August 2011
10 posts
via: @brainpicker. Just wow….puts life in perspective. My friend @mommyhack aka @behindtheview linked this.
Well, we could use some comedy around here these days, and here’s someone from the Napa Valley wine business to help us out. Let’s work up to this one slowly: do you drink wine? If you do, do you swirl it around in the glass at any point? Do you think it matters, for the taste, which direction you swirl it?
“Do you realize that the… bank bailout — that sum of money is greater than the entire 50-year running budget of NASA. And so when someone says ‘We don’t have enough money for this space program,’ I’m (saying) ‘No, it’s not that you don’t have enough money. It’s that the…
+1
March 2011
1 post
February 2011
1 post
8 years ago Space Shuttle Columbia was lost over Texas and portions of Louisiana carrying Husband, McCool, Brown, Chawla, Anderson, Clark & Ramon.
I can’t help but think about Columbia every-time I hear ‘Space Oddity’ as Dave and I were listening to this song coming back from IHOP for breakfast. We got back to the apartment anxiously awaiting for twin sonic booms, except a ll we were able to find was TV coverage of debris falling and recovery efforts. :(
That day just didn’t feel right. You wanted the news to be wrong, and maybe there was another reason. It didn’t feel right not having the shuttle return, that’s what they do - the launch, return and we do it again. We would do it again, just a few years later.
I can’t wait for my moment to wish Discovery off on her final ride into the sky later this month!
December 2010
3 posts
November 2010
5 posts
Via: @RobertPearlman: Three ETs remaining, all now at Kennedy Space Center: ET-137 with STS-133; ET-122 with STS-134; ET-138 with STS-335 LON/STS-135.
Since there’s a rather large crack in the foam of Discovery’s external tank, here’s a bit of a roundup discussion about the external tank:
- History of external tank production, since no new tanks will be manufactured.
- Contrary to popular believe, ET-137 is currently attached to STS-133/Discovery, not ET-122 which you’ll find is the ‘Katrina tank’ originally slated to be the external tank.
- There’s only 3 external tanks left, ET-122, ET-137 and ET-138.
For those still following along with the crazy adventures of the STS133 tweetup, here’s our latest update:
NASATweetup attendees,
Below is an your Tweetup schedule for tomorrow and update about launch. Your badges will get you in the gate between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. EDT. Again, we recommend you come through gate 2 on State Road 3. Your other option is gate 3 near the Visitor Complex, but it will be busier
Thursday, November 5/Launch: Tweetup Day 2
- 9:00 a.m. – Arrive at Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 Press Site
- 9:30 a.m. – Astronaut Dan Tani
- 10:00 a.m. – Possible group picture beside the countdown clock
- 11:14 p.m. – Astronauts depart their crew quarters for Launch Pad 39A
- ~11:20 p.m. – Tweetup participants assemble along the road across from the Launch Control Center to wave to the crew as they drive by in the astrovan on their way to the launch pad
- 11:30 p.m. – Lt. Col. Patrick Barrett, 45th Weather Squadron, U.S. Air Force
- ~1:30 p.m. – STS-133 Closeout Crew member (Discovery’s hatch is closed and latched for launch at 12:59 p.m. EDT)
- 3:04 p.m. – Launch of space shuttle Discovery on the STS-133 mission
- ~4:00 p.m. – Post-launch news conference on NASA TV
Following the launch, you are free to depart on your own schedule. If you leave immediately, be prepared to sit in traffic for quite some time.
At 3:29 p.m. EDT, the time of today’s planned launch of space shuttle Discovery, weather conditions were “no go,” as predicted when the decision was made to delay launch until Friday. Low cloud ceilings and rain showers would have prevented liftoff.
Below are detailed highlights leading to Discovery’s targeted 3:04:01 p.m. launch Friday.
The complete STS-133 NASA Television schedule has been posted at: http://www.nasa.gov/shuttletv
Detailed information on the mission has been posted at http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle
One more note for you about the Tweetup tent: We had to turn in the AC generator for the tent, so please factor that in to your planning and dress (shorts are okay). We will have shelter for you, and we can open the sides for breezes to cool you off, but we will not have air conditioning. We still will have tables and chairs and power and WiFi.
We will extend the tent rental on a day-by-day basis through Sunday for any delay beyond tomorrow. We would not have any formal programming (and I’ll have to leave and hand you over to a more than capable volunteer from Kennedy Space Center), but you would be able to come out and be here on launch day.
Don’t forget to bring water! See you tomorrow!
There’s been an overwhelming amount of tweets, pictures and other information from #nasatweetup. I’ve been finding myself following more people and favoriting more things. Then it struck me, using TweetDeck User Streams, my computer is bleeding information. It’s like I am surfing the web, but the information is coming at me instead of me searching for it.
I can ‘bookmark’ or follow people and get information from them throughout the day or whenever I feel like it all at the same time. One person may be tweeting about space, another food, someone else music or maybe just a close friend talking about her kids. I can keep tabs on anyone in anything in Tweetdeck and it saves me a tremendous amount of time!
The only downside to living life through twitter is that so much information is lost. It comes up, lives for a few moments and fades away. The beauty of blogs is it has a home somewhere.
