Every now and then, I have a great week of surfing where I find SO much to write about, I cannot decide. Or maybe the findings are neat-to-tweet so I don't feel the need to blather on about them for 600 words, and just put them in my Facebook or Twitter feed.
But, I'm trying something new today, in deference to the shortening attention span of Earthlings, LOL... some byte-sized space tidbits for your enjoyment, collective groans and/or edification.
For starters, here was my favorite Follower Re-Tweet after my "NASA Money Myths I and II" posts last week:
Think Las Vegas would go for it?
THE GOOD NEWS: In the National Journal, the "Tech Daily Dose" column reports: NASA Among Most Savvy Social Media Users. So, it turns out that bureaucracy can slowly be overcome.
THE BAD NEWS: Former NASA chief of staff and White House liaison Courtney Stadd, a mere 18 months after his indictment, is sentenced to 4 years in prison for "inappropriate reallocation" of NASA funds.
A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Air & Space Magazine released their first issue of 2011, featuring the first Shuttle Commander (John Young, 80) and the last Shuttle Commander (Mark Kelly, 46) on their cover. Mark Kelly and John Young, side by side? As my teen nephew says, Awesomesauce. I have no idea what that means, and I suspect I lost cool points just typing it.
But anyway, I loved this excerpt from their SHUTTLENAUTS article:
"To understand just how long the space shuttle has been flying, and how many generations of astronauts it has ferried to orbit, consider this: Of the six men assigned to the 134th and last scheduled mission, four weren't even born yet when the first shuttle commander, John Young, joined NASA in 1962."
By the time the Space Shuttles are retired, 363 astronauts will have flown inside of them, on a variety of voyages that include scientific experiments, releasing of the Hubble Telescope, trips to the Mir Space Station, creation of the International Space Station, deployment of extended-voyage space probes into the solar system, deployment of observatories and commercial satellites, tethered and un-tethered spacewalks, repair missions and re-supply missions.
The NASA Gallery now features new downloadable and printable tribute posters for each Space Shuttle Orbiter in the fleet, courtesy of graphic designer Amy Lombardo. Take a look!
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