The Astronaut Garrett Reisman Fan Club

Garrett On SpaceX

2011-07-20T21:21:00.002-05:00

Jason Rhian of Universe Today did a great interview with Garrett regarding SpaceX. I am posting it here in its entirety. Like this blog's friend, Heather Archuletta (www.pillownaut.com) said, Space X could do a lot worse than having Garrett as its spokesguy.

CAPE CANAVERAL Fla. – Garrett Reisman knows a thing or two about what it takes to send astronauts to orbit. He should, he has taken the trip himself – twice. Reisman spent three months on the International Space Station launching with the STS-123 crew, and was a Mission Specialist on STS-132. He has walked in space, operated Canada’s Dextre robot and installed critical flight hardware to the ISS.

He has since left NASA to work for Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX). Reisman took a moment to chat with Universe Today just before the final launch of the shuttle program, STS-135, on the orbiter Atlantis. Reisman spoke about SpaceX’s contract with NASA under the second phase of the Commercial Crew Development contract or CCDev-02, his new role as Director of SpaceX’s Dragon Rider program and whether there is another trip to space in his future.

Universe Today: Hi Garrett, thanks for taking the time to talk with us today, tell us a little about CCDev-02.

Reisman: “Thanks, it’s good to be here, SpaceX has dubbed CCDev-02 the ‘Dragon Rider’ program, CCDev sounds like someone’s logon name. Dragon Rider is the name of SpaceX’s efforts to send astronauts into orbit on board the Dragon Spacecraft.”

Universe Today: A nod to Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern?

Reisman: “Exactly!” (laughing)

Universe Today: If you had to pick out one of the most interesting elements of what SpaceX is working on for CCDev-02 – what would it be?

Reisman: “I think I would have to say it is the integrated launch abort system. The system that SpaceX is working on will not be the normal tower that is positioned above the spacecraft; instead it will be built into the sides of the Dragon. This system will be reusable and allow the Dragon to land.”

SpaceX plans to use the Dragon Spacecraft to send astronauts to the International Space Station. Image Credit: SpaceX
Universe Today: What do you think sets SpaceX apart from other, similar companies?

Reisman: “Some companies will offer you the rocket, others the spacecraft, at SpaceX we got both – it’s one-stop-shopping. We got the rocket, the Falcon 9, which has had two very successful test flights and we have the Dragon Spacecraft which became the first commercial spacecraft to orbit the Earth and splash down safely this past December. With both of these vital elements we have great confidence that we can do what we say we will do as we move forward.”

Universe Today: What made you decide to leave NASA and come to SpaceX?

Reisman: “I left NASA about four months ago and came over to SpaceX because I was very excited about what was going on in the commercial sector, just all this amazing innovation that was being unleashed and I wanted to be a part of that, to contribute to that.”

Universe Today: Final question, as a veteran astronaut are you hoping to ride Dragon to orbit one day?

Reisman: (smiles) While that’s not why I joined SpaceX – I wouldn’t rule it out either…”

SpaceX is looking to launch the next Falcon 9 rocket with Dragon Spacecraft some time this fall from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Launch Complex 40. This demonstration flight will test out the Dragon’s navigation and other operating systems. This year SpaceX is planning to launch two flights under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services or COTS contract, worth $1.6 billion, that the company has with NASA.

360° view of Discovery flight deck.

2011-07-15T13:00:00.000-05:00

Click here for much awesomeness.

NASA - Hubble's Neptune Anniversary Pictures

2011-07-12T13:32:00.000-05:00

NASA - Hubble's Neptune Anniversary Pictures

Look, since we're going to be doing this for a while...

2011-07-08T22:00:00.000-05:00

For the love of Yuri, guys, it's SO-yuz¹.
The "yu" is one letter in Cyrillic. It cannot be split up.

If I have to listen to SOYooze for the next whatever², I swear...

¹Technically, it's closer to suh-yuz. Long story.

² I also get irked at "bay-ZHING." Don't even get me started on "TOLL-kin."

Gee, Hubble, it'd be nice if you were awesome or something.

2011-07-08T17:38:00.005-05:00

Without manned spaceflight, Hubble would have become the most expensive piece of space junk ever launched.
Thanks again, guys.

From the website:

Zooming in on Omega Centauri Stellar Motion

This movie sequence begins with a ground-based image of the giant globular star cluster Omega Centauri and zooms very tightly in to a Hubble Space Telescope image of the central region of the cluster. In a simulation based on Hubble data, the stars appear to be moving in random directions, like a swarm of bees.

Well, most distant from us.

2011-07-08T17:30:00.002-05:00

From the Hubble's official site:

The Universe's Most Distant Object

This video is a zoom into the Hubble Space Telescope infrared Ultra Deep Field, first taken in 2009. It is a very small patch of sky in the southern constellation Fornax. The zoom centers on the farthest identified object in the field. The object, possibly a galaxy, looks red because its light has been stretched by the expansion of the universe. Credit: NASA/ESA/G. Bacon, STScI (no audio)

Lest we forget...

2011-07-08T17:25:00.001-05:00

There are still VERY awesome things going on in space that don't involve manned flight.

The badass Cassini spacecraft detected a storm on Saturn way back in December and that storm still rages today. It covers a mindblowing 2 Billion-With-A-'B' square miles. (By contrast, the Earth's surface is only 197 million square miles.)

At its most intense, the storm was producing 10 lightning strikes a second. Listen to the audio of the lightning.

In honor of STS-135 and as a memento to the Program: Post your favorite shuttle memories!

2011-07-08T11:24:00.001-05:00

You don't even have to have stepped foot in Florida to have a favorite memory of a shuttle mission!
What are some specific memories that you relate to the shuttle?
Let's just do happy memories today. I can't take anymore emotional stuff.
We all have extremely similar tragedy stories, but I'll bet not one other person who isn't a Ward relates a #2 Washtub* to a shuttle launch. Hell, half of you probably don't know what a #2 Washtub is. I'm still not sure.

Don't be shy. Log in and comment. It's free!

I'm morose and grumpy.
Make me smile, Visitor.

*More on this later.

Onward.

2011-07-08T11:01:00.000-05:00

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened. -Dr. Seuss

2011-07-06T19:24:00.015-05:00

I had a really vivid dream about watching a shuttle launch last night. It was so vivid (and took place with my sisters at my parents' house as a bonus) that it woke me up, and I lay there for a few minutes thinking, "Man, that was a great dream."

I grew up in Florida during the 1980s. The space shuttle plays a starring role in an enormous amount of my childhood memories.

I remember the excitement of those early days. For kids like me, it was the dawn of spaceflight, period. We didn't remember Mercury or Gemini or Apollo. Those things were history book material. I surely understood and appreciated the magnitude of them, just like I understood the magnitude of the voyage of Columbus. But I have no personal experience with either.

To me, seeing the shuttle actually do what they said it would do convinced me that spaceflight was about to become routine.

I developed the obligatory crush on Bob Crippen; bizarre, since John Young was infinitely cuter. I delighted in the fact that during launches and landings, we were allowed to watch TV (TV!) in the classroom. I looked up at space and for the first time in my life, I was pretty sure I had a shot at it.

Um.

The shuttle program gave America an abundant crop of ever-changing heroes: Crippen, Ride, Bluford, Chang-Diaz, Collins, Lucid, Musgrave, Thagard. Heck, we Coasties even got one eventually.

And the Reds? The Moon, Lake Placid, and then Columbia. Ouch.

Aw.

As the years went by, children became adults, adults became elderly, presidents came and went, and nations rose and fell. Eventually, even the Soviets were gone. Still, our space program remained. We might have funded it with chump change, we might have shrugged our shoulders, we might have even ignored it (until a tragedy when we would cover it 24/7 for a couple of weeks), but with few exceptions, we were glad it was there. We funded a full 50% (or $50,000,000,000) of the ISS; it was rather important that we be able to get a few astronauts there from time to time.

Unfortunately, the never-ending wars, famines, and epic natural disasters of the late 20th/early 21st centuries have made even the most optimistic among us jaded and cynical. When John F. Kennedy said his goal was to put a man on the Moon in ten years, he meant it. He was unashamed; it was very matter-of-fact. We can, so we should. Find me a politician today who honestly believes space exploration is important and is willing to man up and demand funding for it, and not just on the campaign trail in Central Florida - in Nebraska and New Hampshire and Boise, Idaho, too. They sell America the most ridiculous things imaginable, and we willingly buy it all. They can't sell the exploration of the cosmos?

I cannot believe this gap is happening. After Friday, the United States of America will no longer launch manned spacecraft for an unknown number of years. (Yes, SpaceX is amazing and I see great things happening there. But no, it is not representative of the nation.)

I love Russia. I love the Soyuz. I love-love Sergei Volkov.

But now we are hitchhikers, just like South Korea, Canada, Japan, Israel, and billionaires everywhere, if they're so inclined. There's no shame in it for those guys; for us, there should be. Our space program now depends on politicians, not just for funding and maintaining public support, but for keeping the peace. Without a stable, workable peace, we have no ride to the party and we go nowhere. And let's face it, the guys with the keys can be temperamental.

At least we have a manual.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the thousands of men and women who over the last four decades made the shuttle program so awesome and awe-inspiring and fun, especially Pam. Thank you to the politicians who supported them. Thank you to the men and women who blazed a trail for them. Thank you to the astronauts who gave us so very much. Thanks especially to Garrett, for inviting us into his life and sharing his experiences and for just being an all-around great guy, the sort of guy you imagine an astronaut to be. Thank you to the families who tolerated endless separations and fears and worries and inconveniences, especially Simone. Thank you to the men and women who gave their lives for the program. Thank you from a grateful nation.

The orbiters will soon be all across the nation in museums where they will be walked upon by children who never saw them launch, who never saw anything painted United States of America launch. The smoke trails will disappear over the Cape (the only Cape that really matters, Floridians know) and the tourists will leave too. Or at least, they'll head back to Orlando, never again to venture out into The Real Florida.

The memories, hilarious and painful and exhilarating and heartbreaking, will remain forever.


Photo taken by a high school pal of mine, Jimmy Vernacotola. True story.

I love the Sun. I. LOVE. THE. SUN.

2011-06-07T18:32:00.000-05:00

Milky Way/Arches Nat'l Park

2011-06-04T17:56:00.000-05:00

You can never have enough Milky Way pictures.
Ever.
Awesomeness:

Three Arches Above Utah
Credit & Copyright: Brad Goldpaint (Goldpaint Photography) Explanation: How many arches can you count in the above image? If you count both spans of the Double Arch in the Arches National Park in Utah, USA, then two. But since the above image was taken during a clear dark night, it caught a photogenic third arch far in the distance -- that of the overreaching Milky Way Galaxy. Because we are situated in the midst of the spiral Milky Way Galaxy, the band of the central disk appears all around us. The sandstone arches of the Double Arch were formed from the erosion of falling water. The larger arch rises over 30 meters above the surrounding salt bed and spans close to 50 meters across. The dark silhouettes across the image bottom are sandstone monoliths left over from silt-filled crevices in an evaporated 300 million year old salty sea. A dim flow created by light pollution from Moab, Utah can also be seen in the distance.

