You've got to bear in mind the fact that I was a space nut when I was a kid in the sixties.
I had huge posters plastered all over my room of the Earthrise and other shots taken by the crew of Apollo 8 when they whizzed around the Moon.
I was a member of the amateur astronomy club and I still have my spiffy telescope … and I still use it on occasion; it's something I'll never grow out of.
So anyhoo; last night I went on to Apple's widget download site to look for more silly crap to clutter up my dashboard, and there, on the "Staff Favourites" list was something called NASA TV …
So I downloaded and launched it and there - to my unutterably joy - was live TV from mission control!
Sure, it was only two VERY bored looking guys sitting at their workstations going through checklists with the folk up on the International Space Station, but to me it was the best bits of childhood all over again.
Then they showed this …
I thought it was a still photo, but even so, it was as cool as fuck.To see the shuttle "Endeavour" docked with the ISS! Wow!
But then …
For a second I thought it was another "still" shot …And then the Earth moved for me!
Non space-cadets could never imagine the thrill I got last night when I realised I was watching live TV FROM SPACE!!!
The Earth was there! Moving round below us! Woohoo!
I tried going to bed but I lay there all fitful and restless until I got up, wrapped a duvet around me, fired up the kettle and sat glued to my monitor for the entire seven hour spacewalk.This is Mike heading down to the airlock with his cool 3D glasses on.
Here's Bob in the command centre, giving us a commentary.For a middle-aged geek like myself to see balding old men in space is a great feeling!
Say "Hi" to Peggy.She's going through the checklists with Mike and Eric in the airlock and making wisecracks with mission control.
Peggy's cool and funny.
Klingons!There are grabrails like this all over the ISS, but every now and then one of the guys lets go and reaches for something else.
Shit, guys! You're not tethered yet! It's a fucking long way down if you miss your handhold.
Whew! Tethered at last.This is Mike taking off his gloves.
You heard me … Luckily they are only "overgloves" to protect his thin inner gloves while he makes his way to the cargo bay.
That's us down there. Wave to the nice people in space.
Oooh, looky!Cute little spacemen.
For someone who watched the very first spacewalk all those decades ago, seeing this live on my monitor was simply staggering.
The guys are installing "Dexter", the "dextrous" robot with two, multi-jointed, eleven foot long arms who will be taking over a lot of the maintenance duties on the outside of the ISS.
Cool as fuck, or what?No more terrestrial TV for me. I'm hooked.
14 comments:
Wow Dive that is truly fascinating. I too have always been interested in space, but am not so informed or quite as enthused as you! I don't know why i've always been into it, perhaps as you see, we are of an age when that first bit of incredible news about the moon hit us during young years. My mother doesn't believe it all, she thinks it's all a studio hoax. She's not alone is she though.
Had my heart in my mouth when you said about not being tethered. You're joking, right? I mean, they wouldn't go out without being so, would they? Would they?.... Eek.
For me, Mars holds the biggest pull (not gravitational unfortunately). Have you read 'Mars' by Ben Bova Dive? Great book. Fiction of course but well researched. I'd like to look at all this too but fear i'd be hooked too... ! Thanks for wonderful pics yet again. Wow and you made it back for breakfast.
that's meant to be perhaps as you SAY not see. I really should proof-read. I was rather excited.
incredible, sugar! and right there on your screen! thanks for the tip, might have to check that one out...i know, i need to lose some of the clocks!
(i love the fact that you couldn't sleep and had to stay up to watch!)
xoxxo
Totally cool! Thanks for sharing this Dive!
You're right, Lynn; we are of the age who remember that surge of hope embodied in the Mercury and Apollo missions.
I did indeed feel like a kid all over again watching the space walk.
I just checked back and they're all asleep now, so NASA is interviewing some experts and ex-astronauts about what Dexter is going to be doing over the coming years.
I've not read that Mars book, I tend to stick to non-fiction and my big old Patrick Moore Mars book.
Savannah: It's a great widget, but you have to remember to turn it backwards when you come out of dashboard, or it keeps on going and you'll hear the commentary coming over whatever you're doing on the computer.
Cheers, Shazza. I'm like an over-excited two year old about it. Hee hee.
I've been known to sit for hours at the blogger sign in page and watch the rollover of "updated now" blogs. If I ever got hold of something as exciting as your widget (take that how you want...) I think I'd disappear from reality entirely!
Hee hee, Vic.
I think - from what I have seen of it - that TV these days has sunk so low that you stand a far better chance of being entertained and educated watching the blog updates scrolling away.
I find myself watching "America Free TV" on the Mac, which shows non-stop, 24 hour crappy old black and white, drive-in exploitation horror and sci-fi movies.
far better than anything on "real television".
This is Major Tom to Ground Control (shit, love that song!)
Googled it and they have a live video player on the NASA website too. This is really cool. Live TV from space?? Oh wow!
I used to be a huge space freak as a kid, but it kind of fizzled out as I grew older. Still, there are these times I'm left with my mouth hanging open looking at space stuff. This is one of them.
Awesome Dive and don't you know that the space walk (in 69) was a mere fake? cmon dive you should know better than to believe American propaganda.
It does indeed make me feel like a kid again, Utsav.
And hey! Congratulations on your new job!
Brilliant!
Rich: Hee hee hee. Yup; I realise all of this is just cardboard and sticky tape but I still love it.
Dive -
Very cool.
You might also like the blog Altair IV (http://altairiv.blogspot.com).
There's also all kinds of goodies at space.com and nasa.org
Cool, Lulu!
God, I thought I was the only one who sat staring at the new blogger's updates. One night, I kept clicking on them because they all sounded so interesting and by god, they were about as interesting as a slice of bratwurst.
But...this...now this looks kind of cool, dive.
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