If you’ve got flash (sorry, iPhone users), you can visit the nifty interactive site that NASA posted to celebrate 50 years of Americans in orbit. I’m kind of sad that it didn’t come with a Wally Schirra action figure or at least a vintage board game.
Sigma 7: Wally Schirra
24 10 2012Comments : Comments Off on Sigma 7: Wally Schirra
Categories : NASA
Visiting Space Shuttle Discovery (Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum)
23 10 2012
First Sighting at James S. McDonnell Space Hangar. Photo credit: JR
I left for Los Angeles and my encounter with Endeavour just two days after returning from a visit to the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. The highlight of the Smithsonian visit was the Space Shuttle Discovery, of course, but after spending three days with Endeavour, I was a little hesitant to go back and look at my photos from my day at the museum. I was worried that the experience, even though it was so recent, wouldn’t hold up to the weekend following Endeavour. Of course, it doesn’t in many ways, but in others, seeing Discovery was also a great experience.
Landing Gear, Space Shuttle Discovery. Photo credit: JR
Endeavour’s landing gear was retracted during its move to the California Science Center, of course. I didn’t really think about it at the time, but when I started sorting through my Smithsonian photos, I realized how different the undersides of the two spacecrafts appeared, one staged for landing, the other staged for transport. The experience of scale was quite different, too. On the streets of L.A., Endeavour seemed like a behemoth, lumbering down the center lane. At Udvar-Hazy, Discovery seems quite small, although not as small as the Mercury capsule perched off to the side.
James S. McDonnell Space Hangar. Photo credit: JR
Otherwise, the real lesson I learned by comparing the two sets of photos: it’s vastly easier to figure out exposure and white balance when I’m outdoors in persistent lighting/weather conditions. Museum lighting continues to be a challenge for me. Most of my problems could be solved with a tripod, but white balance is always difficult in a creatively lit museum. It’s a good thing I’m not being paid for this.
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Tags: Discovery, Museum, NASA, Smithsonian, Space, Space Shuttle
Categories : Discovery, Endeavour, Museums, NASA, Space Shuttle, Tourism
Wallpaper Wednesday
17 10 2012
Milky Way, Southern Cross, alpha Centauri, Carina Nebula. Photo credit: A. Fujii
Threaded through the partisan bickering during the debates on twitter last night was a string of tweets discussing ESO’s discovery of a planet in the Alpha Centauri system.[1] According to ESO’s press release, the planet was detected through the observation of “wobbles” in Alpha Centauri B’s path of motion. Astronomers speculated that the gravitational pull of an orbiting body was generating the irregularities. Putting the HARPS instrument on the 3.6-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory to work on the problem, they discovered a planet with an orbital period of 3.2 days. The twitter is excited because Alpha Centauri B is a lot like our Sun and the newly discovered planet has the same mass as Earth—the theory being that our planetary twin has been discovered orbiting the star closest to our solar system. I’m not too worked up about the twinning possibilities, but I do think it’s cool that HARPS is doing exactly what it was supposed to do: find new planets.
In related news, I was intrigued by NASA’s response to ESO’s announcement. It’s as if they’re taking the discovery of the new planet a bit personally. Their press release, ostensibly a statement of congratulations to ESO on its accomplishment, reads more like an attempt to stake a claim on exoplanets of the universe. “We, too, have exoplanet finding capabilities! We have Hubble! We have Kepler! We have the James Webb Space Telescope!”
Click on the image to download wallpaper.
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[1] Two stars comprise the Alpha Centauri system, Alpha Centauri A & B. They are indistinguishable to the naked eye, so we usually refer to them in the singular, as in “Alpha Centauri, the brightest star in the constellation Centaurus.”
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Tags: Alpha Centauri, ESO, Exoplanet, NASA
Categories : ESO, Instruments, NASA, News, Observatories, Wallpaper
Endeavour Day Two (Photos)
17 10 2012
Intersection of Crenshaw Dr., Crenshaw Blvd., 82nd. Photo credit: JR
I added Endeavour: Day Two photos to my flickr site last night (to go with Morning One, Afternoon One and Videos). It took me longer than I thought it would because I kept stopping to (re) watch the L.A. Times timelapse video of my weekend. Anyway, the Day Two collection is as much about the spectators as it is about the shuttle (don’t worry, there are plenty of Endeavour photos and all the engine porn you’d ever want). After being jostled around all day Friday—particularly at Randy’s Donuts—I was feeling a bit grumpy about the crowds. Saturday, I tried to use them to my advantage instead of fighting all the people. So, fewer clear sight lines, but more awesome moments of stranger happiness.
p.s. If you follow my twitter feed, you know I left the sidewalk unexpectedly at Crenshaw and King on Saturday night. A few days later, my right knee is definitely feeling the impact, but otherwise, all is good.
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Tags: Endeavour, Los Angeles, Space Shuttle
Categories : Endeavour, Museums, NASA, News, Space Shuttle, Tourism
Endeavour Day One (Photos/Videos)
16 10 2012
See you later! Photo credit: JR
So far, my answers to the question “How was your weekend?” have been fairly inarticulate. “Amazing!!” is the quick answer, but even that extra exclamation point doesn’t convey the depth of my emotions. The people (friendly, excited), the sounds (beep-beep-beep-beep, endless-drone-of-LAPD-helicopter), the movement (slow and then slower), the spacecraft (OMFG)…it was overwhelming at times. In addition to sorting through all the meanings of the move for the history and future of the U.S. space program, I had to grapple with the idea of escorting the space shuttle through parts of the city known to me only as sites of social strife and political/racial oppression. My personal history with South Central L.A. meant that I couldn’t just chat blithely with my neighbor about the installation of the space shuttle at the California Science Center. Every conversation bumped up against a memory, many of them bad. For instance, on my second day, I walked through the intersection where I saw my first dead body in 1991—how weird is that? My mind was spinning simultaneously in fast-forward and reverse all weekend long and now I really need a nap. I’m going to need to rest before I can really process what this weekend meant for me, what it meant for the nation, what it meant for future space exploration. You know. The easy topics.
