Up, Up and Away: Watching the Space Launch with Bated Breath

When I was a kid there were two things I wanted to see: Walt Disney World followed by a trip to the Kennedy Space Center to watch a rocket launch.  We had a wall map and I would put it on the floor, grab a ruler, and then calculate how much allowance money I'd have to save to make the trip possible.  It never happened.  Didn't have the discipline to save that much money.  But it was still a fun little dream.

Nine years ago it was announced that the U.S. space program would no longer launch rockets from our soil.  This was devastating news.  Extraordinary especially with NASA's achievements with space flight, creating the incredible Gemini and Apollo missions.  How was it possible that NASA would no longer be at the forefront with Space exploration?

There's been a huge debate with whether having a space program is worth it, considering the financial cost.  As a society we've benefited greatly from space travel.  From NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, here are 20 inventions we have thanks to space travel (their website has more information): Camera phones, scratch-resistant lenses, CAT scans, LED's, land mine removal, athletic shoes, foil blankets, water purification systems, dust busters, ear thermometers, home insulation, the jaws of life (you'll have to see on their website, never heard of it either), wireless headsets, memory foam, freeze dried food, adjustable smoke detector, baby formula, artificial limbs, computer mouse, and the portable computer.

One of the reasons technology exploded during the 20th century is thanks to our race towards the stars, finding innovations to make space travel more easier.  Space travel is worth it.  Understanding the cosmos is worth it. 

Thank goodness for Space X partnering with NASA.  The failed launch last Wednesday was disappointing, but watching the launch last Saturday was so exciting.  All the commentary on NASA and their interviews was fascinating while waiting to hear if the weather would be good.  It was touch and go.  A cumulus cloud threatening lightning was hovering near.  Leading right up to the go ahead there was a 70% chance of good weather with less than 10% chance of bad weather.  I was on pins and needles watching the countdown, waiting to hear if the weather check would be good and the rocket would be "go for launch."   It was!!

I didn't get to see the launch in person at the Kennedy Space Center, instead I was sitting comfortably on a couch while watching the NASA channel.  Apparently there were around 3 million people watching the launch live.  (How were there not more people watching!!!???)  But it was thrilling!  The launch was successful.  And after a 19 hour flight the Dragon crew safely boarded the international space station early yesterday morning.

Hope is alive and well.  Dreams are still being achieved.  There is so much to be discovered, and we're all the more closer to unlocking many more mysteries of the universe. 

Being Nerdy with the Family: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing

I belong to a family of nerds.  We just love nerdy things, and with that I've grown up with a fascination of all things Space.  Whenever there was a meteor shower growing up my Dad, brothers, and I would drive to the Sierra Nevada foothills, away from city lights, to get a good show.  Solar eclipse.  Moon eclipse.  Etc.  We love it.

On Saturday my family was over having a Talea meeting, and we decided to combine our meeting and celebrate the Moon landing.  Robbie and Lindsay brought freeze dried frozen ice-cream sandwiches for everyone as a surprise.  

All weekend I've been listening off and on to Apollo 11 in Real Time, which has been so fascinating!  Seriously, being able to switch between all the Mission Control stations in real time has been fun, though I mainly listen to Capcom, communication with the astronauts.  It's a slice of time, living history 50 years later.

There was chaos in our house as we waited for the moon landing at 2:17 pm mountain time.  A few minutes before the landing one of my baby nieces broke a plate, so Steven was vacuuming it up.  Robbie was showing Ty virtual reality stuff he's been working on, so there was that chatter.  Kids running everywhere.  Michael and I listening intently to the audio on the speaker, trying to not miss nuances.  But then, a minute before the landing, we all gathered around to listen, and then cheered when, "The Eagle has landed," sounded through the speaker.  Then we broke out the freeze dried ice-cream.

This is how we have fun.

It's great, really.

I'm listening right now to the audio.  The space craft is coming back to Earth and the flight crew is sleeping, so it's pretty quiet.  There's still active channels.  Calculations.  Making sure information is right.  Does anything need to be corrected?  Some guy is now talking about the Vector and asking how confident someone else is about calculations with the fuel cell purge, and water.  It's eavesdropping, 50 years later to the second.

I've heard interesting stuff.  An hour before Neil and Buzz walked on the moon I heard someone say, "I don't know who's listening to this channel, but whoever you are, wherever you are, Man or Woman, let's all take a moment to thank God."  That was so great and humbling to hear.

When Neil and Buzz were coming out of the spacecraft later that night my Mom and I were doing a late night fast food run.  Healthy, I know.  I sat in the drive through listening with ear buds, and when a bacon lettuce cheeseburger was handed to me I heard, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."  Oh, and just listening to their observations.  Describing the moon.  The fine sand dust like floor quality.  Craters.  Boulders. 

When they were coming back into the space pod, is that what it's called?, I think it was Neil who said, "Well maybe we can finally get some sleep."  "Oh no, not now Captain" was the response.

