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Moon Phase = half | Weather = Indian Summer is Here for a while longer! | Current reading = The Purpose of Painting - Angela D'aleo
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Quote: "Next stop - Mars!!!"
- me
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October 29, 1998
I'm breaking my rule about no graphics here today...history was made today! The shuttle Discovery lifted off at just after 1 p.m. Everyone is raving about John Glenn going back to space, which is a great thing, but other stuff is happening that barely got the merest mention - at the end.
There is new technology in place that is getting used and tested in preparation for a manned mission to the Red Planet. The shuttle no longer has to float upside - in the past, especially at the beginning of the shuttle program, there were no communications satellites in orbit that could be used and the antenna was on the roof of the shuttle. It had to be pointed at the earth, otherwise the signal just went out into space. Now there are new satellites that the shuttle can use so that limitation is gone. There is supposed to be smaller, faster, better instruments on board that will be tested also (I wish I knew what they were...I suppose I could out on the NASA site...) There are two medical specialists on board this time - for obvious reasons and for research into space effects on the aging body since we are still pretty much infants in the space trade, it would take a while for us to get to Mars.
Imagine it, we are about 20 years from going to Mars...people physically walking on the Red Planet...I won't believe it until I see it...
CBS had some great trivia at the commercial breaks - I wish I had seen it all. Questions like "What do the astronauts miss most while they are in space? Showers." "Why is the booster rocket (I can't remember what it's called!! The horror!) orange? It's unpainted - that eliminates 600 extra pounds of weight" I can't even imagine 600 pounds of paint...
I wonder what it's like to be up there physically? To be able to look out a window and see Mother Earth? I know what it's like to do it shamanically...and as the usual heyoka-like thing that I am - I got motion sickness...lol! (I should ask Ayla and RTT about that sometime. I wonder if that happens often?) I remember seeing that while the earth is predominately blue (all that water), there is an incredible amount of other colors. Gray, green, bits of red...and I noticed that sometimes, the clouds seem to go backwards because of the rotation of the planet. That was very interesting to see!
On that note, I think I will end. Good night, Sweetie.
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