RIP Challenger crew

[Photo via SpaceX]

It was 28 years ago. I got up at the crack of dawn to watch the Challenger launch. I witnessed the explosion live. Heard the disbelief and horror in the news anchor's voice as he described a scene gone so terribly off script. It was gruesome... Spent the rest of the day in a near trance, watching the sanitized video loop a thousand times while I struggled with my own shock and grief.

It was also the day I realized video can lie, even on the news. The loop didn't nearly capture the searing violence of that moment. Perhaps for the best that most were spared the memory. It's long been burned in my mind. Even now I can can feel the confusion when the smoke trail goes off course... and the sorrow when what happened became clear.

I don't need to watch the video to relive it. Nor to remember they didn't show most of this in the loop that played over and over and over again.



At that time the editing struck me as devious. In retrospect I'd like to believe their motivation was more merciful and grounded in respect for the privacy of the family members who were caught so publicly in a moment of profound private grief. You don't see that sort of justifiable discretion anymore. Instead, BigTV magnifies private grief and hides public perfidies. Which in so many ways is just as sad as this tragic anniversary.

Life is like a Star Trek episode

Charlie reminded me that Voyager reached the end of our solar system and is about to venture into deep space. It was long trip. It started from Earth in 1977.

I suppose Charlie and I aren't the only ones who thought of the Star Trek villain V'ger when we read the news. Which led to a discussion at his place about who are the best Star Trek villians ever.

My personal favorites are Q. Amusing, charming in a fiendish way yet somehow childlike and vulnerable, always seeking approval. Second is Kahn because Ricardo Montalban. Love him in everything. Third, not technically villains but they did present a danger to the ship -- Tribbles. For the obvious reason. [More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Venus Transit

I never posted the pictures I found of the Venus transit last week. Literally looked at hundreds of photos. It's hard to make a dot on the sun look interesting. This is the best real shot of the event I saw. That's the Taj Mahal the bird is landing on:



And this is the funniest take off on the event:



It was cloudy here so I didn't get to see it live at all. Suppose it's just as well. I probably would have forgotten not to look at it directly and gone blind.

Original photos here and here.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Starship Enterprise over NYC

The space shuttle Enterprise is taking the long way home. Last week it flew over DC. Today it was Manhattan's turn for the show. Saw lots of photos of it. This one was the best. [click to embigger]

Lots more pix and video at Gothamist. Also liked this fly by shot of Empire St. Bldg. Once again wish I was there to see it in person.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Once the world would have stopped to watch

Now these things don't even make the nightly news. At least I didn't see it covered anywhere. End of an era. They're retiring the space shuttle and as a final tribute, it made a flyover in DC. My friend Hecate, who lives there, has some great photos. These two were my favorites.

Hecate also shares my memories of the space program and articulates the wonder it uses to evoke so beautifully, I'm going to send you to her because she voices my thoughts better than I can myself today. Click over for that and also more photos. Wish I had been there to witness this in person as well.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Space Cowboys

Young people don't, and probably can't, appreciate how incredible it is that there are human beings who live in outer space for months at a time.

Docking so smooth, Space Station crew didn't feel it. [Original photo]

Cripes. I'm so old I remember the first chimpanzee to orbit the earth. I remember when the whole world would stop to watch a rocket launch at Cape Canaveral. I've lived to see the day when driving a space shuttle is a job description. Crazy really.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Mars needs women

By Capt. Fogg

It's an odd fact that, for some male astronauts like former Space Station resident Mike Barratt, spending 6 months without gravity produces changes in vision that often are irreversible. He went up nearsighted and needing glasses for distance and came down eagle eyed and needing reading glasses. His condition seems permanent. The phenomenon is under serious study at NASA which is concerned that the possibility of a long trip to Mars might just carry the risk of blindness. Just why it happens and whether or not it can be prevented may be, according to CNN.com, the determining question as to "whether he or any other astronaut ever journeys into deep space or sets foot on other worlds."

Prolonged weightlessness causes papilledema -- a swelling of the optic nerve for about half the male astronauts, some of whom recover and others, like Barratt do not. Women seem to be immune. Of course another question that doesn't seem to be addressed here is why we don't just hire more female astronauts? Sometimes we obsess so much about a puzzling matter that we neglect to look at obvious alternatives.