Right around midnight, as I was drifting to sleep, I heard two guys randomly chatting, "Now what was Neil saying?  Did he say he saw an arm in the crater?"  "I don't know.  We should get some sleep.  See you in the morning." "See you in the morning." (I don't have a good auditory memory, so this is the essence of what I heard.)

I've been nerding all weekend.  Listening to the flight director debate when the astronauts should be woken up, sleeping on the moon.  The surgeon admitting Neil had been awake for over an hour.  Buzz was still sleeping.  Leaving the moon.  It's been cool.

Anywho, Hope you guys had a great weekend.

Really, It's been amazing experiencing the moon landing in real time, in quite an interesting way.

Hidden Figures, mini movie review

Rating: A-

Hidden Figures, based on a true story, takes place in 1961 during the great Space Race.  A race between America and the Soviet Union, two opposing forces during the Cold War.    The Russians beat us by getting the first satellite Sputnik, a monkey, and a man to space.  How were we to compete?  How were we to catch up?  With so many movies and shows centering around this time period the focus tends to be on the astronauts themselves, such as The Right Stuff, Apollo 13, and the Astronaut Wives Club.  Rarely do we see the challenges that scientists, engineers, and computers faced while helping those astronauts get into space.

When I talk about computers I don't mean electrical devices making the calculations NASA needs, but actual human beings who are brilliant mathematicians.  Before the IBM 7090 was installed and operating at NASA, a computer the size of a giant room with less capabilities than our modern cell phones, calculations had to be made by human genius.

Katherine Goble is one of these geniuses.  She works in the West Area Computers division, a group of female Africa-American mathematicians, with Mary Jackson, who wants to become an engineer, and Dorothy Vaughan, who wishes her supervising position was permanent and official.  These women face not only 1960 social norms with females and racial segregation, but also finding a way to remain employable at NASA while technological computers threatens to replace human computers.

The true climax comes during Mercury 7's Friendship 7 flight with John Glenn, who is unsure if he'll be able to make a full orbit around the Earth, which is something the Russians have not yet accomplished.  (And I think by this point I've spoiled too much, if you don't know history).

As with most "Based on True Story" movies there's a lot of changes.  Mainly with the compression of events.  If this was a completely true story everything would take place between 1953-1962, and a whole lot of the plot would be different as well, taking proper timeline into account.  I mention this because some of the things that are portrayed didn't happen as scripted, but then if we want a true retailing we wouldn't be able to see it in a two hour movie, and the tension created by certain plot points wouldn't by there as well. 

With that said Katherine Goble, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan are all inspirational women, and what they accomplished is remarkable.  This film does them justice, and I'm glad to see their stories told.

In the end Hidden Figures is a great inspiration with solid acting, directing, editing, cinematography, and so forth.

MPAA: Rated PG for thematic elements and some language.

The Blood Moon

 A couple nights ago was the first blood moon in this blood moon lunar tetrad.

And I missed it.

I, for some sad reason, thought it happened around 10:00 pm, and when running outside at 11:30 seeing a beautiful full moon in a perfectly clear sky, I headed to bed with dread.

My brother woke up around 2 am, peaked out the window, and ran outside to look at the moon.  With our Canon he took these three pictures.  My Mom joined him.

They didn't wake me up.

. . . still a little bitter.

 But the good news is there's going to be 3 more blood moons in the next 18 months:

April 15, 2014 (the first) happened on Passover

October 8, 2014 (Feast of the Tabernacles)

April 4, 2015 (Passover)

September 28, 2015 (Feast of the Tabernacle) also called a Super Moon.

 

At Home Planetarium

(Image Info: Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech)

A few weeks ago I got to spend time in a Digitalis Portable Planetarium, all by myself, for a couple hours.  It was unbelievably fun.  The Universe at my beck and call!  The ability to zoom in and out of planets, see what phase Mercury and Venus are currently in, where the moons of Jupiter currently sit, what constellations are in our daytime/night sky, etc, etc, etc.

The remote was having some issues, so there was a moment where I was rewinding time, and hitting play wouldn't resume normal speed.  The stars were spinning round and round fast.  So crazy!  When the remote decided to work again I was viewing last Novembers stars.  Totally reminded me of the Psych episode "For Earth to Starbucks" when Shawn hosts a Planetarium show, and then leaves to investigate, leaving the sky spinning.  I know what that feels like!!  Cool and nauseating at the same time.

I found out that the same planetarium program I was using in the Digitalis Dome is available as a free Open Source computer download: Stellarium.  Sure, you're not inside a dome, but you can set the location to where you live, and see what constellations are in the sky no mater the time of day.

It's a really fun program to play around with.

(BTW, the symbol with the sun behind the cloud turns off the atmosphere, which is helpful for daytime viewing.  When you have the planet names turned on, click on the planet and zoom in using the (/) key and out using the (\).  A couple planets have two zooms, if the moons are spread out at a distance.  The Help menu is highly recommended.) 

http://stellarium.org/ 

My Most Favorite Muppet Song

 

 (Image Info, Public Domain)

 The first Muppet Movie will always be the best.  I love a lot of the sequels, but the first is timeless and amazing.  The music is some of the best movie music ever written.  They're echoes of my childhood.  When I was a toddler I still remember looking at the record sleeve, studying all the pictures as I listened to the music.

