Good morning, Whitewater.
We’ll have a warm Saturday, with a high of ninety. Sunrise is 6:01, and sunset 7:56, for 13h 54m 38s of daytime. We’ve still a new moon, with only .7% of its visible disk illuminated.
Earlier this week, NASA tested again a new rocket engine, designed to take humans farther in space than ever before:
NASA conducted a developmental test firing of the RS-25 rocket engine, on August 13 at the agency’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The 535 second test was the sixth in the current series of seven-tests of the former space shuttle main engine. Four RS-25 engines will power the core stage of the new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which will carry humans deeper into space than ever before, including to an asteroid and Mars.
One-hundred one years ago today, the Panama Canal opens for traffic:
In 1906, American engineers decided on the construction of a lock canal, and the next three years were spent developing construction facilities and eradicating tropical diseases in the area. In 1909, construction proper began. In one of the largest construction projects of all time, U.S. engineers moved nearly 240 million cubic yards of earth and spent close to $400 million in constructing the 40-mile-long canal (or 51 miles long, if the deepened seabed on both ends of the canal is taken into account). On August 15, 1914, the Panama Canal was opened to traffic.
On this date in 1862, Wisconsinites ready themselves in defense of the Union:
1862 – 24th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Mustered In
On this date in Milwaukee, the 24th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry was mustered in. The 24th was organized in late 1862 from the Milwaukee and the surrounding areas under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel Herman L. Page. The regiment was encamped at Camp Sigel in Milwaukee. Page resigned one day after the muster in and Charles H. Larrabee was appointed Colonel. On September 5th, the regiment left Wisconsin for Kentucky. At Louisville they were assigned to the 37th Brigade, under Colonel Gruesel, of the 11th Division, under General Phillip Sheridan. The 24th was mustered out on June 10, 1865. [Source: 24th Wisconsin Infantry page]