Dragon Drama

                      copyright Ben Cooper and SpaceX
START YOUR ENGINES: "This is Mission Control ..." 

At 6:30 this morning, those four words crackling through the TV speaker woke CJ and Annabelle from a deep slumber to a sitting-bolt-upright position. I have trained them well. :)

We started our day with a launch at the Space Coast. Unfortunately, we weren't there in person, but we had it on two big screens and the computer. Good enough!

The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off right at 7:10 our time, per schedule. Picture perfect! We watched it progress through main engine cut-off (MECO), second stage cut off and Dragon separation. A minute and a half later, it was time for the solar arrays to deploy.  Everything seemed to go off without a hitch. Until ... live coverage was abruptly ended. Odd. And so I turned to the Twitterverse to see what the heck was happening. 

Immediately, multiple Tweets about the solar arrays not deploying. How quickly nominal had changed to 'anomaly.' Uh oh.

Without the solar arrays, Dragon would have 18 hours of battery power before it became completely dead in orbit. Not good.

Soon, theories and rumors were flying. Based on what I read from sources I trust, I quickly came to believe 
the root of the problem wasn't the solar arrays, but rather that three of four thruster pods had failed to initiate. Without those, Dragon didn't have the proper attitude to deploy the solar shields. 

Pretty soon Mr. SpaceX himself, Elon Musk, started filling in blanks for us. Smart move. Why not dictate your own story? 

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk

Issue with Dragon thruster pods. System inhibiting three of four from initializing. About to command inhibit override.

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk

Holding on solar array deployment until at least two thruster pods are active

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk

About to pass over Australia ground station and command inhibit override

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk

Thruster pod 3 tank pressure trending positive. Preparing to deploy solar arrays.

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk

Solar array deployment successful

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk

Attempting bring up of thruster pods 2 and 4

And then 4-5 hours later, after the first 'uh oh' Tweet

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk

Pods 1 and 4 now online and thrusters engaged. Dragon transitioned from free drift to active control. Yes!!

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk

Thruster pods one through four are now operating nominally. Preparing to raise orbit. All systems green.

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk

Orbit raising burn successful. Dragon back on track.

And then this evening

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk

Just want to say thanks to @NASA for being the world's coolest customer. Looking forward to delivering the goods!

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk

Would also like to thank @USAirForce for allowing us to use their long range comm system for Dragon in free drift.

All in all, it was clearly a very cooperative effort with a whole lot of highly competent, can-do types bringing their A game, collaborating to work a problem- and solve it! Bravo!

The berthing with the ISS has been delayed a day, but so what!? Not too many hours ago, the mission was in jeopardy of being an abysmal failure.

CELEBRATING SEUSS: No doubt about what's on the menu for breakfast tomorrow morning: Green eggs and ham! March 2 is Theodor Geisel's birthday. We've also got a big ol' stack of Seuss books for the kids to read tonight and tomorrow!

ON THE MOVE: Between programming, dance and acting classes, the kids had time to get some exercise. Here they are on their 'couch' at a West Seattle park. 

And here they are demonstrating half handstands, which they apparently learned at yoga.

Ready for Liftoff!

         copyright Ben Cooper and SpaceX
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 ...

How cool is that?! Yeah, it would be cooler on say, a Tesla Model S than a 1998 Honda CR-V with a quarter million miles on it, but still, it's pretty neat-o. :)

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 checked out this picture of downtown Ballard of 100+ years ago. Back then, it was dirt roads and horse-drawn carriages.

RETURNS: We returned a number of library books today. The stack included Daniel Boom (a/k/a Loud Boy), a comic in novel form, and a couple of Zeke Meeks books, which Annabelle likened to "Diary of  a Wimpy Kid" books, and UnBEElievables, a picture book with honeybee poems and paintings.

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

Mars Mission

MONOCHROME:  Seattle is mostly 50+ shades of gray this time of year, but it's still pretty. Here was our view while having a cheap dinner tonight (happy hour prices PLUS kids eat free at Maggie Bluffs).

I love how the Needle blends in with the masts in this photo.

PIONEERS: For awhile now, the Twitterverse has been abuzz with news of a billionaire with a Mars mission on his mind. Specifically, Dennis Tito and "Inspiration Mars "A Mission for America."

