Today in History- January 15, 1955 - first solar-heated and radiation-cooled house in the United States. Respect for the powers of the sun has been a critical part of building design since humans first built shelters for protection from the environment. I grew up in the American Southwest and recall that adobe buildings were designed to cool in the summer and retain heat in the winter through appropriate use of thermal mass, windows and passive air circulation systems. Solar water heating was used in Florida, California, and the Southwest as early as the 1920s but never took off as a viable commercial industry.

Raymond W. Bliss (6 Oct 1915 - 7 Nov 2004) is credited with building the first integrated solar heating and radiation cooling house in Tucson, Arizona in 1955. Built at a cost of approxiamately $4,000 for labor and materials, the house used a large slanted slab of steel and glass that captured heat from the sun, which was ducted into the house. Summer cooling used the same ducts and associated fans and controls.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on solar energy, green and sustainable building design and architectural engineering. Curricular resources can be found on the Architectural Engineering Education Community site.

Blog by Andrew Favor. Today in History - January 5, 1892 - Construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge. After years of gathering support and funding for the bridge, Joseph Strauss oversaw its construction. The project was so massive that a Golden Gate District was formed to build the bridge. All in all the bridge ended up costing about 27 million dollars. One of the most innovative parts of the bridge’s construction was Strauss insistence on safety. Workers wore protective headgear, glare-free goggles, and even a special lotion that helped protect against the harsh winds. There was also a large net that was placed beneath the workers. When construction was completed in 1937 the net had saved nineteen lives. At the time of completion the bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world. And today it is still as iconic as it was 101 years ago.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on bridges. For related educational resources, visit the Civil Engineering Education or Construction Engineering Education disciplinary communities.

Also today in 1892, the first photograph of the Aurora Borealis was taken.

Today in History - January 2, 1959 - the first lunar space shot to escape the Earth’s gravitational pull. The unmanned Luna I was launched by the Soviet Union less than two years after their launch of Sputnik, the Earth’s first artificial satellite. Luna 1 passed to within 4,600 miles of the moon before moving on to a solar orbit.

Later in 1959 on September 14, the Soviets were successful in reaching the moon with the Luna 2. The Luna 2 spaceship fell out of the lunar sky and hit the ground near the Sea of Serenity. Although the ship itself was shattered, the mission was considered a success, making Luna 2 from the Soviet Union the first manmade object to “land” on the Moon. The U.S. lunar orbiters came next, followed by Japan’s Hiten spacecraft.

It does seem like a big waste, but crash landing was the main mode of landing for the next decade of moon landings. NASA’s series of Rangers in the 1960’s had five crashes, but were able to transmit the first detailed images of lunar craters, rocks and soil before being destroyed by the crash. These images beamed back to Earth provided information critical for the success of later Apollo missions.

Alas this means that the Moon has become a graveyard for old satellites and spaceships, including all five of NASA’s Lunar Orbiters (1966-1972), four Soviet Luna probes (1959-1965), two Apollo sub-satellites (1970-1971), Japan’s Hiten spacecraft (1993) and NASA’s Lunar Prospector (1999).

The Japanese were the third country that we know of on the moon. I find it interesting that their spacecraft was named the “Hiten” after the Buddhist flying angel, pictured below playing the flute in a sculpture by Okita Toshiki.

The first attempted soft landing wasn’t until May 1965 with the Soviet’s Lunar 5; but it failed and crashed in the Sea of Clouds area of the moon. The Luna 9 (center photo above) was successful a year later, transmitting data from the Ocean of Storms lunar area. Later in 1966, NASA’s Surveyor 1 (right photo) was the first soft-landed robotic laboratory, landing in the Ocean of Storms area.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s related resources on the Luna Missions and other lunar spacecraft. Or visit the Aerospace Engineering Education community site.

Also on this date in 1923 Thomas Midgley’s ethyl gasoline was first marketed. On this date in 1975 the U.S. Department of Interior designates the grizzly bear a threatened species in the Lower 48 States.

Today in History - December 31, 1968 - The Russian TU-144 is the first commercial supersonic airliner flown. Building on their supersonic military jets, the Russians developed the first supersonic commercial airliner called the Tupolev 144. Decades later the U.K. developed the Concorde supersonic passenger jet. Athough successful as a collaborative technical effort, it did not survive the marketplace; it was too expensive to maintain, demand was not high enough at the prices required and the public put many constraints on flight paths due to the noise pollution of the sonic boom.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on the Concorde, supersonic flight and aerospace engineering. Curricular resources and events can be found on the Aerospace Engineering Education Community site.

Today in History - December 30, 1924 - Edwin Powell Hubble announces his discovery of a galaxy outside the Milky Way. Edwin Hubble was one of the leading astronomers of the twentieth century. His discovery that not only one, but countless galaxies, exist beyond our own Milky Way galaxy forever changed our understanding of the universe. Prior to his discovery, most astronomers believed that the universe was limited to our galaxy. Hubble also discovered enough galaxies that he was able to create a system for classifying them into ellilptical, sprials and barred spirals. The Hubble Space Telescope was named in his honor.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on Hubble, space telescopes, astronomy and aerospace engineering. For curricular resources, visit the Aerospace Engineering Education community site.