Today I am in Huntsville, Alabama for a MathAlive tweetup at Space Camp. It’s going to be an exciting day getting to see behind the scenes of Space Camp, getting to try out the Multi-Axis Trainer and simulators, and meeting five time Astronaut Robert “Hoot” Gibson.
After the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Open Air Museum, we headed back inside to start the NASA Social. John Yembrick (@yembrick) and Jason Townsend (@jtowns) started the introductions off.
Our first event of the day at the Goldstone Deep Space Network NASA Social was to commmerate the Open Air Museum. It all started with an idea and dream, eight years ago with Marie Massey, who at the time was the Outreach Coordinator. She thought, wouldn’t it be great to have an outdoor museum for visitors and guests to see the some of the componentry that are on some of the antenna systems?
After seeing Space Shuttle Endeavour launch, my first night launch, I was instantly addicted and wanted more. A few months later, on May 14th 2010, Space Shuttle Atlantis launched on STS-132. This time around, though, it was a day launch and much better on the sleeping patterns.
As we had done with STS-130, we got tickets to watch the launch from the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center.
This week, Space Shuttle Endeavour is making her last journey, this time via land. She will be travelling 12 miles to the California Science Center in Los Angeles where she will be on display. The first time I saw Endeavour was back in February 2010 during a night launch. We got Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex tickets that allowed us to watch the launch from anywhere in the visitor center.
The first full-size Space Shuttle mockup, located in Downey, California was recently relocated from a warehouse on the Downey Studios lot to the Columbia Memorial Space Center.
I was part of a group of Rogue Tweeps in Southern California for the Mars Curiosity rover landing event. We had access to the mockup, which is just as impressive as seeing a real shuttle from a few feet away. And there were keys for this one!
On Sunday night the Mars Curiosity rover landed successfully on Mars! This is super incredibly exciting as this is an important mission that has already proven a number of technical challenges to getting to Mars. I attended the viewing party at Downey’s Columbia Memorial Space Center. Jared provided commentary throughout EDL and waiting for the first thumbnail images from the Red planet. Here are some pictures of the event.
This Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) #002 was used by returning Apollo 12 astronauts Alan L. Bean, Richard Gordon, and Charles Conrad. The MQF was fabricated with an Airstream shell built on a customized platform, complete with living space and a medical diagnostic center. The MQF program was developed in reaction to fears about human exposure to possible Moon organisms unknown on Earth that could initiate an uncontrollable epidemic. Its initial use was by the Apollo 11 crew, the first humans to experience the Moon's environment. The crew stayed in the MQF while it was flown from the recovery aircraft carrier Hornet to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, and then for several more days while at the center, for a total confinement of approximately 65 hours. When the Apollo 12 and Apollo 14 crews also exited the quarters healthy, the quarantine process was discontinued. A unit built for Apollo 13 was not used, due to its emergency return to Earth before a Moon landing.
At the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama features the desk and items from German-born rocket scientist and former director of the Marshall Space Flight Center, Wernher von Braun.
