Mahna Mahna

Source: Disney downloads

IT'S TIME TO LIGHT THE LIGHTS: The highlight of today was heading to the movie theater to see "The Muppets." We've been looking forward to this movie for MONTHS. CJ and Annanbelle's big bros were both big Muppets fans growing up, and CJ and Annabelle are ready to pick up the torch. :)

We went to an early afternoon matinee and it was just us and about a dozen retirees in the theater. Nice.
The movie was AWESOME. Highly entertaining. We laughed, we cried ("The Rainbow Connection" always gets me), we cheered. The other audience members (all retirees), were equally enthusiastic.

Afterward, as we were leaving the theater, CJ was critiquing the movie scene by scene. A woman exiting the theater with us said, "I could just listen to him all day!" to her husband. :)

SPLISH SPLASH: Orion was on our minds again today. Just yesterday, NASA conducted it's seventh splash test into the Hydro Impact Basin at Langley Research Center.

We watched the video of the test, this time a "pancake" or nearly straight drop. The last drop test we watched featured Orion landing in a sweeping motion. I asked the kids why bother drop testing from more than one angle. I was impressed with the answers they gave - they clearly understand the concepts of controls and contingencies!

The test video we watched today features three different angles. The last one - a water level shot - was our fave! Per NASA, the test we watched today "was all about the heat shield and how much it would flex when it hits the water at a slightly different angle then during previous drops at during a low-wind swell case." During the Dec. 1 test, there were more than 150 sensors on the test vehicle, recording data during each  drop.

After checking out the capsule test, I asked the kids, "What good is a capsule if you have no way to get it to space?" And so, we cued up video from the  J-2X Combustion Stability Test, which also took place yesterday, at another NASA facility. This successful first test was an important step forward in development of the upper-stage engine that will carry humans farther into space than ever before. (NASA/SSC)

The kids (and I) just love watching these tests! But what we'd really like to see is the real thing, and that's going to be quite a wait - perhaps 10 years or more for a U.S. return to manned spaceflight.

SAY WHAT?: Today a Facebook friend of mine posted a photo of a yummy looking meal along with the caption, "Hoje o almoço foi assim." Annabelle saw the photo and was keenly interested.

So, I told her, "Hold on, let's see what my friend said about it." I copied and pasted the caption and we hopped to Google Translate. There, I was expecting to have to tell the software my friend's native language, but it's so darn smart, it automatically detected it as being Portuguese. And it instantly translated it to English.

Turns out Carolina reported, "Today lunch was well." It's likley not a 100 percent spot on translation, but that's about what Annabelle and I deduced without a caption in any language!

You just gotta love the Internet. It really makes for so many more 'teachable moments.'

OVER ACHIEVER: With each passing moment, the Mars Science Laboratory gets closer to Mars! Hard to believe a week ago, I was ogling it on the launch pad.
 
Yesterday, the spacecraft carrying Curiosity was scheduled to have an early trajectory correction maneuver executed but, as it turns out, MSL is flying so straigh and true, this first of six planned course adjustments during its 254-day journey from Earth to Mars has been deemed unncessary. Sweet!
 
According to  Louis D'Amario of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., "This was among the most accurate interplanetary injections ever."
Oh and in case you were wondering, as of 9 a.m. PT Friday, Dec. 2, Curiosity has travelled 10.8 million miles at a rate of 73,800 mph (118,700 kph) relative to the sun. Pretty hard to wrap one's mind around that.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-371

SEASONS TWEETINGS: You can send a postcard to the crew on the International Space Station, and you don't even need a special stamp. It's free via a portal on the NASA Web site.

CJ and Annabelle chose a postcard with the Orion capsule on its front. On the back CJ typed, "We like the crew and we also like seeing you in the sky! Happy Holidays!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

FUTURE FLIGHT: This afternoon the kids and I watched (over and over) a gorgeous animation of the Orion spacecraft orbiting Earth, re-entering the atmosphere and landing. NASA hopes to conduct this type of test in 2014.

