Science & Technology in the Awesome80s

By Patrick Mondout

The Awesome80s saw the first flights of the Space Shuttle, the introduction of the IBM PC, Apple Macintosh, Commodore Amiga, Microsoft Windows, and NeXT Cube, as well as the eruption of Mount St Helens. We will have a lot to say about all that - including a large section on the history of the personal computer - over the comings months.

We have just introduced our Awesome80s commercial aviation section to coincide with the centennial of powered flight, which includes the great new planes of the decade, such as the Boeing 767 and Airbus A320.

In other science and technology articles, Senator Gaylord Nelson helps us look back at Earth Day on its 10th anniversary, one of Jeana Yeager's friends update us on the co-pilot of the record-setting, 'round the world Voyager aircraft, and we look back on significant Awesome80s space missions.

Volcano! Mount Saint Helens in Southwestern Washington (visible from Portland, Oregon) blew its top on May 18, 1980. Image courtesy of the USGS.