Dr. Michael DeBakey, gone at age 99

The Houston Chronicle has a good article on DeBakey: Houstonian called the 'greatest surgeon of the 20th century' dies at 99. I won't try to summarize his accomplishments but will relay one story. He operated on my mother in law in the late '60s. She had many stories about him, but what struck me is how he had two sides. One one side he was a driven perfectionist who wanted to squeeze every second out of the day. She said she saw him getting a haircut while running down a hall with med student's in tow. At the same time he took time for his patients, personally performing many of the tests on the family.

George Carlin - RIP

No need to give a bio or list his accomplishments. There's lots of his stuff on YouTube lest you somehow were lost in the wilderness or are just too young.

Happy Memorial Day

I hope y'all are having a great weekend and are celebrating Memorial Day! My flag is out. Saturday was the NARHAMS launch, yesterday was yard work, and today we have a cookout at the neighbor's house. Beautiful weekend!

A quick update on my projects:

• The Tarkus II is getting some green trim. Photos when dry.
  
• I have the first steps on the Pogo planned. I have the top of the body marked and will be enlarging the hole to accommodate a BT-50 stuffer. A spent D12 fits nicely in the base of the lower propeller hub, so I'll use that for the shoulder. I'm going to have to enlarge the base a skosh to fit the BT-5 motor tube. I could grind it or try to soften the plastic with boiling water and then enlarge it with a dowel. Instead, I'm going to make 2 slits and bend a piece upward. If this doesn't work, Mr. Dremel will be called to service.
  

TDRSS turns 25

If Red Orbit hadn't reminded me, this anniversary would have come and gone without notice. In fact it did, since it was launched on the 5th. I should have remembered considering I was sequestered in an equipment room waiting for our MDM to hiccup...which it didn't.

• NASA TDRSS home page
• GSFC's page
• Wikipeida
  

Space in the Gazette

This week's issue of the Montgomery County Gazette has several space-themed articles:

• Shooting the moon is another profile of Quantum3 Ventures, one of the 10 Google X-Prize competitors. Q3 is headed by 2 Marylanders (2 out of 3 ain't bad).
• Lockheed is on track for its own lunar landing profiles LockMart's Orion work.
• And, Maryland astronaut Ron Parise, who sadly passed away on May 9th, is remembered in Astronaut remembered for his passion for science
  

Obituary for Joe Egan

The whole rocketry community was saddened to hear of Joe's passing last Wednesday. Today, Rocketry Planet has posted his obituary from the NYT. I learned that Joe was, aside from being TRA/NAR's lead in our legal efforts, a nuclear engineer-turned-lawyer who led Nevada’s legal campaign to block a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. He was a very dedicated individual, arranging for his ashes to be spread at site he worked with the words “radwaste buried here only over my dead body.”

NAR/TRA lead counselor Joseph R. Egan passes away

This sad news was just reported on Rocketry Planet. Here's just a short excerpt:

A long time supporter and friend of hobby rocketry, Egan's courtroom performances were lauded by many as stellar any time he took the floor. A supporter of both the Tripoli Rocketry Association and the National Association of Rocketry, he was committed to seeing the lawsuit through to its finality. The protracted length of time the lawsuit has taken to resolve, currently stalemated awaiting a decision from Judge Reggie B. Walton, proved too long for Egan's worsening condition.

My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.

San Jacinto Day

Curmudegon's Corner reminded me that today is San Jacinto Day. From the museum web site:

On April 21, 1836, Mexican rule over Texas came to a dramatic close. The climax of the Texas Revolution, the Battle of San Jacinto eventually moved America’s western border to the Pacific Ocean. And its story will move you—to a better understanding of America.

Russia's monument to Laika

Space.com has the entire article, but here is a summary.

MOSCOW (AP) - Russian officials on Friday unveiled a monument to Laika, a dog whose flight to space more than 50 years ago paved the way for human space missions.

The small monument is near a military research facility in Moscow that prepared Laika's flight to space on Nov. 3, 1957. It features a dog standing on top of a rocket.

...

After the Soviet collapse, participants in the project told the real story: Laika indeed was to be euthanized with a programmed injection, but she apparently died of overheating after only a few hours in orbit.

Here are my previous posts on Laika:

• Laika - the novel
• Lost in space
  

Hasta la vista, Charlton

As most everyone knows, Charlton Heston passed away yesterday. Charlton was known for for many things. He was first a renowned actor, starring in roles such as Ben Hur and El Cid. He also worked for civil rights and led the NRA for several terms as president. However, my favorite movies of his were all sci-fi: Planet of the Apes, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man (one of my all time favorites), and Soylent Green. These may not have been his best work artistically, but he was, as always, was great. I guess this just reflects my interests in movies. Charlton, you will be missed...and remembered.

El Paso tribute vids

I was looking for an embeddable video of the roof blowing off a gymnasium. I didn't find it, but noticed some general videos about El Paso:

This one is not embeddable, and has some neat old photos: We Are El Paso.

This features shots from Hueco Tanks to old Ysleta to Sunland Park:



Remembering the 2006 flooding:



Marty Robbins' El Paso:



And a live version of his El Paso City. Poor quality, but it still brings back memories.

