The Future is Now

HELLO, HELIOSPHERE!: It was 35 years ago today that Voyager 1 launched.  I not only remember the launch, I remember events leading up to it, especially some of the data that was being loaded onto the first-of-its kind space probe.

As a kid, I was absolutely enthralled upon learning the probe contained a gold-plated audio visual disc ("Sounds of Earth") that carried photos and sounds from Earth. Images included photos of our planet and a map of our solar system, the sounds of a baby crying, whales 'speaking' and waves breaking on the shore. The files were in case intelligent aliens intercepted our probe, and this golden record was the story of us. 

There were printed greetings from President Carter and U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim. There was also a collection of Earth music, including works by Mozart and Chuck Berry singing "Johnny B Goode."

As far as we all know, the golden record is still intact as Voyager 1 is poised to break on through to the other side - beyond our solar system.

Of course, along the way, Voyager 1 has taken in many amazing sights.  Like this one - a photo of Jupiter taken on Feb. 25, 1979. 

Check out that Great Red Spot! At that point, Voyager 1 was 5.7 million miles from Jupiter. Hard to believe. (Do yourself a favor and take a moment to check out this collection of approaching-Jupiter shots Voyager 1 took. They've been stitched together into a beautiful video: 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jupiter_from_Voyager_1_PIA02855_max_quality.ogv)

Both Voyager 1 and 2 have explored all the giant planets of our outer solar system (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune; 48 of their moons; and the rings and magnetic fields of those planets). 

As of today, Voyager 1 is just over 18,211,258,021 kilometers from Earth. It is the only spacecraft to visit Uranus and Neptune and the longest-operating NASA spacecraft ever. 

To honor this anniversary, we watched a couple of really interesting Voyager 1 videos:  They're short and fact-filled.

The second video we watched (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/voyager20120820.html) had a really simple (kitchen sink) demonstration of how the heliosheath works to protect us.

I loved how as we were watching the videos, CJ was comparing what we were hearing to facts he'd learned about Voyager in the super cool "National Geographic Angry Birds Space" book we got at the Angry Birds Space launch party at the Space Needle a few months back. 

And I LOVE this sweet photo taken by Voyager 1 on Sept. 18th, 1977, as it bids adieu to Earth and our moon. 

THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT: The garden continues to produce. Christian and the kids pulled up about a dozen carrots yesterday. Most were in the 4- to 6-inch range, but there was this lunker.

And some were puny, too. Here, Annabelle makes her "is not amused" face, per the post-Olympic Internet meme.

MEASURING UP: On our "to do" list this morning was measuring up the addition's floors so we could go out to Lowe's and order the flooring for it. It was a good math exercise for the kids. First, they had to make sure they were using the measuring tape correctly and next, they had to learn how to calculate square footage, by multiplying the room's length by its width. 

Once we had our actual total, they then had to help me figure out how many more square feet we needed if we were going to order the industry standard 10 percent overage (to account for waste).

HISTORY OVERHEAD: This morning during the kids' breakfast, since "My Little Ponies Friendship is Magic" was over, we switched to NASA TV. Good call.

We watched a looong space walk outside the ISS. One of the space walkers was Suni WIlliams, and via a Facebook post by NASA, I learned that while we watched, Williams became the record holder for total spacewalk time by a female. Fantastic!

Suni Williams and Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide successfully completed the installation of a Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) today. It wasn't easy due to misaligned threads and stripped bolts - stuff we've all struggled with down here on planet Earth from time to time.