The shape at this point reminds me more of Balok's warning buoy...

MUSE

Sing for Absolution

Exogenesis Symphony. ... about astronauts leaving earth for another planet to preserve humanity and their civilization. (its sort of an expanded version of that Absolution video story).
Exogenesis Part 1
Exogenesis Part 2
Exogenesis Part 3

And just about everything else Muse has done!

It opened today (Fri Sep 28) here in Melbourne FL. It is a must see for any spaceflight fan... and should really be seen by everyone else just to inform them (or remind them) of what is possible by inspired, determined people. As someone who turned 16 a few days before Apollo 11's launch, and have followed spaceflight since a kid (Mercury, the Rangers, Surveyors, Lunar orbiters, Mariners), I just had an incredible sense today of almost teary-eyed nostalgia through most of it. Seeing how the Apollo astronauts have aged (as well as myself), I kept thinking how could we (as a country) have just squandered all this and let it all go.

Yes, there is the Shuttle and ISS... but it just seems like way too much time has passed since 1972. I worry that I will not see another manned moon landing in my lifetime... though I am hopeful. But then, toward the end of the movie, I felt a contentment that at least I got to live during this period of man's history and experience it as it happened. (I know it was a Friday afternoon showing... but in a 180 seat theater, I was the only one there, although the other 15 movies playing at the same time seemed fairly well attended. Sad... as I thought there'd be folks like me who'd take a half day just to see it... since its only showing for a few days. I may go back this weekend.)

Don't know if its been discussed here... but besides the "Man Conquers Space" movie theme (i.e., the future isn't what it used to be")... space enthusiast Ron Howard ("Apollo 13", and HBO series "From the Earth to the Moon") has a new Apollo Documentary coming out on Sept 28 in selected theaters. It has gotten rave early reviews. It uses many recent interviews and digitally restored archive footage. Sounds like a winner to see that footage cleaned up to be on the big screen.

http://www.intheshadowofthemoon.com/

Yeah, I ran across this page about a year ago. Scroll down and check out the clip at the end of the page (there are multiple formats & sizes). Fantastic views of the famous von Braun Saturn Shuttle (a la the 1950's Colliers magazine articles).

http://manconquersspace.com/MCSMovieClips.html

The whole suspend and release process really scares me. I remember a probable cause for the Mars Polar Lander's failure was when the landing gear extended the "bump" that created may have been interpreted as touchdown, so the engines cut off while still at altitude. I can see a similar tug or bump possibly happening to MSL while in suspended state (from air turbulence, swinging, or reaching the bottom of the cable reel-out.)

I don't know why the "skycrane" (in basically its same configuration), couldn't just have landing leg extensions (straddling MSL) and actually land (eliminating the MSL hanging in air). Once landed, MSL could just be similarly reeled down a few inches to the surface, cut loose, and then drive away. That way, they still have their immediately rovable rover, without the dangerous in-air suspension.

On Apollo 12 there are those well know images taken from Surveyor looking back up the slope to the LM. But I've never seen any from the LM area into the crater showing Surveyor. The closest I've been able to find is possibly this panorama... where just poking up from the shadowed interior, just above the near side sunlit lip of the crater is something that looks like the solar panel (on top of the mast... which is below the lip). Don't know if that's it, but it looks like a hard edges of the right shape.

http://moonpans.com/vr/apollo12_lm.htm

(You need quicktime to view the 360 pan)

This view of the dark dunes has been stuck in my mind...

http://hiroc.lpl.arizona.edu/images/PSP/di...PSP_002860_1650

... and I just realized what it reminds me of: One of those M.C. Escher metamorphosis prints:

http://www.etropolis.com/escher/scroll.htm

I recall that there may be other "problems" for the life favorability of planets around red dwarf stars. The habitable zone is very small, meaning the planet must orbit very close to be in it... as is the case announced today. There is a high chance that the diurnal rotation will be locked into a synchronous rotation with its year (like the moon around the earth). This could cause big problems on heating/cooling of the respective hemispheres and drive huge planet-wide storms. Still, if there were calm temperate zones near the day-night terminator, it could provide a lot of time for life to develop and evolve: Red dwarf stars live 10 times longer than our sun.

This is the feature story today on Space.com...

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0704..._exoplanet.html

In English... a "strait" (as in "of Magellan") is a different word than "straight" ...

Wow... I actually think I remember that! Wasn't that the one with some guy in a carrot suit going around shouting "Moisture! Moisture!" and Smith would have to hose him down.

I liked it (from a spaceflight point of view) when they finally started flying again in the 2nd season. (Had to get the AstroGator working). I forgot what that fuel was they were always drilling for. (No, not dilithium) Then, I really liked when they finally sprung for a full sized mock-up of the J2 with lower deck, landing legs extended and all. It was the episode where they thought they landed on earth (Smith was estatic) but turned out to be a planet of crazy robots. Still, the full scale J2 was neat.

Yeah, looks like I have a few years on you.

