Agony & Ecstacy

A DRAGON BY THE TAIL: My alarm was set for 4:28 this a.m. I just felt like I *had* to be up to watch the ISS try to snare SpaceX's Dragon capsule. I awoke at 4 and was so geeked (appropriate word choice there), I disabled my alarms and headed downstairs. I fired up the computer and put the big screen on NASA TV and there was Dragon, closing in on the ISS. Christian was up soon, and then CJ stirred soon and joined me on the couch. 

When the ISS's Canada arm was extending to capture Dragon, I let a sleeping Annabelle know what was going on. She joined us, and together we watched history being made, as this is the first time a commercial company has accomplished a supply flight to the ISS. 

We watched as Dragon approached meter by meter, with NASA and SpaceX conducting tests all along the way. There were a couple of hiccoughs with they worked through, but at 6:56 our time, NASA astronaut Don Pettit using the station's robotic arm at 9:56 a.m. EDT.

Here Pettit is, ready to make the snag. And that he did.

Photo: NASA.gov

Upon completing the task, Pettit said, "Houston, it looks like we got us a Dragon by the tail!"

The Dragon snared, the next Really Big Deal - berthing Dragon with the ISS. That worked too - hooray!

A video of the approach, capture and berthing is here:


"Today marks another critical step in the future of American spaceflight," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a press release. "Now that a U.S. company has proven its ability to resupply the space station, it opens a new frontier for commercial opportunities in space -- and new job creation opportunities right here in the U.S. By handing off space station transportation to the private sector, NASA is freed up to carry out the really hard work of sending astronauts farther into the solar system than ever before. The Obama Administration has set us on an ambitious path forward and the NASA and SpaceX teams are proving they are up to the task."


We're looking forward to them opening the hatch between the ISS and Dragon tomorrow morning.
TENNIS, ANYONE?: We headed down to West Seattle for the kids' Friday classes. We purposely arrived early to take advantage of the lovely tennis courts adjacent to the facility. Here, the kids are ready to return some not-so-powerful serves from me.

They both enjoyed their classes. Here's Bee at her last Bollywood rehearsal before the big show tonight!

I'll post some video of the show tomorrow!

SNAP, CRACKLE, POP: This afternoon, I was really looking forward to mowing the lawn. The sun was shining and it's a good workout (since we live on a hill/cliff).

Yeah, well, I didn't even get as far as getting the damn electric mower fired up. I stupidly trashed a tendon on my right ankle just navigating our (treacherous, uneven, overgrown) sidewalk and trying to get the cord situated. After my ankle folded about 90 degrees laterally, I fell, of course. And then after saying a few Bad Words, I hopped/crawled back to the house and announced to the kids that Mommy was Hurt Bad.

I looked down and didn't even want to pull my sock off, as I could see my right ankle was already sporting a gnarly bulb about the size of my fist on its outside. But I did pull it off and ewwwww. Called Christian and off to Urgent Care we went. Mercifully, I was seen quickly and everyone there was really nice.

We were back home within just a couple of hours, and within an hour of being home, I'd ripped off their POS crappy soft cast/splint. I'd had xrays, and they were negative, so it is what it is. Yes, it hurts, but I really just can't be on crutches for the next 6 weeks, so there. I borrowed a walking boot thingee from Rick and off we go. The show must go on.  Speaking of which, it's time to get Annabelle ready for her show! :)

Beetles to Bollywood

BIRDS AND THE BEETLES:  We popped in the classroom where the kids take their weekly science class to pick up the homework we've missed. While there, we checked in on the milkweed beetles the kids helped build a habitat for about a month ago.

We could help but notice that a couple of the beetles seemed to be, um, well, you know, joined at the hip, shall we say. ;)

Looks like some more milkweed beetles are in the offing!

BOOKISH: Since we went to the public library earlier this week, we actually had a stack to read down for the first time in awhile.

Together, we read the picture books "First Pooch," about the Obamas' dog Bo, and the entertaining "Big Plans," about the fantastical plans of a presumably misbehaving boy stuck in corner of a classroom. We liked that book's spirit!

Independently, CJ read "Wuv Bunnies from Outers Pace." It was super silly, so he loved it. (He especially got a kick out of the fact that there were multiple Chapter 12s in the book.) Annabelle read a Time Warp Trio title: "Tut Tut."

DRAGON APPROACHING: We watched NASA TV's coverage of Space Exploration Technologies' Dragon spacecraft this morning.

Photo: NASA

The capsule completed key on-orbit tests as part of an historic attempt to be the first commercial company in history to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station.