NASA - Ames Imaging Experts Create Unique Views of STS-134 Launch

2011-06-03T20:24:00.000-05:00

NASA - Ames Imaging Experts Create Unique Views of STS-134 Launch

Folks...

2011-06-02T13:11:00.003-05:00

There is a reason why Chile is my chosen "If I ever leave this country, that's where I'm moving" spot.

Loading player...

Don't Panic

2011-05-24T23:43:00.001-05:00

I have no idea why, but May 25 is Towel Day, a celebration of the life of Douglas Adams. The first commemoration of the event was held two weeks after his death on May 25, 2001. It is a tribute to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which he writes:

"A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to- hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitchhiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with."

Adams was an environmentalist and a champion for gorillas and black rhinos. His "trilogy" of Hitchhiker works comprises, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe and Everything; and So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish. Yes, it's not three books.

His greatest contribution to sci-fi freaks is "42," the answer to the "ultimate question of life, the universe and everything." The question remains unknown. The mice, who were the intelligent beings, were about to answer the question when the Earth was destroyed by psychiatrists who feared for their livelihoods should the answer become known.

The mice, however, decide to just pick a question out of thin air, rather than wait for another millennium's worth of pondering. The question was: "How many roads must a man walk down?" appropriate since May 24 (yesterday) was Bob Dylan's birthday.

Adams was friends with Gary Booker, lead singer and songwriter for Procol Harum; dedicated The Restaurant at the End of the Universe to the Paul Simon album "One Trick Pony;" was friends with the Monkees' Michael Nesmith and quoted Beatles lyrics extensively in a number of works.

Here is a link to find what people worldwide are doing to celebrate Towel Day.

Cool STS-134 pics

2011-05-20T18:55:00.000-05:00

Panelist: SpaceX Costs Offer Hope For NASA | AVIATION WEEK

2011-05-19T17:10:00.000-05:00

Panelist: SpaceX Costs Offer Hope For NASA | AVIATION WEEK

STS-134 - The final launch of Endeavour - Full Launch in HD

2011-05-18T20:24:00.000-05:00

STS-134 Launch Replay South Beach Tracker (TV-4A)

2011-05-18T20:23:00.000-05:00

STS-134 Launch Replay OTV Camera 71

2011-05-18T20:21:00.000-05:00

2011-04-28T19:57:00.004-05:00

@NASAKennedy: The STS-134 crew stands together with their ride into space. Looking good guys! http://twitpic.com/4qos1x Shared via Tweetcaster

2011-04-28T10:45:00.003-05:00

@SpaceXer: SpaceX unveils awesome new video of our crewed Dragon spacecraft during @NASA press conf. http://t.co/GLoslOe Shared via Tweetcaster

Nice moon pic

2011-04-28T10:35:00.003-05:00

@NASA: [Today's Pic] Earth's Satellite: This waxing gibbous moon with 83 percent of the disk illuminated was photo... http://go.nasa.gov/lEJYqz Shared via Tweetcaster

Coming soon....

2011-04-28T10:34:00.001-05:00

@SpaceXer: Garrett Reisman will unveil a cool new video on the crewed Dragon. Shared via Tweetcaster

Happy Yuri's Night, Everyone!

2011-04-12T19:23:00.003-05:00

Today is the 50th anniversary of humankind's leap into space. Fifty years ago today, Yuri Gagarin, the small (5'2") son of peasant farmers, strapped into his seat on Vostok I and said, "Off we go!" It was just four years after the Soviets had launched Sputnik, the first unmanned spacecraft. Think of that for one minute. Four years from unmanned craft to manned space flight. Four years! This was after numerous monkeys, dogs and mice had been afforded the dubious honor of attempting to discern whether space flight was inherently dangerous. (It was to most of them.)

So there was no reason for Gagarin's pulse rate to be an amazing 64 beats per minute as he sat in the cockpit of his rocket. Shortly after launch, Gagarin could see his -- and our -- home planet. "The Earth is blue! How wonderful! It is amazing!" he said to ground control personnel who could barely hear him.

Gagarin never flew a spacecraft again; he was considered too precious as a hero of the Soviet Union to take that kind of chance. It is the height of irony that he died in a MiG jet that crashed, according to the investigation, because another plane flew too close too fast, the turbulence created causing Gagarin's plane to spin out of control.

Gagarin understood his celebrity, but he maintained a humble attitude. As he was being feted with a parade in Manchester, England, after his flight, his handlers requested that the roof of the convertible in which he was riding be closed because of the rain. Gagarin said, "If they can stand in the rain to see me, I can certainly tolerate the rain so they can!"

As of today, there have been cosmonauts/astronauts from Afghanistan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Romania, Mongolia, Syria, the Ukraine, the US, Italy, Japan, Czechoslovakia, Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Viet Nam, France, West Germany, India, Canada, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Mexico, the UK, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Slovakia, South Africa, Israel, China, Brazil, Iran, Sweden, Malaysia and South Korea.

The space program is the great equalizer. It has taught the world that it is possible for humanity to work together toward a common goal. It has taught the world that the challenges of science do not see race or culture or nationality but the promise of a future where all strive together for the betterment and enlightenment of humankind.

And for that, we have, in no small part, Yuri Gagarin to thank.

VOTE!

2011-04-05T19:07:00.003-05:00

A while ago, this blog posted a piece about NASA's mission to find the best wake-up song for STS-134. The contest is over, but you can still vote on your favorite. Pillownaut followed up:

"Nearly 2.5 million votes poured in for STS-133, with the final five being something of a landslide. In a first for the space program, Shuttle Discovery astronauts were awakened on March 8th with a LIVE performance by Big Head Todd and the Monsters, who played their song "Blue Sky" at the Mission Control Center in Houston, TX.

The same crew, via the second place vote, was also treated to a recorded introduction to the Star Trek theme music, narrated by none other than Captain James T. Kirk himself, William Shatner. And of course, being Trek-related, this was the stunt that got all the press -- even though the song wasn't the winner!"

To hear the 10 finalists, go here. I personally like The Countdown Blues, which I voted for, but I was torn because I really liked some of the others. I just wish I could figure out how to add them all to my ipod.

This right here.

2011-03-31T13:57:00.001-05:00

I would vote for Bach, all of Bach, streamed out into space over and over again. We would be bragging, of course, but it is surely excusable to put the best possible face on at the beginning of such an acquaintance. We can tell the harder truths later.

-Famed biologist Lewis Thomas, when asked for his suggestion about what Earthlings should broadcast into space in hopes of contacting alien life

STS-135 Crew Announced

2011-03-29T22:31:00.003-05:00

NASA has announced the crew for the STS-135 crew, the last shuttle astronauts. They are: Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Douglas Hurley, Mission Specialist 1 Sandra Magnuson and Mission Specialist 2 Rex Walheim. The last shuttle mission to fly with just four crewmembers on board was STS-6, launched on April 4, 1983, 28 years before STS-135, aboard Space Shuttle Challenger.

Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) Raffaello would make up the majority of the payload. The MPLM will be filled with 16 resupply racks, which is the maximum that it can handle.

Garrett was aboard Atlantis's last fight, STS-132, which launched last May. So we have a serious thing for Atlantis. And we will be there, just as we were for Garrett's flight.

Yuri's Night Approaches

2011-03-26T18:22:00.002-05:00

Yuri's Night, April 12, is the anniversary of the first manned space mission, flown by Yuri Gagarin aboard Vostok I. Worldwide Yuri's Night parties mark the event. Atlanta's, which will feature a barbecue and space trivia (oh, yeah) will be at Georgia Tech, but you can google to find one near you.

This year, to mark the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, Yuri's Night is featuring some awesome contests.

One, called A Call to Humanity, is looking for people who can create a print ad that "summons a sense of wonder at the utter vastness of the cosmos and our overwhelmingly fragile place in it. We want a piece that that awakens a feeling of unity with all mankind, and that we are up to the challenge of becoming a species worthy of settling the galaxy - and that Yuri’s launch was merely the first step in an endless human journey to the stars."

The winner, according to the contest, would capture the spirit and tone of NASA's YouTube video, The Frontier is Everywhere (above), in a print medium to spread the meme to another million people. He or she would win a Zero-G flight in Russia along with a $1,000 travel voucher.

Another, being held by the Open Luna Foundation, involves creation of a video that would be a tribute to the 50th anniversary of space flight. The prize is $500.

Finally, the one even non-creative people can handle, is just a sweepstakes. You sign up, and, if you win, you will get to see a Soyuz liftoff from Baikonur in Kazakhstan (with a $1,000 travel voucher).

Yuri Gagarin -- and the rest of the early cosmonauts and astronauts -- gave new meaning to the word "courage." They were doing something that had never been done, something that changed forever the way humanity looks at itself and at the sky, without any assurance that they would survive the challenge. Anyone who has ever looked up at the night sky in wonder should celebrate those heroes.

And if you can get a cool prize for doing so, so much the better!

Where in the World is Garrett?

2011-03-08T16:15:00.004-06:00

Garrett has started his new career at SpaceX, a company dedicated to commercial space exploration, specifically the delivery of equipment and material to the ISS. As part of its mission, SpaceX has as a long-term goal enabling "humanity to become a "space-faring civilization."

The company is, according to its website "privately developing the Dragon crew and cargo capsule and the Falcon family of rockets from the ground up, including main and upper stage engines, the cryogenic tank structure, avionics, guidance & control software and ground support equipment.

With the Falcon 1, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, SpaceX is able to offer a full spectrum of light, medium and heavy lift launch capabilities to our customers. We are able to deliver spacecraft into any inclination and altitude, from low Earth orbit to geosynchronous orbit to planetary missions. The Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are the only US launch vehicles with true engine out reliability. They are also designed such that all stages are reusable, making them the world's first fully reusable launch vehicles. And our Dragon crew and cargo capsule, currently under development, will revolutionize access to space by providing efficient and reliable transport of crew and cargo to the ISS and other LEO destinations."

With funding from NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, SpaceX is building space vehicles capable of filling the gap that will be created when the space shuttle program is retired.

Garrett will be a senior engineer working on astronaut safety and mission assurance.

What They Said

2011-02-13T21:25:00.003-06:00

This is why it matters:

"When you advance frontiers, heroes are made." ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson

"There are four women in space right now ... 20 years ago that would've only been possible in a porn movie. Now it's science." ~ Tiny Fey on SNL News

"It matters to me. People don't get in line to get autographs of the land rover." ~ Congressman Frank Wolf, in response to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden's statement that it "didn't matter" if America or China got a manned mission to the moon.