I walked around a model of an Orion capsule in the middle of the food court at the Kennedy Space Center's Visitors Center. It was a favorite perching spot for some very mouthy birds looking for tourists' cast offs. When sizing it up, I couldn't help but notice it's considerably bigger than the old Apollo and Mercury capsules, both of which are remarkably close quarters. For example, here's an Apollo 14 capsule on display in the Saturn V building at KSC.

The Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle is targeted to be the next spacecraft to carry NASA astronauts to outer space. We've watched one of its splashdown test on Novermber 9, and are looking forward to following future tests.

CLASSY: This morning the kids had music class. It sounds like it turned into a bit of a mosh pit. Annabelle reports that one kid accidentally fell on her and another one was being squirrely and ran into her at full speed. Who knew music could be dangerous? Fortunately, she bounced back.

Tonight, CJ asked me if I'd rather have peas porridge hot, cold or in a pot nine days old. I told him "none of the above." One of the songs they worked on today in class

CONSUMABLE: In Annabelle's art class, they often repurpose or "upcycle" materials creatively. Yesterday, she used some cardboard and plastic castoffs to craft a creature named Pig Borg. She pointed out that his body is made from the box for a countertop compost bin. I told her I thought that was perfect, as pigs are often repositories for food scraps, just like a compost bin.

CURIOSITY COMIC: One of the neat-o takeaways I got during the Mars Science Laboratory Tweetup in Florida last week was this limited edition (only 250!) comic book called "The Amazing Adventures of Astrobiobot." I had Bill Nye the Science Guy autograph my copy, because I knew the kids would love the comic and they love Bill Nye.

We finally got around to sitting down and reading the comic and the kids LOVED it. It was put together using a series of comics first published on Astrobiology Magazine's Web site: www.astrobio.net. You can check out the story here at "AstrobioBot: The Story Begins."

MERRY CHRISTMOOSE: The Mariners released their game start times for the 2012 season today. As I was perusing their Web site, dreaming of the baseball season, I noticed a link to some cute holiday themed sheets featuring the Mariners Moose. There were , and interestingly, each kid independently chose the same one - the Moose with lights on his antlers. And if I'm not mistaken, it's the same pic they each chose last year to color.

HE AIN'T HEAVY: This afternoon, CJ and Annabelle were chaperoned to their LEGO class by big bro Kennedy, while I stayed behind to help K's girlfriend drape a rather largish cake in fondant. It's obvious they enjoyed this alternative transportation arrangement. After they got home, CJ said to Ken, "You are the best big brother a person could ever have." Sweet. :)

BEDTIME STORY: At CJ's urging, he and Annabelle are watching an episode of Vanguard titled "Sex, Lies & Cigarettes." It's about how tobacco companies are seeking out new markets in countries like Indonesia since the U.S. market isn't as fertile as it used to be. The kids were horrified by the footage of kids their age chain smoking. In Indonesia, there is no minimum age for people to buy cigarettes. Maybe you saw the "smoking baby" video a couple of years ago, featuring a two-year-old Indonesian boy. Sad.

Mission to Mars

PAY IT FORWARD: Today I had an opportunity to share a bit about my Tweetup of the Mars Curiosity Rover launch adventure with a group of 5 to 8 year-olds during CJ and Annabelle's K-3 science class.

I wish I had a camera with me to capture the look on the kids' faces. :)  I had them at, "Did you know RIGHT NOW, even as we sit here in this classroom, there is a rocket headed to MARS?! And inside it is a roving science laboratory the size of your family's car!"


I shared with them that this weekend NASA experts told me that someone their age now will be the first astronaut to reach Mars. Boy, did that get them going. Some kids immediately jumped at the idea, while others declared they'd rather not be on that mission. I reminded those kiddos that the astronauts were going to need top flight ground support in order to make it.

We counted out the months on the calendar that it will be before Curiosity reaches Mars (Aug. 2012). I'm hoping this resonates with some of them and come August, they think to wonder and ask what's up with the Martian probe.

