SWEET APPRECIATION: The kids and I put a few hours in in the kitchen over the past couple of days, whipping up some teacher appreciation cookies.
I'd done blackboards before (thanks to the Oscars-awards themed set I did a couple months back), but the rest of these were new to me.
We hope they enjoyed them. And I hope someone EATS them!
PUT TO THE TEST: This morning, at 6 our time, they were busy on the Space Coast, conducting an important safety test of an uncrewed SpaceX Crew Dragon. Powered by its SuperDraco engines, it was put through a Pad Abort Test from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
Photo: NASA
Check out this cool footage of it all - just a couple of minutes from launch to a successful splash down.
This test is an important step in getting SpaceX vehicles approved for future manned missions to the ISS and beyond.
CUPPA JOE: Great news for coffee lovers off planet. The ISSpresso, delivered by the SpaceX cargo mission to the International Space Station a couple of weeks ago, has been put into service and it works perfectly.
Just look at how happy Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is to have her cup of espresso!
Photo: European Space Agency
One thing that makes partaking it that much better is the new Space Cup.
Image courtesy of Andrew Wollman/NASA
Prior to its advent, astronauts would have to suck all their liquids out of a bag. However, the new coffee cups (3D printed!) have sharp inner corners which allow liquid to be pushed along (rather than pulled), a process called capillary flow.
Scientists say that this fluid delivery system might have positive applications on Earth, for instance, in blood-borne disease diagnostic devices in remote areas.
Speaking of NASA tech benefitting life on Earth, amazing news out of Nepal. Rescuers used a device NASA developed to detect alien life on exoplanet to find survivors buried under as much as 10 feet of rubble after the devastating earthquake.
Called FINDER, the portable radar unit can detect heartbeats and breathing, and it was used to find four survivors trapped in the rubble for days.
photo: NASA JPL
INCOMING!!!: If you plan on being out and about tomorrow or the next day, you might want to wear a helmet. Check out the progress of Progress' predicted-but-unplanned return to our planet here: http://www.satflare.com/track.asp?q=40619,25544#TOP
TAKE A LOOK: Curious what it's like in Seattle at any given moment? Check out the Space Needle's newly-upgraded Web cam. It's now in high definition, you can rotate it 360 degrees, and you can even look back at different times throughout the day. Link here: http://www.spaceneedle.com/webcam/
You can even play "count the cranes" like we do, every time we drive through the South Lake Union neighborhood.
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