pole) visible at latitudes much lower than normal.

Halloween night sky 2021: See Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and maybe some spooky fireballs

See the northern lights?

If you take a photograph of the Halloween northern lights from the solar flare, send images and comments in to spacephotos@space.com.

"Impacts to our technology from a G3 storm are generally nominal," the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center wrote in a statement Friday (Oct. 29). "However, a G3 storm has the potential to drive the aurora further away from its normal polar residence and if other factors come together, the aurora might be seen over the far Northeast, to the upper Midwest, and over the state of Washington."

"Tonight was an actual dream," John Weatherby, a photographer in Iceland who also creates NFTs of the northern lights, wrote on Twitter while sharing a video of the auroras. "KP7 aurora for our workshop group's first night. So grateful they got to see this incredible show."

Related: Halloween in space! These wild astronaut costumes are just out of this world

The northern lights (and their south pole equivalent the southern lights) occur when charged particles from the sun's solar wind hit particles in Earth's upper atmosphere causing a glow visible from the surface. These particles are funneled to the Earth's poles by our planet's magnetic field, making them normally visible from high latitudes closer to the poles. The northern lights are known as the aurora borealis, while the southern lights are called the aurora australis.

During a major solar flare (X-class flares are the most powerful), the sun can unleash powerful radiation storms and eruptions known as coronal mass ejections that send much more charged particles toward Earth than the everyday solar wind. That's what happened during Thursday's solar flare, which sent a coronal mass ejection toward Earth at just under 2.2 million mph (3.5 million kph), SWPC officials wrote in the statement.

Related: The sun's wrath: Worst solar storms in history

That wave of particles reached Earth Saturday night, making the auroras visible and brighter at lower latitudes. Those conditions should continue through Halloween night, according to the SWPC.

NASA solar scientist C. Alex Young, associate director for science at the Heliophysics Division of the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, cautioned observers at lower latitudes like the U.S. Northeast, upper Midwest and Washington that the display won't be as impressive as those farther north. You will also have to get away from city lights if you hope to see any auroras.

If you're hoping to see the northern lights yourself, check out our guides on where and how to photograph the aurora, as well as the best equipment for aurora photography and how to edit aurora photos. If you need equipment, consider our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography to make sure you're ready for the next aurora event.

Skywatchers in regions of the Earth that normally see bright auroras have reported truly dazzling aurora displays.

"WHAT A NIGHT," wrote a skywatcher named Thomas on Twitter while sharing dazzling photos of the Halloween auroras from Sweden's Lapland region.

One skywatcher in Reykjavk, Iceland didn't have to travel far to see the northern lights. They were easily visible from the comfort of home.

"Aurora in my backyard," the observer, who goes by @PhinerianKlipsy on Twitter, wrote while sharing photos of green auroras in the sky.

Skywatcher Michael Charnick also spotted the storm from Iceland and used an iPhone 13 to photograph the event, which he observed late Halloween eve (Oct. 30).

"Incredible substorm over the west coast of Iceland ~ 30 min ago," he wrote on Twitter.

Charnick then captured some stunning views of the auroras over the Labrador Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean.

The sun is currently in the beginning phase of its latest 11-year solar cycle, called solar cycle 25, in which its activity rises and falls over time. The X1 solar flare of Oct. is only the second X-class solar flare of the cycle. It follows and X1.6 solar flare that occurred on July 3.

If you take a photograph of the Halloween northern lights from the solar flare and want to share them for a possible photo gallery or story, let us know! You can send images and comments in to spacephotos@space.com.

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Around the World with Barrier Breaking Women Pilots – National Air and Space Museum

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We know the names of early American women pilots like Bessie Coleman and Amelia Earhart. However, across the globe, women pilots were also taking to the skies and setting records. Travel across the globe with these stories of four such pilots.

Helene Dutrieu of Belgium was known as the "girl hawk" of aviation because she was the most daring and accomplished woman pilot of her time. She first soloed in France in 1909 and within a year was setting altitude and distance records. She thrilled the world in September of 1910 by flying non-stop from Ostend to Bruges, Belgium, and she became the first Belgian woman to receive a pilot license on November 25, 1910. During her second year as an aviator, she narrowly escaped death twice. She visited the United States in 1911, making her American debut at the Nassau Boulevard Aviation meeting. Back in Europe, Dutrieu won France's Coupe Femina for the women's world nonstop light record on December 31, 1911, flying 158 miles (254 kilometers) in 178 minutes. In Florence, Italy, she was the only woman in a field of 15 and out flew all of her male competitors to win the King's Cup. In 1913 the French government awarded Dutrieu the Legion of Honor for her achievements. She also became an ambulance driver and later a director of a military hospital.

