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Rhea Seddon (born 1947) is an American surgeon and retired astronaut for NASA. After being selected as part of the first group of NASA astronauts to include women in 1978, she flew on three Space Shuttle flights, as mission specialist on STS-51-D and STS-40, and as payload commander for STS-58, accumulating over 722 hours in space. On these flights, she built repair tools for a US Navy satellite and performed medical experiments. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Seddon was awarded her doctor of medicine degree in 1973. During her residency with the University of Tennessee hospitals, she was the only woman in the General Surgery Residency Program. Before, during and after her career in the astronaut program, she worked in hospital emergency departments. She retired from NASA in November 1997 and became Chief Medical Officer of the Vanderbilt Medical Group. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

A Jewish Wedding

... that the subject of A Jewish Wedding (pictured) was said to be the marriage ceremony of the artist's daughter?
... that Perla Batalla was once a backup singer for Leonard Cohen, who encouraged her to write her own songs?
... that MicroProse was formed to publish Hellcat Ace after Sid Meier boasted that he could design a better video game than Red Baron in a week?
... that Interstate 81 in Tennessee was the site of a carjacking that culminated in the Lillelid murders in 1997?
... that during the First World War, James Kirkham Ramsbottom saved the British daffodil industry?
... that the 801 Grand is the tallest building in the state of Iowa?
... that a 15-year-old swim team member is credited with saving several lives in the crash of Alitalia Flight 1553?
... that Leverington Cemetery has the most orbs and apparitions in Philadelphia?

In the news

Earthquake damage in Diyarbakır

Two earthquakes (damage pictured) strike Turkey and Syria, killing at least 3,600 people and injuring more than 16,900 others.
Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf dies at the age of 79.
A Chinese balloon suspected of surveillance and espionage is shot down after overflying Canada and the United States.
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) makes its closest approach to the Earth.
A suicide bombing in a mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan, kills 100 people and injures more than 220 others.

On this day

February 6: Sámi National Day (1917); Waitangi Day in New Zealand (1840); Constitution Day in Mexico (2023)

Falcon Heavy

1820 – The first ship of the American Colonization Society departed from New York for West Africa with 86 African-American emigrants aboard to found the colony of Liberia.
1976 – Lockheed Corporation president Carl Kotchian admitted that the company had paid out approximately US$3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka.
2018 – The SpaceX launch vehicle Falcon Heavy made its first flight (launch pictured).

Thurstan (d. 1140)
Bernard of Corleone (b. 1605)
Axl Rose (b. 1962)

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From today's featured list

Beyoncé

The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works on albums in the contemporary R&B music genre. The award for Best Contemporary R&B Album, which recognizes R&B albums with more contemporary musical stylings, was first presented to Ashanti at the 45th Grammy Awards in 2003 for her self-titled debut album. According to the category description guide for the 52nd Grammy Awards, the award was reserved for albums "containing at least 51% playing time of newly recorded contemporary R&B vocal tracks" which may also "incorporate production elements found in rap music". Beyoncé (pictured) holds the record for the most wins, with three (all of her first three solo albums earned her the award). Usher is the only other artist to receive the award more than once. From 2012, this category was discontinued as part of a major overhaul of the Grammy Award categories. Recordings in this category were shifted to the Best R&B Album category. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Stańczyk is an oil-on-canvas painting by Jan Matejko, finished in 1862. It depicts Stańczyk, the court jester when Poland was at the height of its political, economic and cultural power during the era of the Renaissance in Poland, during the reign of King Sigismund I the Old in the 16th century. The painting contrasts the solemn jester, who sits alone in a dark room and is the focus of the painting, and the lively royal ball going on in the background. Stańczyk's appearance is gloomy and deep in thought. The painting was acquired by the Warsaw National Museum in 1924. During World War II it was looted by the Nazis and subsequently by the Soviet Union, but was returned to Poland around 1956.

Painting credit: Jan Matejko

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