Astronomy Story

The day my life would change for ever was April 16th, 2013. This was the day that I left planet earth and embarked on one of the most important missions in NASA’s history. I should probably back up though, and explain to you how this came about. April 16th was sunny with only a few clouds in the sky, the smell of spring was in the air and with the end of second semester right around the corner, the quad was packed with people eager to catch some much desired sun rays. Unfortunately for me though I was stuck in astronomy. That day’s topic was our very own planet earth. Dr. Bozyan was lecturing about how planet Earth was actually very wet, that nearly 71% of earths surfaced is covered with water. I learned that while other worlds of the solar system have atmospheres, only Earths contains the oxygen that we humans and animals need to survive. I had really hoped that wasn’t true because I had big aspirations of one day living on mars. We learned about about the greenhouse effect and how clouds, snow, ice and sand reflect about 31% of the incoming sunlight back into space. The earth though also emits radiation into space because of its temperature. Fighting off the urge to day dream about the nice weather, I managed to also learn how Earths magnetic field produces a magnetosphere that traps particles from the solar wind. Like the motions of Earths tectonic plates, Earths magnetic field results from our planets internal heat. The last thing I wrote down in that class was a few interesting notes about how human activity such as Deforestation, burning of fossil fuels and industrial chemicals are damaging the ozone layer in the stratosphere. As I was seconds away from reaching freedom to the the spring air, Dr. Bozyan approached me and told me that she had a question for me. She was talking though in a soft almost secretive tone. She went on for about 10 minutes how she worked for a top secret NASA program that was interested in sending me on a mission. I laughed at