Blog posted by Dr. Adrian Agogino, computer engineer at NASA AMES and UC Santa Cruz.

Today in History - July 20, 1969 - Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the moon, fulfilling President Kennedy’s challenge to put a “man” on the moon before the end of the decade. With a tight development and execution schedule, any number […]

Today in History - July 4, 1997 - Launched on December 4, 1996, Pathfinder impacted the surface of Mars on July 4, 1997 at a velocity of  18 m/s (40 mph) and then bounced into the air 15 times at a maximum height of  15 meters (50 feet), before rolling and coming to rest  1 […]

The Engineering Pathway announces the first winners of our new Premier Curriculum Award for K-12 Engineering.
Congratulations to
Susan Powers and Jan DeWaters of Clarkson University, for their original middle school curricular unit entitled, Energy Systems and Solutions.
In this unit, students explore energy production and consumption issues from everyday life, learning about our nation’s energy […]

Today in History - May 22, 1906 - Wright brothers patent improvements to “flying machine”. From the patent: Our invention relates to that class of fly ing machines in which the weight is sustained by the reactions resulting when one or more aeroplanes are moved through the air edge-wise at a small angle […]

Today in History - May 13, 1958 - Velcro® trademark is registered for a fabric hook and loop fastener.
The way George de Mestral, a Swiss mountaineer, tells the story, he was hiking with his dog in 1948 and was frustrated to see all of these burrs covering them both when he returned home. He says […]