In 1909, while the Baroness Raymonde de Laroche was dining with Charles Voisin, he suggested that she learn to fly an airplane. Her new ambition took her to the French flying grounds at Chalons where she was taught by Voisin himself. On March 8, 1910, she received the first pilot's license awarded to a woman. She entered the 1910 Reims meet as the only female participant and was seriously injured in a crash. After a lengthy recovery, she went on to win the Femina Cup for a nonstop flight of four hours. In 1919, the Baroness set a women's altitude record of 15,700 feet (4,785 meters). In the summer of 1919, de Laroche, who was also a talented engineer, reported to the airfield at Le Crotoy to copilot a new aircraft in hopes of becoming the first female test pilot. Unfortunately, the aircraft went into a dive on its landing approach and both the Baroness and the pilot were killed. A statue of de Laroche stands at Le Bourget airport in France.

In 1930, Amy Johnson became the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia and did so with very little flying experience. She had only received her license in 1929, learning to fly at the London Aeroplane Club at Stag Lane, but she was an impressive secretary-turned-pilot who earned an aircraft ground engineer's license as well. Flying a Gipsy Moth namedJason, Johnson made the England to Australia trip in May 1930 in 19 and a half days, and continued to make many impressive cross-country flights from England around Europe and to Moscow and Tokyo.

In 1931, she married fellow British aviator James Mollison and promptly broke his record for the England to South Africa flight. In 1936, she reclaimed the record again, flying 14,000 miles (22,530 kilometers) in 12 days. Johnson and Mollison flew the Atlantic together in July 1933, but crashed on landing at Bridgeport, Connecticut. Both received only minor injuries and so ordered another plane for a west-to-east flight to England, but it crashed on take-off. Johnson and Mollison made it as far as India during the 1934 MacRobertson Race from England to Australia; soon after, they divorced.

During World War II, Johnson flew for the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), ferrying aircraft around England. She was killed in January 1941 when she bailed out of her crippled twin engine aircraft and drowned in the Thames River. Johnson's popularity in England was equal to the Amelia Earhart phenomenon in the United States, and a song,Amy, Wonderful Amywas written in her honor.

Jean Batten grew up in New Zealand and developed a love for aviation that overcame her desire to be a concert pianist. Her interest in flying stemmed from the 1919 England to Australia flight by Ross and Keith Smith, and later solo flights.

Batten's father did not approve of her aviation enthusiasm but she convinced her mother to move to England with her and help her become a pilot. She received her license and her commercial rating at the London Aeroplane Club at Stag Lane and then began planning for a flight from England to Australia. Her first two attempts failed, but she succeeded in 1934, flying a Gipsy Moth.

Batten became an instant sensation in Australia, New Zealand, and in England upon her return flight the next year (it was the first roundtrip by a woman). In 1935, she broke James Mollison's records for England to Brazil and Dakar to Natal while becoming the first woman to solo across the South Atlantic. Then, in 1936, she realized her dream of flying solo from England to New Zealand in a Percival Gull in 11 days and earned her second consecutive Harmon Trophy, having shared the first one in 1935 with Amelia Earhart. In 1937, she set another record for an Australia to England flight. Unable to obtain a flying job during World War II, Batten gave up flying and eventually became a recluse, living with her mother in Majorca, Spain, and appearing in public only for a few anniversary events. In 1937, she published her autobiography,My Life.

This content was migrated from an earlier online exhibit, Women in Aviation and Space History, which shared the stories of the women featured in the Museum in the early 2000s.

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Around the World with Barrier Breaking Women Pilots - National Air and Space Museum

Making History from the Passenger Seat | National Air and Space Museum – National Air and Space Museum

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Women made history not only as pilots of aircraft, but also by being willing passengers. Would you be brave enough to fly in an aircraft when it was a relatively new invention? Discover three of these womens stories.

Therese Peltier

Therese Peltier, a talented sculptor, became the first woman to fly as a passenger in a heavier-than-air aircraft (as opposed to a lighter-than-air aircraft like a balloon). On July 8, 1908, she made a flight of 656 feet (200 meters) with Leon Delagrange in Milan, Italy. She subsequently made several solo flights in a Voisin biplane but did not pursue a flying career. On her flight at the Military Square at Turin, she flew for two minutes and traversed a distance of 656 feet (200 meters) at an elevation of seven feet.

Edith Berg

Edith Berg watched Wilbur Wright demonstrate the Wright Flyer at Le Mans, France. She was so thrilled by the performance that she asked Wright for a ride. Thus, in October 1908, she became the first American woman to fly as a passenger in an airplane, soaring for two minutes and seven seconds. Seated in the right seat of the aircraft, she tied a rope securely around her skirt at her ankles to keep it from blowing in the wind during the flight. A French fashion designer watching the flight was impressed with the way Berg walked away from the aircraft with her skirt still tied. Berg was then credited with inspiring the famous "Hobble Skirt" fashion.

