History!!!

Cute cartoon above and below: European Apace Agency

IN FOR A LANDING: Last night while we slept, the folks at the European Space Agency was doing a science. :)

They had made a list (in fact, many lists, no doubt) and I'm sure they were checking them more than twice, as it was time for spacecraft Rosetta to release her lander, Philae!  The little lander would descend, unpowered, entirely relying on gravity, toward the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. 

The team encountered a couple of anomalies in the wee small hours of our morning, and things were tense. However, in the end, it was determined Philae would be released as scheduled.

Let the finger crossing and breath-holding begin ... 

The photo below is Philae’s parting image of Rosetta, taken shortly after separation.

Credit: ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA

And Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera captured this parting shot of the Philae lander after shortly after separation. 

Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

And here, from the ESA and for our collective viewing pleasure, is the first image from the descent of Philae from ROLIS camera (3 m/pixel)! 

Doesn't look all that friendly down there ... 

The kids were *thrilled* when I pulled them out of bed about 6:30 to watch coverage of the comet landing, which mostly consisted of people staring at a computer screen. ;)

We watched NASA TV coverage during Philae's descent toward 67P. Then, as landing and signal reception became imminent, it switched to ESA coverage, which was mostly very nervous looking people in mission control, staring expectantly at monitors. We talked about the fine art of reading body language, and clearly there were many, protracted tense moments. 

Finally, there was good news to report!!! Philae had touched down ... anchored on ... eventually sent a signal back to Earth!!! Here's a link to BBC's coverage of confirmation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpXv8bYf3XA

An ESA mission, Rosetta is a multi-national project. NASA technology is on board, in the instruments ALICE, MIRO, and IES, and part of the electronics package for the Double Focusing Mass Spectrometer - one of two detectors on the Swiss ROSINA instrument. NASA is also providing science investigators for selected non-U.S. instruments and NASA's Deep Space Network provides support for ESA's Ground Station Network for spacecraft tracking and navigation.

Little lander Philae only has sixty some hours of power to work with down on the surface of the comet. Here's hoping it's able to make the most of its time and we can't wait to read about its findings! What a great day for spaceflight!

MAGICAL MOVIE:  Yesterday evening we had a rare opportunity to see a cult classic animated movie and meet its author/screenwriter.

Based on a 1968 novel by Peter S. Beagle, the movie "The Last Unicorn" was released in 1982. Animated by the Rankin/Bass group, with voice talent including Angela Landsbury, Jeff Bridges, Alan Arkin, Mia Farrow, and Christopher Lee, it quickly earned a devoted fan base which has grown over the years.

An email from Central Cinema in Seattle's Central District let us know about the special screening of the movie, featuring a pre-screening reading by the author and a meet and greet afterward. Count us in!

We got to the theater early enough to score front row seats. Vintage cartoons were shown before the movie, including the Smurfs (to my chagrin).

We all did enjoy a 1936 short called "A Coach for Cinderella," in Technicolor, no less! It was actually a promotional movie by the Chevrolet motor company. The cartoon is pretty entertaining, and it's in the public domain now, so I can post it here! https://archive.org/details/Coachfor1936

At about 3:30, Mr. Beagle took the stage, much to the delight of the crowd.

He told a fanciful tale supposedly about the 'true' genesis of "The Last Unicorn," and then opened it up for questions. CJ's hand shot up first.

He (very politely) asked, "Mr. Beagle, what would you do if you met a unicorn in real life?"

The author seemed taken aback. (See the photo below, taken right after CJ asked the question.) I'm not sure he'd ever been asked that question before.

Mr. Beagle stood silently for a moment, contemplating, and then somewhat haltingly answered, "I'd kneel before it. ... and ask, 'What can I do for you?' "

Here's CJ's summation of the evening's events. ... 

Yesterday, I went to a place called Central Cinema where we got to see The Last Unicorn, a 1982 animated film directed by Rankin/Bass with a screenplay written by Peter S. Beagle, who was also the author of the 1968 book The Last Unicorn. Peter S. Beagle was at Central Cinema to sign copies of his books and respond to questions!

The plot of both the book and the movie The Last Unicorn goes like this: A unicorn living in a lilac wood discovers that she is the last of her kind after hearing some hunters talking about unicorns and how, according to the hunters, are all gone, and so the unicorn goes out to search for more of her kind outside of her forest.

The audience in Central Cinema got to ask Peter S. Beagle certain questions, most of them being what my mom called generic, like "What inspired you to make the protagonist of your story a unicorn?" or "Why did you make the forest that your unicorn lives in a lilac one?" I asked Peter S. Beagle the question "If you met face-to-face with a unicorn in real life, what would you do with her?" Peter S. Beagle responded to that question by saying that he would probably kneel down and say "What may I do for you?" to the unicorn.

After the show, there was also merchandise available to purchase. The merchandise available included stuff like T-shirts (with one that had a picture of the unicorn in The Last Unicorn (which had a subtle surprise that the black background was actually composed of the entire novel of The Last Unicorn!), other books by Peter S. Beagle (including one called Sleight of Hand, a collection of short stories by Peter S. Beagle, featuring one that was a prequel to The Last Unicorn), and even some film reels from the original 1982 screenings of The Last Unicorn!

We got our copy of the books The Last Unicorn and Sleight of Hand signed by Peter S. Beagle (he signed out copy of The Last Unicorn with the line "Have a taco", probably the most memetic line from both the book and the movie), and my sister, Annabelle, got a book called "Phoebe and her Unicorn" signed by the author of the Heavenly Nostrils book series, in which "Phoebe and Her Unicorn" is a part of, signed by the book's author, Dana Simpson.

After the movie, we went to the cafe portion of the theater, where we met Mr. Beagle. He signed a couple of books for us (as CJ noted above). 

We also had a chance to meet a local author/illustrator, Dana Simpson, and pick up her book, "Phoebe and her Unicorn," a graphic novel. We even talked a little "My Little Pony" with her for a bit. Fun!