We choose to go to the moon...

"Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the Moon, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts; Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders did a live television broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and Moon seen from Apollo 8.

Lovell said, 'The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth.' They ended the broadcast with the crew taking turns reading from the book of Genesis." [source]



Click [here] to listen to the Christmas Even Genesis reading or right click/save.

The recording will always give me chills.

Apollo 8 astronauts remember historic voyage

Merry Christmas!

Past: cailleanlarkin alerted me to Buzz Aldrin's appearance on last night's Colbert Report and here it is! Aldrin is on at around 14:30.

Present: Water on Mars! Thanks to worldwouldend for the heads up! (Here's more information on TEGA - the device that analyzes Martian ice and soil samples.)

I've slept so poorly for the past few nights. I'm up way too early and can't get myself back to sleep. Hopefully the pattern will end tonight because I'm exhausted.

After this year's Gil/Sara debacle I needed to take a break from CSI. I just went back and watched the final six episodes of the season and remembered all the reasons I love the show Grissom. I particularly enjoyed the episode written by the "Two And A Half Men" writing team. The writer swap was a gimmick but it worked perfectly for one episode. ( As for the season finale... )

Is anyone else still watching CSI?

Also on my current viewing schedule is the Discovery channel series, When We Left Earth:

When We Left Earth is the story of mankind’s greatest adventure, leaving the earth and living in space. For the first time this series has digitally re-mastered the original film and audio recordings from NASA’s vault, including and all the key on-board footage filmed by the astronauts themselves. From John Glenn's Mercury mission to orbit the earth, to Neil Armstrong’s first historic steps on the moon, to the unprecedented spacewalks required to repair the Hubble telescope, these epic stories are shown in stunning clarity and told by the astronauts and engineers who were there.

The narrative is forced into digest form simply as a function of the time allotted but the footage is spectacular as is the first hand commentary from the astronauts and flight directors. What really gets me, though, are the images of civilians watching the earliest launches. There was one shot of a woman in her 50's clutching her breast as she watched a Redstone rocket launch a Mercury astronaut into space. This is someone who was born before air travel was possible and here she is, with awe and wonder, watching a man leave Earth.

If anyone is watching and is interested in more details about the early days of NASA, here are some book recs:

Failure Is Not An Option by Gene Kranz. I've always been very focused on the early days of space flight from the astronauts' POV but Failure Is Not An Option gives voice and heart to the cast behind the scenes of the NASA program.

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. This is the classic story of the earliest days of space flight.

A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew Chaikin. A Man on the Moon is specific to the Apollo missions and was the basis for the HBO series, From the Earth to the Moon. It's probably the best book you'll find about the Apollo missions.

Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon by Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton. Moon Shot isn't quite up to par with A Man on the Moon but it's from the perspective of two of the firsts – who had their own interesting journeys in the space program – and it's a nostalgic favorite of mine.

A month or two ago, topaz119 shared this video of Carolyn Porco discussing Cassini images of Saturn, Titan, and Enceladus. She's tremendously passionate about the Cassini program and it's a great snapshot of images from the mission. ANYWAY. It turns out that Porco joined the Star Trek XI production crew as a planetary science consultant. In this interview, BSG Science Advisor Kevin Grazier interviews Porco about Cassini, her interest in Science Fiction, and her role in the new Star Trek film.

But why I'm really posting at 6:53am is this: HEAVEN.

Justin and Madonna on stage together is near musical performance nirvana for me. Don't mock. I'm entirely serious.



( Here are more, larger, images from their performance )

Many thanks to timberho for the photos and for video of their performance. It's not the best performance I've seen from either of them (the register seems too low for Madonna and it's a bit more chaotic than it needs to be) but it's MADONNA AND JUSTIN PERFORMING ON STAGE TOGETHER. I can't get enough of the moments when they dance together.

( Video... )

On May 1, 2006 I made this post about a job opportunity in Ann Arbor. It feels, simultaneously, like it was 2 years ago and 20 years ago. It was filtered at the time but there's quite clearly no need for that now. :)

On the same day, I made this post asking, "Suppose I wanted to read the best of Jack/Daniel. Where would I go? (I really need to troll the icon communities for a Daniel icon because OMG HOT.)" I love looking back on moments when I fell for a fandom.

Happy May 1!

ETA: Thanks for filling out my poll. I'll continue to keep BSG s3 spoilers behind a cut.

From that time when the first thinking being struggled to stand upright, when he began to rationalize and think in most abstract terms, when he remembered the past so he could better see the future, he was driven by this inborn instinct to grasp for new heights, to reach outward. - Moonshot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon by Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton

NASA Administrator, Michael Griffin, says Discovery is ready to go which would send me bouncing off the walls if it wasn't for the task force's report that 3 of 15 safety measures haven't been met. Slow and steady boys and girls.

If NASA is ready and they do go, the launch window is 7/13- 7/31 and I'm hoping for any time after 7/16 when I'm back in the States. I'm told we can see the shuttle when it launches and that's pretty damn high on my short list of cool things about living in Florida.

I'm very unsettled this morning. It's a weird low level anxiety that I can't attribute to anything specific. Maybe it's the ants. They're still there and they're still gross.