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart is best known for the records she set as a pilot and her mysterious disappearance. However, she too made history from the passenger seat. In 1928, she was the first woman to be a passenger on a transatlantic flight. Amy Phipps Guest owned the Fokker F.VII Friendship and wanted to make the flight but when her family objected, she asked aviator Richard Byrd and publisher/publicist George Putnam to find "the right sort of girl" for the trip. On June 17, 1928, Earhart and pilots Wilmer Stultz and Lou Gordon departed Trepassey, Newfoundland, and, though promised time at the controls of the tri-motor, she was never given the opportunity to fly the aircraft during the 20-hour 40-minute flight to Burry Point, Wales. She did get in the pilot's seat for a time on the final hop to Southampton, England. The dramatic 1928 flight brought her international attention and the opportunity to earn a living in aviation. When she later flew solo across the Atlantic, her earlier flight also made her the first person to cross the Atlantic twice by air.

This content was migrated from an earlier online exhibit, Women in Aviation and Space History, which shared the stories of the women featured in the Museum in the early 2000s.

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Making History from the Passenger Seat | National Air and Space Museum - National Air and Space Museum

Blue Origin announces a new space station to ‘normalize spaceflight’ – TweakTown

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The International Space Station is nearing its end of life, but before it's retired, it will be joined by a new space station called Orbital Reef.

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The announcement comes from Blue Origin, Boeing, Sierra Space, and a few other companies who plan on launching the new space station that will have the facilities to support interests from national governments, the private industry, and tourism. According to Brent Sherwood, the senior vice president of advanced development programs for Blue Origin, Orbital Reef will lower the cost, expand access and provide the services needed to normalize spaceflight.

Sherwood said, "We will expand access, lower the cost, and provide all the services and amenities needed to normalize spaceflight. A vibrant business ecosystem will grow in low Earth orbit, generating new discoveries, new products, new entertainments and global awareness." The announcement states that Orbital Reef will be up and running with operational capabilities by the late 2020s. If you are interested in reading more about this announcement, check out this link here.

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Blue Origin announces a new space station to 'normalize spaceflight' - TweakTown

Opinion | No, Vaccine Mandates Arent an Attack on Freedom – The New York Times

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The Delta surge in Covid-19 seems to be receding. Thats good news, and not just because fewer people are dying. Fear of infection was one reason the economic recovery hit an air pocket in the third quarter. Resuming normal life will be a huge relief.

But the U.S. right is, in effect, trying to keep the pandemic going. We talk a lot about misinformation on social media, some of which surprise! appears to be the product of Russian disinformation. However, the role of the right-wing establishment has surely been far more important. Fox News serves up anti-vaccine messages almost every day. Republican governors have tried to ban vaccine mandates not just by local governments and school districts but by private businesses. Multiple Republican attorneys general have filed suit to stop federal vaccine mandates.

The expressed rationale for all this activity is that its about protecting freedom. In reality, while there are several reasons for vaccine resistance, politics is a significant driver of the agitation. A successful vaccination campaign could mean a successful Biden administration, and the right is determined to prevent that, no matter how many avoidable deaths result from vaccine sabotage. Its noteworthy that Fox has a very strict vaccination policy for its own employees.

Still, the case against vaccine mandates, however disingenuous, needs to be answered on the merits. Yet I at least have rarely seen the case against a right to refuse vaccination fully explained, even though you could hardly come up with a better example than Covid-19 vaccination if you wanted to design a hypothetical situation in which arguments for freedom of choice dont apply. And I think its worth spelling out exactly why.

First, personal choice is fine as long as your personal choices dont hurt other people. I may deplore the quality of your housekeeping, but its your own business; on the other hand, freedom doesnt include the right to dump garbage in the street.

And going unvaccinated during a pandemic does hurt other people which is why schools, in particular, have required vaccination against many diseases for generations. The unvaccinated are much more likely to contract the coronavirus, and hence potentially infect others, than those whove had their shots; theres also some evidence that even when vaccinated individuals become infected, theyre less likely to infect others than the unvaccinated.

Incidentally, the fact that breakthrough infections happen that some people get the virus despite being vaccinated actually strengthens the case for mandates, because it means that even those whove gotten their shots face some danger from those who refuse to follow suit.

And the harm done to others by rejecting vaccines goes beyond an increased risk of disease. The unvaccinated are far more likely than the vaccinated to require hospitalization, which means that they place stress on the health care system. They also impose financial costs on the general public, because given the prevalence of insurance both public and private, their hospital bills end up being largely covered by the rest of us.

Vaccination, then, should be considered a public duty, not a personal choice. But there would be a strong argument for public promotion of vaccines even if we were to somehow ignore the harm the unvaccinated impose on others and look only at the personal choice aspect. For this isnt an area in which individuals can be relied on to choose well.

Medicine, in case you havent noticed, is a complex and difficult subject. As a result, its an area where its a bad idea to leave people entirely to their own devices. The clamor for unproven treatments like taking hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin reminds us why we require that physicians be licensed and drugs be approved, rather than leaving it up to the public to decide whos qualified and which medication is safe and effective.