"All civilizations become either spacefaring or extinct." ~ Carl Sagan

"Every civilization [in the universe] must go through this [a nuclear crisis]. Those that don't make it destroy themselves. Those that do make it end up cavorting all over the universe."
Physicist Ted Taylor, quoted by John McPhee in
The Curve of Binding Energy, 1974

"War and space exploration are alternative uses of the assertive, exploratory energies that are so characteristic of human beings. They may also be mutually exclusive because if one occurs on a massive scale, the other probably will not."
Frank White, The Overview Effect, 1981

"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." ~ Author Douglas Adams

"Life, for ever dying to be born afresh, for ever young and eager, will presently stand upon this earth as upon a footstool, and stretch out its realm amidst the stars."
H. G. Wells, The Outline of History, 1920

"The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn't have a space program. And if we become extinct because we don't have a space program, it'll serve us right!"
Larry Niven, quoted by Arthur Clarke in interview
at space.com, 2001

"Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another." ~ Plato

"In spite of the opinions of certain narrow-minded people, who would shut up the human race upon this globe, as within some magic circle which it must never outstep, we shall one day travel to the moon, the planets, and the stars, with the same facility, rapidity, and certainty as we now make the voyage from Liverpool to New York."
Jules Verne, From the Earth to the Moon, 1865

"Our two greatest problems are gravity and paperwork. We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming." ~ Werner von Braun

"It's human nature to stretch, to go, to see, to understand. Exploration is not a choice really: it's an imperative." ~ Astronaut Michael Collins

"We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the universe. That makes us something very special." ~ Stephen Hawking

"Every so often, I like to stick my head out the window, look up, and smile for a satellite picture." ~ Comedian Steven Wright

"The Earth is just too small and fragile a basket for the human race to keep all its eggs in."
Robert Heinlein, speech

Happy Birthday, Garrett!

2011-02-08T08:35:00.005-06:00

Today is Garrett's 43rd birthday. That means he gets a new birthday star! The new star is 58 Eridani, in the Constellation Eridanus. 58 Eridani is 43.4 light years from Earth, meaning that the light we see today left the star about the time Garrett was born. 58 Eridani is a BY Draconis variable star (BY Draconis-type variables, which are emission-line dwarfs of dKe-dMe spectral type showing quasiperiodic light changes with periods from a fraction of a day to 120 days and amplitudes from several hundredths to 0.5 mag in V. The light variability is caused by axial rotation of a star with a variable degree of nonuniformity of the surface brightness (spots) and chromospheric activity. Some of these stars also show flares similar to those of UV Cet stars, and in those cases they also belong to the latter type and are simultaneously considered eruptive variables.) Oddly, I have no doubt Garrett knows what that means. Procyon, the eighth brightest star in the sky and one point of the Winter Hexagon, is a BY Draconis variable.

All I know is that it is not one of the brightest or one of the dimmest stars in Eridanus, the sixth largest constellation in the sky (Hydra, Virgo, Ursa Major, Cetus and Hercules are larger). But you'd probably have to be in a pretty dark place to see it well without a telescope.

Anyway, happy birthday, Garrett! And many, many more!

Music To Eat Dehydrated Eggs and Bacon By

2011-02-05T14:53:00.004-06:00

Ever since the Apollo program began, astronauts have been jarred awake by music selected by themselves, their relatives, or those kooky kids at Ground Control. But with the program winding down, NASA is inviting the public to vote on wakeup songs for its last two missions (STS-133 and STS-134; STS-135, which would launch in June, has not yet been funded.)

You can choose from a list of 40 songs previously used on shuttle flights, or, if you are so inclined, write and record an original song and send it to NASA for consideration. Voting for STS-133 is over, but it will start up again for STS-134 about three weeks prior to the scheduled April 19 launch.

A nice history of the wakeup song has been compiled by NASA historian Colin Fries. It includes such nuggets as:

- Many crews have been awakened on their final morning by Dean Martin's classic, Going Back to Houston.
- The crew of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first U.S.-Soviet manned space flight, woke up to the strains of Jerry Jeff Walker's "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother."
- Chris Hadfield, former chief mission control CAPCOM (capsule communicator), is usually in charge of the wakeup music. "You don't want to play a dirge or something uninspiring," he said.
- In 1972, the Apollo 17 crew heard the Carpenters' "We've Only Just Begun." Now, I like the Carpenters a lot, but, c'mon.
- Hadfield had a company modify an electric guitar, making it lighter than usual and foldable to fit in the luggage of German astronaut and classical guitarist, Thomas Reiter (STS-121).

According to Lynn W. Heninger, former Acting Assistant Administrator for Congressional Relations, the common element of all these selections is that they promote a sense of camaraderie and esprit de corps among the astronauts and ground support personnel. That, in fact, is the sole reason for having wake-up music; and it is the reason that NASA management has neither attempted to dictate its content nor allowed outside interests to influence the process. (Again, "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother"?????)

Songs in the Top 40 include stuff like Start Me Up by the Rolling Stones; On the Road Again by Willie Nelson; Should I Stay or Should I Go? by the Clash; Where I Come From by Alan Jackson; Free Fallin' by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers; and Higher Ground by Steve Winwood.

The Beatles (Good Day, Sunshine and Here Comes the Sun) and Petty (Free Fallin' and Learning to Fly) each have two songs on the list (unless you count John Lennon's Imagine on the Beatles list).

Moby's We Are All Made of Stars, the Tornadoes 74's Telstar, the Theme from Lost in Space, Jupiter from Holst's Planets Suite, Pink Floyd's Echoes and Joe Diffie's Third Rock from the Sun, all on my IPod's "space" playlist, are nowhere to be found. Which may say more about me than about NASA...

Mary and Drew Go For a Ride

2011-02-05T12:11:00.005-06:00

As we are nearing the end of the space shuttle program, I'll probably be posting a lot of these cool NASA things. Click here to find out how to send your photo to space on Discovery, Endeavor or Atlantis for their last missions. Mary and Drew, Cathy's young-uns, are joining Commander Mark Kelly aboard STS-134, and you can ride along! When you sign up, a nice photo of you looking out the shuttle window is produced. I figured these two photos look exactly like Mary and Drew would look if they were actually looking out the shuttle window.

For Garrett, from your German fan.

2011-02-03T17:36:00.001-06:00

Commenter "Swesda" made this adorable piece of artwork for Big G.
I don't know how old he or she is, but this is too fantastic not to have its own post.
I think the likeness is remarkable, and Garrett (or "Gerry" in the familiar) even gets a little halo because he is just that awesome.

Swesda, tell us more about yourself!

What are you going to Florida for? Will you be able to go to the Cape?

Thanks for commenting and for the neato picture.

Going to Mars (without having to learn all that sciencey stuff)

2011-01-28T18:08:00.005-06:00

Our friend, Heather Archuletta, who runs the wonderful Pillownaut blog, posted this back in 2009, but I thought it was worth reposting here (as is much of her stuff, but that would be stealing...)

Built at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Curiosity, the largest Mars Science Laboratory ever, will launch this fall and land on Mars some time in the summer of 2012. And there's still time to get your name on a computer chip that will ride to Mars on Curiosity (which is currently my favorite Mars rover name). All you need to do is click on the Send Your Name To Mars link and fill in the information, and you're on board!

More than a million people worldwide have signed up, and , if you're curious about where they live, you can check out the World Participation Map.

From Pillownaut:

"Curiosity is faster, and able to scout much farther and climb higher than the existing Mars rovers (partly because of enhanced tools and also because it will utilize nuclear power instead of solar power).

The size of the rover was such that it required a new landing technique:

The Entry, Descent, and Landing (or EDL) of Curiosity will be similar to the Phoenix Mars Lander, which in itself was an elaboration of those used for Mars Pathfinder and Viking. All used parachutes in descent, but this newest hardware will enjoy much greater precision in guided entry, no airbags for the bounce, and a "sky crane" touchdown system, which will allow a soft, wheels-down landing.

Once she lands, we'll have all new and advanced ways to estimate uncertainties in terrain slopes, wind characteristics, atmospheric density and pressure, rock compositions and water prevalence."

If you sign up, you get a cool certificate. I have taken the liberty of sending Cathy's children to Mars. I don't think she'll mind.

25 years. Hard to believe.

2011-01-28T15:13:00.001-06:00

There are a lot of memories associated with those dark days, but here is one that stayed with me all these years:

Shortly after a wreath was dropped from a helicopter hovering off the Florida coast last weekend, part of a memorial service here for the seven Challenger astronauts, NASA cameramen filming the event recorded a remarkable moment.

A group of dolphins suddenly and unexpectedly appeared in the frame, leaping in unison from the green sea, and then disappearing just as quickly below the surface, barely 25 yards from the wreath.
For many here, the sudden appearance of the dolphins was, in a way, both chilling and reassuring. Greek and Mediterranean legend treated the dolphin as a creature of good fortune and intelligence, a talisman for voyages not only on sea and land but also for voyages into the afterlife. (In maritime legend, the dolphin is a symbol of resurrection. - C.)

When the film showing the dolphins was brought back to the Kennedy Space Center, photo technicians immediately surrounded the television monitor, playing that segment of tape over and over again, as they leaned into the screen, trying to count the number of dolphins.

There were, in fact, only four visible, at the extreme left edge of the frame. But the camera also showed another splash, just out of camera range. Nobody could ever be sure, but among space center employees last week the unofficial count concluded there were probably three other dolphins that day, splashing beside the bobbing wreath.
-NYT, 2/7/1986

Nerd Fights

2011-01-27T16:34:00.004-06:00

A team of astronomers says it has found the oldest galaxy yet discovered, a blob of light they estimate is from 13.2 billion years ago, which, if you know your stuff (and why would you be here if you didn't?) is a mere 500 or so million years after the Big Bang, which is nothing when you're talking Big Bang. The picture shows what the astronomers at UC Santa Cruz say is the galaxy that existed 480 million years after the Big Bang and the position in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) where it was found.

But, wait.

Other astronomers say that the team that discovered the galaxy had previously "discovered" three others that old, decided they weren't really galaxies, and then discovered this one.

According to Nature, where the study was published, the team leader, Garth Illingworth, noted that there is a 20 percent chance that the smudge they found is contamination, but insisted "we're pretty sure it's a real object."

Anyway, the astronomers are engaged in a classic nerd fight, presumably throwing protractors and slide rules at each other. You gotta love it.

In Memoriam

2011-01-27T15:42:00.007-06:00

Today is the 44th anniversary of the deaths of Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. The three were killed when the Apollo 1 command module caught fire during pre-launch activities.

Grissom had had a close call earlier when the hatch on the Liberty Bell 7 blew after splashdown, causing his spacesuit to fill with water and nearly drowning him. In memory of the event, Grissom named the Gemini 3 capsule the "Molly Brown," after the unsinkable survivor of the Titanic. It was a name that horrified NASA and led to a rule against the naming of future spacecraft.

Ed White was the first American astronaut to walk in space. He has a star (Iota Ursae Majoris) named after him. The star is nicknamed Dnoces ("second" spelled backwards) for him -- Edward Higgins White II. White Hill, part of the Apollo Hills on Mars, is also named for him.

Roger Chaffee was the communications officer on the Apollo 1 flight. He reported the fatal fire and continued to communicate with ground control until smoke filled the cabin, killing the astronauts. Like White, Chaffee has a star named after him -- Gamma Velorum, which is nicknamed Regor (again, his name backwards).

The three knew the risks. Grissom said, "If we die, we want people to accept it. We are in a risky business and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life."

Photos are of the crew and one of the columns on the Apollo 1 launchpad at Canaveral. The words, "Abandon in Place," are stenciled on it.

A New Garrett and a Goodbye!

