Shuttles and Shuffles

SPACE SHUTTLES: Today, NASA announced cargo contracts to keep critical science, research and technology flowing to the International Space Station (ISS) from 2019 through 2024. Three private companies were awarded contracts to act as cargo shuttles to the ISS:  Orbital ATK and SpaceX, both of which have already flown ISS missions. A newcomer is Sierra Nevada Corporation of Sparks, Nevada, with their Dream Chaser® vehicle, which looks a bit like a miniature version of the good ol' NASA shuttles of days gone by. It lands like a plane, on a runway (rather than a splashdown).

When making the contract announcement today, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said, “Few would have imagined back in 2010 when President Barack Obama pledged that NASA would work ‘with a growing array of private companies competing to make getting to space easier and more affordable,’ that less than six years later we’d be able to say commercial carriers have transported 35,000 pounds of space cargo (and counting!) to the International Space Station -- or that we’d be so firmly on track to return launches of American astronauts to the ISS from American soil on American commercial carriers. But that is exactly what is happening."

We're sure looking forward to that day when NASA astronauts are, once again, on U.S. flown spacecraft to the ISS.

Below is an animated video representing the Dream Chaser® Cargo System. https://youtu.be/eHvBUqfWDRs

HIGH STAKES: Last night we broke out Annabelle's My Little Pony cards and some pistachios and played high stakes blackjack.

It struck me while we were playing that the game is a good math lesson. Obviously, there's the counting to 21 thing, but beyond that, it also involves a lot of estimating and strategizing (for instance, when to hit, when to stand, trying to count cards [how many tens/face cards and aces have been played so far).

I am happy to report I was the BIG WINNER last night. I happily shared the spoils of victory. 

YOUNG AMERICANS: Yesterday, while working on sets for CJ's play, we had Bowie as our soundtrack. As we listened to a wide range of songs from his catalog, I was able to share some stories with the kids about the musician and man. 

Bowie had a long track record of taking on social issues. I love this clip where he's grilling one of the MTV producers about the dearth of videos featuring African American artists on MTV back in the day when they actually used to play music videos instead of just a stream of awful reality TV).
https://youtu.be/XZGiVzIr8Qg

I also told the kids about an article in the LA Times by writer Sasha Frere Jones that noted Bowie "worked like a dog, and he paid attention."

Bowie's video "China Girl" was a message about stereotypes regarding Chinese women, and the video for "Let's Dance" shined the light on discrimination against Aboriginal Australians. 

And just for fun we watched a great old live performance of "Young Americans" 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydLcs4VrjZQ


PRETTY PAIR: A space-loving friend posted a link to this video, a Soyuz module TMA-16M docking with the International Space Station on 28 March 2015, set to  "Blue Danube Waltz" by Johann Strauss II. It makes one think of "2001: A Space Odyssey."

https://youtu.be/KEGzVCHNYqg