Though "The Rainbow Connection" will always be special, my most favorite song is "I'm Going to go Back There Someday."  It's sung my Gonzo as he stares up at the sky, contemplating, feeling his uniqueness.  The older I get, the more powerful the words become.  They're spiritual.

 "I'm Going to go Back There Someday"

"This looks familiar, vaguely familiar,

Almost unreal, yet, it's too soon to feel yet.
Close to my soul, yet so far away.
I'm going to go back there someday.

"Sun rises, night falls, sometimes the sky calls.
Is that a song there, and do I belong there?
I've never been there, but I know the way.
I'm going to go back there someday.

"Come and go with me, it's more fun to share,
We'll both be completely at home in midair.
We're flyin', not walkin', on featherless wings.
We can hold onto love like invisible strings.

"There's not a word yet for old friends who've just met.
Part heaven, part space, or have I found my place?
You can just visit, but I plan to stay.
I'm going to go back there someday.
I'm going to go back there someday."

Written by Paul Williams and Kenny Ascher.

I love the line "There's not a word yet for old friends who've just met."  How many times have we felt that?  I personally think it's our spirits remembering. :0)

Maze Globe = Better then Any Cell Phone Game

 My Mom got this for me yesterday knowing how much I love balls, mazes, and obstacles.  I never knew such a game existed.  This particular maze globe is by The Sharper Image and simply called the Space Challenge Maze Globe.  There's a 100 steps you navigate a little ball through, and so far I can get up to step 19.  While researching this product I found another company that makes ball mazes called Perplexus, and they have a maze globe called Perplexus Epic that is, simply, epic looking.  

 Don't get me wrong, I love video games of all sizes, but in the last few years I've gotten on this board, card game kick.  Games in the physical world, so to speak.  This game is fantastic because it doesn't just develop problem solving/hand and eye coordination, but it seems to help spatial-visual skills as well.  And even though it's challenging, I've also found it quite relaxing.  Ha!  After I can consistently solve this I'm definitely getting more maze globes!

 

 Edit: 12-29-2012.  I can now make it from steps 1-50, straight.  Not consistent. 5, 22, and 28 give me problems.  It's still quite fun.

Stratos Jump Lego Style

(Image info, above the clouds)

History was made this last week.  Felix Baumgartner is the first man to break the sound barrier by skydiving.  By way of a helium balloon he soared 24.26 miles above the Earth and then jumped out.  Along with breaking the record of being the first man (without a plane) to break the sound barrier, he also broke two other records: highest free fall and highest maned balloon flight.  A video of his accomplishment is below.  I'm absolutely amazed by it.  He didn't black out!!

And below is Lego performing a reenactment.  It's pretty epic too :0)

I personally love the face plant at the end.  Have a great weekend!!

Once in a Blue Moon

(Picture of a Blue Moon, 8-31-2012)

This has been a huge year for astronomy.  First an annular solar eclipse, then the transit of Venus, and now a blue moon.

What's funny is that a blue moon isn't blue at all, but refers to an event when there are two full moons in one calender month.  No one knows where the term "blue moon" came from.  This is a rare occurrence that happens about every three years.  There was one last night, but the next one won't happen until July 31, 2015.

So last night I was trying desperatly to grab a photo, which wasn't working quite right.  Until I realized I should have video taped it and screen cap an image.  Ah!  That would have worked better, but I'm pleased with the image I got above.  I was lucky to see it at all, as it was really cloudy due to thunder storms that lasted through the entire night.  But around 10:40 last night, there were a couple holes in the clouds so I was able to witness this rare event.  It was quite beautiful.

If I Had a Mansion . . .

I don't think I'm the only person who, as a kid, would imagine all the crazy things they would do if they had a huge house.  It's fun dreaming in the ridicules.  Some of my crazy ideas include a room dedicated entirely to Ferrets (because they're cute and mischievous, though smelly, so they get their own room complete with a large array of see through tunnels), a room dedicated to a small city (a la tiny houses and train sets), and a gigantic music/library.  Ridicules, though I think every idea is genius.     

Last week my family and I wondered into the Clark Planetarium.  I've been there many times, but this time I was entranced by the Kinetic machines they have running.  These machines are like watching balls ride roller coasters.  I told my brother "Wouldn't it be cool to have one of these at home?"  In which he agreed.  Then, a few minutes later, my Dad joined us, equally entranced, and said "Wouldn't it be cool to have one of these?"  Yeah, totally.  The machine they had on the ceiling was amazing.  It's like watching the solar system in motion, which, with this being a planetarium, is probably the point.       

I first became aware of Kinetic machines thanks to an exhibit at BYU Provo back in 2003 called Poetic Kinetics.  It was put together with an away of contraptions built by father and son.  The son, Andrew Smith, has on his website several videos of his machines to view, and there a lot of fun to watch.  You can find it at www.andrewsmithart.com under the tab "rolling ball."  He has some other really fun stuff to watch.  Now to learn welding . . .

Sarah