2011-01-22T22:49:00.006-06:00

Garrett is leaving us. For a very good reason (see adorable photos). I think we will keep the blog going nonetheless. And it will always be a tribute to our favorite astronaut. Congratulations to Simone and Garrett!

See Garrett's email below:

"Thank goodness he’s not horrifically ugly or some kind of space alien baby. We have a 30-day moneyback guarantee, but we think we will keep him.

Secondly, since that wasn’t enough of a change in our lives, I decided to start a new career.

Yes, I’m leaving NASA to take a position with SpaceX.

February 24th will be my last day at NASA and March 2nd is my first day at SpaceX. In the interim, all three of us are packing up and moving to Los Angeles.

I understand if the “Former Astronaut Garrett Reisman Fan Club” is not as catchy of a title for your blog, but that decision is up to you!

All my best,
Garrett"

Yeah, about that list...

2011-01-20T20:26:00.000-06:00

Ima let you finish "Best Auroras of 2010" - but Ruth's AK auroras were some of the best aurora pictures of all time.

Best auroras of 2010

2011-01-20T18:19:00.000-06:00

Credit: M-P Markkanen

Auroras over Posio, Finland

Credit: Soichi Noguchi

Auroras over Lake Michigan and Chicago

The thing that looks like birdshit is the reason I can only see about 2 stars on any given night.

Go see the ten best auroras of 2010 here.

Get a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live. -Mark Twain

2011-01-20T18:12:00.000-06:00

Worst. luck. ever.

A Voorwerp. Not a Frog

2011-01-14T21:04:00.006-06:00

Back in 2007, a Dutch school teacher discovered a very odd celestial object: It looked like a great, green blob floating in space and at the time it was inexplicable. This teacher was part of a vast amateur astronomy group of 250,000 smart people assisting in something called the Galaxy Zoo. These people took images of galaxies from Hubble and classified them into groups: spiral, elliptical, irregular, barred, etc.

The teacher, Hanny van Arkel, found something that was, at the time, inexplicable, although it looked a lot like a space frog. Given the name, "Hanny's Voorwerp," now "Hanny's Object," which I personally do not like as much, the frog is now considered to be a "twisting rope of gas, or tidal tail, about 300,000 light-years long that wraps around [a] galaxy."

In a press release from the University of Alabama, Dr. Bill Keel, professor of astronomy and leader of Hubble's Hanny's Voorep study (just how much would you like to have THAT on your resume?), presented two surprising findings:

"First, that very young stars are forming inside the tidal tail. "The region may have been churning out stars for several million years," said Keel. "They are so dim that they have previously been lost in the brilliant light of the surrounding gas."

Keel told us that this is remarkable because this is not the kind of environment in which you would usually find star formation.

Second, Hanny's Voorwerp was lit up by a powerful beacon of light called a quasar, which formed as a byproduct of the harsh conditions created by a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. Keel said the tail likely formed as the result of energy from two merging galaxies. That green light we see is glowing oxygen.

2011-01-11T20:19:00.003-06:00

Gabrielle Giffords is fighting for her life after being shot by a lunatic at a political event in Tucson. Her doctors say she is breathing on her own, and they are cautiously optimistic. Gabrielle married astronaut Mark Kelly in 2007. Kelly was the commander of STS-124 and is the prospective commander of the last shuttle, STS-134.

As part of the STS-124 mission, Kelly's crew delivered a repair part for the ISS's malfunctioning toilet system. His first words upon boarding the ISS were, "Anyone looking for a plumber?"

Giffords is the first Jewish woman elected to Congress from Arizona.

Also, please remember those who died in the shooting (below from AP) and those who were injured:

JOHN ROLL, 63

Named Arizona's chief federal judge in 2006, U.S. District Judge John M. Roll won acclaim for a career as a respected jurist and leader who had pushed to beef up the court's strained bench to handle a growing number of border crime-related cases. Roll was appointed to the federal bench in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush. He previously served as a state trial judge and as a judge on the midlevel Arizona Court of appeals, and as a county and state prosecutor. Bishop Gerald Kicanas of the Roman Catholic Church's Tucson Diocese said Roll was an active parishioner. "He lived his faith as a servant of our nation for the cause of justice," Kicanas said. Roll was a Pennsylvania native who got his law degree from the University of Virginia. He is survived by his wife, Maureen, three sons, and five grandchildren.

_____

CHRISTINA TAYLOR GREEN, 9

Christina Taylor Green was only 9, but the third-grader already was an aspiring politician. Her parents say Christina had just been elected to the student council at Mesa Verde Elementary School and had been interested in politics from a young age. She already had told her parents she wanted to attend Penn State and have a career that involved helping those less fortunate than her. The brown-eyed athletic girl loved to swim with her 11-year-old brother Dallas, her lone sibling. Her mother, Roxanna Green, said Christina also loved animals, singing, dancing and gymnastics. She also was the only girl on her Canyon del Oro Little League baseball team. Her grandfather, former major-league pitcher Dallas Green, managed the 1980 world champion Philadelphia Phillies. Christina's father, John Green, is a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Christina was born on the tragic day of Sept. 11, 2001.

_____

GABE ZIMMERMAN, 30

Gabe Zimmerman, the director of community outreach for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, handled thousands of issues raised by constituents out of the congresswoman's offices in Tucson and Sierra Vista. Zimmerman was one of the Giffords staffers who organized many public events where voters could meet Giffords and talk to her about issues. Co-workers say Zimmerman, who had a master's degree in social work, cared passionately about helping people. Zimmerman's mother, Emily Nottingham, said politics was a good fit for him because it combined policy and making a difference for others. "He had a real interest in helping people and had a real caring for social justice," Nottingham said. Zimmerman, who was engaged, had set a wedding date for 2012.

_____

PHYLLIS SCHNECK, 79

When Phyllis Schneck and her husband retired, they spent their winters in Tucson and summers in their native Rutherford, N.J. "They didn't want to ever have to deal with the snow again," said Schneck's daughter, B.J. Offutt of Colorado Springs, Colo. Schneck, who continued to return to Tucson in the winters even after her husband died in 2007, was a homemaker who raised her two daughters and one son and had a talent for cooking. In retirement, Schneck kept herself occupied by volunteering at her church. Her home in Tucson was less than four miles from the supermarket where the shooting took place. Offutt said her mother's appearance at the store was surprising, because she normally shopped at a different store and wasn't very political. Schneck is survived by her three children, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

_____

DORWIN STODDARD, 76

Everyone who knew Dorwin Stoddard thought he might die from one his numerous construction projects at Mountain Avenue Church of Christ. During his latest project, he fell 20 feet when a ladder buckled, said his pastor and friend Michael Nowak. When the shooting started Saturday, he dove to the ground, covering his wife Mavy, who was shot in the leg three times. The couple had been grade school sweethearts growing up in Tucson. After their respective spouses died, they independently moved back to retire, became reacquainted and fell in love all over again. Mavy Stoddard talked to her husband, who was shot in the head, for 10 minutes while he breathed heavily. Then he stopped breathing. He had two sons from his first marriage, and Mavy has three daughters.

_____

DOROTHY MORRIS, 76

Dorothy Morris, known to her friends as "Dot," was a retired homemaker and secretary who lived north of Tucson in Oro Valley, Ariz. Dorothy died in the shooting. Her husband George, a former Marine and retired airline pilot, remains hospitalized after suffering two gunshot wounds. One of the couple's daughters said George Morris tried to protect his wife of 50 years by throwing her to the ground and trying to get on top of her to shield her. The couple both grew up in Reno, Nev., and were high school sweethearts. They settled in Oro Valley around 1995. Sue Blinman, who lives next door in a retirement community, said the couple traveled extensively and escaped Tucson's summer heat by heading up to their home in the eastern Arizona mountain community of Pinetop. "They were always good neighbors," Blinman said.

Only in Chicago...

2010-12-21T13:38:00.000-06:00

could the planetarium draw a crowd of 500 people to celebrate a lunar eclipse they weren't going to see.

More over at Joe's place.

Lunar Eclipse Party at the Adler Monday

2010-12-18T14:53:00.006-06:00

Total Lunar Eclipse Party

Date: December 20 – 21, 2010
Time: 11:00 p.m. – 4:00 a.m.
Location: Adler Planetarium
Cost: Free

(Ahem: Yo Adler, I'm ma let you finish but the first movement of William Herschel's Symphony in F Major would have been one of the best soundtracks of all time for this video.)

Celebrate the total lunar eclipse on the winter solstice at the Adler Planetarium’s free Total Lunar Eclipse Party. Adler educators and astronomers, along with telescope volunteers, will be on hand to facilitate telescope viewing of this rare occurrence in the night sky – weather permitting. Visitors can bring their own telescope or use ones provided by the Adler. The next total lunar eclipse visible in the Chicago area will occur on April 15, 2014.
What is a total lunar eclipse?
A total lunar eclipse takes place when a full Moon passes through the shadow of the Earth. The Earth blocks light from the Sun and casts a shadow that obscures the entire Moon. A total lunar eclipse on the winter solstice is a rare occurrence. The next total lunar eclipse on December 21 (winter solstice) will be in 2094.
Winter Solstice Eclipse Schedule

12:32 A.M. CST – Partial eclipse
1:40 A.M. CST – Total eclipse begins
2:17 A.M. CST – Point of the greatest eclipse

Special Presentation at the Adler Planetarium Time: 11:30 p.m.
"Caught in the Shadow of Earth" presented by Adler astronomer Larry Ciupik

During a lunar eclipse, the moon turns a reddish-orange color. Image Credit: NASA
What is a lunar eclipse? How and why do eclipses happen? When are the best times to view this total lunar eclipse? Find out how Moon phases work and hear fascinating highlights from past eclipses in a live presentation.
Please Note: Free coffee, tea, hot chocolate and light snacks will be provided to visitors beginning at 11:00 p.m. on a first-come, first-served basis.
Enjoy unlimited shows in the Definiti Theater for $5 (free for Adler members). Shows include Journey to the Stars and Night Sky Live. Please note, Adler exhibitions will be closed.
For more information about the total lunar eclipse or the Adler’s Total Lunar Eclipse Party, call (312) 922 7827.

Best astronomy pics of 2010

2010-12-16T17:10:00.001-06:00

Hubble's sick new picture of the Pillars of Creation is one, of course.

Go see the rest!

Hubble's Christmas Ornament

2010-12-14T13:12:00.001-06:00

Supernova bubble "SNR 0509-67.5 (or SNR 0509 for short)", as the Hubblesite description reads - LOL - is 23 light-years across and is expanding at more than 11 million miles per hour (5,000 kilometers per second).

What a nice gift from the folks at Hubble.
Stellar*, as usual.

*Ba dump bump.

Hubble Holiday cards

2010-12-10T13:45:00.000-06:00

Even though, helloooo, it's December 10th and you should totally have already mailed holiday cards if you were going to, Hubble's holiday cards are back for free download and printing.
And they. are. awesome.

Here's where ya go to get them.

And here are a couple of examples.

Solar filament eruption

2010-12-07T16:23:00.001-06:00

You know that part in Sleigh Ride?
That's what plays in my head when I watch this.

