Mon - June 21, 2004

rocket booster



My good friend and fellow blogger Greg Burch is on a mission: to Save the Saturn. On display at the Space Center in Houston, this legendary rocket has suffered decades of neglect. Seeing it preserved for future generations has become a singular passion, since only a few million dollars are needed, Greg's booster-rocket energy is largely responsible for the success of the campaign to restore it getting off the ground. Bravo Greg! Having known Greg for 30 years, my admiration for his participation in this mission is beyond words. The perfect convergence of private passion and civic engagement, this will stand as a lasting achievement, an enduring valentine to a unique historic object.

...About $700,000 has been raised so far with organizers hoping to bring in another $540,000 to take full advantage of matching funds offered in a $1.25 million grant. The grant is through a program called "Save America's Treasures," a public-private partnership between the National Park Service and the National Trust for Historic Preservation...

Restoration of aging rocket underway at Johnson Space Center




...and the project has been making headlines. Check Greg's site for more current media links and updates, but here's a quote I like, pulled from an Associated Press story from a few days ago:

from USA Today:

"I followed the space program the way a lot of kids follow professional football," said Burch, 47. "When you walk along that rocket and think three people strapped themselves to that rocket, which is basically a controlled explosion, and went to the moon — there is nothing like it. It is a quintessential expression of a generation."

Posted at 08:36 AM    

Sun - January 4, 2004

Images from Mars



The first images from Mars are in the news :

Scientists quickly assembled multiple black and white images to form a sweeping panoramic of the Martian landscape, as well as a bird's-eye view of the rover with its solar panels fully deployed.

"This just keeps getting better and better. The pictures are fantastic," said mission science manager John Callas.

Is John Callas looking at the same pictures I am?

Exhibit A




Conceding in advance my ignorance about the limits of optical technology in the current space program, let me say this, with all due respect: Black & White images? Excuse me? How many hundreds of millions of dollars are invested in the most advanced space-age technology, and these "fantastic pictures" are coming from a black & white camera?

My cell phone can take better photos than this.

(I fully expect to be corrected, educated, and mocked mercilessly, very soon, by a more informed observer)

More images from NASA

Posted at 10:54 AM    

Fri - November 21, 2003

Burchismo and Light Rail



This is a quote that only an anti-mass-transit advocate could love....

DURHAM - Always an advocate for public transportation, Michael Dukakis rode a bus to the state for his address to a political science class at the University of New Hampshire.

"I’m a somewhat obsessively transit-oriented guy," Dukakis said . "I wish the Amtrak ran faster and more frequently."

Posted at 02:21 AM    

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