Hoisting New Harmony to the Heavens
At four thirty-eight UK time today they launched the Space Shuttle Discovery, on its way to the International Space Station.
I was working in the office and, although I did know it was today, I might well have forgotten, "Ah yes, Space Shuttle launch, what time is it happening again? And what time is it now? - - ah, five o'clock - - oh, damn" so thanks to Silverback for reminding me.
I'm still surprised to see it all in colour, having of course been brought up watching the Moon missions. But many things are still the same - the banks of people at Mission Control, Houston - - even the fact that it's still called Mission Control, Houston.
And apparently, it's still the same room! They stopped using it after the Apollo missions and then refurbished it (nice new carpet, couple of coats of Magnolia, got rid of the old television monitors, put in shiny new computers).
The countdown is still one of the best and scariest and most exciting things ever. And then, after the launch, I love all those statistics about how many miles it has travelled and what speed it's going - - 900 miles per hour - - 1,700mph - - 3,300mph - - 4,600mph - - . And they tell you that it'll be okay if one engine fails, adding reassuringly that all three engines are currently operating well. Once it got to orbit it was going at 25,000 mph which is pretty fast if you ask me.
I like the cheesy thing that they always say once it's safely up in the sky and this time it was "Hoisting new harmony to the heavens" - the module that they're going to connect up when they get there is called Harmony.
The commander, this time, is a woman. And apparently recent research shows that women make better astronauts - smaller, lighter, use less air, good at multi-tasking (oh yes, I'm cooking tea, mending the car and crocheting a blanket whilst writing this blog) - and, what's more, if they get lost they'll ask for directions, unlike men who'd rather end up on the wrong planet than ask any passing Vulcan the way to Mars.
So I'm expecting the call from NASA any day now. Unfortunately I'm going to have to turn them down because I get seasick, carsick and planesick and I'm pretty sure that's an indication that I'd get rocketsick too. But hey, watching the lift-off is still the most exciting thing in the world.
I was working in the office and, although I did know it was today, I might well have forgotten, "Ah yes, Space Shuttle launch, what time is it happening again? And what time is it now? - - ah, five o'clock - - oh, damn" so thanks to Silverback for reminding me.
I'm still surprised to see it all in colour, having of course been brought up watching the Moon missions. But many things are still the same - the banks of people at Mission Control, Houston - - even the fact that it's still called Mission Control, Houston.
And apparently, it's still the same room! They stopped using it after the Apollo missions and then refurbished it (nice new carpet, couple of coats of Magnolia, got rid of the old television monitors, put in shiny new computers).
The countdown is still one of the best and scariest and most exciting things ever. And then, after the launch, I love all those statistics about how many miles it has travelled and what speed it's going - - 900 miles per hour - - 1,700mph - - 3,300mph - - 4,600mph - - . And they tell you that it'll be okay if one engine fails, adding reassuringly that all three engines are currently operating well. Once it got to orbit it was going at 25,000 mph which is pretty fast if you ask me.
I like the cheesy thing that they always say once it's safely up in the sky and this time it was "Hoisting new harmony to the heavens" - the module that they're going to connect up when they get there is called Harmony.
The commander, this time, is a woman. And apparently recent research shows that women make better astronauts - smaller, lighter, use less air, good at multi-tasking (oh yes, I'm cooking tea, mending the car and crocheting a blanket whilst writing this blog) - and, what's more, if they get lost they'll ask for directions, unlike men who'd rather end up on the wrong planet than ask any passing Vulcan the way to Mars.
So I'm expecting the call from NASA any day now. Unfortunately I'm going to have to turn them down because I get seasick, carsick and planesick and I'm pretty sure that's an indication that I'd get rocketsick too. But hey, watching the lift-off is still the most exciting thing in the world.
posted by Daphne at 6:15 pm
1 Comments:
Yes it is.
Ok so you KNEW that was coming. I try not to disappoint.
And you've just messed up what I was going to say about women in space so I now don't feel bad about my first line.
I've got an appointment with a spider, so got to go.
Ian
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