Astrophotography, right in the middle of Chicago

2010-12-04T17:30:00.000-06:00

Joe Guzman, astronomer extraordinaire and all-around really nice guy, shot some awesome pics of Saturn and Venus the other night. I love how supportive and encouraging the astronomy family is in Chicago - whether you're an Adler employee like Joe or just wanting to ask a hundred questions about a telescope before you buy it (ahem), these guys are so great. As a bonus, star parties are an extremely frequent event here in Chicago.

Even if you're not a local, you should check out Chicago Astronomer. Many of the posts there deal with observation information that is also relevant to the rest of North America, the pictures are pretty, and the support is trememdous.

All photos by Joe Guzman

Wisconsin man builds backyard planetarium.

2010-12-04T13:34:00.001-06:00

I want to be this guy's next door neighbor/BFF.

Story found over at the Chicago Astronomer - thanks for the tip, fellas.
Going to have to make a trip to this one.

Wisconsin Backyard Planetarium

Well, it's not 9' tall aliens carrying a cookbook disguised as a manual for peaceful coexistence, but...

2010-12-01T15:22:00.001-06:00

it's still pretty damn cool.

Piltdown Man, War of the Worlds, Energia's SpaceDyson©

2010-12-01T14:16:00.026-06:00

The ole BS detector is overheating on this story.

A quick Google search reveals that this story has been picked up by every major news outlet in the free world. From Australia to Zimbabwe, the headline blares that Energia is developing an orbital pod which will push space debris into a decaying orbit. It will, they breathlessly report, run on nuclear-powered ion drives.

Of course it will.
And it will convert dark matter into tasty, tasty Skittles.

The outlet which "Roscosmos" used to announce this groundbreaker? A Facebook page administered by a couple of French citizens who happen to be space fans. The Facebook page contained just a few sentences and cited no official sources regarding the story. Contrary to what many, many major news outlets are reporting, this Facebook page is in no way an "official" Roscosmos page, and a 10-second investigation could have helped them determine that.

     Being somewhat of a giant dork, I am a not-infrequent visitor to the Roscosmos website. After reading this story on CBS News, I realized I hadn't seen anything about it from the, ya know, Russians, so I went over to Roscosmos and searched for "space debris", "space junk", "energia", and several other keywords to no avail.
Their last news item mentioning space junk? January of 2010, when Yuri Makarov represented Russia at the perfectly boring annual meeting of the International Committee on Space Debris. There is nothing on Energia's website. A search for news on Interfax or anywhere else which does not use the Facebook source is circuitous and futile. I don't know - news like that? You'd think it'd be on Energia's homepage, not just on a private Facebook page. You'd think they'd be (justifiably) bragging about it on every news station.
     If true (ahem), fantastic. I believe space debris is the most pressing space-related issue today.
     If the Frenchies just punked the worldwide media, zut alors and sacre bleu!

    Also, LMAO.

That's not a wheat sheaf or a weeping willow or a stalk of broccolini.

2010-11-30T21:43:00.000-06:00

That's a dumbbell*!

*If you squint. And are drunk.

This? This looks nothing like a beetle headed towards New Mexico.

2010-11-30T21:40:00.000-06:00

OMG seriously I'll just do everything, NASA.

2010-11-30T21:27:00.000-06:00

The Dandelion Nebula, or, as it's formally known, NGC6751.
There.

Was that so hard?

Edge, seat, etc.

2010-11-30T20:28:00.002-06:00

NASA press conference Thursday to discuss astrobiology finding which affects the search for ET life.

Name That Moon

2010-11-30T19:58:00.004-06:00

For some time, I have been thinking that our moon needs a better name. I mean, Jupiter has moons named Io, Ganymede, Callisto, Europa, Amalthea, Himalia and Leda; and Saturn has Titan, Enceladus, Hyperion and Phoebe. Mars has Phoebos and Demos (Latin for fear and panic); Neptune has Triton (not to be confused with Titan), Galatea and Larissa; and Uranus has Juliet, Cupid, Portia, Belinda, Miranda and Margaret.

We are stuck with "moon." I realize that all those other planets have many, many orbiting satellites, but I don't see why we can't have one with a cool name. Ancient civilizations called it Luna and Selene, but we don't have a pretty name for it now. Just moon.

I guess maybe renaming it would play havoc with popular music, but I still think it would work. I'm liking "Garrett."

From the book I'm reading. I LOL'd.

2010-11-30T18:00:00.000-06:00

"Collapsing wave function" is one of those phrases that physicists just toss around, along the same lines of, "computing the eigen values of the Hamiltonian" or "staying home alone on a Saturday night."
We're just so used to it that it might never occur to us that it needs additional explanation.*

*Not that "staying home alone on a Saturday night" really needs much additional explanation. Enjoy the rest of the book, nerd.

While we're on the subject of funneh...

2010-11-26T18:29:00.001-06:00

The picture from this article makes the whole thing funny¹ºº.

NASA Announces Plans to Bring Wi-Fi to Its Headquarters by 2017

From the ONN Space Desk

2010-11-26T18:18:00.001-06:00

Gol DRAT, The Onion needs to do more space stories...
I think I might have posted these before but they are still funny as hell.

Crime Scene* Nebula

2010-11-26T14:48:00.000-06:00

No it's not. I lie.

*Also, there's a squid in the picture.

Lemon Slice Nebula

2010-11-26T14:33:00.002-06:00

You know what's the best thing about space exploration?

All the pictures are in the public domain, that's what.

...jiggity jog.

2010-11-26T13:21:00.002-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T13:42:00.000-06:00

The Victoria Beckham of galaxies

2010-11-24T14:17:00.001-06:00

NGC 4452. Or a lightsaber.

Pocket Universe iPhone App

2010-11-24T13:42:00.001-06:00

Boy howdy, it's a good thing I spent whatever-hundred dollars on a heavy, cumbersome, won't-work-within-a-hundred-feet-of-a-beer-can-much-less-a-car, can't-acquire-GPS-signals-if-there's-so-much-as-a-basil-plant-in-the-vicinity-blocking-the-signal SkyScout a few years back. Otherwise I would have had to wait a whole, like, three months for smartphones to be invented and have things like astronomy apps that cost less than a six-pack of cheap beer.

Pocket Universe: Virtual Sky Astronomy; $2.99.

Key Features

• Easy-to-use astronomy application, which focuses on helping you answer the question “What’s that in the sky?”
• Works on all iPhones and iPod Touch devices with latest firmware (iPhone 3GS/4 required for compass support)
• Tracks the ISS, and predicts sightings
• Special “Show Me” mode will guide you to named stars, planets, constellations as well as the brightest galaxies and nebulae.
• “Tonight’s Sky” and “Objects and Events” will keep you up-to-date, and give you suggestions for what to look for when you head outside.
• Constellation Quiz to help you learn your way around the sky.
• Links to Wikipedia articles for the latest information.
• Responsive customer support, frequent updates.

Specifications
•Plots the position of the Sun, Moon and Planets (including Pluto)
•Displays 10,000 stars and the Messier Catalog of Deep Sky objects.
•Draws Constellations outlines, with mythological artwork
•Lunar phases for the current, next and previous months
•Plan observations with list of meteor showers and visible planets
•Constellation and Star Quiz games help you learn your way around the sky
•Jupiter’s and Saturn’s Moons (visible in a telescope)
•Regularly updated news section for viewing suggestions
•Night Vision mode
•Augmented Reality camera mode for use during evening/dawn on iPhone devices.
•Location found automatically or may be specified manually.

For Sue :)

2010-11-23T14:19:00.002-06:00

Cosmetologist:

Cosmologist:

The Gollum Nebula®

2010-11-23T13:49:00.001-06:00

I expect royalty checks for dropping this into your lap, Naming Nerds.

(Yeah, yeah - I know, but "Dobby Nebula" just sounds dumb.)

Cutest. astronaut. evah.

2010-11-02T11:52:00.000-05:00

Sorry,folks.

We are flipping. doomed.

2010-10-22T15:56:00.002-05:00

We'd need, like, a million Bruce Willises to deal with this.

Separated at Birth?

2010-10-17T21:59:00.008-05:00

So I'm sitting in Manuel's with our friends, Greg and Janet Anderson, when it occurs to me that Greg looks very much like Garrett will look 10 or 20 years hence. Greg is a great guy whose son, Peter, was a linebacker at West Point and is now serving in Afghanistan. Greg and his wife, Janet, were celebrating their 29th anniversary with a burger and beer at Manuel's. So I took this photo of him. He's the one not in the astronaut suit.

Practice Makes Perfect

2010-10-15T17:49:00.003-05:00

The crew of STS-133 completed a practice run today, and all went well. Discovery Commander Steve Lindsey, pilot Eric Boe, and specialists Alvin Drew, Tim Kopra, Michael Barratt and Nicole Stott are now headed back to Houston, the place they take astronauts so they won't be that sad to leave Earth.

Discovery, which launches on Nov. 1, will spend 11 days in space. It will deliver the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM), which will provide additional storage for the station crew, spare components (c'mon, just say "spare parts") and the Express Logistics Carrier 4, which holds large equipment (refrigerators? buses? backhoes?). It will also carry Robonaut 2 ( R2), which you think they would have named Robonaut 2, Device 2, so it could be R2D2. Who's naming these things?

Once Discovery launches, R2, which is inside the PMM and will become a permanent resident of the ISS, will be the first human-like robot in space.

But Garrett is not going, so who really cares? Not this blog.

(Actually, this blog does care because this blog loves the space shuttles and space in general. Almost as much as this blog loves Garrett. But at least it will give Garrett a chance to see the Yankees, with the highest payroll in baseball, beat up on the Rangers, who have the fifth lowest.)

RIP, John Huchra

2010-10-14T19:35:00.005-05:00

John Huchra, a professor of cosmology at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and the man who (with two women, Margaret Geller and Valerie de Lapparent) mapped the universe and turned conventional theory about galaxies on its head, died last Friday. His mapping of the Coma Supercluster was possibly the most famous map of the universe ever made, largely because it looked like the stick figure of a person. The supercluster was in the middle of a "Great Wall" of galaxies with a length of about six hundred million light years. It confirmed that the galaxies in the universe are arranged in sheets and walls surrounding large nearly-empty voids.

“His passing has upset more of us than I remember for any other astronomer,” said Tod Lauer, an astronomer at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, in a New York Times obit.

We Are Not Alone, and I Hope They Don't Come for Garrett

2010-09-30T18:31:00.005-05:00

Ever since I discovered how big the universe actually is, I have been convinced that we are not alone in it. I mean, we are a tiny blip in an itty bitty portion of the Milky Way, and there are, according to a 1999 Hubble estimate, roughly 125 billion galaxies in the universe. Other estimates go as high as 500 billion. Regardless of how many billions we accept as true, the question remains: Why in the world would we think it possible that we are the only intelligent life out there?

Anyway, last Monday, seven USAF personnel talked to the National Press Club about how they believe that aliens are out there, AND they are interested in our nuclear weapons facilities. The six former officers and one ex-enlisted man said they either personally saw UFOs hovering over nuclear missile silos or nuclear weapons storage areas in the 1960s, '70s and '80s or heard reports of such from their subordinates.

