Space Posse

NASA's Spaceflight Awareness site changed their directory structures, and updated their collection of Astronaut crew portraits. Bloggers, this is why it pays to run annual Quality Control checks on all links... especially government ones! ;)

Oddly, all the Space Shuttle posters have disappeared at at time when one might think they were hot products, but they have now almost completely pared down availability of mission portraits to the ISS Expeditions.

Space Flight Awareness - OLD

The last time I checked these pages, STS-134 had just been featured, and discussions about the possibility about a further Shuttle mission STS-135 were underway! The rest is history.

Some shuttle mission photographs are available on their other links, but I can no longer find the official crew portraits unless I go to each individual "In Depth Mission Coverage" link within NASA's Shuttle Mission Index.

Space Flight Awareness - NEW

Interestingly, one used to have to scroll to the very end of a horrendously long page for high-resolution posters of entire Astronaut Corps in 2002, 2004 & 2007. These have been moved to the top, so I guess they aren't hiding them anymore!

Of course, ISS Expedition Crew photographs will continue onward, but it chokes one up to think the last Space Shuttle posters are off the grid, because they are now part of history.

My New Favorite

Anyhow, portraits always include the entire crew, mission insignia and many have a theme associated with their mission. Over the past few years, it's become rather a modern custom to associate some crews with popular movie posters – such as the Rat Pack, Reservoir Dogs, Ocean's 11, Harry Potter, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, etc.

My All-Time Favorite

Perhaps the most treasured framed poster now in my home is the Expedition 16 poster, which used The Matrix as the crew theme. I'm more of a Trekkie than a Neo-phyte, but I thought this was such a great design, and Peggy Whitson (astronaut in a leather skirt alert!) is SO my hero.

Of course, if you like the irreverent lowbrow stuff, you can also check out Gizmodo's not-so-serious NASA poster gallery... [unsanctioned link, but SFW!]

SF Bay Area Geek Flyover!

Discovery had her #SpotTheShuttle trend, and my new pal from SpaceUpSF took me on a #SpotTheGeekStuff trip of our own!

With Pilot Rick!

So it's like this. I met this pilot on Twitter. No, really. We then met at a conference a few months later, whereupon he was kind enough to lend his flying expertise so we could enjoy all the great geek spots the Bay Area has to offer!

Rick @JetForMe had me report for nerd duty at Tradewinds Aviation at Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose, where I was introduced to my first Cessna. I know all the jaws of my longtime friends just collectively dropped because I agreed to get on a plane, given the lengths I go to in order to avoid ANY type of flying machine.

NASA Ames from the air...
The National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex (NFAC)
(Fancy name for "Heap big wind tunnel where we test aircraft"!)

Let me just say that these planes don't climb high enough for me to experience ear pain or illness from pressure. I'll probably never be "comfortable" in the sky, but as I told Rick, I'm at the age where I've begun to believe that when you fear something, you should run toward it instead of away.

Well worth it! Flying all around NASA Ames and identifying the many historic buildings and test facilities was of particular interest. Of course, Hangar One is visible for miles all around, but on closer approach, I got a whole new appreciation for the Lunar Institute, Wind Tunnels used in aerodynamics research, NASA's newest green building known as Sustainability Base.

The DISH

Another great feature of our area is the 46-meter Radio Telescope in the Stanford foothills, off the Stanford Dish Hiking Trail, built in 1966 by the Stanford Research Institute. Look at the size of that thing compared to the surrounding buildings!

Called simply "The Dish" by locals, I was reminded I've never actually visited the darned thing on the ground. My next order of business should be seeking out some of these spots either for leggy or brainy exercise in the future.

Largest Linear Accelerator in the World!

Only a few seconds away from The Dish (by plane travel speeds, anyway) is the amazing Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC)... also now called the "National Accelerator Laboratory", the allegedly "straightest object" in the world.

On way back, we also had a view of the University of California's Lick Observatory, on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose. Our last nerd monument before landing!

To see the entire set, which also includes San Francisco, Alcatraz, the SF Bay and other angles of NASA Sustainability Base, Hangar One, etc., see my Pillownaut Galleries on Picasa!

Smithsonian Welcomes Shuttle Discovery

A huge crowd welcomed Space Shuttle Discovery to the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA this morning, including a new #NASASocial (formerly the #NASATweetup) and the largest collection of astronauts ever at any single event!

Hall of Famer Bo Bobko led the charge, as an impressive line of flight suits followed alongside the charred, flight-worn Discovery... and boy, does she ever look every bit her age and effort. Clean her up? Nah. Why should we? She should look like she's been to space and back 39 times!