I also reminded them that the ISS circles the globe constantly, as it has done for the past 11 years - their entire lifetimes! To be honest, it was a bit depressing to me how little they knew about the space program, but it was completely heartening to see how enthusiastic they were once someone took just five minutes to tell them about some of the cool stuff going on.

TO THE TEST: Today, the kids had their end of unit test in science.  The topic was fabric/textiles, and Bee scored 12/12, while CJ was 11/12. (He said you can assess a fabric's texture by looking at it, which is partially true, I suppose, but the more correct answer was by feeling it.)

TWEETACULAR:  Veronia McGregor of NASA posted a post Tweetup update to a Facebook Group for Mars Science Laboratory. She wrote, "How much impact did you have during launch week? Tweets about the launch and mission -- counting only those that included the #NASATweetup hashtag -- generated 65 million potential impressions! Consider an 'impression' to be a message that went out -- it's not the number of people receiving since individuals may receive more than one message. Don't know if anyone noticed but on launch day even @YouTube (7 million followers) was using the #NASATweetup hashtag.
You guys rock!! Thanks for helping us spread the message about the awesomeness the @MarsCuriosity mission and NASA. And if you think that's great, the launch overall (counting #nasatweetup + everyone else tweeting) had about 125 million potential impressions. But the Tweetup made up the majority! Pretty sure that's a first."

Go, us!

Speaking of 'us, here's a photo I took of 'our' rocket, an Atlas V with good ol' Curiosity strapped atop in a protective shell! The day before launch, we were able to get so close, I might have been able to hit it by tossing a rock its way. I decided not to try my luck, however, given the guys with guns on site.

AND BY THE WAY: I had a meeting last night with a woman working on a story about urban homeschoolers for Newsweek magazine. It was interesting talking to her about the research process of her story and how she is trying to quantify the number of urban homeschoolers out there statistically. It sounds like it's a bit like trying to herd chickens. No one organization out there accurately tracks the number of homeschoolers, so it's kind of hard to do anything beyond estimating.

We talked about the broad spectrum of homeschooling styles (from hardcore unschooling to married to a rigorous curriculum types and everyone in between). It will be interesting to read her story when it comes out.

The Morning After

DEBRIEFING: The kids were asleep when I got home last night around 2 a.m., so our reunion had to wait until this morning (5:45 in CJ's case, about 8:45 for Annabelle).

After breakfast, we gathered 'round the kitchen island and I shared with them all the swag I brought back from the trip. We went over all of the stickers, flyers, coins, pins, patches, bookmarks, a bottle, a backpack, and more, and I shared the story of each keepsake with them.

The kids were especially excited by Curiosity rover-inspired comic books I had astronaut Doug Wheelock and Bill Nye the Science Guy sign for them.

From there, we hopped to the magical Internet, which allowed me to share a video of Bill Nye's 15-minute appearance at our Mars Science Laboratory NASA Tweetup. The woman who filmed it was sitting directly in front of me and we could hear my voice and laughter on the video several times. See how close I was to him?!

Perhaps not too surprisingly, Bill is extraordinarly enthusiastic about science and the space program, and he had important things to say about education and critical thinking in today's society. The video (link above) is worth a watch.

During his speech, he plugged The Planetary Society, the world's largest space-interest group, is dedicated to inspiring the public with the adventure and mystery of space exploration. Through our projects and publications, the Society plays a leading role in creating innovative coalitions to engage the public and fuel support for exploring other worlds. We make YOU a part of space exploration! 

PROCESSING: I downloaded the photos from the Tweetup/Mars launch trip. Turns out a took, oh, around FIVE HUNDRED of them, all of which I'll post here!

Just kidding.

It's going to take me awhile to work through them, and I want to actually be able to say something germane about the ones that are keepers, so stay tuned. In the meantime, here are a couple of shots that don't need much explanation.

Here's the Visitors Center at Kennedy Space Center's rocket garden, complete with palm trees and crescent moon ... Over the course of a 9 to 6 day, I spent approximately four hours just hanging out in the rocket garden during my trip to the Visitors Center. 

And here's a pic from the Astronaut Hall of Fame. John Glenn's flight suit. Sweet! 