Three of the former Air Force officers said that UFOs hovering over silos around Montana’s Malmstrom Air Force Base in 1967 appeared to have temporarily deactivated some of the nuclear missiles.

Meanwhile, one of the largest telescopes in North America, the 72-inch All Sky Optical SETI scope, owned by The Planetary Society and operated by a Harvard University team, is looking for pulses of light that would confirm contact with extraterrestrial life. According to the Society, the telescope, with its cutting-edge processors, crunches, in one second, more data than what is stored in all books in print.

I hope we find something. But I worry that, if they find us and they figure out how smart and funny Garrett is, we could lose him.

The Planetary Society Takes a Stand

2010-09-11T17:51:00.012-05:00

The Planetary Society has written a letter expressing concern about the four NASA appropriations bills currently before Congress, noting that they make short shrift of the manned space program specifically for exploration and that they are unfocused and scattered. The bills, according to The Society, which is populated with people a lot smarter than me -- or our Congresspeople, for that matter (people like Jim Bell, Bill Nye, Louis Friedman, Dan Geraci and Neil deGrasse Tyson), dwell too heavily on the continuation of low-Earth orbit missions to the detriment of real astronomical research.
Its particular complaints are laid out in the letter to House and Senate leadership (which you can find here):

• None include a plan to restore U.S. technical capability to launch astronauts to space once the shuttle is retired. At best there are directions that -- even if followed -- will likely lead to a “launch gap” years longer than was planned, even with Ares, and certainly longer than could be expected from the commercial launch industry, if they are supported.
• Instead, we support government – private partnerships to develop U.S. designed and built commercial launch vehicles, proven ones like the Atlas and Delta, and new ones like the Falcon.
• No exploration goals are set other than vague citations of building capability to ultimately fly to destinations beyond Earth orbit. Instead, we support identification of specific targets such as going beyond the Moon for the first time, then to a near-Earth asteroid, then to the orbit of Mars, and then to Mars itself. As Gemini and the early Apollo missions engaged the Nation on the way to the Moon landing, so too can steps into the solar system engage the Nation on the way to Mars.
• The various bills push to start “heavy-lift launch vehicle” development sooner than proposed by the Administration, despite having no destinations or flight goals for such a rocket for at least a decade. We strongly support American development of a deep-space rocket, but we believe that premature development through political legislation rather than technological studies could result in huge waste and eventual delays. Thus, we suggest support for a technology program to develop and evaluate competing approaches and to complete a preliminary design before committing to the final selection. A shorter actual development time will lead to a lower-cost project.
• The Administration’s proposed exploration and space technology programs are deeply cut. This exacerbates the situation of the past decade when NASA technology programs were eviscerated and the agency was unable to develop new technologies that could reduce cost or enhance performance. We support restoration of NASA’s proposed technology funding.

But that's not the only problem. Emily Lakdawalla, The Society's Science and Technology coordinator, believes that few are paying attention to the incredible research that is being accomplished by unmanned spacecraft. She writes:

I'm sick and tired of people equating "NASA" with the manned space program, and failing to realize the bounty of amazing discoveries being made through the eyes of the 20-odd robots that we Americans have built and are currently operating across the solar system. Like the Planetary Society's leaders, I believe that our (and this time "our" means "humanity's," not just America's) space program must include both manned and unmanned components, and that the two must work hand in hand. But I'm frustrated again and again by the lack of respect and recognition for what our robotic missions -- and all the men and women who work for NASA and universities and aerospace contractors who make contributions to our unmanned program -- are accomplishing.

And to prove her point, she links to this amazing chart.

When you think of the astounding discoveries of the last several decades, not adequately funding NASA makes no sense. The low-Earth orbit stuff is great (how else would we see the ISS fly over every now and then?), but we (and by "we," I, like Emily Lakdawalla, don't mean Americans; I mean humanity, need to reach beyond the successes of the Space Shuttle era to find that next Earth that Garrett talked about in the interview below.

Garrett Speaks!

2010-08-26T18:58:00.002-05:00

Well, I talked to Garrett for about 40 minutes for what was supposed to be a 15-minute interview, and the only reason I hung up was because I was afraid NASA would send its goons to come bonk me on the head. (Not really. I don’t think NASA has goons. They’re all at NOAA.)

As I said earlier, I didn’t want to ask the usual questions, and I am woefully unequipped to ask him questions about his pre-astronaut career, seeing as how his official biography notes that, “His multiphase fluid mechanics research provided the first experimental evidence of the presence of shock waves in unsteady cloud cavitation,” and, as Stephen Colbert once said about something, “I don’t know what any of the words in that sentence mean.”

So I did two things: I asked him what I would want someone to ask me if I were an astronaut, and I asked him stuff I was just plain curious about. And friends and sisters tossed in a couple questions.

And guess what? This may come as a total surprise, but Garrett is funny and interesting. So I’m just gonna let him take it away…

What is your first memory of the space program?

Well, I was a year-and-a-half old when Apollo 11 touched down, so I don’t really have much memory of that. What I do remember is we had an old Super 8 movie projector that we watched mostly home movies on, but we had one reel of a show about the Apollo 11 mission. It is one of my earliest memories and probably one of the strongest influences on me. I watched that thing over and over. You know how those little Super 8 reels would break? I would splice the tape back together with Scotch tape. It got to the point where the weight of the Scotch tape was greater than the weight of the Super 8 tape.

I do remember watching the first space shuttle launch and thinking that was pretty cool.

We have this idea about astronauts that they are all people who grew up lying on their backs in their backyard, looking up at the stars and saying to themselves, “I want to go there.” Is that true?

Not really. I just didn’t think it was possible. Growing up in New Jersey, it just never occurred to me that I could become an astronaut. Maybe a doctor, or, later in high school, an engineer. But I was always fascinated with the National Air and Space Museum. I remember we went there as a family, and we split up. We were told, “You’ve got two hours, and we’ll meet back under the Spirit of St. Louis.” After two hours, I said I would need more time. They ended up leaving me for two days. They went to see the Lincoln Memorial and all the other sites.

If you weren’t the coolest astronaut on the planet, what would you be?

I usually tell people I wanted to be the center for the Knicks. That obviously wasn’t going to work out when I failed to get any taller than 5’4”. By the way, I still think I could have done a better job than Ewing. But I was happy working at TRW, so I probably would have ended up working as an engineer. I know one thing: It wouldn’t have been as fun.

What’s the weirdest thing you have to do in training?

There’re a couple things, but the best one is you have to make a mold of your butt. It’s part of the Soyuz training in Russia, because they make individual linings for the seats. It’s pretty cramped in there, and when the Soyuz “lands” – and you can put that in quotation marks – it’s kinda like being in a car crash. In the shuttle, I have to really pay attention to touchdown, or I will miss it. With the Soyuz, there’s no mistaking it. So they give you a seat that fits very, very well.

Anyway, they bring you to a place in Moscow where they manufacture the hardware and suits and stuff, and there’s what looks like this little bathtub. They put you in your underwear and not much else, and fill it up with plaster. Then they lift you on a winch and lower you. They try to keep it warm. Then about eight people come in and put their hands in it. They put their hands everywhere! Then they pull you back out with the winch and hoist you up, and you look back down, and there’s a perfect mold of your butt.

You like SCUBA diving, rock climbing, snowboarding, canyoneering and stuff like that. You’re kind of a daredevil in real life. Do you have to keep that in check when you’re in space?

Really, it comes in handy – not the types of activities, but how do you do those things and still make it safe? How are you smart about it? You try to accomplish things in a manner that mitigates the risk. I don’t go out for the adrenaline rush. It’s more of an intellectual exercise. It’s the same in space. It’s all about problem solving.

Tell me what it was like at the end of that arm when you were installing the antenna during your last EVA and you were, what? 50 feet out at the end of a boom? Did David Bowie’s Space Oddity (Ground Control to Major Tom) ever run through your head?

The best part was when I was going one direction, I was carrying big pieces of equipment. I had my hands full but only half the time. On the return trip, I had nothing, so I took out my camera. That was fun. The view was incredible. It was an amazing experience. I knew that part of the EVA was the risky part of the thing. I mean, you’re out there completely exposed to micrometeorites and space debris. When you’re working outside on the space station, you’ve got a whole space station on one side of you. So that tempered the excitement a bit. The best part was when I got stuck on the end of the arm for about 25 minutes. People ask, “Wasn’t that scary?” But it wasn’t. It was very relaxing. I knew there was nothing I could do about it. I was entirely dependent on the people on the ground. Afterwards, I was really concerned about timeline, knowing we had a certain amount of time to get everything done. But this was kinda like a snow day. It was the only time I really relaxed.

And I never thought of that song, but it’s one of the many songs I had on my Ipod up there.

You lived in the Aquarius habitat at the bottom of the sea for two weeks. What’s the coolest thing you saw when you were living underwater?

A hammerhead shark. I was inside the habitat, and we had one diver outside on an umbilical. I was doing an ultra-sound experiment. I was imaging Emma’s (astronaut Emma Hwang’s) kidneys, and they had intentionally put in a delay on what they could see, but the sound was real-time. So I was taking images, and doctors in Houston were looking at the screen. They were seeing this kidney; I was seeing this kidney. Then I looked up and saw a six-foot hammerhead shark right outside the window. And they were hearing me in real time, but the images were delayed. So I yelled, “Holy @*#!” They were looking at the screen, thinking one of her kidneys had just exploded.

You and (actor) Jane Krakowski were in elementary school together in Morris County, N.J. Was that a particularly entertaining elementary school class?

At the time, none of us knew what was ahead. We did have a school play we were both in, and the last time I saw her, she presented me with a photo of the play that her mom had taken. Really, I have no idea why my acting career never took off. But it is kind of fun now to reconnect and compare notes.

You’re an astronaut and your sister, Lainie, is a world-renowned specialist in the prevention of youth violence. How much do the rest of the ladies at the club hate to see your mother coming?

The funny thing is my family is Jewish, and my mom lives outside of Boca (Raton). Basically, my mom is still low on the totem pole. I think she’s still disappointed that her kids didn’t turn out to be doctors or lawyers.

How big can the space station get? Could it be like a hotel?

It’s huge right now. It could totally be a hotel. All you’d have to do is clear out the scientific gear, and put in an ice machine. When you fly into it, you feel like you’re on the Millennium Falcon being sucked into the Death Star. When you are looking through the overhead windows as you’re approaching it, it looks like a bright star. Then it grows, and you can see the shape of the solar arrays. The wings get bigger and bigger, until, on final approach, it completely obliterates your view. You can’t even see the solar arrays in your peripheral vision. It’s really too big to be taken in, and you’re still quite a distance away. The enormity is special. The interior volume is about the size of two 747s. People ask me if I felt claustrophobic, but I didn’t. Not at all. It’s like stepping into the Grand Canyon. In the shuttle, there’s always something you can reach, so you have to learn all over again how to move. When astronauts first get off the shuttle and move into the space station, they are really stupid-looking because they keep grabbing for things to hold onto.

The difference between the shuttle and the space station is that moving is really fun. When you push off from a wall, you’re no longer floating, you’re able to fly. Like you’re superman.

What is your favorite space movie?