So you have to wonder why anyone would consider it a good idea when Floridas surgeon general urged people to downplay medical advice on vaccines and rely on their intuition and sensibilities.

Finally, the most contentious area in this whole argument involves vaccine and mask requirements for schools. And in this area, opponents of mandates arent making decisions for themselves theyre making decisions for their children, who have rights of their own and arent simply their parents property.

Now, U.S. law and tradition give parents a great deal of leeway, especially when religious beliefs are involved, but not absolute power over their childrens lives. Adults cant choose to deny their children basic education; they cant turn down lifesaving medical treatment. Thats why we have longstanding vaccine mandates for many childhood diseases. And the same logic applies to Covid-19.

Again, I dont know how many people really believe that vaccine requirements are an attack on freedom. But in any case, its important to understand that freedom is no reason to block a potential medical miracle.

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Opinion | No, Vaccine Mandates Arent an Attack on Freedom - The New York Times

Academic Freedom Alliance Letter on the University of Florida Situation – Reason

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The Academic Freedom Alliance has released its public letter on the situation at the University of Florida. The administration of the University of Florida has attempted to block three political science professors from serving as expert witnesses in a lawsuit against the state over the recently enacted voting law, as discussed by co-blogger Eugene Volokh here. This is an egregious violation of academic freedom and the First Amendment. If accepted in this case, it would have broad ramifications for how state universities operated across a host of other cases.

From the letter:

I write on behalf of the Academic Freedom Alliance to express our firm view that this decision is a serious violation of the academic freedom principles to which the University of Florida is committed. The university is mistaken in thinking that this decision is consistent with the principles of free speech and academic freedom and has construed the potential conflicts of interest in this case in a manner that is incompatible with maintaining academic freedom in the future. It has long been a central feature of academic freedom in the United States that when university professors "speak or write as citizens, they should be free from institutional censorship or discipline." Whatever interest a state university might have in preventing members of its faculty from acting as political partisans when operating within their duties as state employees, that interest cannot be understood to extend to restricting the speech activities in which professors might engage when operating outside their university duties and acting as private citizens.

You can read the full letter here.

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Academic Freedom Alliance Letter on the University of Florida Situation - Reason

Freedom football rules 2nd half to beat Liberty, claim city title – lehighvalleylive.com

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FULL STORY: Taylor becomes rushing sensation to propel Freedom past Liberty

Freedom 28, Liberty 13 Rapid Recap

Freedom High Schools football team took what it wanted in the second half.

What it wanted was a rivalry victory and city championship.

The Patriots, ranked No. 2 by lehighvalleylive.com, scored 21 unanswered points and defeated Liberty 28-13 on Saturday afternoon at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium.

Turning point: Freedom trailed 13-7 at halftime, but only needed six plays to go 59 yards for a score on the opening possession of the third quarter. Quarterback Brian Taylor avoided a sack and tossed a 24-yard TD to Ethan Neidig. Kicker Zeyad Ragabs PAT put the Patriots ahead 14-13 with 9:24 on the clock.

Liberty punted on the ensuing possession and Freedom marched right back down the field, going 64 yards in nine plays. Taylor capped the series with a 7-yard rushing TD to go ahead 21-13.

Top performers: Taylor completed 9 of 17 passes for 109 yards and a score. He also rushed for 87 yards and three scores on 14 carries.

Deante Crawford had 154 yards on 33 carries for Freedom.

Liberty tailback Kyndred Wright had 14 carries for 85 yards and a touchdown. Karim Brice returned a punt 75 yards for a Hurricanes touchdown.

What it means: Freedom, which won the city title by virtue of its wins over Liberty and Bethlehem Catholic, finished the regular season with an 8-2 record. The Patriots will host Easton as the third seed in the District 11 Class 6A tournament.

Liberty, which won its season opener, closed the fall with a 1-9 mark.

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Kyle Craig may be reached at kcraig@lehighvalleylive.com.

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Freedom football rules 2nd half to beat Liberty, claim city title - lehighvalleylive.com

Vaccination, Freedom and Responsibility – Coronavirus Coverage – State of the Planet

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The great singer-songwriter Paul Simon once expressed the complexity of urban living when he sang that the floor of one apartment was the ceiling of the one below. Specifically, the first verse of his song declares:

Theres been some hard feelings hereAbout some words that were saidBeen some hard feelings hereAnd what is moreTheres been a bloody purple noseAnd some bloody purple clothesThat were messing up the lobby floorIts just apartment house rulesSo all you partment house foolsRemember: one mans ceilingIs another mans floorOne mans ceilingIs another mans floor

Most of the year, I live in an apartment in Morningside Heights in New York City. I have neighbors above me, below me and next to me. We are mindful of each others space and privacy. But we share a collective water system, electrical system, heating system, elevator and building staff. When COVID-19 hit, we stopped sharing elevators and allowed them to pass until an elevator came to us empty. Today, we once again share the elevator, but we all wear masks. Unlike in Paul Simons song, weve not had any bloody clothes in the lobby or other signs of overt conflict. Each day, we must balance the freedom we exercise behind closed doors with our mutual dependency on resources we share.