You're right about Gerry Anderson; I'm sure he inspired a lot of kids to get interested in spaceflight and science... from Supercar (1960), XL5 (1962)... the Thunderbirds.... to Space 1999 in the 70s.

I loved the XL5 closing theme. I remember it even getting a bit of radio play in the US back then. I just found the "real" full version. I'm glad they didn't use the bittersweet last verse on XL5; I think it would have demoralized me as a little kid. But now I can appreciate it as a realistic grounding truth for the long past hopes and ambitions of a child, but fulfilled today by web sites like this one.

http://sfwriter.com/fireball.mp3

Yes, I watched Lost in Space, too. But even at 10, I thought a lot of the large papier mache alien heads just a bit too much to take seriously. Then, on the opening of the first episode of the last season, I did have a brief interest again: That's when they first dropped the "Pod" out of the J2... and it looked like a little stylized copy of the Apollo Lunar Module.

When I was 6, this is what got me hooked on spaceflight (though I could have done without the Lazoon):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-1AMrSzN40

Musically... I liked the original theme better

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hOJ4NI4dKo...ted&search=

(The new theme sounded too much like "The Time Tunnel"... another Irwin Allen sci-fi farse fest.

Very nice. Of course, if they look at earth when it is closest... we will only be seen as a thin cresent.

From what is being said now... it is a daylight comet with many accounts of people just blocking the sun by a building or object, and seeing it just off to one side

http://spaceweather.com/

Nice joke, there CR. I almost didn't notice the Jefferson Nickel until I saw the words "trust" and "liberty" on the crater rim. Oh, and the FDR dime makes for nice "change" also...

Quote: "Over the next couple of weeks, the camera will target "all the easy-to-find hardware on Mars," McEwen said. That includes NASA's rover Spirit, the Viking 1 and Viking 2 landers, and Mars Pathfinder.

(From this article)
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/34249.php

Can't wait to see what's coming in the next few weeks... HiRise of Spirit's travels... as well as the Vikings!
(Wonder how MRO will resolve Ultrey... er.. El Dorado dunefield) After seeing the resolution of the lander in Eagle crater and the shadow of the PanCam mast on Oppy... think of all the features on these sites that we'll be able to recognize. It'll almost be like the first time you used GoogleMaps to get a satellite/aeral view of your house.

Well, trax, I just think you were distracted for a time. I'll bet you've always had the spirit of a dreamer, explorer, poet and philosopher in you the whole time. And I'll add my voice to others who've mentioned it: thanks for starting this trip down memory lane.
- John
PS: I like your website... seems incredibly interesting; probably moreso if I could read Portuguese! (Still looking at changes in Ultreya, I see )

Hey Rui, and others who at such a young age were so impressed by Cosmos: I really admire you, and what great people and minds you are. Just to show how age and seeing a show matters (as has been mentioned here):

When Cosmos first aired, I was in my mid 20s's, and was a total space buff. When I watched it (as a product of the space age in the US), I guess I wanted a hard-core fact-filled science show. All these side trips Carl made to see Tibetan folks spinning prayer wheels, talk about the Hindu gods Shiva, etc... left me cold. I thought he was being really pompous. I loved Carl for his visible face during Viking and several appearences on Nova back then.... but I thought Cosmos was over the top at the time.

When PBS re-broadcast it last year (25 years after I first saw it) I watched it and I swear I was moved to tears at each episode by the time Carl gave his closing talk. What a difference in perspective 25 years of living provides. Now, it seemed so profound, inspiring and insightful. So, for you guys who were so impressed at such a young age... I truely admire you! It took me a long time to reach where you were so long ago.

- John

Yes, Other Doug... I loved Supercar too. But that was before XL5; I was even younger and Mike Mercury just seemed a little too scary for me with his hard features, big eyes and huge eyebrows.... but I loved the car. But in XL5, I was just awed by the impression of size with the ship, and the novelty of XL-Jr separating and landing.

Anyway... here's one for you... Supaah

Edit: Oh, and agree regarding most of 1999... but I wasn't brave enough to point out the implausibility. My other issue with that show (by 1975 I was a physics/astronomy major in college) was how did the moon, drifting through interstellar space (at sub-light speeds) manage to pass nearby a planet so often? And how did they often know the names of those new planets (Ultima Thule?)

Although I was already grown up, I thought Dragon's Domain was well done and creepy. The haunting music used during his lonely return trip (I think it was Albinoni's Adagio) was a stroke a genius.

Yes, Gerry Anderson's Space 1999 was good... but my interest in space was already at a high level.

The show that first TOTALLY got me hooked on space travel was one of Anderson's first space-related series:

Fireball XL-5. I watched this as a small kid in the early 1960s and that opening sequence just totally blew me away every time. (And note how after launch, looking out the cockpit, the view changes from bright sky to black space. That gave me such a yearning to go into space!) Check out the opening on YouTube at this link. And the closing song is still a favorite and very clever theme!

XL-5 opening/ending