Wow. I don’t know if I have a favorite. I loved the original Star Wars and Star Trek II, The Wrath of Kahn. And 2001, A Space Odyssey. I guess it would be one of those three. Oh, The Right Stuff’s great, too, and the book is fantastic.

Outside of Earth, what is your favorite planet?

Man, you took away Earth. Usually when people ask me that, they don’t take away Earth, so that’s always my answer! But, without Earth, I guess I’d say Mars, because I’d love to go there. It’s got an amazing topography – mountains taller than Everest, canyons the size of the United States. Plus, I think it’s highly likely that we’ll find some form of life there. We are tantalizingly close. Life is much more tenacious on earth than we expected; we’re finding it where we never thought we would. With Mars, I’d be more surprised if we never find life than if we do.

This week is the anniversary of the day that Pluto was demoted. Do you have any sympathy for Pluto?

I had nothing to do with that. People occasionally ask me about that in an accusatory tone. But that kind of thing is not my job. I understand the reasoning, and it’s probably correct. That’s all I’m saying.

If you could choose six people, living or dead, to be on a space shuttle with for a month-long mission, who would they be?

I could go with the easy answer and say Megan Fox. But, really, the easy answer is my wife, Simone. She would have loved to have gone. Given half a chance, she’d be strapping in. And I know this is not gonna make you happy, but Derek Jeter. He has some of the characteristics that make for a great astronaut – the ability to maintain perspective and a sense of humor in difficult circumstances. A good example of that is, there was a World Series game where the batter hit a triple with runners on first and second. Both runners scored, but the Yankees challenged one of the runners for not touching second base. So Jeter gets the ball and touches second and turns to the umpire, who says, “Which runner are you challenging?” Jeter says, “The first one.” The umpire says, “He touched the base.” Without missing a beat, Jeter says, “Okay. The second runner.” Who maintains their wits about them in a situation like that?

An easy choice would be my current colleagues – the guys on the last mission. Any of those guys would make for great crew members. Also, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Colbert might actually do pretty well, but I think Jon would miss New York too much.

If travel in deep space were possible, where would you want to go?

Basically, anywhere where there’s the potential for an Earth-like planet. The most amazing thing would be to find another Earth. I mean, Jupiter is great, and Saturn’s rings are stunning, but there’s nothing on the surface of gas giants. So I’d want to look for new mountains to climb and seas to sail on.

Finally, you met with President Obama to talk about the space program. What was discussed?

We didn’t really talk to him about policy. He asked us what we are going to do, and we each gave our own answers. He asked more about our recent mission, just general questions. We were there with the administrator and assistant administrator. If he had wanted to talk policy, he would have done it with them.

Mostly, he just joked around. He’s got a great sense of humor. He didn’t have any prepared comments; it was just very laid back. I mean, we were in the Oval Office, and it was just very casual. I’ve been in the Oval Office before; we met President Bush. He had a 15-minute-long presentation about the history of the office. It was very impressive. But President Obama just welcomed us and started asking questions. He didn’t have a prepared speech.

NASA Celebrates Star Wars

2010-08-24T05:13:00.000-05:00

What all the cool kids are wearing these days.

2010-07-29T09:29:00.002-05:00

Stay Tuned!

2010-07-27T00:45:00.002-05:00

We are about to have a Q&A with Garrett on this blog. If you are looking for the answers to questions like, "What's it like in space?" this will not be the Q&A for you. I have way too much respect for Garrett to do that kind of thing. Plus, Garrett is way too cool for that. So, if you are interested in the minutiae of Garrett, stay tuned. If you want to know what it's like in space, go to NASA's website. I mean, how many times can you say, "Well, there's that gravity thing"? Seriously.

Meanwhile, the NASA channel is re-showing all the stuff it did last year to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Apollo. Watch it. It's very cool.

Also, the blog's friend, Todd Leopold, who is an entertainment editor for CNN, is doing a piece on "The Romance of Space" and how we've kinda lost it. Garrett will be featured prominently. I will post the piece here when it is posted on CNN.

The JWST: Hubble Times Two.

2010-06-03T18:23:00.003-05:00

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is set to launch, God willing and the creek don't rise, in June 2014, thus overlapping with the Hubble, which should cease transmission (RIP) some time that year. The telescope has a 21-foot-diameter primary mirror, making it the world’s largest orbiting observatory in any wavelength when it begins operations. It also will be the largest infrared (IR) telescope in existence.

More than 7,000 astronomers who have been involved with Hubble over its two decades of service are expected to use Webb. The difference between the two: Webb’s IR range will allow it to see objects 10-100 times more faint than Hubble can, opening the door to the universe’s earliest days. The Webb’s greater resolving power in infrared, and that wavelength’s ability to see past dust that obscures light from the universe’s earliest days, is expected to give astronomers images of events just 250 million years after the universe was born, in other words, when the universe was pretty much still a toddler.

According to NASA, "seeing that far back will reveal clusters of the Universe’s earliest objects as they were being formed, says JWST Senior Project Scientist John Mather, a Nobel Laureate at Goddard. Astronomer Marcia Rieke of the University of Arizona expects to see disks of matter becoming planets around stars."

This is more NASA: "Observing the physical and chemical properties of planetary systems and their potential for supporting life are among Webb’s major goals. The telescope should be able to see relatively small planets—a few times the size of Earth—that Hubble cannot, says Gardner. But it also will have greater sensitivity to the atmospheres of stars closer to Earth. It even can provide close-ups of planets within the Solar System, so long as they are the duller ones like Mars, not bright Venus or Mercury, which would overpower its optics at so close a range."

The Webb dwarfs previous telescopes. After the vibration of launch, the mirror assembly must be unfolded into what the design team calls its “rough shape.” That process involves lifting each of the 18 primary mirror segments free of its launch hooks. Each of them is computer-controlled in six degrees of freedom, plus a seventh that pushes or pulls the center of the mirror for radius curvature adjustment. Each mirror has its own actuators to control these movements. After the mirrors are unhooked, the actuators must achieve a “wave front” alignment for each one to a tolerance of 20 nanometers—1/5,000th of a hair.

A full-sized mock-up will go on public display June 1 at the 2010 World Science Festival in New York City’s Battery Park.

Garrett Comes Home. Oh, and Those Other Guys

2010-05-27T16:58:00.003-05:00

Okay, a day late and a few dollars short. But Atlantis came home beautifully. Some interesting things I learned on my trip to Florida (I am going by what Mary told me, so if any of this is wrong, blame her. Although she does know her stuff):

The BIG (as my brother-in-law, Jon, calls the VAB or Vehicle Assembly Building, is so big that it has its own climate.

The path that the shuttle rides on from the BIG to the launch pad is paved with stones from some river in Tennessee. Why? Who knows? Mary says it may be one of those low-bid deals from the contractor who built it. I do know they are pretty stones, and it's a loooonnnnggg path, so I guess some river in Tennessee is a bit deeper than it used to be.

Cool stuff at KSC, including launch pads, is not very well marked. And KSC (or rather, Canaveral Air Force Station) is very big. So if you don't know where you are going, you can spend a bit of time trying to find what you are looking for. And they don't have maps. So you drive on ICBM Road and Titan Road and Saturn Lane and Moonwalk Court (I made up some of those), and hope you find what you are looking for. We did, eventually.

For you birders out there, the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge, right next to KSC, is a wonderful place to be; partly because there are driving paths and you don't really have to get out of your car to bird-watch, although, if you're like us, it's a constant "Oh! Stop the car! Stop the car! I think I just saw a (spoonbill, hawk, avocet, gator, willet, glossy ibis)!" You know you are jaded when you say, "Oh! Wait! Wait! Never mind, it's JUST a great blue heron." We did see a juvenile cottonmouth chow down on an unfortunate fish. Best thing (aside from the wildlife) is you can look in the distance and see KSC.

Some people are stupid. Mary and I stopped numerous times along the road out of the refuge to pick up plastic McDonald's cups, beer cans, etc. Who is insensitive enough to toss that kind of trash out in a wildlife refuge?

Watching the NASA channel during a mission is pretty cool. Mary and I were driven indoors because of a Biblical plague of lovebugs and turned on the teevee. Someone on the ISS was asking someone at Mission Control how to find the scissors. The question was not "Where are the scissors?" It was "What is the location of the scissors?" The answer was a good five minutes long and involved stuff like "the right compartment, the second node," etc. But it was clear that the guy answering knew exactly where the scissors were. Now, why they needed the scissors is beyond me. I know Garrett did not need a haircut.

Nothing we saw the entire time we were there made us think we had made a mistake in creating this blog. Garrett is just one awesome dude.

Just A Lot of Pictures

2010-05-19T19:27:00.008-05:00

From my trip to Florida:

This is a photo of the launch taken by Sam Vega, who drove 18 hours to see the launch when he got bumped off a flight in Arkansas:

This is the launch pad from which all the Apollo astronauts left earth. It is also where Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chafee died tragically. This is what Grissom said, "If we die, we want people to accept it. We are in a risky business and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life." Still, you cannot be there without thinking of the amazing courage of those men. They went into space at a time when few had done it before, never knowing whether they would come back. And I'd like to say a word about their wives, who didn't have all the scientific knowledge their husbands had but still supported men who were part of the space program, men who were doing things that had never been done with no assurance that they would live, let alone be successful.

If you look at the photo below, you can see a Delta rocket in the background being readied for a September launch. Also, you can see three of the saddest words I have ever seen on the concrete post in the foreground: Abandon in Place. Wow.

More of SLC (Space Launch Complex) 34, Mary at the site:

This is one of Mary and me and a lifesize cutout of Garrett. My husband says someone should make a bobblehead of Garrett:

And this is Mary and me in front of the shuttle launch pad:

The Mercury 7 memorial. It honors all seven original Mercury astronauts, four of whom took flight from the launch pad behind it. Buried here is a time capsule that is to be opened in 2464 (500 years after its burial) that has the flight plans of the Mercury missions. The phrase, "Si monumentum requiris, circumspice," is engraved here. The epitaph of Christopher Wren, the architect who built St. Paul's Cathedral in London, it means, "If you seek a monument, look around you."

The Vehicle Assembly Building, one of the largest buildings in the world, was originally built for assembly of Apollo/Saturn vehicles and later modified to support Space Shuttle operations. It is known as the VAB, but my brother-in-law calls it the BIG.

Garrett and Piers Sellers Install a Closet and Garrett Takes a Nice Picture

2010-05-18T11:49:00.003-05:00

Well, Atlantis took off on schedule, and we were right there, waving goodbye. The launch was spectacular, as launches always are. Yesterday, Garrett and Piers Sellers completed the mission's first spacewalk, having installed Rassvet, the Russian-made module that will provide additional storage space (those Russians on the ISS just brought waaayyy too many shoes). Actually, Rassvet is also a docking station for future Russian spacecraft.

Above is a picture Garrett took of himself (more or less) during the EVA. Also, if you are not watching the NASA Channel during this mission, you are missing some fun stuff. For instance, we just heard a request for "the scissors," as in "What is the location of the scissors?" Not "Where are the scissors?" Anyway, the answer was five minutes long, but clearly the person answering knew exactly where the scissors were.

