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weightlessness
weightlessness the absence of any observable effects of gravitation . This condition is experienced by an observer when he and his immediate surroundings are allowed to move freely in the local gravitational field . All bodies in the weightless environment experience the same acceleration. The mo...
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Gerrit Thomas Rietveld
Gerrit Thomas Rietveld , 1888-1965, Dutch architect and furniture designer. At first a cabinetmaker, Rietveld created (c.1917) a chair that was an important contribution to modern furniture design. Moving away from the established heavy, closed furniture style, he emphasized a dematerialized effect....
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Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin (Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr.), 1930-, American astronaut, b. Montclair, N.J. After graduating from West Point (1951), Aldrin joined the U.S. air force and flew 66 combat missions during the Korean War. His doctoral thesis at the Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (1963) on orbital mechanics...
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astronaut
astronaut crew member on a U.S. manned spaceflight mission; the Soviet term is cosmonaut. Candidates for manned spaceflight are carefully screened to meet the highest physical and mental standards, and they undergo rigorous training. The early astronauts had all previously been test pilots, but l...
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Louis Isadore Kahn
Louis Isadore Kahn , 1901-74, American architect, b. Estonia. He and his family moved to Philadelphia in 1905, and he later studied at the Univ. of Pennsylvania. From the 1920s through World War II, Kahn worked on numerous housing projects including Carver Court (1944), in Coatesville, Pa. He also p...
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Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia [Gr.,=Holy Wisdom] or Santa Sophia, Turkish Aya Sofia, originally a Christian church at Constantinople (now Istanbul), later a mosque, and now converted into a museum.
Architecture
Hagia Sophia is the supreme masterpiece of Byzantine architecture. Its spacious nave is c...
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space station
space station or space platform, artificial earth satellite, usually manned, that is placed in a fixed orbit and can serve as a base for astronomical observations; zero-gravity materials processing; satellite assembly, refueling, and repair; or, possibly, as weapons platforms. The first space s...
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Gothic architecture and art
Gothic architecture and art structures (largely cathedrals and churches) and works of art first created in France in the 12th cent. that spread throughout Western Europe through the 15th cent., and in some locations into the 16th cent.
The Nature of the Gothic
The essential character of t...
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space exploration
space exploration the investigation of physical conditions in space and on stars, planets, and other celestial bodies through the use of artificial satellites (spacecraft that orbit the earth), space probes (spacecraft that pass through the solar system and that may or may not orbit another cel...
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