This is a test. This is only a test. Testing a Tweet, or Tweeting a test.
That is all.
Discovery Makes Final Landing – Will Be Retired
March 9, 2011
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Photo Credit: NASA
OV-3, Discovery, made it’s final landing today at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, ending it’s career as the most historic member of the Space Shuttle fleet. 39 missions, 365 total days in space, first to return to space after the Challenger and Columbia disasters, Discovery completed it’s last mission by delivering supplies and the last habitable component to the International Space Station.
The Shuttle now heads to museum duty, to be displayed as a monument to the United States space program.
Star Trek Geek – Captain Kirk wakes the crew of Discovery
March 8, 2011
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They Came From Outer Space
March 7, 2011
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Actually, they didn’t come from outer space. They came from Earth. Florida, to be exact. It’s a bit much to even say they are in “outer” space. They were just a couple of hundred miles from me tonight. That’s closer than friends in the San Francisco Bay area. In fact, they were closer to me than most of the rest of humanity, right at that moment. But they were in orbit, and I was standing in my driveway in Visalia, California.
I didn’t take this picture. It’s not of the sight from tonight. It gives only an idea of what I saw streaking across the sky above my home. Two points of light (streaks here due to shutter timing) floating silently overhead. The Space Shuttle Discovery, followed by the International Space Station.
I subscribe to a service that will send me a message by Twitter about Space Station transits viewable from my home. Today’s message told me a “very bright” ISS would be visible. I set the alarm on my iPhone. They neglected to mention that it would be a double whammy on this pass!
It was, literally, a once-in-a-lifetime event. I can’t begin to describe how I felt as I saw it.
NASA Geek – Discovery departs ISS on last mission
March 7, 2011
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Discovery departs from ISS. Photo Credit: NASA
Space Shuttle OV-103, Discovery, pulls away from the International Space Station on Monday, March 7, 2011. This is the final voyage of Discovery, after 39 missions in 27 years. NASA is retiring the Shuttle fleet this year, due to concerns regarding the stresses on the vehicles from repeated launching and landings. While designed, built, and maintained for multiple missions, the Shuttles are, like any heavily used machine, subject to wear and tear, and at some point become a safety risk above and beyond the dangers inherent in space flight. Endeavor, OV-105, is being prepped for it’s final mission in the VAB at Kennedy Space Center.
My First Album
March 6, 2011
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Some Facebook fun:
1 – Go to Wikipedia and hit random. The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band. 2 – Go to quotationspage.com and hit random. The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album. 3 – Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days.” Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover. 4 – Use photoshop (I used MS Paint) or similar to put it all together. 5 – Post it with this text in the “caption” and TAG the friends you want to join in.
Phasers not included
March 3, 2011
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What happened to X-37A? Photo credit: USAF/Vandenberg Air Force Base
The Air Force is getting ready to launch the X-37B sooper-secret space plane Friday, March 4, 2011, from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. (Actually, it’s launching from the next-door Cape Canaveral Air Force Station) It’s a big secret, though, so don’t expect launch-to-landing coverage on NASA TV for this puppy. Unmanned, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound…. oops, sorry, I mean able to remain in orbit for up to 270 days, the new ship is a test platform for something. What that something is, or what those somethings are, remain a secret. So while the X-37B is a secret space plane, it’s not a secret, but what it does IS a secret. Or something like that. Read all about it at Space.com. Well, not ALL about it. Just something about it. If we told you the rest, they’d have to kill you. And maybe us. So let’s not go there.
NASA Geek – NASA TV
March 2, 2011
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Watching the astronauts suit up for a spacewalk. You can see it on your cable/satellite system, or online at NASA TV.
There is a HD feed at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ustream.html that is actually ahead of my satellite tv system feed! That’s a bit strange to me… the HD internet feed is a split second ahead of the satellite feed, and well ahead of the standard internet feed. If you’ve got a broadband connection, the HD is the way to watch online! Spacewalks are a lot of work, but you get a break beforehand… you just float there while your astro-buddies do all the work getting your suit ready to go! Once you step outside, though, it’s about 6 hours of steady work, and no coffee breaks. Bathroom breaks are a bit different, too.
More Space Geek – Space Station/Discovery photographed by amateur – from the ground!
February 28, 2011
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Photo Credit: Rob Bullen
Another incredible Space Geek photo from Bad Astronomer Phil Plait. This photo taken in the United Kingdom, from the ground! The telescope is an 8.5 inch model, which is not all that big as far as telescopes go. This image captured Saturday February 26, 2011.
JimmieJoe / KC6YRU 
Space Cadet Makes Momentary Appearance
March 10, 2011
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It happened again. On Monday the 7th, the Space Shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station flew overhead just after dark. I went outside to watch, expecting only the Space Station, and was jumping up and down (at least internally. I doubt anyone driving by noticed) when I realized I was getting the double lucky view of the shuttle leading the station in the same orbit, just miles apart from each other. The Discovery had undocked from the station earlier that day, and was slowly increasing the distance between it and the orbiting outpost with each moment. Tonight, the shuttle is on the ground, but ISS is still up there, and still gliding majestically across my sky from time to time.
Photo: NASA
Space Cadet Jimmie made a sudden appearance Monday, and again today. He’s someone I don’t get to visit very often these days, but maybe… just maybe… he’ll come around more often.
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