If I lived on a quarter-acre or more of land in a private home, my attitude about shared responsibility might be different, but I live in a place where I need to pay attention to the volume of my music because I might wake up a baby sleeping in an adjoining apartment. What does all this have to do with vaccination? I believe nearly all of us should be vaccinated to protect our neighbors and our community.

I understand that some people have medical reasons to remain unvaccinated and they should follow medical advice. I also know that breakthrough infections are possible, but health, like life itself, is always a matter of probability. Vaccinated people are less likely to become infected with COVID-19 and less likely to transmit it. When I became eligible to be vaccinated last February, I rushed to get my shot. Yes, I wanted personal protection from COVID-19, but I was more concerned that I could become infected because I was teaching in a classroom and could spread the virus to my spouse, children, granddaughter, friends, and neighbors. I was a little scared about the side effects, but the benefits far outweighed the costs.

All over America, but especially in the more suburban and rural parts of the country, many people are resisting vaccination. When institutions like the one I work for and others started requiring vaccination, people started protesting that mandated vaccination infringed on their freedom. They are correct it does limit freedom. Just as we are x-rayed at the airport and videotaped at Walmart, our freedom is infringed upon wherever we go. You are not free to drive 100 miles an hour on the highway or make a left turn on a red light. You are not free to scream fire in a crowded theatre. In my home city, you are not free to carry a firearm without a difficult-to-obtain permit. In some states, you are free to carry weapons wherever you go, but in a place as crowded as New York, we prefer to let our police protect us with their weapons.

The degree of freedom we have varies by place and politics, but it is never absolute because even in Texas, people have a responsibility to each other. In Texas, the political leadership prefers that people take personal responsibility for their actions and argues that the responsibility to protect our neighbors from COVID-19 should not be required by government. Anti-mandate governors are correct that voluntarily taking personal responsibility is better than compulsion by authority. If a sense of responsibility for the community is not internalized by an individuals value system, government intervention will not be particularly effective. Unfortunately, not enough individuals took responsibility for preventing the spread of the virus and mandates were needed.

There are times when the needs of the community must take precedence over the needs and even rights of the individual. In emergencies, different rules must apply. I suspect the Governor of Texas does not see COVID-19 as a national emergency. Had he lived in New York in February and March of 2020, he might see the world differently. The sounds from my window day and night back then were punctuated by sirens taking sick people to hospitals where too many of them died. During wars and national emergencies, people are drafted into service and freedom is curtailed to ensure survival. People in New York City do not want to return to the New York of early 2020. If vaccination and masks are required, bring them on.

The exercise of government authority to require vaccination should be viewed as an infringement of personal freedom in the interest of collective security. Here in New York City, our municipal government has mandated vaccination of all its employees but has been more than a little clumsy in implementing the requirement. While the city government could have done a better job implementing the vaccination requirement, the policy remains sound. It comes back to our collective responsibility in a densely settled city. I am especially disappointed when I see police, health care workers and firefighters resisting vaccination since their fundamental job is to protect the public. These folks put themselves in harms way with great frequency, so why dont they see vaccination as simply another tool they possess to protect the public? Vaccine resistance among public health and safety officials is a sad indicator of the breakdown of our sense of community. COVID-19 will not be the last global pandemic we will face; we will either combat these threats as a world community or suffer the pain and loss caused by the constant spread of disease.

Freedom of thought and expression is fundamental to our democracy. Many believe that should extend to freedom to control the substances that are placed in our bodies. In a world with less than a billion people, without global trade and global travel, that might once have been possible. Today, with eight billion people and the constant risk of exposure to viruses that our bodies are not able to fight off, that freedom has become a luxury we cannot afford. Todays world is more like my apartment building than a suburban home with a lawn and a driveway.

I fear that we are living through a time where we are forgetting about the need to respect each other. I have friends and colleagues who are refusing vaccination and others who refuse to wear masks. Even though I believe their response to this pandemic is selfish, I listen carefully to their arguments and respect their beliefs. I worry that some of their arguments are based on disinformation spread via social media, but some are due to the scientific uncertainty we have all experienced as experts learned more about COVID-19. The polarization of our politics might have been overcome by a collective effort to understand and then combat this virus, but the lack of respect for each other and our institutions led to this fragmented response. Instead of summoning a sense of national purpose, Donald Trump resisted public health measures to energize his base of support during a campaign year. The response was so badly mishandled that even the promise of a more measured approach helped elect his opponent. Joe Biden has struggled to establish a collective response but is thwarted by governors, other elected officials, and pundits who continue to politicize the pandemic.

Mistrust seems to be contagious. Among Democrats in Congress, it is delaying the enactment of about $3 trillion of spending on infrastructure, environmental and social programs. Republicans are united in their opposition to these policies, even the programs they might wish to support. Symbolic position-taking and appeals to a narrow base of support have replaced nearly every effort to build consensus. Our global economy is complex, interconnected, and vulnerable. COVID, climate change, toxic substances, fire, drought, floods, cyber-attacks, terrorism, and corruption threaten our prosperity, security, and way of life.

The vaccine that some Americans are unwilling to use is beyond the reach of over a billion of our planets people, many of whom desperately want it. We need to exercise our freedoms with a sense of responsibility, mindful of our obligations to our neighbors, our nation, and the world. The alternative that stands starkly before us is division, conflict, chaos, and the demise of our democracy.

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‘Economic freedom’ rankings are contrived, meaningless nonsense – The Real News Network

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Last month, the Fraser Institute put out its annual Economic Freedom of the World report. As usual, it showed that economic freedom is positively correlated with many good things and negatively correlated with many bad ones.

Defenders of capitalism love the Fraser Institute. Libertarian philosopher Jason Brennan, for example, has made heavy use of the rankings in the context of criticizing the arguments of Marxist philosopher GA Cohen. Brennan argues that given all the positive things that come with greater economic freedom, the debate about whether capitalism is superior to socialism has a clear victor: the pro-capitalist side. The only remaining question is whether socialism would be better in a hypothetical world where humans were less selfish and lazy.

Economist Peter Leeson has deployed the Fraser Institutes reports to mount an even more strident defense of capitalism. Many commentators, Leeson writes, think that capitalism deserves two cheers for yielding many good outcomes while also thinking that excessive or uncontrolled capitalism can be bad. Leeson says this is wrong because the Fraser Institutes numbers show that capitalism deserves three cheers.

Although many relationships in the social sciences are unclear, capitalisms relationship to development isnt one of them. Unless one is ashamed of unprecedented increases in income, rising life expectancy, greater education, and more political freedom, theres no reason to be a milquetoast defender of capitalism.

Even a quick glance at the Fraser Institutes report reveals that the numbers that emerge from their methodology are flatly irrelevant to anything in dispute between social democrats, socialists, and defenders of laissez-faire capitalism.

These are bold claims. And if you just look at the Fraser Institutes many graphs and assume that the x-axis really is about something called economic freedom (or, in Leesons language, countries becoming more capitalist and less socialist), the data does seem to prove that people live longer and are more prosperous, more educated, and more politically free in more capitalist countries. How, then, could anyone be a socialist? How could anyone even be a social democrat, aspiring to curb excessive or uncontrolled capitalism through expansive social programs and a regulatory state? The more capitalist a society is, the better the outcomes.

Theres just one problem with all of this. The premise is nonsense. Even a quick glance at the Fraser Institutes report reveals that the numbers that emerge from their methodology are flatly irrelevant to anything in dispute between social democrats, socialists, and defenders of laissez-faire capitalism.

First, though, its worth pausing to talk about definitions. Many socialists think that a fully socialist society would be one where workers controlled the means of production. Since theres never been a society where even a significant portion of the economy was put under workers control, the degree to which a society is socialist in this sense is hard to measure. Other socialists, though, have thought that state ownership of the bulk of the economy would be sufficient. That can be measured. There have been societies like the USSR where pretty much the entire economy was state-owned, countries like the United States with little state ownership, and countries like Norway (where almost a third of the workforce works in the public sector and the state holds shares in many companies) that are somewhere in between.

Similarly, we can make a distinction between socialism after capitalism (i.e., socialism in the strict sense) and socialism within capitalism (i.e., the policies that socialists around the world have fought for to make life better for working-class people within basically capitalist structures). This, too, can be measured. We can compare societies based on how much the state intervenes to make it easier for workers to organize labor unions, or the difference between health care systems like the one in the United States (where only a minority of the population qualifies for public health insurance), Canada (where theres universal public health insurance but the hospitals themselves are mostly private), and in countries like Britain, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (where most or all of the hospitals are publicly owned and the doctors and nurses are public employees).

Rankings comparing societies by the degree of state ownership would be relevant to arguments about whether societies are better off with capitalism or with at least some forms of socialism. Similarly, ranking societies in terms of their health care system or the degree of friendliness toward union organizing would be relevant to arguments about reforms socialists support within capitalism.

But all you need to do to confirm the Fraser Institute isnt doing anything like this is to glance at the handy interactive map on their website. Play with the map for about five seconds, and youll discover that Norway and Sweden are both far more economically free than Haiti.

You read that right. Norway and Sweden tie for 37th place. Haiti sits all the way down at 118th place. That means Haiti, according to the Fraser Institute, is less capitalist than Sweden or Norway.

