Wet Pennies

DRIP DROP: How many drops of water do you think will fit on the head of a penny? How about the flipside? Do you think you could get more or less if you add soap to the water? How about oil on the penny? Or powdered sugar? These are some of the questions we pondered and experiments we conducted on the kitchen counter this morning. 

FLYING COLORS: Today marked the anniversary of the Wright brothers' first powered flight. We observed the occasion by watching a Reading Rainbow episode with an aviation theme. The featured book was "Nothing to Do!," a story about bored brothers who decide to build and fly an airplane.

The episode also featured a catch tune about aviation pioneers, and host LeVar Burton visits an airport, where he goes through a pre-flight check, and then pilots a small plane for the first time. It was fun to watch. He sure was excited! 

We also watched a short video from Biography.com

Speaking of flying, the folks at NASA have a nifty flying machine called Morpheus. Check out this bad boy!

Morpheus, a prototype lander, recently underwent a free flight test at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility. The flight lasted 81 seconds, and started with Morpheus launching from the ground over a flame trench! It climbed to a height of 164 feet, paused for a moment at 82 feet and then flew forward just over 150 feet. It descended and landed on a pad, within 3.5 inches of its target. Neat-o!

Morepheus' engine runs on liquid oxygen and methane, and is part of NASA's effort to use 'green' propellants.

CHANGE OF PLANS: A couple days back I mentioned NASA has an ammonia leak on the ISS due to a bad valve. They have not been able to come up with a workaround, so they are going to have to have a series of spacewalks to replace a refrigerator-size ammonia pump module. 

NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins will be the space walkers. They're expected to perform the repairs on Dec. 21, 23 and Christmas day.

Because of the emergency repairs, NASA managers are postponing the upcoming Orbital Sciences commercial cargo resupply mission, which was to launch this Thursday.