Since it launched from Cape Canaveral early Tuesday morning, the craft has steadily completed each task on its checklist so far. Tomorrow morning, it will approach the ISS and if everything looks AOK, the astronauts on board will extend the stations Canada arm and capture it.
Coverage starts about 4:30 our time, I think. Looks like we're getting up early tomorrow.

FRAMED: This afternoon, the kids helped me pick out custom matting and framing for a photo of mine that will be in The Museum of Flight's "Spirit of Flight" photo show. Can't wait to see the finished product hanging in the museum!


TOYS IN SPACE: For the second time this week, we tuned into a NEON (NASA Educators Online Network) Webcast. Today's session was advertised as follows: "Take a journey to the International Space Station, where astronauts conduct science experiments high above our Earth. In this program, toys are gathered from around the world and sent into space to become science experiments. You are the scientific investigator of these toy experiments as you predict, observe, and record how the toys behave without the effects of the earth's gravity. Newton's Laws of Motion will put to the test in space."

And the presentation was just as advertised. NASA Aerospace Education Specialist Stephen Culivan covered the curriculum and videos educators can use to help teach Newton's Laws of Motion to kids in an engaging way. It was interesting seeing how the toys performed on the ISS, and Culivan made it a point to note that space is not gravity free. Rather, microgravity is present.


Via a really big zip file, Culivan made available to participants all of the videos of astronauts conducting the experiments on the ISS. We also got PDFs of the experiments we can do down here on Mother Earth.

CLASSY: We finally made it to LEGO class this afternoon after a two-week absence. The kids were glad to be back. And then this evening Annabelle had a dress rehearsal for tomorrow night's Northwest Folklife performance. Her costume is gorgeous and she's very excited.



Wednesday Matinee

MATH, SAFECO STYLE: Today was the Seattle Mariners' first weekday matinee of the season, so of course we were there.

We took the bus down to meet Christian, whose car was already in the Sodo neighborhood, because that's where he works.

We caught the bus at the top of our hill. That gave the kids a chance to get some scenic play park time in before we boarded.

The game was a good one - a pitching duel for the most part, until Alex Liddi broke a 1-0 game open with a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth. My oh my, that was awesome! The Ms hung on to win it, 5-3. Good times!

TALK WITH THE ANIMALS: While we piddled away our whole afternoon at Safeco Field, I can say with certainty that we packed more science into this morning than many kids probably get in a week.

We started our schoolin' today with a DVD from Disney's "The Science of Imagineering" series. This episode was "Animal Adaptations: Communication."

We learned about the communication of dolphins, elephants, naked mole rats, meerkats and more.

Though each title in the series does definitely have its 'visit Disneyland/world' angle, they really are chock full o' interesting science information. As the show's host explained, Disney "Imagineers" study wild animals to create environments, activities and educational programs at Disney destinations.

One of the gems we learned today: Naked mole rats method of identifying other family members is, shall we say, unique - and odoriferous! They live in underground tunnels and chambers, and they roll around in their own feces in their family's toilet chamber to mark themselves. Altogether now: ewwwwwwww. But hey, it works for them.

MR. GOLDEN SUN: After the Imagineering DVD, we decided to finally watch a DVD we picked up at Husky Fest a few weeks back. It was all about NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory,

The SDO satellite was launched a couple of years ago with a goal of taking a closer look at our Sun, which is the source of all space weather. Not only does space weather affects our lives on Earth, but the Earth itself, and everything outside its atmosphere (astronauts and satellites out in space and even the other planets).

With SDO, scientists hope to learn where the Sun's energy comes from, how the inside of the Sun works, and how energy is stored and released in the Sun's atmosphere.

Check out this photo, taken by SDO June 7, 2011. It shows an eruption of solar material that mushroomed  up and dramatically crashed back down to the sun's surface.

Credit: NASA/SDO and the AIA science team
On April 21 of this year, SDO marked its second anniversary. We watched a video with highlights of some of the amazing events witnessed in SDO's second year.

We also watch a video of highights from SDO's first year.

It's definitely worth noting, SDO has a mascot, Camilla the Rubber Chicken.

Credit: NASA/SDO

I've met her/it (at the Mars Science Laboratory launch). She has a Facebook fan page, and she's a Facebook friend. Camilla is a very clever, engaging tool for teaching kids of all ages (and adults, too!) about our sun.

An adventurous rubber chicken, recently Camilla took a balloon ride to the stratosphere to study solar radiation in the upper atmosphere caused by a solar storm. We watched a video (comprised of five separate videos) showing the balloon launch, its apex, the balloon popping and landing. The kids loved it (and so did I)! It definitely makes us want to take our own ride to the stratosphere.

ONCE IN A LIFETIME: This morning at 10, we connected with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center for a live Webcast about the upcoming Transit of Venus - an event where the planet Venus passes in front of the sun and is visible from Earth. It won't happen again until the year 2117. 

The Webcast we watched featured astronomer Louis Mayo and other guests. They shared information on the scientific significance of the transit as well as education resources for teachers and students.

More information on the event is here: http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2012/about/about.php

SELF PORTRAIT: While Curiosity is getting all the Martian rover buzz lately, Opportunity continues to work on the Red Planet.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ.

Today, via an email, I learned about this spectacular photo (above), where NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity catches its own late-afternoon shadow in a view eastward across Endeavour Crater on Mars.

The photo was taken on March 9th, Opportunity's 2,888th day on Martian soil. Gorgeous!

Fun fact from NASA: "Opportunity has been studying the western rim of Endeavour Crater since arriving there in August 2011. This crater spans 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter, or about the same area as the city of Seattle."

Flight of the Falcon

FIRE BREATHING DRAGON: Our day started at 12:30 a.m., as the household came back to life (computers and televisions on, people and pets up) for the launch of Space Exploration's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft.

The launch was scheduled for 12:44 a.m. our time. I got (back) up at 12:30 to this on my screen:

Helloooo, engine bells!!

We woke the kids up when the countdown clock was under 2 minutes.

At exactly 12:44 a.m.., Falcon 9 fired up! We watched it climb and progress through various launch stages before achieving orbit.

It was fun seeing footage of operators in the SpaceX control room celebrate their company's major milestone.

In a post launch press conference,  SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk said, "There is so much hope riding on that rocket.  When it worked, and Dragon worked, and the solar arrays deployed, people saw their handiwork in space operating as it should.  There was tremendous elation.  For us it is like winning the Super Bowl.”

That said, orbit isn't the ultimate goal of this mission. They still need to approach the International Space Station with enough precision to be snared by its arm, and then dock with the ISS and deliver the cargo on board.

I sure hope it works.

Musk continued, saying, "This mission heralds the dawn of a new era of space exploration, one in which there is a significant commercial space element. It is like the advent of the Internet in the mid-1990s when commercial companies entered what was originally a government endeavor. That move dramatically accelerated the pace of advancement and made the Internet accessible to the mass market. I think we're at a similar inflection point for space. I hope and I believe that this mission will be historic in marking that turning point towards a rapid advancement in space transportation technology."

So what's up next for the mission? In the next 24 hours, Dragon’s sensors and flight systems will be  subjected to a series of rigorous tests to determine if the vehicle is ready to berth with the space station. On May 25, based on the test results, NASA will decide if Dragon will be allowed to attempt berthing with the station. If it's a go, Dragon will approach the ISS, be captured by station’s robotic arm and attached to the station- no easy feat when both the ISS and Dragon are moving around 17,000 MPH.

If the docking is successful, astronauts will open Dragon’s hatch, unload supplies and fill Dragon with return cargo, and then on May 31, after 2 weeks in orbit, Dragon will be detached from the ISS and return to Earth, landing in the Pacific Ocean, west of Southern California.

OUR LITTLE PONIES: We didn't waste much time this morning getting to the day's Most Important Business - putting the finishing touches on the kids' 3-D papercraft ponies.

Though yesterday's pony crafting was long and drawn out, this morning all the pieces literally came together, with the help of a little Elmer's and a hot glue gun.

The kids were both really pleased with their final products (CJ's Derpy Hooves and Annabelle's Fluttershy). The patterns were from artist Kna on Deviant Art.

GEEK OVERDRIVE: Today, the Seattle Science Festival Announced a new event in their Luminaries Series. On Saturday, June 16, a presentation  entitled "Evolution" will feature physicist Stephen Hawking, paleontologist Dr. Jack Horner, and Dr. Leroy Hood, a renowned biologist, inventor and entrepreneur. I bought tickets within about 2 minutes of reading the announcement. Can't wait!

WRITING WORKSHOP: I decided that the kids needed to do some writing today (well, and every day). But today, I was determined they were each going to spend a non stop half hour just writing.

CJ's been noodling a script for an action adventure film involving a heist of treasures from Tut's tomb, so that's what he worked on. Annabelle was feeling completely uninspired, so we talked about some story ideas and she finally decided upon writing about a day from Kirby the dog's perspective. Here's what she came up with ,,,

A Day in the Life of Kirby

There once was a dog named Kirby. She was a small, black brown and white Havanese.

One day, Kirby woke up in the morning, hopped out of bed, ran to the kitchen, and ate breakfast. Today she was going for a long walk. She loved walks. When Kirby was about to go on a walk she got excited!

Kirby's family loved her and she loved them. Then they went on the walk. They went up to the park! Kirby got lots of exercise walking around while Annabelle and C.J. played on the park.

Then they went back home. Annabelle and C.J. played on the computers while Kirby just curled up on the couch and went to sleep. Sooner or later Annabelle an C.J. went to bed too.

So there you have it. Not exactly compelling drama. Rather, very much a slice of life documentary. ;)

I'm not going to share CJ's story yet, because it's still very much a work in progress.

PRACTICE, PRACTICE: This morning and afternoon at home, the kids practiced for their upcoming performances. Here, CJ highlights his lines in the script. In case you were wondering, he's the leader of a school-aged gang of zombies. That's my boy!

CJ went over his lines for his play (with help from Bee and me), and Annabelle practiced her dance (with no help from CJ and me, har har).

Then this afternoon, I took Annabelle to practice at Skin Deep Dance studio on Beacon Hill, while CJ and Christian headed to the U District for CJ's play rehearsal.

Bee and I had a little time to kill before her lesson, so we hit the Beacon Hill branch of the Seattle Library System. That place is always interesting because it's in such a culturally diverse neighborhood and there are books from so many different languages on the shelves.
We found a stack of books to bring home in no time, and then Annabelle busied herself with the toys in the kids section. Eventually, she would up in front on an abacus. She proceeded to ask me, "So how do you use this do to math? ..."

Uh, um, derp ... I drew a complete blank for about 30 seconds. I studied the thing, thought about how I could use it to count, the fact there were 10 beads in each row and then it dawned on me. I managed to rather authoritatively demonstrate how easy it was to add and subtract numbers in the tens, hundreds, thousands and beyond using the beads. Phew.

LO AND BEHOLD: I know what you're thinking. It's been waaaay too long since you've had a mealworm/meal beetle update. Well worry no more. The mealworms are all still alive and kicking and CJ is proud to report that one of his pupas has transformed into a meal beetle. How exciting is that?!??!

Maybe now that we have two beetles in the house, we can stage some meal beetle races or something fun like that!

Do the Pony

CUT IT OUT: This morning we woke to a link from friend Undine about an art project she just knew we'd be interested in - and she was right. The project is some My Little Pony inspired papercraft  patterns by artist Kna. You cut them out, fold their tabs, glue 'em and have cute little 3-D ponies. Sounds simple, right? 

Wrong! It was really challenging! So much so, that despite our working a hardcore hour-plus on it today, we didn't finish even one pony. (I should note there was a fair amount of waiting for glue to dry time built in to that hour. I should also mention that these amazingly intricate little ponies didn't come with instructions.)

While the kids were a bit disappointed that it wasn't a 3-5 minute project, I told them that not ever project we tackle is going to be a) quick or b) easy or c) quick and easy. And there's a good lesson in that! :)

I hope that by tomorrow we will have a complete Derpy Hooves and Fluttershy to show you. But don't hold your breath. ... ;)

WONDERFUL WEBINAR: This afternoon, I had the pleasure of taking part in a live Webinar called "Rocket Scientists Write?" It was hosted by John Weis, an Aerospace Education Specialist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

There were lots of ideas for writing prompts, including NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (always intriguing!), images from Spirit, Opportunity and Phoenix, as well as NASA's feature articles and more.

Weis shared several great lesson plans and curriculum ideas, all of which have complete details and instructions online. He gave a great overview of each, and I loved how the seamlessly weave together science, language arts, math and more - in other words, they're cross-curricular, which just make so much sense.

The elementary school resources he outlined are:
Mission Geography, an investigation using literature to study paths and to help students understand how the world looks from different elevations.
321 Liftoff, which focuses on activities about the International Space Station and the role rockets play in its construction. There's a rocket alphabet,space songs, and so much more.
Destination Mars is a package designed to increase students' knowledge, awareness, and curiosity about the process of scientific exploration of the Red Planet.
Echo and Amelia - online engaging, science based story books about a bat (Echo) and a pigeon(Amelia), teaching about remote sensing.
Reading Writing and Rings uses info gleaned during the Cassini mission to Saturn and helps bolster descriptive language arts skills and science knowledge. There are lesson plans for grades 1-2 and 3-4.
Courage to Soar is an integrated unit allowing students (grades 3-5) to conduct scientific experiments, construct aircraft models, and read selections and research topics about aviation. There are 23 lessons in the guide and while they all have to do with aeronautics, they are cleverly designed to support national math, science, technology, geography and language arts standards. Brilliant! And there are built-in assessment opportunities.
Courage to Soar Higher, for grades 4-6, has opportunities for great fun and learning, ranging from launching pop rockets to creating a pop-up book about the solar system. Per NASA, "Some activities include vocabulary lists and reading selections. Each of the 20 lessons in this guide support national mathematics, science, technology, geography and language arts standards." Sweet!
Aeronautics helps students learn the basic principles of flight. Its guide is divided into three chapters: Air, Flight and We Can Fly, You and I. At the end of each chapter there is a list of interdisciplinary activities for all elementary subjects.

For middle school students, Weis introduced us to ...
Stardust, a series lessons all about comets, including a number of hands-on activities
Destination Mars, also listed above under elementary, also has material for middle schoolers.
Exploring Meteorite Mysteries uses the study of meteorites to provide "a unifying theme that links most every aspect of Earth and Planetary Science with Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology," per its Web site. "The effects of meteorite impacts have serious implications for social science."
Exploring the Moon, a grade 4-12 curriculum using problem solving, communication skills and teamwork. Earth and space science subjects include lunar geology and regolith, distance to the moon, Apollo landing sites and life support systems.
Investigating the Climate System has five modules - Clouds, Energy, Precipitation, Weather, and Winds - each are designed so that they could be used independently.
Do It Yourself Podcasts is a new feature from NASA. Students can take use NASA video, audio and still shots to produce podcasts.
 
For high schoolers, Weis previewed ...
Genesis (Search for Origins) Mission has modules written for K-12 classroom teachers using the Genesis mission as a real-world link. Mission Geography, also referenced above, has middle and high school curriculum, as well. 
Cosmic Connection to the Elements helps make connections demonstrating that chemical elements are all around us, and are part of us, and that the elements have their ultimate origins in cosmic events. 　
Exploring Meteorite Mysteries "tells the story of solar system history from the formation of the planets to catastrophic impacts on earth" and "helps the students learn how scientists use studies of these rocks from space to decipher that history" per its Web site. 
Exploring the Moon considers topics not often talked about regarding the moon, like moonquakes, volcanoes (or lack thereof) and magnetic field.
Human Body in Outer Space is "A Virtual Astronaut Teacher’s Guide to The Human Body in Outer Space."

Weis was kind enough to tell us that NEON, or the NASA Educators Online Network, now has online office hours of 9 a.m through 9 p.m. Eastern time on weekdays to help answer educators' questions. They can be accessed here: https://meeting.psu.edu/neonofficehours2

NEON also just joined Facebook today. You can "like" them here: https://www.facebook.com/seattlefamily?success=1#!/NEONResource
In case you're wondering, the next NEON webinar is entitled "Toys in Space." It's on May 24, from 7 to 8 p.m. Eastern time. For more information on it and other NEON webinars, visit: http://neon.psu.edu/webinars/

The only bad part about the fabulous webinar? Including myself, there were only THREE AUDIENCE MEMBERS. I was going to say, "That's out of the entire U.S.," but since it's the WORLD wide web, it's really out of the entire GLOBE. That's just really too darn bad, because the information presented was a GOLD MINE and it's FREE! And legit teachers can get continuing ed/seat time certificates for participating in these webinars.  
 
ROLE REVERSAL: Forgot to post this photo from last Friday. It's CJ pushing his considerably bigger brother Ken on the swing at the neighborhood park. Good times. :)

NERD ALERT: Also forgot to post this last Friday. Here's what CJ walked out of his bedroom wearing that day. ...

Annabelle and I couldn't help but break out into song, Weird Al's "White and Nerdy." Don't worry, he wasn't offended. In fact, he asked to watch the music video twice.

STILL WAITING, STILL WATCHING: We'll be getting up tonight/tomorrow morning around 12:30 to see if SpaceX can get off the ground or not. Launch time is 3:44 AM Eastern. It will be carried live by SpaceX (http://www.spacex.com/) and NASA TV. 

In case you've missed my past 2 dozen posts about it, Space Exploration Technologies will attempt to launch a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon spacecraft to orbit, with the ultimate mission goal of trying to dock with the International Space Station. That's a feat that's only been accomplished by government agencies - the United States, Russia, Japan and the European Union.

We stayed up super late/early Saturday night/Sunday morning to watch a launch that was scrubbed at .5 seconds until liftoff due to slightly high pressure in the combustion chamber of engine 5 (of 9).