I’ve started the photo/video upload on my flickr site. If you want to see motion vignettes of the move, check out my Endeavour Videos collection. They’re short, from 20 to 90 seconds long, but some of them are pretty impressive (in terms of seeing Endeavour, not in terms of cellphone cinematography).
I’ve also uploaded a few photos from Day One: Morning and Day One: Afternoon. Day One began at 12:30 a.m. October 12, 2012 and ended at 11:00 p.m. October 12, 2012 (yes, almost 24 hours on 2-1/2 hours of sleep!); the photos start at the point at which the public was allowed to view the shuttle—the corner of Sepulveda Westway and Manchester—and finish with the rush across the 405 freeway at the end of the day.
JR! Photo credit: some random stranger with my iPhone
More later, I promise.
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Tags: Endeavour, Los Angeles, Space Shuttle
Categories : Endeavour, Museums, NASA, News, Space Shuttle
Endeavour On the Move
12 10 2012
Endeavour’s passing. Photo credit: JR
Here’s just a bit to let you know how well it’s all going out here in L.A. That’s a close-up of Endeavour’s flank as she (it?) moves out of temporary holding in the parking lot of Bed, Bath & Beyond at Manchester near LAX. That move occupied my afternoon. My early morning hours… Well, my early morning hours were spent getting as close to Endeavour as possible (or as allowed by the LAPD). Here’s what I saw when I looked up at about 4:30 a.m.
More soon—must get some sleep before the next stage of the move!
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Tags: Endeavour, Los Angeles, NASA, Space Shuttle
Categories : Endeavour, Museums, NASA, News, Space Shuttle
Wallpaper Wednesday
11 10 2012
SpaceX’s Falcon/Dragon Launch. Photo credit: NASA/Tony Gray and Robert Murray
I missed posting yesterday. I was on the road (on the train, in the plane) all day. As you might have guessed, I’m writing this from Los Angeles, where I am preparing for Endeavour’s final move. The big event begins at 2 a.m. this evening and last two days—wish my old bones luck!
Last weekend, I had the good fortune to be in Virginia. While there, I did something you should never do: pulled out my iPhone during a family dinner and propped it up on the serving dish in front of me so I could watch NASA TV’s pre-launch coverage of the SpaceX Falcon/Dragon launch.[1] Eventually, my phone was passed around the table while my partner and I explained why we were so interested in the launch. By the end of the meal, the TV in the living room was playing NASA TV instead of football. By launch time, fourteen people were sitting in front of the television, counting the seconds to liftoff. Thank god the launch didn’t scrub at T-1 second—that’s a lot of pressure, a room full of relatives!
Congratulations once again to SpaceX. People are paying attention and that’s a good thing for the future of space exploration.
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[1] In my defense, a few members of the extended family were eating dinner in front of the television—baseball/football—so I wasn’t being THAT rude.
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Categories : NASA, News, SpaceX, Wallpaper
Intrepid Museum
3 10 2012
Douglas A4 Skyhawk, Intrepid Museum, New York, NY. Photo credit: JR
I failed to upload my photos from our trip to the Intrepid Museum in September. Imagine forgetting about visiting the Space Shuttle Enterprise! I was happy to see the spacecraft again and overall, I liked the new exhibit more than I liked its predecessor at the Smithsonian. Well, on the positive side, Enterprise was better lit at the Smithsonian, making it easier to see all the details and fine lines. On the negative side, visitors were kept well back from the orbiter. At the Intrepid, you can walk underneath it, practically kick its tires. So, while I’m not too happy with the darkness of the temporary pavilion (reminded me of the National Museum of the Air Force), I was pleased they let me get so close.
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Categories : Enterprise, Museums, NASA, Planes, Space Shuttle, Tourism
U.S. Fire and Smoke (MODIS)
23 09 2012
Wildfires in Washington State. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC
I think the first line of NASA’s description of this photo says it all: “The summer of 2012 will unfortunately be known as the ‘Summer of Devastating Western Wildfires’ and practically not one state out west was spared.” At present, my home state is seeing a resurgence of flames due to lightning storms sans rainwater sweeping through the area earlier in the month. I’m particularly interested in the Okanogan Complex, since it’s closest to home, but the high evacuation levels of the Wenatchee Complex have been stressing me out for two weeks now.
The above photo comes from NASA’s U.S. Fire and Smoke Gallery, an intriguing yet somewhat depressing set of images taken by various satellites. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometers (MODIS) on the Aqua and Terra satellites are doing what they were designed to do: provide an extensive, repetitive record of the earth’s surface. Terra flies north to south over the equator in the morning, Aqua crosses south to north in the afternoon. Between the two imaging systems, the entire surface of the earth is documented every 1-2 days. Most of the “MODIS Image of the Day” photos show us the troubled parts of the planet: typhoons, hurricanes, ash clouds from volcanic eruptions, massive phytoplankton blooms, and yes, smoke and fire from around the world.
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Categories : Instruments, NASA, News
Endeavour-SCA Mating Time Lapse
19 09 2012Oh, yeah. NASA Kennedy posted a time lapse video of Endeavour’s mating to the SCA. Watching it, I had the same thought I posted a few days ago: the Shuttle retirement process is just about as fascinating as the spaceflight program.
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Categories : Endeavour, NASA, News, Space Shuttle
