ASTRONOMY IRELAND Press Notice April 9 SPECIAL PUBLIC LECTURE "T h e L a s t V o y a g e o f C o l u m b i a" 8pm Monday April 14 Dublin City University Just over two months since the space shuttle Columbia was destroyed on February 1st killing all 7 astronauts it is time to review what has been discovered about the cause of the catastrophe. Internationally renowned space author Brian Harvey will give a special public lecture organised by ASTRONOMY IRELAND - Ireland's largest space interest group. Mr Harvey will give the very latest analysis. Everyone is welcome to come along to Dublin City University on April 14 to hear a man who has made professional studies of the space programmes of all the world's space faring nations. Brian Harvey has published definitive books on the space programmes of Russia, India, Japanese and the European Space Agency of which Ireland is a part and which uses the space shuttle fleet to launch its own astronauts and space modules. Brian can be regularly heard on radio commenting on world space matters. All this makes Brian Harvey one of the world's experts, if not the world expert, on manned spaceflight. His next book is to deal with the forthcoming launch by China of their first man in space, a fact many in the West have neglected. --------------------------------synopsis------------------------------- The space shuttle Columbia burned up over Texas just over two months ago. Ever since then, NASA and other experts have been trying to explain the sudden and tragic events of 1st February. Up to five thousand people are still combing Texas and Louisiana for tell-tale debris. Two weeks ago, the black box was recovered and this is expected to yield important clues. It's now apparent that the shuttle was in serious trouble long before it crossed the California coastline. In 'Columbia's last journey', Brian Harvey looks at what we now know about the last minutes of Columbia and what has been learned in the painstaking evaluation of debris so far. There are indications that there were, in retrospect, warning signs from previous missions of dangers to the left wing tiles. Now NASA faces some really hard choices about what it must do to get the shuttle into the air again - if at all. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Event : Astronomy Ireland Public Lecture Title : "THE LAST VOYAGE OF COLUMBIA" Date : Monday 14th April at 8:00pm (doors open 7:30pm) Speaker : Brian Harvey, space author Venue : main lecture hall, Henry Grattan Building, DUBLIN CITY UNIVERSITY (Glasnevin, Dublin 9) Admission : All welcome (5 Euro adults, 3 Euro children/student) Bookings : Astronomy Ireland on (01) 847 0777 CALL MONDAY TO SATURDAY UP TO 6PM TO BOOK SEATS AS THIS LECTURE IS LIKELY TO BE VERY POPULAR AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC HAVE BEEN BOOKING PLACES ALL WEEK LONG. YOU CAN BOOK FOR FRIENDS AS WELL!!! YOU CALL TO RESERVE YOUR PLACES AND THEN PAY AT THE DOOR ON THE NIGHT, THIS WAY YOU ARE GUARANTEED A SEAT. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - File online, calculators, forms, and more http://tax.yahoo.com