Garrett Leaves and Drew Arrives

2010-05-14T07:42:00.002-05:00

It's beautiful here, and, if Atlantis doesn't go today, it shouldn't be because of the weather. Meanwhile, Drew made his appearance at 9:05 pm -- eight pounds and 21 inches long. He just had to make it in time to see the launch. Smart baby.

We Are Here!

2010-05-13T14:24:00.005-05:00

So Mary and I have arrived at Club Veg, also known as Mary's backyard, to prepare for the launch, which we are doing by drinking copious amounts of vodka and lazing about in the pool. Looking forward to meeting the wonderful Simone and Garrett's family tonight. We are also awaiting word on Cathy's delivery, which is late but should happen today. We wish she were here, but we know she is happy trying to push a reluctant Drew out of her body.

Building the ISS

2010-05-01T21:36:00.001-05:00

This is a cool little thing I came across today.

What the Cool People Will Be Wearing This Summer

2010-04-30T20:19:00.001-05:00

Garrett's wife has designed some pretty great T-shirts to commemorate the Atlantis launch. If you want one (or two or 20), you can order it (them) here or here. Below are the hilarious images on the backs of the shirts.

I am personally outfitting the Ward sisters and Cathy's toddler and yet-to-be-born son, Drew. It's, after all, what the best children are wearing this year!

Meanwhile, if your remote finger tends to automatically stop on the NASA channel, as mine does, check the schedule to see when it is re-running the pre-flight interviews, which you can also read here.

He Seemed Surprised

2010-04-30T18:06:00.002-05:00

So, dude stops by the house. Nice guy from AT&T. Wanted to offer me a great deal, wifi, tv, DVR receivers, phone service, the works. Asked him to show me the list of channels I would get. No NASA channel. Told him it was a deal-breaker.

Happy 20th Birthday, Hubble

2010-04-24T15:11:00.007-05:00

Twenty years ago today, STS-31 launched, carrying a telescope that would revolutionize every branch of the planetary and astrophysical sciences. Named for Edwin Hubble, the American astronomer who discovered the importance of the Doppler Shift in determining the existence of galaxies other than the Milky Way, the Hubble Space Telescope carried the hopes of a generation of scientists who thought it had the potential to change everything we know about space.

They waited. When the first pictures came back, they rushed to their computers with the enthusiasm of a five-year-old rushing downstairs at Christmas, only to find that Santa had decided this year to exercise a heretofore unknown sadistic sense of humor by leaving under the tree a gaily wrapped toothbrush.

Turns out the primary mirror was too flat at the edges by an astonishing 2.2 microns. The period at the end of this sentence is almost 400 microns. We are dealing here in sizes that are almost too small to comprehend. Those 2.2 microns made Hubble the butt of jokes by late-night comedians and put the telescope in the company of such disasters as Titanic and the Edsel.

In December 1993, STS-61 came to the rescue. Over the course of five spacewalks, Endeavor's crew replaced mirrors, cameras, electronics and the telescope's solar array. The timing of the repairs was no accident. Astronomers knew that Comet Shoemaker-Levy was heading for a suicide mission to Jupiter, and, since scientists had never observed a collision between two space objects, they were understandably anxious to get Hubble working the way it was intended to. Seven months after the repair mission, the comet crashed into Jupiter. Hubble's pictures of the event were everything NASA had expected.

And then came the really pretty pictures. It is a measure of Hubble's contributions to, not just science, but popular culture, that people all over the world, even those with only a passing interest in space, use its photos as wallpaper on their Dells and Macs.

Hubble will stop transmitting sometime in 2014. Its successor, the James Webb telescope, is bigger and better and will be launched some time that year into an orbit 1.5 million miles from earth. I expect a few tears will be shed at NASA when transmissions from Hubble cease.

I am including some of my favorite Hubble photos here. In order from top to bottom, they are "Starry Night," a red supergiant near the edge of the Milky Way galaxy; "Eskimo," a nebula; the Carina Nebula, one of the newest Hubble photos; and a generic photo of stars that takes my breath away.

I also urge you to check out NASA's website for more photos and information on Hubble.

Finally, I would like to say this: It is estimated that Hubble has cost somewhere between $4 billion and $6 billion to date. In my opinion, it was money well spent.

T-524 (hours) and counting

2010-04-22T17:37:00.002-05:00

Atlantis rolled up to the pad yesterday for what will be its last mission. This is the 39th time Atlantis has rolled onto the pad, though only its 32nd launch (technical issues and weather accounted for the others.) Atlantis is the only shuttle to have also had a "half roll," necessitated when a tropical storm weakened and the shuttle, which was rolling off the launch pad, got a "never mind" from NASA and rolled back on. Atlantis is the fourth of NASA's shuttles, younger than Columbia, Challenger and Discovery and older than Endeavor.

The shuttles, with their 2.5 million parts, have been called the most complex machines ever created by humans.

Atlantis's mission is to deliver a Russian-made research module to the ISS.

The crew of six is led by our man, Garrett (well, no it's not, but this blog isn't about Commander Ken Ham). Anyway, here are the guys who will make this thing go:

Ken Ham, a former Navy pilot; Dominic Antonelli, another former Navy pilot; Michael Good, an Air Force pilot; Piers Sellers, a British geophysicist; and Stephen Bowen, a Navy submariner. Then, there's ol' what's-his-name.

Among them, they have logged more time in space than I have logged at Manuel's Tavern, and, let me point out, that is no small amount of time.

Mary and I will be there, waving to Garrett, and asking plaintively, "Do you think he can see us?"

Happy Easter/Passover

2010-04-04T20:47:00.001-05:00

and whatever day you celebrate if you are Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist or whatever...

Rosebud. Not a sled.

2010-03-18T17:44:00.005-05:00

We're used to Hubble's pretty pictures, but now our old friend has company. The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE. Does NASA ever name anything something that can't be made into a nice acronym?) blasted off last December with the goal of scanning the entire sky in infrared light. It is looking for the nearest and coolest stars (which it presumably can identify by their disdain for what currently passes for rock and roll), as well as the origins of stellar and interplanetary systems and the universe's most luminous galaxies.

Today, NASA released the image above, which it is describing as a grouping of stars in the Berkeley 59 cluster, a star nursery in the constellation Cepheus, some 3,000 light years from us. In a flight of fancy not usually associated with astrophysicists, scientists are calling it a "cosmic rosebud blossoming with new stars."

The rosebud-like red glow surrounding the hot, young stars is warm dust heated by the stars. Green "leafy" nebulosity is the product of heated aromatic (exactly what do they smell like?) hydrocarbons, similar to materials that can be found on Earth in barbecue pits, exhaust pipes, Congress and other places where combustion has occurred. The stars are the blue dots to the right of the rosebud.

And, just because it's my favorite galaxy (you have to be a real nerd to have a favorite galaxy), I am attaching WISE's picture of the Andromeda Galaxy.

So pretty!

2010-03-07T00:34:00.004-06:00

These are the latest NASA photos of our home planet. True color, according to NASA. They are beautiful. And they make me think. If you don't believe in climate change, why would you chance it? If there's a possibility that all these scientists could be right, even if they aren't, why would you chance it? Say, the vast majority of scientists are wrong. It could happen. But what if there's only a 5 percent chance they're right (the latest scientific findings assert that the percentage is more like 95 percent surety that climate change is man-made), then isn't that too much of a chance to take?

We're Baaaaccccckkkk

2010-02-18T17:54:00.009-06:00

We have been extremely negligent at maintaining this blog. I blame it on Cathy, who got pregnant and lost her way.

Actually, Cathy discovered her pregnancy shortly before she, Mary, my friend, Barbara, and I schlepped to Gila, NM, to see the Leonid Meteor Shower, which was SUPPOSED to be spectacular. It wasn't. During the three nights we were there, we probably saw 25 meteors, few of which were actually Leonids. But what the hey? The sky was astounding, pure black (new moon), with a brighter-than-I-have-ever-seen Milky Way. Also cold. It was in the 20s at night, and even with Cathy's NASA-approved blankies, champagne and other beverages, it was unbearably cold.

However, we had the Casitas de Gila (www.casitasdegila.com, (recommended highly)) host who brought out his 10-inch Orion telescope and showed us lots of stuff. Then, as we were walking back to our casita, we came upon another lovely person, an amateur astronomer who volunteered to show us other cool stuff. Plus, we got to spend time in the gorgeous NM desert. The highlight was Sirius rising, with colors changing from red to green to blue to purple and looking for all the world like those lights folks had in the 60s that changed the colors on their aluminum Christmas trees.

Back in Atlanta, I dragged everybody outside after Thanksgiving dinner at Barbara's house to see the ISS followed shortly by the shuttle -- both high in the sky and very bright. Everyone was impressed.

Recently, we had a double whammy -- the Saints won the Super Bowl and, that morning, STS-130 launched. My sisters Mary and Vicky were at the launch, and I called them from Atlanta. The NASA site, which I had up on my computer, was about 30 seconds behind the actual launch, which I could hear on Vicky's cell phone. So I looked up off my deck, and, damn, there it was. Beautiful.

I have booked a flight to Melbourne to be with Mary when STS-132 launches. That'd be the one with Garrett aboard. Mary thinks we have scared Garrett, who surely assumes we are all STALKERS. Which, I assure you, we are not. Or at least, most of us are not.

Anyway, Cathy's pregnancy is proceeding well. We already know that it's a boy (unusual in our family) and that he will be named "Drew" for his grandpa who died last April and is a big reason we are all space nuts. Drew will be born sometime in late April, and Cathy will post a photo of him (Cathy?) in his new NASA onesie.

Meanwhile, please check out the Traveler's Guide to the Planets on NatGeo. It's amazing.

Duck!

2009-10-28T09:49:00.002-05:00

Spaceweather.com, which, if you don’t visit it often, you really should, has a regular listing of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs), which are defined as “space rocks larger than approximately 100 meters that can come closer to Earth than 0.05 astronomical units.” (An AU is the mean distance between the sun and the Earth, and we all know that that is – say it with me, everybody – 92.something million miles.)

Spaceweather makes the comforting statement that none of the PHAs astronomers are following is in danger of hitting us, but the uncomforting qualifier is that astronomers are “finding new ones all the time.”

On October 8, one snuck up on them, blasting through the sky in Indonesia and freaking out the local population who thought, naturally, EARTHQUAKE! According to NASA’s Near Earth Object Program (which is missing a hyphen, but what can you do?), the explosion caused by the 10-meter asteroid “triggered infrasound sensors of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization more than 10,000 kilometers away.”

Not to worry, though. NASA says asteroids smaller than 25 meters can’t really do much damage, unless, of course, they fall on your car. And asteroids the size of the Indonesia one only hit Earth every 2-12 years (seems like a remarkably large gap there). And I am sure I will have forgotten all this by 2011.

How annoying.

2009-10-08T14:40:00.004-05:00

You just know Saturn just updated its Facebook status to: "OMG!OMG!OMG! I GOT A NEW RING AND IT IS SOOOOOOOOOOOO BEAUTIFUL AND AMAZING!!!!!!!!" <3 <3 <3

Adler after dark.

2009-10-08T14:38:00.001-05:00

Man, I wish my sisters lived closer, because we would DOMINATE this trivia game.