Astronaut

Introduction of job

To be an astronaut, you need a Bachelor's degree (engineering, biological sciences, physical sciences, mathematics) from a college or university, three years of experience after obtaining the bachelor's degree and passing a NASA space physical test.

Heights should be 148.5 cm to 193 cm for mission specialists. You may be asked to go for a session where you would participate in personal interviews, medical tests and orientations. If you were selected, you would have training and evaluations, which is for two years. During the training period, you would take classes in basic science, technology, and space shuttle systems.

Description of job
International Space Station (ISS) astronauts perform many tasks as they orbit the Earth. They also have to maintain it. Similarly, Mission Control, on Earth, constantly monitors the ISS. Mission Control sends messages each day through voice or e-mail to help the crewmembers.

Astronauts use the Onboard Short-Term Plan (OSTP) to guide them. It is a graph of the daily schedule on the ISS. An astronaut's workday is from about 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time. This day includes three meals and 2.5 hours of physical exercise to keep fit.

The People
During Neil Armstrong’s first space flight he and fellow astronaut David Scott successfully performed the first docking in space between two vehicles. In July of 1969, Neil Armstrong was the commander of Apollo 11, America's first attempt to land a manned vehicle on the Moon. He and fellow astronaut Edwin Aldrin landed on the moon on July 20, 1969.

When he became the first man among the twelve people to set foot on the lunar surface, he spoke the well known phrase, "That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind". After which he and Aldrin explored the surface of the moon for 2.5 hours. Of all the challenges Armstrong and his crew faced on Apollo 11, the landing itself was far and away the most difficult.

The decent was difficult for the entire Apollo team, Mission Control, as much as the astronauts themselves. In just 12 minutes, Armstrong and co-pilot Buzz Aldrin had to bring their lunar module Eagle from a height of 50,000 feet, orbiting at a speed of several thousand miles per hour, down to the surface in what amounted to a controlled fall. With no atmosphere, both a parachute and wings would be useless.

List of resources
http://www.scientificamerican.com/
http://howstuffworks.com
http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html

My years in Park View Primary School

Time files, I have just finished my PSLE last week. I am now waiting for the result,which will be released in late November. I have nothing to worry about it as I have done my best.

For the past six years as I recall, I sometimes enjoyed school. However, there were times that I did not. I remember when I was in primary one. I hardly got scolded by my teaches. I did not have too much stress. At the beginning of the year, I was a little nervous, but not too nervous, because I did not know what to expect.

In primary two, things started to get hard for me. I got scolded more. However, that year was not too bad, besides the fact that there was a new student in my class who annoyed me. Don't get me started about what he did, because I don't mean to bully him. From primary one to three, my conduct dropped. But let me say this in my own defence in case you think it's my fault. I heard that girls mature faster, and I am not a girl, so my teachers thought more highly of most of the girls in my class.

The other thing I want to say so that I don't get bullied because of this entry. is that as each year passed, my teachers tended to have higher expectations, and I found it hard to adapt. If this is hard to believe, think of it this way: other people are other people, I am me. If you call this bullying my past teachers, you are wrong, because I am only being honest. I mean, you can't expect others to say good things about you all the time especially on the internet. because that would be being selfish.

However, not everything was a bad experience. I don't mean to boast, but when I was in primary three, I scored full marks in an exam, which I cannot remember which exam, for maths. And In primary four, my teacher called me a "professor" for being good at Science. I'm just glad I didn't call my self that, because that is exaggerating and I would be regretting it. when I was in primary five, my science teacher called the class "amazing" for making too much noise even when told not to. I think that is inappropriate choice of word. and I think that is funny because "amazing" is a positive word.

That's all I have to say of my six years there !

Ciao !

On 14th December, I was not at home the whole day. Actually, I was not at home several whole days. I was in Japan with my father and sister. In this trip, our seats were upgraded to business class. There were a lot of differences. First,the business class lounge had a free flow of food and drink. Unfortunately, I vomited on the plane. Secondly, on the plane, there was a footrest and we could also decide when to have breakfast.

When we reached the airport in Japan, we took a bus to Rusutsu resort. It had 3 mountains. They were east mountain, west mountain and Mt.Isola. The snow was powdery. Sometimes I got stuck in the soft snow during skiing. In the last two days of skiing, we skied at Mt.Isola. I could ski parallel easily on east and west mountains, but not at Mt.Isola. There were two reasons. First, The slopes were steep. Second, they were icy, which was also why I fell several times. My father thought it was because I was too close to him.

On some days, we had lunch at a cafeteria at east mountain. A bowl of ramen which cost 700 yen was big. There was also a merry-go-round. It was free of charge. When we went back to the hotel, I played my PSP. After seven days in the resort, we went to Sapporo city. We shopped at Ario mall. We had noodles with a few pieces of meat, vegetables and egg yolk on it at one of the eateries. I didn't know what it was, but it tasted good .

Then we went to the former governor's building of Hokkaido. There were exhibition rooms showing the history of Hokkaido. Afterwards, we went to T38 which was at the top floor of JR building. People could look out of a window in the toilet. I could see the wind carry the snow upwards.

On 22nd December , we came back to Singapore. I look forward to another trip!

It has been a week since my father bought a Wii game console. There was a discount if three games are bought, so I have three games. They are De Blob, Rayman Raving Rabbids and Escape from Bug Island. There was one game I have not tried yet, which is Escape from Bug Island. De Blob was about a round creature saving Chroma City fr0m the INKT Corporation. I have no idea what the other one is about.

My exams are over but I do not feel happy about my marks for Chinese. I got 47 out of 90. I wanted to get at least about 60. That did not freak me out too much, because I still passed. The comprehension was the hardest. In fact, I did not finish the paper because of that. But for science, I achieved an A star. I got 95 and a half out of 100. I felt happy about that because I got 3 and a half marks more than I got for CA1.

I finally found time to blog. Recently, I have been sleeping late because I did my homework too slowly. Sometimes I even forgot that I have a blog. Anyway, I have been bugged by my schoolmate . His head seems more rounded than anyone else's. His ears look big and is recognizable by his shadow.I am not telling you his name, but he makes a mountain out of a molehill. In other words, he is so sensitive that he has to tell everyone I bullied him when I only punched him once.I feel sorry about it.If you think I should be punished, you should also think everyone else in the level should, because they have done at least what I have done. I think he is very irritating and even his classmates think so. There was a time when I said that I was good at English and he said I was showing off. I hope he reads my blog and finds out how I feel without accusing me of cyberbullying.

Please do not laugh at me about this....

It has been a long time since I last blogged, and as you may have guessed, I have a lot to write. Everyday, the same thing happens to me. First, my form teacher scolds me. Then, almost all my classmates insult me. Next, another bad thing would happen to me, a different one everyday. Then, my father would scold me. Most of the time, I get so angry that I feel like beating people up.