Rebuilding

FROM THE ASHES: I picked up a TIME magazine yesterday, the cover photo drawing me in. It was a panoramic shot of New York City, taken from a pole atop the spire of One World Trace Center.  

There was a great article about the construction of the nation's tallest building, and the cover referred readers to an online, interactive version of the amazing panorama: www.time.com/wtc

The resolution is incredible. You can zoom WAY in on NYC landmarks, and you can even make individual people out on ferry boats. "Wow! This is amazing! I love this! This thing zooms really far!" Annabelle marveled. 

Meanwhile, CJ groused, ""This is confusing me. I can't see One World Trade Center." I reminded him the camera was atop I WTC and that if he wanted to see that building, he had to look straight down. Once he got that straight, he was good to go.

We played around with the photo for awhile, and then I pointed the kids to another feature to go along with the story - a short documentary TIME (as "Red Border Films) made about One World Trade Center's construction.  The film focused on the ironworkers and what it meant to them to be involved in the project. 

I'm not going to get any more specific, because you really should watch it for yourselves. www.time.com/rise

We sat rapt, for 17 minutes, listening to the stories of the men and women. As I WTC's spire was lifted into place, making it the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, Annabelle softly said, You know what I just hope ..."

"I know," I said with a sigh. "It's what we're all thinking."

When it was all over, the kids spontaneously started clapping. It was *that* inspirational. I had them each write a paragraph about the structure, and a paragraph about the workers in the story. 

Here is Annabelle's report: 

The One World Trade Center stands at an astounding 1,776 feet (541 m), and has 104 floors! It is currently the tallest building in North America. The window-washing tracks will be named "floor 110" in a tribute to the 110 floors of the original twin towers. The building will also has many features that resemble other famous buildings in NYC, such as the Empire State Building.

The ironworkers who worked on the 1 WTC said that the unity of the team was great, as they worked together on most everything. The team was very dedicated to working on the tower, some even working 12 hours a day with a 2-hour commute! They worked very hard and should be proud!

 CJ's take:

I just watched a documentary about the One World Trade Center, made by Red Border Films.
The One World Trade Center is a building in New York City, the tallest building in North America, and the successor to the original World Trade Center, also known as the Twin Towers. One World Trade Center is (appropriately) located near the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, in New York City. One World Trade Center is the 3rd tallest building in the world, only topped by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Makkah Clock Royal Tower in Saudi Arabia. During initial casework, One World Trade Center was titled the "Freedom Tower".

Several people worked on One World Trade Center, having worked there for over 5 years. Many said that they felt uneasy working on the One World Trade Center. Overall, the One World Trade Center was a very difficult project that you had to be very dedicated to if you were working on it. During the documentary, I heard about a man who's father worked on the original World Trade Center, unfortunately, being paralyzed in a fall.

In the end, the project was successful, and there you have it, the One World Trade Center.

When we were in New York last September, workers were still loudly and furiously working away on the building. We stood and watched the ironworkers' sparks fly for awhile.

And while we were at the 9-11 Memorial next door, the sound of I WTC's construction created quite a din. But it was reassuring, rather than jarring. It was the sound of rebuilding.

THERE IS ANOTHER: Big news from the folks at NASA today. Using NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered the first Earth-size planet orbiting a star in the "habitable zone" -- the range of distance from a star where liquid water might pool on the surface of an orbiting planet. They have named this new-to-us planet Kepler-186f (catchy, no?). 

The artist's concept depicts Kepler-186f , the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit a distant star in the habitable zone. Image Credit: NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-Caltech

Numerous other planets have been previously discovered in a habitable zone, but they're all less Earth-like (for instance, at least 40 percent larger in size than Earth). 

Unfortunately, we won't be checking out Kepler-186f any time soon. It's about 500 light years from us, in the Cygnus constellation. 

DRAGON ON DECK:  We hope to watch a rocket launch tomorrow afternoon. The same rocket we hoped to watch on Monday - a SpaceX cargo mission (CRS-3) to the ISS.  Monday's launch was postponed due to a helium leak. If successful, this will be the company's third commercial resupply mission and SpaceX's fourth visit to the space station. 

Launch is scheduled for 12:25pm Seattle time. The launch will be webcast live on SpaceX's site beginning at 11:45. http://www.spacex.com/webcast/

NASA TV will also have coverage beginning at 11:15 a.m. http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/

As of Thursday night, the weather's not looking perfect for a launch, but we can hope.