Pop quiz: Does Haiti have a more expansive welfare state than Sweden or Norway? Does it have a more favorable environment for labor unions? Does it have a larger public sector?

These arent serious questions.

So whats going on here? The five categories the Fraser Institute uses to judge different countries are size of government, legal system and property rights, sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation.

Four of those categories at least sound like they have something to do with contested issues between social democrats, socialists, and defenders of uncontrolled capitalism, although property rights would be more obviously relevant than the oddly mashed together category legal system and property rights. Hold that thought.

Meanwhile, whats this about sound money? Heres how the executive summary describes the category: Inflation erodes the value of rightfully earned wages and savings. Sound money is thus essential to defend property rights.

That thus is a little odd, since the underlying thought seems to be not so much that low inflation is essential to defending property rights as that its essential for property owners to get the benefits they would otherwise receive from those property rights. More importantly, though, the order of explanation here is the opposite of what we usually get in (misleading) right-wing arguments that the economic woes of Venezuela, for example, show that socialism produces bad outcomes. Usually, libertarians and conservatives say that socialist policies are bad because they lead to inflation. They dont define inflation itself as somehow intrinsically un-capitalist.

How about legal system and property rights? The description in the executive summary is too vague to make clear whats being measured, but the full report helpfully breaks this down into sub categories:

A. Judicial independenceB. Impartial courtsC. Protection of property rightsD. Military interference in rule of law and politicsE. Integrity of the legal systemF. Legal enforcement of contractsG. Regulatory costs of the sale of real propertyH. Reliability of police

Of these eight categories, C is the only one that sounds remotely relevant to the capitalism-versus-socialism debate. And even there, its only relevant if what property is being protected from is nationalization (or expropriation by the workers themselves, as in Argentinas recovered factories movement of the early 2000s). At a stretch, G might also be salient, although the regulatory costs socialists want to impose on businesses (like better workplace safety laws, a higher minimum wage, measures to make it harder to bust unions) rarely have much to do with the sale of businesses.

The other six are just flagrantly irrelevant. What socialists complaint about the police is that theyre too reliable (H)? What socialist doesnt want workers to be able to take their bosses to court for violating union contracts (F)? Have you met a socialist whose main complaint about US courts is that theyre too impartial (B) and independent of the government (A) or that the legal system has too much damn integrity (E)? (For a hint as to what the real complaints are, google Steven Donziger.) The high-water mark of absurdity, though, comes at D. Do socialists want the military to interfere more in legal and political systems? Ask Salvador Allende about that one.

One could argue that even if none of this has to do with whether societies are more capitalist or less capitalist, it at least has to do with whether those societies are living up to the ideals of many advocates of capitalism. Fair enough.

But thats like saying the Soviet Union scored poorly on many standards near and dear to the heart of many socialists. Theres a long tradition of socialists advocating for free speech rights, for example. Wed look pretty silly if we ranked countries by how socialist they were using the degree of free speech protection as one of the metrics, thus giving the Soviet Union a lower socialism score than the United States . . . and thus triumphantly concluding that the degree of socialism was positively correlated with free speech protections.

This is exactly what the Fraser Institute and libertarians who tout its findings are doing when they count societies as more economically free (or, in Brennan and Leesons hands, more capitalist) in part because theyre less corrupt and unstableand then use this to assert that economic freedom or capitalism itself leads to more democracy and better political outcomes. Are there worse outcomes in societies with high inflation, high judicial corruption, and frequent military coups? No kidding. This is supposed to have what exactly to do with long-standing debates about capitalism and socialism?

Does the history of the 20th century include plenty of fodder for intellectually honest criticisms of at least some forms of socialism? Of course. But the Fraser Institute is just cooking the books.

Excerpt from:

'Economic freedom' rankings are contrived, meaningless nonsense - The Real News Network

Central Valley Right to Life group claims vaccine protection law prohibits freedom of speech – Visalia Times-Delta and Tulare Advance-Register

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Right to Life

John and Barbara Willke came up with a strategy to reverse Roe v. Wade. Many anti-abortion activists think their plan is about to pay off.

Wochit

A new California law aimed at protecting the public and front line workers from being harassedwhile getting and administeringvaccineshas turned into a freedom of speechbattle for one Fresno anti-abortion group.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California ruled in Right to Life of Central California versusBontathat Senate Bill 742likely discriminates against Right to Lifes outreach to women.

The law was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October.

Free speech won the day not just for our client, Right to Life, but for every other speaker in California," said Denise Harle, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom."We applaud the courts decision to protect the First Amendment rights of every Californian, regardless of their viewpoint, and halt enforcement of this unconstitutional state law."

The bill was designed in the COVID-19 era and aims to protect the rights of people to get vaccinated, while preserving the right of protesters to assemble.

The law bans certain free-speech activities when a speaker is within 30 feet of another person and that other person is in a public way or on a sidewalk area and within 100 feet of the entrance or exit of a vaccination site and is seeking to enter or exit a vaccination site.

