Elstree

Coordinates: 51°38′N 0°18′W / 51.64°N 0.30°W / 51.64; -0.30

Elstree /ˈɛlztri/ is a village in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire, England, on the former A5 road, which followed the course of Watling Street, approximately thirteen miles northwest of central London. In 2011, its population was 5,110. It forms part of the civil parish of Elstree and Borehamwood, originally known simply as Elstree.

The village often lends its shorter name to businesses and amenities in the adjacent town of Borehamwood, and the names of Elstree and Borehamwood are used interchangeably. Elstree is perhaps best known for the Elstree Film Studios, where a number of famous British films were made, and the BBC Elstree Centre, where the TV soap opera EastEnders is made; these are both located in Borehamwood.

The local newspaper is the Borehamwood and Elstree Times. Together with Borehamwood, the village is twinned with Offenburg in Germany and Fontenay-aux-Roses in France.

Transport

Elstree & Borehamwood railway station

The Buggles

The Buggles were a British new wave performing and record production duo consisting of Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes. They are best known for their 1979 debut single "Video Killed the Radio Star" that was No. 1 on the singles charts of sixteen countries. The music video for that song was the first to be shown on MTV; it aired in the U.S. at 12:01am on 1 August 1981. It was the lead single of the Buggles' first album, The Age of Plastic, which also had three other UK-hit singles. In addition to their fame from "Video Killed the Radio Star", the Buggles also handled production for other popular tracks such as "Back of My Hand" by The Jags and "Monkey Chop" by Dan-I, as well the song "Film Star" by Tom Marshall.

In 1980, both Horn and Downes joined progressive rock band Yes. However, following the release of the album Drama, Yes disbanded in 1981; Yes then reformed with Horn as producer, and Downes went on to create Asia with fellow former Yes member Steve Howe. After Downes' move to Asia and the commercial failure of the Buggles' second album Adventures in Modern Recording, The Buggles came to an end in 1981. However, Downes and Horn have been occasionally performing Buggles' songs together since 1998. Additionally, they collaborated again on the album Fly from Here by Yes (which Downes re-joined in 2011). The album, produced by Horn and with Downes on keyboards, used songs originally recorded as demos for the Buggles as a basis for most of the material.

NASA

Coordinates: 38°52′59″N 77°0′59″W / 38.88306°N 77.01639°W / 38.88306; -77.01639

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the agency of the United States Federal Government responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958 with a distinctly civilian (rather than military) orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29, 1958, disestablishing NASA's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The new agency became operational on October 1, 1958.

Since that time, most US space exploration efforts have been led by NASA, including the Apollo moon-landing missions, the Skylab space station, and later the Space Shuttle. Currently, NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the Space Launch System and Commercial Crew vehicles. The agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program (LSP) which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for unmanned NASA launches.