Thankful

HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES: It was so weird experiencing Thanksgiving with blue skies and 80 degree weather. It's just so absolutely foreign to someone who has spent ever Turkey Day in the Pacific Northwest. 

The scene above is one of the beaches at the Grand Floridian resort at Disney World. Which brings me to this ...

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Don't ever, ever, ever, and I mean EVER go to Disney World's Magic Kingdom on Thanksgiving. Ever. Never.

It was a flesh press from the monorail in to the park exit and everywhere in between. The average wait for a ride was around two hours, and the star attractions were considerably more. I couldn't help but notice, as we shuffled around the park, the look on most people's faces was nothing short of misery. I thought Disney World is supposed to be the happiest place on Earth. (Or is that Disneyland?)

I have never seen so many strollers in my life!

As an adult, I did not want to spend two hours ... or even one ... in line for a ride. I can't fathom how parents get their 3- and 5-year olds to do it.  Yikes.

We ended up ditching the "Magic" Kingdom after about 90 minutes and decided that our only "ride" for the day would be taking boats between the different resorts and checking things out there. That was the best call we made all day. Because it's the holiday season, we saw some real eye candy, including a cottage sized gingerbread house (sorry, my photos of it were crappy), and wreaths aplenty, including this enormous one hanging on the Contemporary Resort.

IT'S OFFICIAL: Our final, official Tweetup schedule was emailed to us today. Here it is:

Friday, Nov. 25/L-1: Tweetup Day 1

7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. – Registration at the Kennedy Space Center Press Accreditation Badging Building; travel to the press site (if you are running late or unable to come, please contact Stephanie Schierholz at 202-834-0548)

9:00 a.m. – Welcome by Trent Perrotto (@NASA) & Veronica McGregor (@NASAJPL)

9:05 a.m. – Meet the tweeps (Name, Twitter handle, where you're from, and one thing about yourself)

10:30 a.m. – Break

11:00 a.m. – Welcome and introduction of first speaker (NASA TV starts http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-tweetup)

11:05 a.m. – Jim Green, director, Planetary Science, NASA Headquarters

11:25 a.m. – Doug McCuistion, director, Mars Exploration program, NASA Headquarters

11:45 a.m. – Curiosity engineering: Allen Chen and Betina Pavri, systems engineers, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

12:00 p.m. – Ryan Bechtel, Department of Energy

12:15 p.m. – Curiosity science: Ashwin Vasavada, deputy project scientist, Mars Science Laboratory at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Pan Conrad, deputy principal investigator for Curiosity's SAM Instrument at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

12:30 p.m. -- Rex Engelhardt, mission manager, NASA's Launch Services Program (@NASA_LSP)

12:45 p.m. – Lunch break (note: the cafeteria will NOT be open Friday, so you do need to plan to bring your own food)

2:00 p.m. – Tour of NASA's Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, including a drive by historical launch pads and stops at Launch Complex 41 with a briefing from Mike Woolley of United Launch Alliance (@ULAlaunch), the Vehicle Assembly Building, and the Apollo Saturn V Center.

5:30 p.m. – Return to the press site

Saturday, Nov. 26/Launch: Tweetup Day 2

6:15 a.m. – Badges get you in to Kennedy Space Center Press Site

6:45 a.m. – Group picture beside the countdown clock (NASA photographer Paul Alers, @NASAhqphoto)

Group 1:

7:00 -- Eyes on the Solar System (@NASA_Eyes) demo with Doug Ellison (@Doug_Ellison), JPL Visualization Producer in press briefing room

7:30 a.m. -- Expedition 25 Astronaut Doug Wheelock (@Astro_Wheels)

7:45 a.m. -- Bill Nye the Science Guy, (@thescienceguy)

Group 2:

7:00 a.m. -- Expedition 25 Astronaut Doug Wheelock (@Astro_Wheels)

7:15 a.m. -- Bill Nye the Science Guy, (@thescienceguy)

7:30 a.m. -- Eyes on the Solar System (@NASA_Eyes) demo with Doug Ellison (@Doug_Ellison), JPL Visualization Producer in press briefing room

8:00 a.m. -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden

8:30 a.m. -- Astronaut Leland Melvin, associate administrator for Education (@Astro_Flow)

8:35 a.m. -- Deputy Administrator Lori Garver (@Lori_Garver)

8:40 a.m. -- will.i.am (@iamwill)

10:02 a.m. – Launch window opens for Mars Curiosity rover

(window closes at 11:45 a.m.)

~12:30 p.m. – Post-launch news conference on NASA TV

So far, it's still a green light for go. In case you haven't seen it already, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has an excellent Web site regarding the rover. Check it out: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/timeline/launch/

Space Coaster

FIRST THINGS FIRST: Definitely A#1 on my to do list today was getting all official like for the NASA Tweetup. That meant taking my two official government issued IDs to the press credential building on the NASA 'campus' off Highway 3.

Badging started at 9 this a.m. and that's when I was there. I was happy - it only took about two minutes to get my ID. On the way out of the office, I ran into Tom, someone I 'know' - one of my friends from a Facebook group of fellow space enthusiasts. Like CJ and Annabelle, his name is on the poster that recently flew on the ISS.

From there, I headed south to Cocoa Beach to have a reunion with my college friend and her daughter. It was so good to see them - it has been years. The three of us tooled around the Space Coast, from Cocoa Beach to Cocoa to Titusville and points in between. We had a nice lunch and hit up some shopping spots, and took in some local scenery. Here's a pier in Titusville. In the far, far distance you can see the Vehicle Assembly Building.

