Orion on the Horizon

CLIMB ON BOARD: I get a dozen or two emails from various NASA departments each day, and increasingly the content is about Orion, a spacecraft built to take humans farther  from home than ever before. 

One of NASA's emails to me this week was a reminder to Earthlings to get their name on board Orion's maiden test flight, scheduled for December 4. 

The test flight is scheduled to be a 4.5 hour mission, two orbits, 3,600 miles above Earth. Then your name and Orion will return to Earth at speeds approaching 20,000 mph and temperatures of nearly 4,000 degrees Farenheit before a dramatic splash down in the Pacific Ocean.

But wait ... there's more. Your name will also be included on future NASA flights, including a mission to Mars. Talk about a chance to rack up major frequent flyer miles!

The deadline for being part of history is October 31. We're in, of course. Care to join us?  Go here to get on board: http://go.usa.gov/vcpz

Today, NASA released a video featuring none other than Nichelle Nichols, Lt. Uhura of Star Trek fame. Nichols is a long time NASA advocate for the space agency, and has been particularly active in encouraging women and minorities to get involved in space-related education and occupations.

Nichols says she's on board with Orion. You can see it for yourself here: http://youtu.be/gNAyBekeVyw


NASA has a whole campaign built around "I'm On Board," and it even includes a neat-o coloring sheet for kids ... 

There's a link to the PDF for it here: http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/imonboard_coloring_sheet.pdf

And if you want a sneak preview of what Orion's test flight will be like, check out "Trial by Fire," a video about the spacecraft’s test and the critical systems engineers will evaluate during the Dec. 4 flight. http://youtu.be/KyZqSWWKmHQ

Bones 'n' Stuff

FUN WITH SCIENCE:  In their weekly science class in Shoreline, the kids are in the midst of a unit about bones. 

Part of their homework this week involved taking a couple of clean poultry bones and soaking them in vinegar for days. We happened to have a couple of old turkey wishbones, so that was perfect. They're now in a vinegar bath and we will keep an eye out for changes.

In class yesterday, a fun activity yesterday helped them appreciate just how wonderful it is to have joints. 

The kids had to use pencils taped to their fingers to keep their index and middle fingers immobilized and stiff, and then perform tasks like making a paperclip chain, using scissors, rolling up a newspaper ... all super simple stuff - when you have fingers that bend. 

The kids managed to get the tasks done, but it wasn't easy!

After school, we went over to Central District to check out Ken's wedding venue. While there, we stopped at one of our favorite places, Chuck's, and played a neat-o and new-to-us game, 30 Second Mysteries. 

We played in teams of two, each team trying to guess a different aspect of the same case. 

You have to be careful, as you can be tricked badly. For instance, this card trolled all of us!

We all wrongly assumed it was about the Kennedy assassination, and that the right answer for the state the VP represented was Texas, for LBJ. However, the clue was actually about the 1860s, not the 1960s! Just goes to show you, making assumptions is dangerous!

BOOKENDS:  A couple of days ago, we took a walk down to the kayak launch in Magnolia, and along the way saw tons o' construction for the western terminus of a 'combined sewer overflow' improvement project.  Today, we took another walk down to the waterfront, this time Terminal 91, which is where the eastern end of the project is underway. 

More heavy machinery ... more digging ... 

... and another sign about the project.

The good news is, when this east end of the project is done, there will be a nice big new park atop it!

In addition to heavy equipment, we also saw a big ol' harbor seal in the bay, and trees turning pretty fall colors. 

HISTORIANS: Today, the kids and I concluded our History of Rock 'n' Roll Part II class with Professor John Covach from the University of Rochester, via Coursera. It's the third class we've taken from Dr. Covach, and though we've never met him, we are going to miss him terribly! 

The last few lectures were about the '80s and '90s, which included the rise of rap and hip hop. As you can see from Annabelle's class notes/drawings, there were strains between rockers and rappers initially.

 However, the two styles are now often combined or done collaboratively. 

And women are in on the act, too!

We were thrilled we each scored 100 percent on our 40-question final. And Annabelle and CJ didn't have to wait long to put their new knowledge to use. At yoga class today, their instructor, out of nowhere, told them she went to a show last night and the DJs played music from Afrika Bambaataa's collection. She said she'd never heard of him before and asked Annabelle and CJ if they had. Bet she was a little surprised when the spouted off about him being a pioneering DJ from the Bronx and a vanguard of hip hop. :) 

COMPETITION:  When we were in Ballard today, by the library, we noticed a wee little lending library outside the candy shop adjacent to Ballard Commons Park. 

You can never have too many libraries, right?!

Fish, Hawks and Floating

SOMETHING FISHY:  This weekend we attended an event that has become a yearly tradition for us - the Fisherman's Fall Festival down at Fishermen's Terminal, which is walking distance for us, at the foot of our hill to the northeast.  The terminal is home to many working boats when they're not up fishing off Alaska or other points north, west, and south.

I'll let the kids tell you about it, Annabelle first. 

On October 4th, 2014, my family and I went to the 26th Annual Fisherman's Fall Festival. It was very fun. We did some things at the festival, and I will tell you about them.