Bo! And... um... wow, everyone ;)

The crowd frenzy actually began on Tuesday, when Shuttle Discovery left Kennedy Space Center atop her usual Boeing 747 carrier, setting Twitter afire for HOURS across five states with a #SpotTheShuttle trend! It was gratifying to see that and #Discovery trending for 4+ hours, as people of all ages watch our Grand Dame make her way to the nation's capital.

I nearly blew circuit breakers watching NASA TV, CNN, Facebook and Twitter all on different devices so I could keep up from the west coast! As ever, NASA events are worth it. The pilots satisfied the massive crowds at both their departure and arrival points with multiple flybys, and many circles so everyone could attempt photographs over the Washington monument, White House, Capitol building, and other meaningful landmarks.

AWESOME photo courtesy of Sean Gallagher
(Imagine this being the view outside your office!)

As bizarre luck or charmed fate would have it, I went to high school in northern California with a chap named Sean Gallagher who works in an office building clearly overlooking the runway at Washington-Dulles International Airport where Discovery and her chauffeur finally touched down! And what a shot!

He allowed me to use this photograph even though I totally bailed on the last reunion. Thanks Sean, you rock!

We could now wall-paper the entire Smithsonian with the photos people have taken during her landing and at today's Welcome Discovery Festival, but it's the ones by my friends and fellow Spacetweeps that mean the most, so as much as I admire the fantastic photographers who work for the NASA archives, I want to point everyone toward the SNAPSHOT capturers, because public turnout has been stunning!

Best bet is to follow the #Discovery or #NASASocial hashtags to see all the spacetweep shuttle avalanches. Official accounts often re-tweeting visitor pictures are @NASASocial, @NASA and @airandspace.

Iz in ur Smithsonian, gettin all kissy-kissy wifs ur spaceships!

Or, if you are lucky enough to be IN one of these crowds, share your pictures with a HUGE rapt audience right now at Air & Space Museum's Discovery Page.

So many images have been coming hard and fast over so many forms of social media, it's been impossible to keep up with the feeds, so at this point I just decided to put my feelings in writing, and will pick up again later on the events.

Enterprise left James S. McDonnell Space Hangar to come nose-to-nose with her younger sister this morning, whereupon the attendees were treated to astronaut introductions (15 of Discovery's 32 commanders were there!), speeches by Charles Bolden and John Glenn, and the final paperwork where Discovery was officially signed over from NASA to the Smithsonian.


I don't anyone who made it through without tearing up a little.

When the sun sets, Discovery will take the empty hangar spot that Enterprise vacated, so tune in for that! Everyone can watch on NASA Television or the many Smithsonian Space Hanger web cams!

Yuri Columbia Titanic

So much going on, it's hard to keep up! As evidenced by the light writing this past month, and concentration on newer social media platforms, I've been exploring new events & new web sites, and making new friends. Of course, however, some annual events are not to be ignored... and over the next few days, we will be celebrating three of the most famous voyages in history!

Today is the anniversary of the first human orbit around planet Earth, completed by Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on April 12th, 1961 in a craft named Vostok 1. In 1962, the Soviet Union established День Космонавтики, or "Cosmonautics Day," to commemorate this amazing achievement.

Юрий Гагарин 1934 - 1968

Tonight, people on 7 continents in 50 countries will hold over 200 events to commemorate Yuri, so find the closest one to you at Yuri's Night Net!

You can also follow the @pillownaut twitter feed today for a #TriviaThursday series all about Yuri, his test pilot days, training for space, honors and awards, family and career! I did a lot of research on this one, so come join me! :)

John Young and Bob Crippen in 1981

Today is also the anniversary of the very first launch of the NASA Space Shuttle program, whereby the Orbiter Vehicle (OV-102) Columbia made its maiden flight precisely on the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first space flight! Coincidence? Actually, yes.

STS-1 was scrubbed on the first launch attempt, then lifted off on the second attempt on April 12, 1981. Pilot Bob Crippen and commander John Young performed thorough checks of all the shuttle systems, recorded the orbiters "stresses" and overall performance, and returned to Earth safely, proving the space-worthiness of a craft that would take us to low Earth-orbit (LEO) for the next three decades.


Of course, these are the 51st and 31st anniversaries, probably seeming somewhat anti-climatic considering the 100th anniversary of the Titanic voyage is this weekend. We had some pretty good blowouts last year, so we won't impinge upon their commemorative solemnity. Take it, Titanic passengers. RIP.