Tito was the first ever space tourist. In 2001, he paid $21 million to buy a seat (aboard a Soyuz) on a flight to the International Space Station. Expensive hotel, no?

By all accounts, Tito is a brilliant dude. After watching all of this morning's press conference, I am sold on Inspiration Mars' vision.

The plan is a “fast, free-return” mission which passes within 100 miles of Mars (without landing) before
returning safely to Earth.

As Tito and his pointed out this morning, the mission they have planned will be built around existing, proven low-Earth orbit (LEO) space transportation systems and technologies. For example, IM's capsule will be dispatched form Earth orbit with a single Mars trajectory burn (simple, right?), and additional maneuvers will only consist of minor course corrections, using the gravitational influence of Mars to “slingshot” the vehicle onto a return course to Earth (easy, no?).

It's a long damn flight (510 days there and back), so in addition to the capsule, there will be an inflatable habitat module launched after deploy and detached prior to re-entry.

Graphic: Inspiration Mars

 (This is not that far-fetched. Right now, Bigelow is developing inflatable modules for the ISS.)

The fact that it's not a landing mission makes it ever so much easier (and lighter). The reason 2018 is the magic number is that represents the shortest duration roundtrip mission to Mars, and it coincides when solar flares are supposed to be at a low, given our sun's 11-year weather cycle. Flying within 1-- miles of Mars, with a flight plan "just like a boomerang ... we don't need any propulsive maneuvers. ... It's really simple," Tito said with conviction.

So who's going on this epic journey? MI has deemed it will be one man and one woman (ideally a married couple), both U.S. citizens.

During the presser, we heard from Taber MacCallum, chief technology officer of Inspiration Mars
Foundation, Dr. Jonathan Clark, chief medical officer of Inspiration Mars Foundation and associate professor of Neurology and Space Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Jane Poynter, president and chairwoman of Paragon Space Development Corporation, which is leading the development of the
Environmental Control and Life Support System for Inspiration Mars. Poynter spent two years living inside Biosphere 2, where she managed the design and operations of the farming section.

Inspiration Mars isn't going it alone. In addition to a number of private sector companies on board, in the press conference, they reported they have been working closely with NASA, and that NASA has been very
http://inspirationmars.org/

During the press conference, Tito characterized the 2018 flight as 'low hanging fruit' and 'a pretty easy mission,' relatively speaking.

The downside? There's no way to abort after launch.

One of the panel today likened the mission to "a Lewis and Clark trip," where things are kept as simple as possible." And then there's the leap of faith part as well. "It's like "throwing your heart out in front of you and then racing to catch it,"  he said.

BUDGET HEROES: Sequestration is big in the news right now. I'm trying to avoid the news right now, because it makes me so damn mad.

That said, I thought the kids might like a crack at fixing the national budget. Hell, they couldn't do any worse than the current congress, right? So, we hopped onto a game called "Budget Hero" by America Public Media. In the game, the kids got to make some tough choices. It was interesting listening to it all go down.

At one point CJ pondered, "Should I eliminate deductions for state and local taxes?"

And when Annabelle had the chance, she increased NASA's budget by 50 percent. Good girl! :) (However, I told her that as a result some people will starve, but them's the breaks, LOL.)

When presented with a choice, CJ said, "Of course not. I'm not going to drill for oil in the Arctic. That's only going to kill everything that lives there."

"It's not going to kill everything immediately" Annabelle reasoned.

The game helped increase the kids' vocabulary. For instance, Annabelle asked, "What's 'infrastructure'?"

Right after submitting her first budget proposal a siren sounded and a message flashed across Annabelle's screen saying, "Your kids called. They want their future back." Ouch! Perhaps she was a bit too liberal. ;)

CJ pained over whether or not, "Should I raise Medicare eligibility to 67?"

"That's exactly what I did!" Annabelle exclaimed with way too much glee for my taste.

In the end, they both balanced their budgets, and the future called to say 'thank you.' Well done. Now maybe they can talk some sense into the ignoramuses in Congress.

More, More, More

EXPERIENCED: Yesterday's blog was all about our trip to the Museum of History and Industry. But that wasn't our only field trip destination on Monday. For, you see, part of our reason for going to MOHAI was we wanted to join there under their "Family Plus" membership level, as that would give us access to reciprocal entry to dozens/hundreds of other museums under the North American Reciprocal Museums program. We did our homework on various museums in our area who participate in NARM, and I found that joining MOHAI was the cheapest way to gain access to that.