First we did some Spin Art and made our own Frisbees. My Frisbee's base was pink and my brother CJ's base was blue. The cool thing about Spin Art is that after it's done spinning, everything you put in the middle looks like it's exploding to the edges.

Next we built wooden boats. Pretty straightforward.

 Someone else at the wooden boat station made a cool ghost-looking boat by using glow-in-the-dark string and what seemed to be torn apart cotton balls.

The last thing we did was catch Rainbow Trout to eat later. I caught mine on the first try!

CJ, however, had an assistant who put the bait on too loose, and the fish kept getting the bait without the hook.

The Fisherman's Festival was really fun! CJ and I even got a balloon hot dog and bee respectively. 

I'm looking forward to going next year! 

And here's CJ's report

On Saturday, October 4th, I went to go to the 26th Annual Fisherman's Fall Festival, which we go to every year, at the Seattle Fisherman's Terminal. At the terminal, one of the first things we did was design a Frisbee at a stand called "Spin Art". At Spin Art, we would place a Frisbee in a cage and we would squeeze bottles of paint over certain areas of the Frisbee (there were holes at the top of the cage), to give the Frisbee a unique design.

After that, the Frisbee would need to dry for a bit, and after that, one of the men running the station would put my name and the year on the Frisbee.

After that (while we were waiting for the Frisbee to dry), we went to a stand where we could make a toy wooden boat out of some materials that were at the stand. As a base, everybody is given a boat-shaped (minus the mast or any details, really) piece of wood to decorate. There were also pre-shaped sticks made to look like masts, and triangular pieces of paper to look like the sail. To get certain parts in (like a mast or a bottle cap), we would nail them into the base piece.

Last, but not least, we went to an area of the terminal where we could catch fish. What would happen is you would grab a fishing pole and an attendant there would put some bait on the hook, so you would use the rod in the pool and you might catch a fish, with the attendant there to help you get it using a small net.

After that, you could choose to put the fish back in the water, or take it home to eat. I chose to take the fish's corpse home and eat it. (Guess what dad and Annabelle had for lunch that day!)

Overall, I had a good time at the 26th Annual Fisherman's Fall Festival.

A couple things the kids left out:  We saw many of the working boats that make Fishermen's Terminal unique. 

We also saw an interesting demonstration of a survival suit. A gentleman was in a tub of ice water (which the kids added ice to). The water was around 32 degrees, but he was toasty warm in his suit. Interestingly, part of the suit was a tube which he breathed into, and it helped circulate warm air around the suit.  The guy running the booth said a suit like the one we saw could keep someone alive for 24 hours in frigid water.

It's hard to believe that the kids forgot to write about the halibut fish cookies they decorated.

Maybe they forgot, because they ate them the second they were done with them!

MONDAY NIGHT FESTIVITIES:  We had fun Monday prepping for a party - Rick's birthday and the Seahawks on Monday Night Football.

The kids decorated the carrot cake cupcakes I made. 

 Here's CJ's masterpiece. Guess who ate it at the party? :)

They also helped with present wrapping. It wasn't easy for them. They'll get better.

RUCKUS: We wanted to get some walking in today. I thought a stroll down the quiet roadway to the kayak launch in Magnolia would be nice.

However, just a few dozen feet down the road, we realized we were entering a heavy construction zone. Crashing, banging, clanging ... the sound of heavy machinery echoed in the ravine.

As we walked by this set up, I told the kids it reminded me of one of the wash plants on that "Gold Rush" show we've watched in the past. 

Turns out basically the whole area down to the launch, which is next to a wastewater pump station, is involved in a sewer system upgrade. Fortunately, along the way to the shoreline, we found a big sign telling us about the project. 

Once we reached the shoreline, we were surprised to find Elliott Bay was so socked in, we couldn't even see West Seattle!

A big cargo ship out on the water looked like a ghost ship! We couldn't make out its name, unfortunately.

The kids threw a few rocks in the water, and we headed back up the noisy stretch.

FLOATING:  CJ and Annabelle enjoyed breakfast with a couple of astronauts this morning - definitely long distance! NASA's Reid Wiseman and ESA's Alexander Gerst were in the midst of a 6-plus hour spacewalk when the kids were enjoying bananas and yogurt this a.m. 

They were working to relocate a pump module that failed in December from a bracket on the truss to External Stowage Platform-2 on the International Space Station, and to install an electrical relay system that will provide backup power to the Mobile Transporter and Canadarm2.

Speaking of Canadarm, as we watched the astronauts work, we couldn't help but notice how often that part of the ISS was in view, and it made us recall something Neil deGrasse Tyson said when we heard him speak a few weeks ago. He marveled at what a great job the Canadians had done 'branding' that thing with the word CANADA on it, noting in so many ISS photos it's CANADA CANADA CANADA!  Well played, neighbors to the north!

Here's Gerst riding Canadarm2 during the spacewalk.  (Image credit: NASA TV)

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FALL FUN:  We made it to the annual Fishermen's Festival this weekend, and we can't wait to tell you all about it, but tonight the Seahawks played Monday Night Football (and won, yeehaw!) and we were at Rick's house hosting a dinner and his birthday party there, so we had our hands full.

Tomorrow, a full report. Until then, cupcakes! :)