Of Masks and Manikins

           Credits: NASA/David C. Bowman

SMART DUMMIES: News of NASA's campaign to return to manned spaceflight continues to come in, one milestone after another. 

Recently, crash test dummies outfitted with modified Advanced Crew Escape System suits were placed in the crew seats of an Orion test capsule during a drop test at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. This test is in preparation for Orion's future splashdown landings in the Pacific Ocean.

Engineers drop an Orion test capsule with crash-test dummies inside into NASA Langley Research Center’s 20-foot-deep Hydro Impact Basin to simulate what the spacecraft may experience when splashing down in the Pacific Ocean after deep-space missions.

Credits: NASA

Data from the dummies will help engineers ensure astronauts aren't injured during splashdown.

“Not only can we learn how the structure reacts to a water impact in these tests, but we can also understand how splashdown loads are transmitted to the seats and crew,” said Mark Baldwin, crew injury lead for Orion prime contractor, Lockheed Martin.

Some of the sensors on the dummies measure localized responses at the head and neck, to protect against common impact injuries like concussion and spinal fracture.

This recent test was the fourth vertical drop test. In the coming months, five swing tests of the capsule with the fully suited dummies will be conducted.

Eventually, and Orion capsule will be placed atop the powerful Space Launch System rocket, hopefully for NASA’s journey to Mars.

HAPPY WOOKIEE: The woman who won the Internet today is a mom in Texas who loves Star Wars. Candace Payne posted a video of herself trying on a Chewbacca mask that has built in sound effects. Hilarity ensured. The video had over 70 MILLION views in 24 hours. 

Being the big Star Wars fans we are, of course we had to rush right out and buy one (not an easy task, as they were selling like hotcakes after the video went viral).

We ordered ours online from Target, and picked it up this afternoon. The kids experimented with it in the car. Here's Annabelle trying it on for size. ...

Poor CJ found out that being a Wookiee isn't all that easy. ...

Lift Off

BARRED:  This afternoon, as we were delivering  sunflower cupcakes to a neighbor in need of a pick-me-up, as we drove toward our 'hood's hub I remembered it was Thursday and that meant drop in art day at the library.

Annabelle immediately perked up and so after the cupcake drop was complete, we hustled to the library. She was literally skipping with joy as we headed to our destination. 

I'll let her tell you a bit more about the session. ...

Today I went to a fun drop-in art class at our local Seattle Public Library. The library has drop-in art classes every Thursday, from 4:00 to 5:30. Today, we made soap! The ingredients we used were rose petals, chamomile, lavender, flax seeds, coffee beans, scents (we used sweet-grass or tangerine. You only need 1 or 2 drops, because the scents are very strong,) and for the actual soapy part, glycerin. First, put rose petals, chamomile, lavender or flax seeds, along with coffee beans if you want, plus a drop of scent into a soap bar mold. (you can also put a marble inside for extra fun! When you use the soap enough, you’ll be able to get the marble out!) Melt the glycerin until it’s a liquid. Then, you pour the glycerin into the mold! While we waited for the soap to harden (about 20 minutes), we did scribble drawing! To make a scribble drawing, you just scribble on you page and then draw what you see in the lines! Once your soap hardens, you can pop it out of the mold and wrap it in tissue paper. These little bars make great gifts!

Annabelle eked every one of the 90 minutes out of the session. Our house certainly smells lovely because of her efforts. 

PRESENTING:  Today, it was CJ's turn to share with peers a topic he's researched for the past few weeks, human-fueled climate change. 

CJ came out wearing this for the presentation. I promptly sent him back to his room to reconsider his wardrobe for such an important topic. 

Once he got his clothes in order, the rest flowed nicely.

In fact, he got a standing ovation from his classmates when all as said and done. :)
Here's a link to the graphics CJ used during his presentation. 
http://prezi.com/bd92wc6q43p_/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

ROCKET REMODEL: Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows we're scavengers. We love finding treasures for free or next-to-nothing. 

Recently, a resident of our neighborhood posted they had a surplus rocket on a Facebook group. This rocket happens to be a kids' play structure. Immediately, a number of people weighed in saying they wanted it. We were lucky enough to be gifted it. 

It's a neat little unit. Sturdy, stable. No sharp edges. The slide is commercial grade, in good shape. The rocket fuselage is made from wood and compressed fiberboard, painted.

We're definitely going to repaint it before it goes to its new home. I think it needs to look more Saturn V or SpaceX than Fisher Price.  That, and it needs lights. And some sort of sensory station in the crew capsule - lots of toggles and buttons! And a star map inside

its nosecone. This will be a fun project. We've always wanted to build a better rocket! 

Stay tuned for progress shots.

Sing a Song

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Yesterday afternoon, CJ and Annabelle took to the stage yesterday afternoon as part of the talent show at their school. They were super stoked to have special accompaniment from big brother Kennedy!

https://youtu.be/oehK-7KRN9w

PANDA-MONIUM:  The kids continue to be involved in a social issues class twice weekly. They've been working on presentations that involve environmental issues as of late. Annabelle chose to talk about pandas, because, as she put it, "They're black, white and ADORABLE." 

She talked about the habitat of the pandas disappearing, pandas disappearing, and why we should care. 
http://prezi.com/kwct0fggtbj1/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share
And she made "Panda Packs" to hand out to the audience members.  

SCIENTIFIC METHOD: Annabelle is going to take the state's standardized test for fifth graders tomorrow morning. 

In preparation, a couple of weeks ago, she/we took the online practice test. It was pretty darn straightforward. Here's a sample question ... 

Um, yeah. This is not rocket surgery.

But one thing we wanted to brush up on were the steps involved in the scientific method. We went to YouTube for a catchy song that might help cement the steps into the mind. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIFz_-KzURY

Moving Targets

GARDEN PARTY: We spent a few hours Friday afternoon helping a community garden get established, and working on a community-involved art project.

I was mostly at the art table, helping kids decorate and melt plastic cups into Chihuly-inspired art objects.

Meanwhile, CJ and Annabelle toiled in the garden. CJ worked hard shoveling buckets full of soil amendments.

Much mulch was moved and plants were planted. It was 80-degrees plus in full on sunshine. Everyone worked up a sweat, and I made two runs for Popsicles!

SATURDAY AT SAFECO:  Saturday night, we headed to the stadium district for some fun. We went early and shopped at the always interesting Uwajimaya. 

We made our way to the stadium in time to see Moose Man (Annabelle's Moose hat prompted him to seek us out).

We also spent some time along the bullpen wall, where Angels catcher Geovany Soto tossed Annabelle a batting practice ball.

 And we arrived in time to collect some Mariners' swag, including Kyle Seager bobblehead dolls. Sweet!

 We also had time to visit the kids' zone on the 300 level above home plate. 

 The kids played some virtual baseball, and got a sense for just how big Big Unit Randy Johnson is.

They also posed in some cutouts for photo opps, but they set up was kind of creepy. The scale is wrong. 

It gives the poser no neck and the faces are too big. :0 

WHO ARE YOU?: Sunday night, we had an amazing time at Key Arena, in the company of living rock legends, The Who.

More on this later, as the show deserves its own blog post!

MOMENTOUS CIRCUIT: Monday, May 16, marks the day the International Space Station has made its 100,000th orbit of the Earth. 

The space station has been in orbit for over 17 years (!), and during that time, over 1,922 research investigations have been performed. More than 1,200 scientific results publications have been produced as a result.