So, freshly printed receipt in hand showing our NARM membership, after MOHAI, we headed to Experience Music Project at Seattle Center. We love that place and have been wanting to go there to see their new "The Art of Video Games" exhibit. 

That particular exhibit was in a smallish room. There were a half dozen classic video games you could try your hand at (including PacMan and Super Mario Bros., of course). The kids were both amused by "The Secret of Monkey Island."

Game consoles through the ages were on display, so it was a bit like being in CJ's bedroom. And there were multiple terminals where visitors could pick up a phone receiver and listen to info about classic games and consoles. The huge screen in Sky Theater also features some shorts about video games.

                                       
Upstairs, we found "Worn to Be Wild: The Black Leather Jacket." A fun display, it featured jackets which had been worn by everyone from Michael Jackson to this one of Elvis'.

The kids even got into the act.

EMP has always had a wonderful Jimi Hendrix collection, but right now they have a special exhibit: Hear My Train a Comin': Hendrix hits London.

We saw multiple guitars that Jimi smashed to smithereens.

 He's still watching over them, it appears ...

And here's THE guitar ... one Hendrix played at Woodstock!

Jimi would have been 70 this year. Instead, he's a member of the 27 club forever. Speaking of which, we had to visit the Nirvana exhibit, too. RIP Kurt Cobain, another 27 club inductee.

We always enjoy the Sound Lab, where the kids can play around with instruments. Here they are in a keyboard lab.

And then they went into the 'studio,' surrounded by Marshall stacks and Zildjan cymbals. Rock 'n' roll 4 ever!

WEEKEND REWIND: We had so many photos from MOHAI in yesterday's blog, I didn't post our weekend photos, either.

On Saturday, we visited the kids' old stomping grounds - Whittier Elementary, where they attended preschool. They have fun running round the playground as big kids now.

A home adjacent to the playground had a nice flock of city chickens. They were very social. Guess they're used to having hundreds of people around every day.

On Sunday, we took a jaunt over to Lawton Elementary.

That's always a popular destination, because there are two playgrounds - one down at the schoolyard, and a second one in the next-door park.

Below, CJ sits while Annabelle tries to spin him. The carousel needs some oil. It was hard to turn and squealed. Annabelle said it sounded like a dying elephant.

FINITO: This morning we watched 5 (short) lectures and took two quizzes in week five of our "Astrobiology and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life" class though the University of Edinburgh and Coursera.

As excited as we were to finish the class (all with test scores averaging above 95 percent), we're sorry that it's over, and hopeful for a sequel. The professor, Charles Cockell , is a wonderful lecturer and the material we covered was so interesting. (Prof. Cockell said they plan on offering the course again via Coursera, so if you're interested, keep an eye on the Coursera Web site.

To celebrate the successful completion of the kids' first ever college course, we decided to take a hike to 'the Village' and get some fro-yo at Menchie's. It's not an easy stroll, uphill both ways, as the saying goes (on the way there, we have to climb up our steep hill 5 blocks, descend 7 blocks, then back up 7, and down 5). We did it at a pretty quick pace, though. I was impressed with us. :)

The kids (including Kennedy, who accompanied us) had fun filling up their cups with multiple flavors of frozen yogurt, and then adding all sorts of crazy toppings, from M&Ms to marshmallows, cereal, nuts, cookies, and more. Poor Ken and CJ both got bad brain freezes whilst eating their concoctions!

On the way home,we stopped at Albertson's. There, we ran into the Magnolia Fire Dept. One fireman gave the kids firefighter badge stickers. Nice of him.

Only one checkout lane was open and it was staffed by the checker whom I usually try to avoid as he's typically surly, at least to us. And, of course, as we're checking out he has to say (as he does EVERY time I've ever been in there during the day with the kids), "What, no school today?"

I told him the kids just aced their astrobiology final and so we're done for the day, thankyouverymuch, Mr. Nosy Checker.

BTW, as soon as we finished our tests this a.m., we browsed the Coursera site and picked out our next class. It starts next week - can't wait! It's "How Things Work 1" through the University of Virginia.

Museum Monday

FIELD TRIP: This morning we struck out for a destination not too far from home. It's a place we've been wanting to check out for years now. In December, they moved to their new home, even closer to us than their previous near-University of Washington location.

