Mar 15, 2016
As a special treat to this show, we begin with Mrs. Diane McAliley, 6th Grade Science Teacher, Pizitz Middle School, Vestavia, AL. She and her 6th grade class just completed a successful balloon launch with the help of Bill Murray, and she'll recap the whole project. The balloon went to an altitude of 106,000 feet and their chase team was able to recover the whole assembly including spectacular 6-second data an two GoPro cameras complete with stunning video. Dr. Joseph P. (Joe) Bassi is an Assistant Professor of Arts and Sciences at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University/Worldwide Campus. He is also an (online) adjunct lecturer at the National Security Studies Institute, University of Texas/El Paso. Dr. Bassi completed his PhD in History at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in June, 2009. He specialized in the history of modern US science and technology. He was a senior project engineer with the Aerospace Corporation supporting national security space efforts at Vandenberg AFB from 2009-2010. During his PhD program, Dr Bassi was a Guggenheim pre-doctoral fellow in Space History at the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution. His recent book, “A Scientific Peak: How Boulder Became a World Center for Space and Atmospheric Science,” recently was selected as one of the best books in atmospheric sciences for 2015 in the history category by Atmospheric Sciences Librarians International.