At one point, Stafford recognized a landmark crater, Censorinus A. He was momentarily distracted by the dramatic shadows and giant boulders surrounding the crater. “I’ve got Censorinus A right here,” he said out loud to the world, “bigger than shit!” A shocked reporter listening to the transmission in mission control turned to astronaut Jack Schmitt. “What did Colonel Stafford just say?” Thinking quickly, Schmitt covered for his colleague and replied “He said, ‘Oh, there’s Censorinus… bigger than Schmitt!’”
How not to swear on the moon, and other fun facts from
Vintage Space.
posted by Horace Rumpole
on Jan 6, 2012 -
21 comments
The Women@NASA website was developed to encourage more young women to pursue careers in math, science, and technology. Through a collection of videos and articles, the Women@NASA project shares the stories of 32 women across the agency who contribute to NASA’s mission in many ways.
posted by Horace Rumpole
on Mar 27, 2011 -
31 comments
Challenger . . . . go with throttle up.
Twenty-five years ago today the U.S. Space Shuttle Challenger
exploded 73 seconds into the 25th space shuttle flight.
The reports (pdf) tell us of O-Ring failures. Today,
we remember one of the
most tragic days in the history of the U.S. manned spaceflight program. Today, January 28, 2011, we remember:
Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe.
posted by IvoShandor
on Jan 28, 2011 -
100 comments
Journeyman Pictures has uploaded nearly 4000 videos to YouTube. Many of these are trailers for the documentaries they sell, but they have also posted hundreds of full-length videos. Most are for short documentarie, but there are a lot of features too. It's somewhat daunting to explore, but the
playlists are a good place to start, and so are the shows:
Features,
Shorts,
News and
Savouring Europe, a European travelogue series. Here's a few interesting ones:
Gastronauts, about French culinary students working to make astronaut food more palatable,
Demon Drummers, about student Kodo drummers,
India's Free Lunch, about the effects of free school lunches on Indian society,
The Twitter Revolution, about YouTube and Twitter's role in the 2009 Iranian uprising,
Europe's Black Hole, about Transnistria, the breakaway region of Moldova,
Small Town Boy, about a gay male carnival queen in a small town in England,
The Vertigo of Lists, Umberto Eco talks about the ubiquity of lists in modern culture and
Monsters from the Id, about scientists in the science fiction films of the Fifties.
posted by Kattullus
on Aug 24, 2010 -
10 comments
With all the
crystal skulls,
nazca lines and such at the box office these days now might be the ideal time to reacquaint yourself with the theories of
Erich von Däniken. What better way to do it than by watching
William Shatners Mysteries of the Gods (
Pt. 1,
Pt. 2,
Pt. 3,
Pt. 4,
Pt. 5,
Pt. 6,
Pt. 7,
Pt. 8,
Pt. 9,
Pt. 10)
(MULTI LINK YOUTUBE SHATNERFEST)
posted by Artw
on Jun 10, 2008 -
28 comments
Lego Astrobots Blog From Mars Rovers - The Planetary Society has teamed with NASA to "man" it's two Mars Exploration Rover spacecraft with Lego "Astrobots." The bots, Biff Starling and Sandy Moondust, are
blogging their adventure "to allow kids to vicariously experience life in space, from launch, through the six-month space cruise, to landing and roving on the Martian surface."
posted by tpl1212
on Jun 13, 2003 -
4 comments
Four Astronauts and a Kitten is the best book about four astronauts (a mother-daughter team and twin teens) and a cat you're likely to read this year. The actual title is much longer, but if you
read the book, you'll understand all. And they say vanity press is a bad idea . . .
posted by vraxoin
on Dec 7, 2001 -
14 comments