Right to Lifeis located next to a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Fresno, which also administers the HPV vaccine.Under the law, Right to Life staff and volunteers are banned from speaking with potential clients outside itsfacility because the two organizations share a sidewalk.

SB 472 also makes it a misdemeanor to harass, intimidate, injure or obstruct people on their way to get vaccinated. Those found guilty of breaking the law face amaximum $1,000 fine and/or up to six months in jail.

Right to Life is not the only organization to voice its concern with the measure. Many have questioned whether SB 472 violates the First Amendment.Free speech advocates including First Amendment Coalitions Glen Smith believe the 30-foot barrier is "excessive and out of compliance with court rulings."

However, Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), who authored the bill, said SB 472 gives local officials the tools they need to protect patients and frontline workers when getting the COVID-19 vaccine, or any other vaccine.

"Health care workers administering vaccines and saving lives need local officials to have SB 742 to keep them and their patients safe from extremists who obstruct and threaten people with violence and loss of privacy for participating in COVID-19 vaccination clinics," Pan said in October.

The court order stated that the defendants arguments demonstrate that SB 742 is so vague that it is conducive to different and conflicting interpretations on what conduct is even prohibited by its terms.

Right to Life shares free resources, provides support services, and offers informational leaflets while standing on the public sidewalks in front of its Outreach Center and between the Outreach Center and Planned Parenthoods property, according to Alliance Defending Freedom.

The court granted the anti-abortiongroups request for a temporary restraining order to halt enforcement of discriminatory parts of the law against any speaker while the lawsuit moves forward.

The court rightly acknowledged SB 742s double standard in restricting prolife outreach while permitting other types of speech, such as picketing about a labor dispute,"Harle said. "We are thankful Right to Lifes staff and volunteers can continue their critical mission of serving vulnerable women in the central California region with their free, life-giving services.

Sheyanne Romero covers Tulare County public safety, local government and business for the Visalia Times-Delta and Tulare Advance-Register newspapers. Follow her on Twitter @sheyanne_VTD. Get alerts and keep up on all things Tulare County for as little as $1 a month. Subscribe today.

Originally posted here:

Central Valley Right to Life group claims vaccine protection law prohibits freedom of speech - Visalia Times-Delta and Tulare Advance-Register

Bitcoin Community Projects Communicate The Message Of Freedom – Bitcoin Magazine

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Colin Crossman:

Aspirational projects like the Declaration of Monetary Independence are designed to engender strong feelings thats part of their power. Much contemporary art was made about the American Independence movement, such as William Blakes America, A Prophecy, and Philip Freneau in both A Political Litany and American Liberty. Such works help communicate the overall message of the movement to a broader audience, and often do a better job conveying the emotionality of the movement than the base layer argument.

We can see much artistic output coming from the broad Bitcoin community, with a great output of audio and visual works. For me, when I was exposed to early versions of the Declaration of Monetary Independence project, I was moved to write a couple of haiku. Upon hearing that they were looking for more of such work to assist with the project, I decided that this would be my contribution to it.

A few notes about the below. Each haiku is intended to stand on its own, while also being a part of a larger story. One apparent departure from the norm, haiku generally evokes nature. Here, while I do evoke nature, I also include aspects of Bitcoins construction (SHA-256), and memes. To my mind, these are part of Bitcoins nature, and so in evoking these, I believe these remain true to the spirit of English language haiku.

Rick Poach:

A little over a month ago, on a whim, I started posting Bitcoin/Econ themed limericks to a Telegram board of Denver Bitcoiners. The limericks were to form: humorous and unserious snippets of verse. I didn't think much about them other than the fact that they were coming to mind in the first place.

For nearly twelve years, I have written what I label as political satire (sarcasm) in verse. However, after what, in my opinion, was a false flag insurrection, whatever inspiration to write that I might have had remaining had dried up. Any attempt that I made at writing felt like, and was, a half-hearted effort: the absurdities were so apparent, what more could my sarcasm do to reveal it?With the exception of a couple of half-hearted pieces, I had stopped writing for almost a year.

However, during that year, two interesting things happened to me. The first was that, in April, Colin Crossman introduced me to Bitcoin. I quickly went down the rabbit hole, as I almost immediately intuited that eventually, Bitcoin fixes, the absurdist forces which have seized power. The second was that, about a month ago, Mark Maraia read those throwaway limericks that I had posted, and asked me to write some verse in support of the Declaration of Monetary Independence.

The result of those two interesting things is the piece, Hum.

I would like to thank both Colin and Mark for their unknowing contribution to Hum. I would not have had the inspiration to write it without them.

If needed, here is a key to better understand Hum:

This is a guest post by Rick Poach And Colin Crossman. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC, Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.

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Bitcoin Community Projects Communicate The Message Of Freedom - Bitcoin Magazine