Tomato Tuesday

SEEING RED: This afternoon we headed to the sunniest spot in the lot, where our garden plot is. I figured there would be a few tomatoes ready for harvest, but I didn't expect to find a couple dozen plus that needed to be picked. Yikes!  (We also didn't expect to find a couple with noses. Double yikes!)

And so we picked and plucked and with our pile we made taco salad with pico de gallo for dinner. Rick and Ken came over and helped us make it disappear, and we sent them home with tomatoes, too.

HOUSTON, WE'VE HAD A PROBLEM: Last night the Mariners were stinking it up horribly by the second inning, so we looked for alternative programming. I saw that "Apollo 13" was starting on AMC at 8 p.m. And so, we sat down and watched every minute of it together - all three hours (counting commercials).

The Apollo 13 crew was mission commander James A. Lovell (played by Tom Hanks in the film), command module pilot John L. Swigert (a playboy played by Kevin Bacon) and lunar module pilot Fred W. Haise Jr.(Bill Paxton). It's the mission that made Flight Director Gene Kranz's quote "Failure is not an option" famous. 

Below, an archival photo from NASA shows Kranz (in the foreground, with his back to the camera) watching pilot Haise on a screen in Mission Control, Houston (upper right hand corner). Just moments after the transmission ended on the evening of April 13, 1970, a devastating explosion happened on board, when Swigert flipped a switch to stir fuel tank No. 2 in the service module. 

Shortly after the transmission, an explosion occurred that immediately ended any hope of a lunar landing and soon jeopardized the lives of the crew.

The NASA photo above shows a view of the severely damaged Apollo 13 service module in the distance. It was photographed from the lunar module after it was jettisoned. The command module, still docked with the Lunar Module, is in the foreground. 

During the explosion, an entire panel on the service module was blown away. It's amazing the astronauts weren't dead within minutes, really. After the explosion the crew had to use the lunar module as a lifeboat. They lived in it for three days, until they moved to the command module, just prior to Earth re-entry. 

CJ, especially, was rapt for the entire movie. When the explosion happened on board the command module he practically screamed, "See! See! This is why I don't want to be an astronaut! I only want to work in Mission Control!"

I asked the kids not to write a review of the movie, but to write about lessons they learned from what happened to Apollo 13. Here's what they came up with. 

CJ's reflections: 

One lesson I learned from Apollo 13 is that you might want to think twice about going to space, because it can end up with you getting in a explosion and having frozen hot dogs to eat in space. Another thing I learned is that one minor problem (Engine 5 turning off) can turn in to a race for your lives. (losing oxygen) Another thing I learned is to not give up in a situation: even though something might look like no help at all, (duct tape and cardboard) it can save your life. (a filter made up in the capsule) Another thing I learned is that you might think something is a big opportunity, (getting to be the first person on the moon) don't get your hopes to up if you can't get there.

Editor's note on CJ's - in one scene in the movie Tom Hanks ate a frozen hot dog. Because the crew had to save energy, they turned off every powered system they could, including the heat. It was only about 32 F in the cabin.

And now, Annabelle's reflection. ... 

Lessons I learned while watching the movie Apollo 13:
If you don't bring cardboard, plastic, and duct tape on a mission, you might die!
When in an emergency, keep calm. If you panic, you might die.
Always be checking the emergency equipment to see if it works, or something is wrong!
Don't have enough fuel to go to the moon(or wherever you're going)? Abort! Just start to head home, of course, and conserve energy on the way back to save it for re-entry!
Make sure all is well even before the launch, because if a engine is broken, you can't get to the moon (or wherever you're going)!

Annabelle's list reminded me of this graphic I saw on the Pacific Science Center's Facebook page the other day. Love it.

BTW, if you're interested in more detail about *why* the tank exploded when stirred check out this NASA report: http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-13/apollo-13.html. I especially liked one line I read in the report. Apollo 13 is "classified as 'successful failure' because of the experience in rescuing crew. 

LET JIMI TAKE OVER: Today we had to stop and think about Seattle son Jimi Hendrix. On this day, 42 years ago, Hendrix died of a drug overdose, at age 27. (In doing so, he became a member of the Forever 27 club, which includes Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, Jim Morrison, and Janis Joplin.) 

We listened to Hendrix's wild and wonderful Star Spangled Banner solo from Woodstock. 

Afterward I cued up some "Purple Haze" and "Wind Cries Mary," as well.

Gone but not forgotten. Rock on, Jimi.