While in Cocoa Beach, I just had to hop out of the car and take a pic of the "I Dream of Jeannie" street sign. Remember Major Nelson was an astronaut and they lived on the Space Coast?

SPACE VIEW: Late afternoon, I took a solo excursion to a place I've always wanted to see - Space View Park in Titusville. 

Many a rocket launch has been viewed from this place.

The park is filled with monuments and memorials, as well as this large statue commemorating the Mercury 7 (also known as Astronaut Group 1). 

Around the park there are dozens of casts of handprints of spaceflight pioneers. I took this photo of Al Worden's hands, since the kids have met him. :)

There's a wonderful, life-sized statue of John F. Kennedy at the park. Though he wasn't an astronaut, is there a man who was more important to America's early space flight program? I think not.

Originally taken in July 2010, this photo shows NASA engineers installing six wheels on the Curiosity rover. NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project will launch Curiosity on Friday, Nov. 26. Curiosity is scheduled for arrival at Mars in August 2012. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Winging Away

OUTBOUND: Today we all took off for our various Thanksgiving adventures. My adventure started at about 2:45 this a.m., when I got up and at 'em to head to the airport. Rick was kind enough to drop me off. I was in line at the American Airlines counter at Sea-Tac airport with a few dozen other travelers by 3:45 a.m.

My first flight was PDX to DFW (The stars at night, shine big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas!). The trip to Dallas was a, shall we say, cozy ride. There was a really nice and really friendly (thank goodness) really big man in the middle seat, next to me. Between him (he put his weight at 400 pounds) and the guy in front of me with his seat fully reclined, I felt like a sardine in a tin can. I couldn't move for 3.5 hours.

Once I was sprung free, I had the pleasure of making one of those run across/through the airport dashes to catch my connection - carrying 30 pounds of cookies. I barely made it.  

The flight to Orlando was much less full. I saw some of the prettiest clouds ever. I think these snow capped peaks might have been the Rockies, but I'm not sure.

Upsides - my luggage didn't get lost (yay!) and getting the rental car was easy. The drive to the hotel was a breeze. And the hotel, well, hmm. Let's just say it was bad enough to drive my friend Rosemarie and her daughter to another place. My room isn't quite as bad as theirs was ...

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, er, campus, CJ and Annabelle were prepping to go on a trip with Christian to Siletz via Vancouver. Just one problem - Christian got called into work. With me 30,000 feet aloft, he had to call in the Calvary - also known as Rick and Ken. We are sure are lucky they live so close and were available and willing to help.

TWEET TIME: Originally, the Mars Science Laboratory Tweetup was scheduled for Wednesday (Nov. 23) and Friday (Nov. 25). The launch got pushed to the 26th due to a battery needing to be swapped out. Now, the tours and presentations will be Friday instead of Wednesday. Here's part of the update I received tonight:

Dear NASA Tweetup participants,

If you didn’t see the tweet, this note is to let you know that the team worked very hard and was able to move our tour from Wednesday to Friday. The really cool part about this is it means when we visit Launch Complex 41, we’ll be able to see the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on the launch pad! We also get to go inside the Vehicle Assembly Building and will get to see space shuttle Endeavour there. We’re very lucky to have such great access!

On Friday, the agenda will essentially be as it was scheduled for Wednesday.

(On Friday) the program begins at 9 a.m. with welcomes and introductions. The televised portion of the program will begin at 11 a.m. and continue through to 12:45 p.m. It will be broadcast on UStream at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-tweetup and NASA TV’s Education Channel available at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/edu_flash.html.

Following lunch, we’ll board the buses for the tour beginning at 2 p.m. You can expect to return to the press site about 6 p.m.

On launch day ... expect to be at the press site by 6:45 a.m. for the group photo. We then have a great program for you with Doug Ellison, astronaut Doug Wheelock, Bill Nye the Science Guy, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, astronaut and head of NASA Education Leland Melvin, and a special guest to be announced tomorrow.

We’ll send an updated agenda tomorrow. Have a wonderful evening and enjoy your Wednesday! Thank you for your patience as we made adjustments to the schedule. It should be a great week!

Cheers,
Stephanie (NASA's social media manager)

 --------------------

Speaking of Mars, here's a cool, short (just 60 seconds) video explaining "How Do You Get to Mars?" By NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory It talks about what it takes to get a spacecraft from Earth all the way to Mars:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=121464191 

Leaving Eve

PAN HANDLING: This weekend, we got into the kit that we bought at the Klondike Gold Rush Museum last Friday.

The kit consisted of a plastic pan, an instruction book, a vial, a magnifying glass, a magnet, and a bag of sand/gravel/potential gold.

Christian and the kids spent about 20 minutes reading the instruction book carefully. Then, the kids carefully poured the gritty mixture into the pan. We added water and the kids started shaking and swirling per instructions.

It was a slow process and (drat!) no gold nuggets popped out of it. After many, many minutes of work, the kids did manage to find three little flecks of gold, which thrilled them enormously! See if you can spot the gold speck in this photo.

TOUCHING DOWN: This evening, we watched three men being extracted from a Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan 167 days after they left our planet. Man, it must take a bit to get used to gravity again after being weightless for so long. 

The returning trio were Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum, Flight Engineers Satoshi Furukawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Sergei Volkov of the Russian Federal Space Agency. 

PACKING UP: A lot of today's energy was spent on getting ready for our respective trips. I fly out of Seatac tomorrow at 6 a.m., winging toward the Tweetup and Mars Science Laboratory launch on the Space Coast of Florida.

Here is a GREAT Web site for following all the action leading up to the launch: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/timeline/launch/

I'm taking about 15 pounds of cookies with me. Here's a sample. ...