Arthur C. Clarke has passed away (update)

Sir Arthur C Clarke, author, inventor and futurist, has died in Sri Lanka at the age of 90. (via the BBC)

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

If we have learned one thing from the history of invention and discovery, it is that, in the long run - and often in the short one - the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative.

Update: PJ Blount, in Res Communis, reminisces:

In the first space law class I ever took, the first reading was Arthur C. Clarke’s “Extraterrestrial Relay’s” from the October 1945 Wireless World in which he proposed the idea of the geosynchronous orbit.

Nice memory, and a cool link.

USS New York christened today

Via the AP:

AVONDALE, La. (AP) — The USS New York, an amphibious assault ship built with scrap steel from the ruins of the World Trade Center, was christened Saturday as a source of strength and inspiration for the nation.

Thousands of people, including friends and families of those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, gathered near the hulking gray ship, trimmed in red, white and blue banners.

The bow stem, which contains 7.5 tons of steel from the site, bore a shield with two gray bars to symbolize the twin towers and a banner over that declaring "Never Forget," a slogan among New Yorkers.

Explorer-1, 50 years ago today

I made two posts on the event yesterday and thought I'd tie them directly to the actual anniversary:

• My tribute post: 01/31/58
• A follow on telling how NASA is not honoring the day: USAF/NASA Cancels Model Rocket Launch

01/31/58

50 years ago tomorrow, Explorer-1 was successfully launched aboard a Jupiter C, and the race was on. JPL's Explorer-1 site is packed with images, video and all the pertinent factoids. Wayne Hill gives a belated sigh of relief, summarizes the events that led to the successful mission and provides more links. You can download LAUNCH Magazine's excellent article here. Grab it while it's available!

Washington Post tribute to Steve Fossett (update)

Today's Washington Post features an interesting article on Steve Fossett, who disappeared in early September while on a routine pleasure flight from a Nevada ranch: The Fast and the Curious. The article wraps a description of his last project, an attempt to set a land speed record of over 1000 mph, around a short bio of his life.

There are several companion pieces:

• Here is an inset describing five of his over 100 records.
• The print version is full of nice photos. This link supposedly offers a video slideshow, but it didn't work for me.
• Sports psychologist Alan Goldberg explains Why We Compete.

Update: Here's a better link, where you can access the Flash slideshow.

Remembering Evel Knievel (update)

Robert Craig 'Evel' Knievel Jr. died today at age 69. Disease, at least partially caused by a life of excess, finally did what an unknown number of falls and 35 some-odd broken bones couldn't. I remember Evel mostly from 'ordinary' motorcycle jumps like his ill-fated, coma-inducing jump over the fountains at Caesars's Palace. As a teenager, I thought this guy was just too cool. His 1974 attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon in the Robert Truax-designed X-2 Skycycle was in my book his best. And, of course, it's on YouTube:



More on the Skycycle and Truax can be found in this post. And here is info on the Evel Knievel Sky Cycle modroc kit from Centuri's 1975 catalog.

I bet he'd jump the Pearly Gates if St. Peter would allow it.

Three House resolutions of note

Jesse Londin provides a recap of how our House of Representatives took a breather to recognize the importance of space exploration, NASA Langley's 90 years of exploration, and 60 years of sound-barrier-breakin'. A quote of a quote from H.Con.Res. 225:

“declares it to be in America’s interest to continue to advance knowledge and improve life on Earth through a sustained national commitment to space exploration in all its forms, led by a new generation of well educated scientists, engineers, and explorers.” (Jesse's italics, by bold)

"Simultaneously commemorative and forward thinking" indeed. Well said, Jesse!

October 4, 1957

I've been posting about Sputnik, so I just had not note that today is the big day. I liked this quote from ESA's statement:

Fifty years ago today, on the night of 4 October, the first ’beep-beep’ from Sputnik fell from the heavens and marked the beginning of a new era for the human race.

Happy 60th birthday, USAF!

On Sept. 18, 1947, the United States Air Force was established as an independent service by the National Security Act. To all the men and women who have and are serving, thank you!

The Washington Post had a pull-out section commemorating the USAF's birthday (I don't know if this material is on their web site). Here are few tidbits from the articles:

• "We entered the 19th century at 6 miles per hour, the speed of an animal-drawn vehicle. We entered the 20th century at 60 miles per hour, the speed of a steam locomotive. We entered this century at 600 miles per hour, the speed of a transcontinental airliner. I think we'll enter the next century at 6,000 mile per hour, the speed of a global hypersonic transport." - R. Hallion, USAF historian
  
• Each day, the Air Force transfers 4 million pounds of fuel in the air.
• "In the 2nd World War it took 108 B-17s dropping 648 bombs to guarantee a 90% chance of knocking out a German power plant. In the Gulf War (1991), it took 1 airplane with 1 pilot and 1 bomb." - R. Hallion
• In 54 years, no American soldier or marine has been strafed by enemy fire. Now that's air superiority.
• The USAF's responsive launch efforts were barely mentioned.