The Museum of History and Industry is now located in South Lake Union in the beautifully restored Naval Reserve Armory.  It's a gorgeous period building. Dontcha just love the architecture?

It was built by the Works Progress Administration in 1941-1942, and served as an Advanced Naval Training School" during World War II. The big, open gallery area inside used to be a drill hall, where thousands of recruits were trained. 

     Photo: Wikipedia 
Inside, an adventure awaits!

In the photo leading this blog post, you'll see two Seattle icons - the big red Rainier beer R that sat atop its headquarters (now Tully's HQ). I remember it from dozens of trips to the Emerald City as a child. It was on the west side of the freeway, just south of town, and I always associated with a bit of a bummer as it meant we were leaving Seattle.

The pink toes are from the Lincoln Toe (tow) Truck.

JAW DROPPER:This attraction at MOHAI deserves its own subheading. A few months ago, I read a story in the Seattle Times about the amazing piece of art was creating. The 60-plus foot sculpture is made from the hull of the sailing ship Wawona, a schooner built in 1896. It weighs 11,000 pounds and is constructed from over 200 wooden panels by artist John Grade. A "sea to sky" installation, it extends beyond the roof of the museum, and down under its floors. You can appreciate it from its perimeter, inside the museum, but when you walk inside of it, you find there's a clear floor, and you can peer all the way down into the inky waters of Lake Union, where the sculpture ends.

Quite simply, it's marvelous. This photo doesn't do it justice.

SEATTLE CENTRAL: MOHAI is all about Seattle, from its early days to present, and there is an eclectic collection.

Here, the Ivar's clam goes for a spin on a unicycle. It was part of a cool display in the main hall of the museum. You could turn a crank and make the unicyclist pedal.

Likewise, this 'wild' Rainier bottle, below, would run when you'd turn a crank. However, the bottle cap remover would always zero in for the kill.

Upstairs, I loved seeing JP Patches' jacket.

 And, of course, the Triple XXX Root Beer photo caught our attention, since CJ is an aficionado.

There was so much to see and do. We checked out the 'gold rush' themed exhibit. There, we pulled a slot machine handle to see how me might have fared. Apparently I shouldn't quit my day job.

CJ and Annabelle tried their hands at working on the railroad.

Would you believe that CJ walked away from it with a fat lip? He got a little overzealous with his tie-driving.

There were a number of displays that had to do with the economy and industry of old. This 1911 poster could have been printed yesterday, if you asked me. ...

There was a lot to look at regarding immigrants' experiences in Seattle history. It reminded me that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

 Check out this terroristic note former Seattle mayor Henry Yesler received.

My absolute favorite part of our visit was in a tiny theater with less than a dozen seats. There, a full fledged musical about the 'Great' Seattle fire of 1889 fire played out, with inanimate objects doing the singing (notably, the glue pot lamented about being singled out as the source of the fire). The lighting and sound were fantastic, the music was amazing and the lyrics were a hoot.  

What's amazing is that more than 30 city blocks were burned, yet not a single person was killed. Wow.

Above are some dishes that were fused together during the fire. 

There was a nice big exhibit about Seattle in the movies. We watched parts of Elvis, John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Maureen O'Hara movies filmed in Seattle, and more.

I so totally want this Mustang couch.

                                  

There was one spot where we could play with a green screen. 

 Annabelle thought it important to have a rubber chicken prop.

There were a few sports-related items in the collection, including this 1979 Supersonics NBA championship trophy.

And there was a small wing dedicated to poetry. The kids thought about penning a poem for a couple minutes, but they bailed, citing being hungry as an excuse

The fourth floor provided a nice view of Lake Union, and was home to a maritime-themed exhibit.

                                          
A floor or two below, we also really liked an interactive display explaining exactly how the Ballard/Hiram Chittenden Locks operate.

SPARKLE PLENTY: This evening we enjoyed a long, lovely flyover of the ISS from our new roofdeck. It appeared exactly as predicted, at 6:26 p.m., per NASA's handy Spot the Station email notification system.

We enjoyed watching it trace across the sky until it finally disappeared about 5 minutes later, way, way beyond Queen Anne hill. (More likely, the ISS, was probably over Texas by the time it slipped from our vision.)

If you're not signed up for Spot the Station, I'd encourage you to do so today. It's just so damn cool watching the ISS streak over your home.