Attitude Adjustment @MarsCuriosity, 7/18/12 9:27 PM

Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) 7/18/12 9:27 PM Guess who just got an "attitude adjustment"? My mood's fine; I needed to reposition my medium-gain antenna for Earth communication.

SpaceFest July 18-22

SAMSUNG SpaceFest, a 5-day festival, will celebrate the opening of Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum's Space Shuttle Pavilion, and its newly acquired Space Shuttle Enterprise. The festival kicks off the night of Wednesday, July 18, with a free concert on Intrepid's Flight Deck. Intrepid's free Summer Movies Series continues with Star Trek, Friday, July 20.

From Thursday, July 19 through Sunday, July 22, NASA will present over three dozen exhibits, displays, and educational demonstrations honoring aeronautics and space exploration past, present and future. Visitors to the Museum Complex will be able to learn about current missions in earth and space science, the rockets destined to take humans to explore the solar system, and the NASA research improving and enhancing aeronautics. The new Space Shuttle Pavilion will open to the public on Thursday, July 19 following a Grand Opening Ceremony. This exciting 5-day event will also provide an opportunity for guests to meet and mingle with a number of current and former astronauts.

Link to Schedule of Events

Shuttle Enterprise

This week marks the Grand Opening of the new Space Shuttle Pavilion at the Interpid Sea, Air & Space Museum in NYC. The museum has several days of special activities planned to celebrate the new acquisition. Check out the schedule, including astronaut meet & greets. I hope to visit the new exhibit to see OV-101 Enterprise in her new home. Earlier this spring, my family and I were able to be a part of the arrival flight of OV-101 and SCA-905 at JFK Airport. It was a thrilling day to see Enterprise in flight as I first saw her more than thirty years ago as I watched the broadcasts from Edwards AFB. While it is always a thrill to see these special spacecraft close up, it is even more thrilling to see them "alive" doing what they were designed to do. While I couldn't bring my students to the airport for the arrival, they were treated to a double pass directly overhead of the school as SCA-905 flew its pattern up the Hudson River to the Tappan Zee and returned for final approach to JFK.

Here are a few photos of that special day.

OV-101 and SCA-905 on Approach
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OV-101 and SCA-905 Flyby Beauty Shot
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OV-101 and SCA-905 makes turn for Final Approach
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OV-101 and SCA-905 Triumphal Arrival
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OV-101 and SCA-905 Head On
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SCA-905 Pilots Salute
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Badges of SCA-905 Missions
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SCA-905 Pilots
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@mwilkinson3 with "the girls"
photo by @LaurenAlloyce

OV-101 Space Shuttle Enterprise was designed as a full-scale prototype to test and refine reentry and landing procedures and technologies. Some say, "she's not a real shuttle," but I strongly disagree. While Enterprise did not fly in space and has no engines of her own, she is in every other sense a real space shuttle, without which the other five (Challenger, Columbia, Endeavor, Discover & Atlantis) would never have been realized. This is the shuttle that ignited my imagination as a boy. This is the shuttle that made the last incredible 30 years of human space flight possible. This is the shuttle that made it possible to build the International Space Station. Enterprise, I salute you and look forward to my next visit in person.

@MarsCuriosity Course Correction

Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) 6/26/12 6:55 PM With my 3rd trajectory correction maneuver complete, I'm in "approach phase" for Mars! Landing Aug 5 1.usa.gov/LAhA9C

2 Once-In-A-Lifetime Events in 1 Day

On June 5, 2012 I had the pleasure of witnessing two once-in-a-lifetime events: the graduation of my children from 5th grade and the transit of Venus across the sun. Each event, in its own right, would have made for a memorable day. Having a "conjunction" of these two events made them both all the more special. My children were magnificent that afternoon, sharing music, art, and samples of their writing as they made their way through this rite of passage.

The much anticipated transit looked like it was going to be a complete bust as overcast skies persisted throughout the day. While the cloudy skies and cooler temperatures made it more pleasant for all assembled for the graduation, it also meant little if any chance remained to observe the transit. Throughout the afternoon I checked the sky. I nearly gave up all hope of a firsthand observation and had resigned myself to watching webcasts of the event. Finally around 7 pm EDT, there were some breaks in the clouds. I raced back to school and was eagerly greeted by half-dozen fellow parents. We carried the equipment to the roof of the Middle School and set up as quickly as possible. We were rewarded with a few moments of a perfectly clear view of the sun wth Venus and numerous sunspots in stark contrast to the body of the sun. After everyone got a look through the eyepiece, I converted to the camera mount and managed to capture a few exposures as the clouds started to roll in and obscure the view. The sun popped out a couple more times before setting but our view was always partially obscured by trees.

This one image is my reward for patience and timing. One that I won't have another opportunity to replicate in my life. The transit made for a perfect exclamation point on an already emotional day proudly watching my three children make the transition from life as a child-student to that of an adolescent-student.

 

Observing Sun Spots

There has been a lot of activity on the sun all spring. Currently there is an amazing line of sunspots across the sun facing the earth. While we won't be able to see the Solar eclipse from here this weekend, it was a beautifully clear afternoon so the boys and I set up the telescope to take a look. We also experimented photographing the sun and tried out some different filters.

SAFETY WARNING: NEVER LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN, ESPECIALLY THROUGH ANY KIND OF OPTICS WITHOUT PROPER FILTERING. DOING SO WILL CAUSE PERMANENT AND SEVERE EYE DAMAGE IN A MATTER OF SECONDS.

That said, we are using a Celestron C-8 telescope. This is an 8 inch reflector type telescope. We used a 40mm eyepiece so we had a magnification factor of 50x. Mounted to the front of the lens is a Baader AstroSolar filter to make it safe to look at the sun.

"The edges of the sun were so wavy with energy." -MTC

"This was unlike anything I'd ever seen before." -DSC

We are sure to do some more observing of the sun as well as the moon and planets. We also hope to see the Venus transit in June.

Shuttle Enterprise Transfer Flight

Space Shuttle Enterprise is being moved from Smithsonian Air & Space where it has been on display to the Intrepid Sea, Air, Space Museum in NYC. Over the weekend, Enterprise was mounted on top of SCA905, a specially modified Boeing 747 that was used to ferry the Shuttles from remote landing sites back to Kennedy Space Center. The transfer flight for Enterprise was originally scheduled for this morning (Monday 23 Apr) but was postponed due to weather constraints. SCA905 is now scheduled to fly from Dulles Airport in Chantilly, VA (Washington, DC) on Wednesday morning (25 Apr). SCA905 will make several flybys of NYC Metro landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty and the Intrepid before landing at JFK Airport. This will be a unique opportunity to see Enterprise in flight. Following NASAtv (www.nasa.gov/ntv) on Wednesday morning from 9-12 will also give you some sense of when you might have a chance to see the flyover.

This is a photo I took of Enterprise last month when I visited her at Udvar-Hazy Smithsonian Air & Space

I am especially excited about this transfer flight as I have been invited to take part in the welcoming ceremonies for Enterprise at JFK airport on Wednesday morning. Getting to see Enterprise in flight mounted to SCA905 one last time as I first saw her in the 1977 will be very special. I am getting my camera and hankie ready!

Shuttle Enterprise, known as OV-101, is the prototype shuttle used to test how the shuttles would fly through the atmosphere on reentry from space. Enterprise made her maiden flight in August 1977, flown to altitude aboard SCA905 and released for a free-flight and landing at Edwards Air Force Base.  For more info on Enterprise: http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/resources/orbiters/enterprise.html.

Enterprise holds a special place for me. OV-101 was originally Christened "Constitution." This was not a very popular name choice and many people, myself included, waged a write-in campaign to re-name her Enterprise for the flagship of the Star Trek television series.

Though she never flew in space, Enterprise proved that the orbiters could be controlled in the atmosphere and landed on a runway. Flight characteristics could be studied in full-scale with human pilots at the controls. Without her, none of her 5 sister ships would ever have existed. As Neil de Grasse Tyson once said, "The space shuttle was the realization of aerospace engineering. The fusion of aircraft and spacecraft." Join me as I welcome her to NYC and her new home at the Intrepid Museum.