To Boldly Go - After-Action Report

Captain Kirk has finally made it to space and come home again! (Or if he's in a time loop, gone to space for the first time of many?).

His words on returning are for the ages. “That was unlike anything you’ll ever feel, ever.”

"Everybody in the world needs to do this. Needs to see this. It was unbelievable."

"What you have given me is the most profound experience you can imagine. I hope I never recover from it. What I feel right now, I don't want to lose it."

...and now I'm bawling. Who wants to go? #ToBoldlyGo

Also, how incredible does Shatner look? 90 years old, seriously? He doesn't look a day over 70.

Originally posted on Facebook.

To Boldly Go

Captain Kirk is going to space - for real: Jeff Bezos’ spaceflight venture Blue Origin is launching William Shatner — aka Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise — to space on the company’s New Shepard rocket. At 90 years old, he’ll become the oldest person to fly to space, surpassing legendary aviator Wally Funk, who flew on the first crewed flight of New Shepard this summer.

The New Shepard flight is currently scheduled for October 12th out of Blue Origin’s launch facility in West Texas.

https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/4/22708534/blue-origin-william-shatner-new-shepard-crewed-flight-october

Babylon 5 Reboot

I am having really conflicting feelings about this! On the one hand, I trust JMS - Babylon 5 has always been his story to tell. Also, I would love updated visuals!

But...these actors so completely embody the characters that recasting seems a travesty (Note: Claudia Christian said on Twitter that JMS has kept her and the others in the loop from the beginning because he wants them "involved" with the show, but it's not clear what that means).

And reboots are almost always a pale imitation of the original. We're currently drowning in reboots, and it seems like they're pretty much all terrible. OTOH, the Battlestar Galactica reboot was 100 times better than the original - one of the best scifi TV shows to date - so it can be done. And if anyone can do it, it's JMS.

JMS has posted his thoughts about this endeavor in a Twitter thread, for anyone who is interested. Not many hard details, but straight from the source: https://twitter.com/straczynski/status/1442621159221043202

What do you all think?

https://www.thewrap.com/babylon-5-reboot-original-creator-the-cw/

785cGev5kjtU72x3oJpGN3-1024-80.jpg

Originally posted on Facebook.

Inspiration4 Adventure

It was a big week for the future of civilian and tourist space flight! SpaceX completed the first "all-private" crew to space in a Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket. The Inspiration4 mission was privately funded and will be raising money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

The crew orbited the Earth for 3 days - can you imagine it? Then they returned safely home from what will be the first of many such missions.

You can learn more about the crew members here: https://www.upi.com/.../SpaceX.../7831631288629/, and more about the entire mission here: https://inspiration4.com/.

Special shout-out to the stuffed golden retriever tagging along for the adventure.

Originally posted on Facebook.

Staring At The Sun

“On April 29, 2015, NuSTAR, Hinode, and Solar Dynamics Observatory all stared at our Sun. 

Flaring, active regions of our Sun are highlighted in this image combining observations from  Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR (shown in blue); low-energy X-rays from Japan's Hinode spacecraft are green; and extreme ultraviolet light from Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, are yellow and red. This NuSTAR image is a mosaic made from combining smaller images.

The active regions across the Sun’s surface contain material heated to several millions of degrees. The blue-white areas showing the NuSTAR data pinpoint the most energetic spots. During the observations, microflares went off, which are smaller versions of the larger flares that also erupt from the sun's surface. The microflares rapidly release energy and heat the material in the active regions.”

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/staring-at-the-sun

pia19821-nustar_xrt_sun.jpg

Originally posted on Twitter.

CosmoQuest-A-Con Recap

I had a fabulous time at CosmoQuest-A-Con last weekend. The sci-fi improv panel Friday evening (with Keren Landsman, Stephen Granade, Mur Lafferty and Greg Gbur) was ridiculous and hilarious - Hitchhiker's Guide has nothing on the stories we wove - and the spec-fic discussion on Sunday was a delightful celebration of being a geek in the '80s sci-fi heyday.

But, objectively, the *best* panel had to be "Imagining Humans In Space" (with Tim Chrisman, Brian Gray and Morgan Rehnberg). We had such a fascinating conversation about growing up in the space shuttle era, how we lost our way in the '90s and 2000s, and what we're doing - and still need to do - to seize the opportunity the burgeoning private space race has given us and get humanity to the stars to stay. I'm proud to have been part of this excellent discussion.

If you missed the panel but would like to check it out (it lasts an hour and change), you can watch it on Twitch here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1089556001?t=01h22m50s.

Panel.jpg

Originally posted on Facebook.

Montana Valley Book Store

During our mountain getaway, we stumbled upon this small-town used bookstore. It doesn't look like much from the outside, does it?

Well, that impression quickly changed on venturing inside. There are definitely 100,000 books available (thanks to a huge basement that is just amazing). Classic paperback releases with old-school covers, new hardbacks and everything in between. Books on every topic imaginable. A hefty section of signed and special books.

We spent half an hour talking to the wonderful owner. She followed her father into the used book business, and she regaled us with a lifetime of stories of funny author readings (starring local authors James Lee Burke and James Crumley, plus a great story about J.K. Rowling), as well as crazy tales of rare and signed books that had passed through the store.

We walked away with 5 books, of course, and a desire to return. And because we live in the modern world now, it turns out the store has a lovely website: https://www.montanavalleybookstore.com/.

Sometimes it's worth it to venture off the interstate.

Originally posted on Facebook and Instagram.

New Shepard Launch and the Future of Space Tourism

You know something important is happening when every member of my (non-spacey) family messages me to see if I'm watching.

Jeff Bezos, Wally Funk (now the oldest astronaut), Mark Bezos and Oliver Daemen (now the youngest astronaut) have gone to space and returned to Earth in Blue Origin's first crewed flight of New Shepard! I love the unabashed joy we heard from the crew as they floated in weightlessness, looking down upon the Earth and up into the stars.

The future of human tourism in space is now upon us. Yeah, yeah, they paid $28 million for the privilege. But that price is going to drop like a...well, like a rocket booster on its way back down, lol. I'm starting my savings fund today.

Originally posted on Facebook.