the girly who shall end all girls

Q&A with a retired space-race era cosmonaut and engineer, via grandson translator

it's still possible to submit questions.

i don't know where to start with the coolness of the answers - he was part of the Soviet Mars program, he still has an apartment in Star City, he buried fake dinosaur bones for his grandson to "find"...

i use NASA video clips and stills as examples for work on a regular basis. (no copyright, culture-neutral images.)

yet every so often i forget about spiritrover and opportunitygrrl since they stopped updating their journals. but that's because they're busy. as of this month, they are on the fifth year of their 90 day mission.

five years video on youtube
the mars rovers home page

i am so proud. fingers crossed that continuing space exploration counts as stimulating the economy.



why did i not notice the launch patches before? <3 <3 <3

kijjohnson totally called me from on the road when the news came on the radio.

ICE. ON. MARS.

Russia doesn't have room for space tourists anymore. nooooooooooooooo!

i never would have chosen to go to Disney World on vacation (and i still won't) but when someone else is paying for part of it and i get to see my family it's very nice. i get it: they hold your hand from the moment you step off the plane until you get back to the airport on the way home. our agenda was to visit with the family, and maybe ride some rollercoasters. anything else was a bonus.
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kudos to my sister-in-law for putting it all together. she made a handful of group meal reservations (not even daily) but otherwise we were free to break into small groups and self-schedule. we took a lot of afternoon naps, i took a lot of baths, i still rode rollercoasters with my Dad and the Haunted Mansion with my niece, and we all saw the Wishes fireworks from the top of the Contemporary Resort after dinner at the California Grill. awesome.

i didn't know about this until today.*

three died in testing for SpaceShipTwo on Thursday.

i don't read /. often because it's like drinking from a firehose, but the comment thread has some gems hidden among the obligatory "foo people die in Iraq every day, stop being upset over these guys!" (including great insight on what may have happened based on chemical and engineering knowledge.)

this is my favorite: The meek (and that's you, Farley) can have the earth. The rest of us only want the right to sign a waiver that we may take our chances with the stars.

*anyone have a favorite source of space info? i want to be more aware.

i had a truly wonderful weekend, in spite of the cold, but all i can do is cry.

i'm pretty sure that LiftPort is done for. i'm not sure that i've written about them before, but they are both romantic and practical in a way that fires my imagination. Michael Laine is a charismatic man, (i've seen him speak several times now, at SFM, Norwescon, etc) but he constantly tempers his enthusiasm with honesty. they've actually built a prototype elevator robot. they've done trials. they're working to get the materials science up to speed to produce what they need. they've thought it through so carefully that they know the project will take 24 years, they're...out of money.

they're being sued. and Laine is losing the office building he owned before he started this crazy thing. a real press release is supposed to happen tomorrow.

i would give up the lovely new library across the street for a space elevator. i say that because saying that i don't give a fuck about vaccinating kids in Africa is pointless - it has no impact on me. i love that library, i use it often, and i know that the Gates foundation paid for a lot of it. these people deserve to have a philanthropist on their side, someone who wants to be remembered for something more than how they made their money. it's not me (or it can't be in time) but it has to be someone. i've mentioned here before that the first $20 million of my imaginary lottery winnings would go to sending me into space with the Russians. really that money should be venture capital or something like the X-Prize. humanity must get its nose out of its fucking navel and start getting off the planet before we destroy it. where is an eccentric billionaire when you need one? Mr. Allen?

Mars Pathfinder animation set to Sunspots by NIN. wow.