Judith Resnik (1949–1986) was an American electrical, software and
biomedical engineer, pilot and astronaut who died in the Space Shuttle
Challenger disaster in January 1986. Resnik was the fourth woman and
second American woman to fly in space, logging 145 hours in orbit. With
a PhD in electrical engineering, she worked for RCA as an engineer on
Navy missile and radar projects, and for Xerox as a senior systems
engineer. She published research on special-purpose integrated
circuitry. At age 28, she was selected by NASA as a mission specialist
in the first NASA astronaut group to include women. While training she
developed software and operating procedures for NASA missions. Her first
space flight was the STS-41-D mission, the maiden voyage of
Space Shuttle Discovery which launched on August 30, 1984, during
which her duties included operating the orbiter's robotic arm. Her
second shuttle mission was STS-51-L aboard Challenger. She died when it
broke up shortly after liftoff.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Resnik>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1959:
Writer and politician Abdul Muis became the first person to be
awarded the posthumous title of National Hero of Indonesia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Hero_of_Indonesia>
1959:
South Vietnamese opposition figure Phan Quang Đán was elected
to the National Assembly, despite soldiers being bussed in to vote
multiple times for President Ngô Đình Diệm's candidate.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phan_Quang_%C4%90%C3%A1n>
1984:
Discovery, the third orbiter of NASA's Space Shuttle program,
lifted off on its maiden voyage from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Discovery>
1992:
German racing driver Michael Schumacher won the Belgian Grand
Prix, the first of his 91 Formula One Grand Prix wins.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Schumacher>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
fascine:
1. (chiefly construction) Originally a cylindrical bundle of small
sticks of wood, and now often a bundle of plastic pipes, bound together,
and used for strengthening purposes, such as in revetments for
riverbanks, and in mats for dams, jetties, etc.
2. (specifically, military fortification) A similar bundle of sticks of
wood or plastic pipes used for filling in ditches for armoured fighting
vehicles to drive over, and for making parapets, raising batteries, and
strengthening ramparts.
3. (figuratively, rare) Something which is used for defensive purposes.
4. (transitive, originally military, chiefly New Zealand) To use
fascines to build or reinforce (something), or to fill in (a trench,
etc.).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fascine>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I call investing the greatest business in the world … because
you never have to swing. You stand at the plate, the pitcher throws you
General Motors at 47! U.S. Steel at 39! and nobody calls a strike on
you. There's no penalty except opportunity lost. All day you wait for
the pitch you like; then when the fielders are asleep, you step up and
hit it.
--Warren Buffett
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett>