READY FOR LIFT OFF: This morning we watched a live press conference all about tomorrow's launch of SpaceX's CRS-2 mission, a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon capsule, destination ISS!
If successful, this will be SpaceX's second unmanned cargo mission to the ISS. We watched their first ISS mission last October, and boy were we excited when it succeeded!
The rocket will take off at 7:10 am. Pacific time from the Kennedy Space Center. It will be webcast live, with commentary from SpaceX corporate headquarters in Hawthorne, CA, at spacex.com/webcast, and NASA's Kennedy Space Center at www.nasa.gov/nasatv. NASA TV's pre-launch coverage begins at 5:30 a.m. Pacific time. SpaceX's Web cast will begin approximately 40 minutes before launch.
CRS-2 is the second of 12 missions NASA has contracted with SpaceX. Not only will the mission deliver much needed supplies and fascinating science experiments to the ISS, it's also bringing home precious cargo. It's scheduled to return on Mar. 25, bringing hom about 2,668 pounds of cargo.
I was so happy that our new license place arrived on launch eve! Check it out ...
HAIKU HULLABALU: March is National Poetry Month, and to celebrate that, the Seattle Public Library is inviting its card holding patrons to enter its first haiku contest. Entries must be three lines with a total of 17 syllables or fewer, in traditional, contemporary or innovative haiku form. The theme is "Celebrate the library in your life."
Entries are accepted Mar. 4-15. I told the kids I am going to have them write several haikus on the topic, and before the deadline, they can pick their favorite one for submission.
CJ and Annabelle took their first go at it today.
LOCAL HISTORY: We had to take the Honda to get a slow leak fixed in one of its tires at the Ballard Les Schawb today. While the tire was being tended to, we schlepped around the wet, dirty 'mean' streets (the least pretty part of Ballard to be sure). We managed to turn part of it into a history lesson. :) Underneath a seedy Safeway on 15th and Market, there are photos depicting early Ballard history. Here, the kids try to do their best to look like Capt. William R. Ballard, for whom the neighborhood is named.
We also read a couple of books today in order to return them on time. "Trout Are Made of Trees" might sound like a preposterous title, but as the story progressed, it showed how leaves fall into streams, they decompose and are fed upon by bacteria, and the decaying leaves become food for insects, which get eaten by small fish, which get eaten by larger fish, and before you know it, trout are made of trees.
We also read the wonderful "Jack's Path of Courage The Life of John F. Kennedy." Written by Doreen Rappaport, it follows JFK from his boyhood through his assassination-and his legacy. CJ and Annabelle knew, of course, JFK was a U.S. president, but today they learned he came from a competitive family, was an excellent swimmer, a Pulitzer Prize winning author and a war hero, as well. Rappaport did a wonderful job of covering a lot of ground in a relative few pages.
I love the cover of this book (illustrated by Matt Tavares). It is a lovely color portrait of JFK and nothing else - no title, no authors, no nothing. It's very striking. We spent a couple minutes talking about why a book like this could get away with not having a title, and how the portrait of such an iconic figure just instantly telegraphs exactly what the book is about. And the cover's just the start. All of the illustrations really capture JFK at milestones throughout his life.
When we turned to the page where JFK is riding in a convertible next to Jackie in her pink pillbox hat, CJ sucked in his breath. He knew what was coming. :/
Here's a trailer for the book. ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2JaVJ3NkZ-U
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