You can see the Space Shuttle Discovery's launch tonight at 8:20 pm CDT (01:20 UTC). We are streaming live online video from NASA TV: watch it here free.
This important mission will complete construction of the large solar panel array on the International Space Station (ISS) and make it the second brightest object in the evening sky. The ISS will be even brighter than Venus. After completion of this mission, the ISS will be even easier to see with the naked eye. Look here for a live graphic of the ISS's position and instructions on how to see it.
Are people more interested in Microsoft's Flight Simulator X for home computers or actual, real flight training?
I am fascinated with Google Trends, I think it's a thought-provoking resource. Type in two or three or more search terms and see how the number of searches varies over time. For example, type in "air shows" and you will see a seasonal peak in the summer flying months, and little in the off-season. Type the search term"online" and you see that people are increasingly looking for more and more things online.
Is this a good measure of a population's interest level in different topics?
Try "flight school" or any variation of that phrase. The results show a waning interest over time. That's no surprise if you are familiar with the FAA civil pilot statistics. Also try the search term "FSX" for Flight Simulator X. We see FSX was non-existant until mid-2006 when it was unveiled. At that time, interest in it skyrockets. For about a year the search volume for FSX is close to the search volume for flight school. Then, in 2008, FSX pulls ahead. More people are searching for a home flight simulator game than they are real flight training.
Some hoaxes never die, especially if they are accompanied with good photographs and are delivered in an email from your friends. Here’s an example:
The plane in these pictures is still officially the 'Air Vehicle Number 1', a prototype, on board the USS GeorgeWashington CVN-73 for catapult fit checks. Not exactly still Top Secret but certainly not yet made public.
It will be known as the F/A-37. Although specs are classified, it is believed to be Mach 3.5 (top speed in the Mach 4 range), super-cruise stealth fighter/bomber/interceptor with approximately a 4,000nmrange. Awesome!
Check out the Navy test pilot in the cockpit of the F/A-37...LT. Kara Wade... Go girl!
Our compliments to Lt. Kara Wade, she looks so much like Jessica Biel. Well, it is Jessica Biel. The F/A-37 is the fictitious airplane from the 2005 movie “Stealth.” The US Navy allowed director Rob Cohen to film on board the USS Abraham Lincoln. Here’s a press release from the Navy, and here's the movie trailer:
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The Navy’s cooperation in the making of this film may remind you of the Top Gun effect we mentioned in a previous post. Heroic military movies have a positive effect on recruitment numbers.
Jay and Megan are living their childhood dreams of becoming F-14 Tomcat fighter pilots in the Navy. This film follows their harrowing two year journey through pilot training and simulated dogfights, night landings on aircraft carriers and finally, active duty combat in Iraq.
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I just can't stop thinking about this thing. Combine the uber-tech mystique of a jet pack with a relaxing day at the lake, and toss in a little overdose of AWESOME. I would love to “fly” one of these things.
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For one moment, NASA had the attention of the entire world. That moment was in 1969 when Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon. Today, space travel to low Earth orbit is relatively routine and NASA finds itself in a confounding Catch-22: if an organization’s goal is to make an activity safe and routine, then the organization will attract the most attention only when there’s a terrible accident.
As of this writing, the Space Shuttle has successfully flown to space 123 times. It has failed twice. Many people can tell you about the failures of the Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia, but they know little about NASA’s other successful missions. That’s not good when you’re a government agency competing for scarce funding.
Why did space travel capture the imaginations of so many people during the 1960’s, but not in the first decade of the 21st century? What would help?
Many things could help. One example may come from the Mars Society. The society operates two remote locations known as the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) and the Flashline Mars Analog Research Station (FMARS). Each one looks like a space landing vehicle on the barren Mars landscape (actually the Utah desert and Canadian Arctic). Volunteer crews run week-long missions at the stations and do the things that Mars astronauts would do. They even have faux space-suits for extra-vehicular activities (EVA) to explore the landscape around the lander.
They also blog and post videos on YouTube. I found one of these YouTube videos, contacted the author, Ryan Kobrick, who was on a 100 day tour of duty at the FMARS hab in 2007. As the weeks went by, I checked the crew blogs to see what they had been researching, and to see new pictures and videos of their adventure. Occasionally I sent a message or question about the mission to Ryan, and he always responded.
This is Ryan’s video tour of the FMARS habitat:
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Later, the Space Shuttle Endeavor blasted off to complete mission STS 119, and I found myself more interested in the FMARS crew than the real astronauts on the Shuttle and the International Space Station. I felt connected to the FMARS crew because of the two-way communication I had with them.
What if there were more than two Mars analog research stations? What if there were hundreds all over the world and sending kids to Mars camp was as common as summer camp? Imagine the parents attending a mock space launch, and then keeping in touch with their kids via webcam, then attending a simulated landing and graduation. How many people would start to really get interested in NASA? How many voters and legislators would start thinking about NASA again?
This game is frantic, but a lot of fun. It's like too much caffeine and sugar. Use arrows to control your 'space-plane' Z and X are for guns and missiles
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