IN OTHER NEWS: Today we FINALLY finished the Singapore 2B math book. That's about 2 months overdue, but cause for celebration, nonetheless. Next up: 3A. The kids are more than ready.

And CJ had his acting class this afternoon.

Oh, and we found out tonight the IRS lost our tax return for this year. That's swell, isn't it?

Substitute Days

Substitute Teacher Christian here. We saw Kristine out the door Tuesday morning off on her grand space adventure, and immediately the educational standards dropped like a first stage after second stage ignition. I'm not going to lie, the lessons learned over the next several days were decidedly eclectic and real-life centered. We had lots of PE, mostly in the form of free-form swimming, and also did a fair amount of study in the field of Recreation Science.

Getting a late start, we finally hit the road southbound from Seattle to Vancouver at 2:00 pm on Tuesday afternoon. We made it through a pouring rain to Grandma and Grandpa's house by 5, where we spent the night and were back on the road by nine the next morning after a nice breakfast. Another 3 hours worth of drenching drive later, we arrived at Siletz, OR.

Once at Nonnie and Bops', we settled down for a few days of family, food, and fun. There were more than a couple of evening bouts of Apples to Apples, a fun word game that can be played effectively by all ages.

 Annabelle was particularly enamored by this game and would have happily played every night (and day) if others had been amenable.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner for the second time in a week. But who doesn't love turkey and gravy and mashed potatoes and green beans and cranberry sauce?

Aunt Erika volunteered to read bedtime stories, but was a little skeptical that "Creatures of Star Wars" was an appropriate title.

 

On Civil War Saturday, we decided to DVR the game because some other family members who also wanted to watch the game were driving up from California, and would miss the first part. Since it was a beautiful day, and we knew we wouldn't miss the game, we opted to take the 20 minute drive to visit the beach for a while.

When we got there both kids took off for the surf

CJ doesn't like the idea of his pants getting wet, so he holds them up, but apparently couldn't care less about running into the surf with his shoes and socks on.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day. It was positively balmy, and much warmer than many, if not most, summer days I can recall at the Oregon Coast.

It was a good week, but we miss Kristine, and are greatly looking forward to her triumphant return from being a NASA reporter.

Post Launch

 

ROCKET FIRE: What an amazing experience the NASA Tweetup has been. Two days of tours and presentations, culminating in a rocket launch that went off like clockwork. Here's a NASA press release summing up the launch: 

NASA began a historic voyage to Mars with the Nov. 26 launch of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), which carries a car-sized rover named Curiosity. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard an Atlas V rocket occurred at 10:02 a.m. EST.

"We are very excited about sending the world's most advanced scientific laboratory to Mars," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "MSL will tell us critical things we need to know about Mars, and while it advances science, we'll be working on the capabilities for a human mission to the Red Planet and to other destinations where we've never been."

The mission will pioneer precision landing technology and a sky-crane touchdown to place Curiosity near the foot of a mountain inside Gale Crater on Aug. 6, 2012. During a nearly two-year prime mission after landing, the rover will investigate whether the region has ever offered conditions favorable for microbial life, including the chemical ingredients for life.

"The launch vehicle has given us a great injection into our trajectory, and we're on our way to Mars," said MSL Project Manager Peter Theisinger of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "The spacecraft is in communication, thermally stable and power positive."

The Atlas V initially lofted the spacecraft into Earth orbit and then, with a second burst from the vehicle's upper stage, pushed it out of Earth orbit into a 352-million-mile (567-million-kilometer) journey to Mars.

Our Tweetup group viewed the launch from a field near the Vehicle Assembly Building - about four miles away from the launch pad. Here's a video taken by someone from our spot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6VRflBzH-I&feature=share

There is a great pre-launch image gallery on NASA's Web site. And, of course NASA has up close (and even on rocket) footage worth checking out: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=122049781


And then there's a super cool video of MSL separating, leaving Earth's orbit:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=122054061 

I have many videos and memories and images to share. Stay tuned ... 

 

 The historic Apollo launch pad