The Silver State Chronicles

There’s wisdom in them hills!

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The Apollo 11 Astronauts Return Home, Heroes!

On July 24, the astronauts returned home aboard the command module Columbia just before dawn in the Pacific Ocean 2,660 km (1,440 nm) east of Wake Island, or 380 km (210 nm) south of Johnston Atoll, and 24 km (15 mi) from the recovery ship, USS Hornet.

Initially the command module landed upside down but was righted in several minutes by flotation bags triggered by the astronauts. The first NAVY diver from the helicopter hovering above attached an anchor to the command module to prevent it from drifting. Additional divers attached additional flotation collars to stabilize the the module and position rafts for astronaut extraction. Though the possibility of bringing back pathogen from the lunar surface was considered remote, it was not considered impossible and NASA took great precautions at the recovery site. Astronauts were provided Biological Isolation Garment (BIG suit) by divers which were worn until they reached issolation facilities onboard the Hornet. Additionally astronauts were rubbed down with a sodium-hypochlorite solution and the command module wipped with betadine to remove any lunar dust that might be present. The raft containing decontamination materials was then intentionally sunk.

A second Sea King helicopter hoisted the astronauts aboard one by one where a NASA flight surgeon gave each a brief physical check during the half mile trip back to the Hornet. After touchdown on the Hornet, all crew existed the helicopter, leaving the flight surgeon and 3 crew. The helicopter was then lowered into hangar bay #2 where the astronauts walked the 30 feet to the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) where they would begin their 21 days of quarantine, a practice that continue for the next 3 Apollo missions before the moon was proven to be barren of life and quarantine process dropped for Apollo XV through XVII.

President Richard Nixon was aboard the Hornet to personally welcome the astronauts back to Earth. He told the astronauts: “As a result of what you’ve done, the world has never been closer together before.” Years later, it was publicly revealed that Nixon had prepared a speech to be given if the mission resulted in death. The lunar module had not been tested to assess if it could launch from the moon surface. After Nixon departed, the Hornet was brought alongside the 5 ton command module where it was placed abord by the ships crane, placed on a dolly and moved next to the MQF. The Hornet steamed for Pearl Harbor where the command module and MQF were airlifed to the Johnson Space Center.

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I was born after my time

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The Truth Slips Out

That eloquent leader, Barry Obama, stumbles through another sentence.  This time, he vows that his proposed healthcare ambitions will bring greater inefficiencies.  What a man!

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The Eagle Has Landed!

Mission Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, & Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, Jr.

On July 20, 1969 the lunar module (LM) Eagle separated from the command module Columbia. Collins, alone aboard Columbia, inspected Eagle as it pirouetted before him to ensure the craft was not damaged.

As the descent began, Armstrong and Aldrin found that they were passing landmarks on the surface 4 seconds early and reported that they were “long”: they would land miles west of their target point.

The LM navigation and guidance computer distracted the crew with several unusual “1201″ and “1202″ program alarms. Inside Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas, computer engineer Jack Garman told guidance officer Steve Bales it was safe to continue the descent and this was relayed to the crew.

When Armstrong again looked outside, he saw that the computer’s landing target was in a boulder-strewn area just north and east of a 400 meter diameter crater (later determined to be “West crater”, named for its location in the western part of the originally planned landing ellipse). Armstrong took semi-automatic control and, with Aldrin calling out altitude and velocity data, landed at 20:17 UTC on July 20 with about 25 seconds of fuel left.

Read more…

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Neil deGrasse Tyson does his part

The Mayan Calendar

Well, as we zero in on the year 2012, the usual suspects are up in arms, warning everyone gullible enough to listen that the magical Mayan calendar ‘ends’ on December 21, 2012.

From this starting point, they weave an amazing tale of how the world will somehow end on that date, and manage to rope in disparate (and very often erroneous) morsels of other information to support their claim.  Whether it is the arrival of the mysterious planet Niribu, or some kind of galactic alignment, they insist that cataclysms will consume the earth on that day.

This is all nonsense of course.  The Mayans didn’t have a magic calendar that could tell the future.  For starters, of they had such a calendar, they wouldn’t have been annihilated by a superior culture.  They also fail to consider that upon reaching the end of the the Mayan calendar, it might simply reset back to the beginning (much like December 31 is the end of each year on our calendar, but that fact doesn’t portend to the end of the world, we just start again with a new January 1).

The Planet Nibiru

If you listen to these gullible nuts, the planet Niribu will evidently have a close call with Earth, as our respective orbits will come too close for comfort.  Of course, if a killer giant planet was due to wreak havoc on our planet’s gravity in a few short years, chances are even modest telescopes would have been able to see and identify it years ago.

Some insist Nibiru is on the other side of the sun, making it impossible to see.  Well, if that’s true, we still would have seen it years ago as it zipped by Earth and moved toward the other side of the sun.  We would be able to measure its gravitational influence, in any case.  Of course, nobody has seen, measured, or recorded anything of the kind.

And then there are those who remark that somehow, the center of the galaxy will be perfectly aligned with the Sun and the Earth.  Don’t ask these people exactly what that means, though.  Of course, the sun is always aligned with the Center of the Galaxy (any 2 points will make a straight line, after all).  so anytime the Earth is perfectly aligned with the Sun, all three points will be aligned.

Which brings me to this great video by one of my favorite scientists on the scene, Neil deGrasse Tyson.  He discusses this celestial alignment, and its significance (or lack of significance) in this brief video.  Enjoy!

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Clearly, it’s ‘just words’

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The Human Adventure Begins!

It’s the 40th Anniversary of the greatest adventure in human history, The Apollo 11 Lunar Mission.

The Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. It was the fifth human spaceflight of Project Apollo and the third human voyage to the Moon. Launched on July 16, 1969, it carried Mission Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, Jr.

On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon, while Collins orbited above in The Lunar Orbiter.

The mission fulfilled President John F. Kennedy’s goal of reaching the moon by the end of the 1960s, which he expressed during a speech given before a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961.

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California’s Mini-Senator Gets Reamed

California’s Senator Barbara Boxer gets the truth shoved in her face by a particularly annoyed Harry Alford, the chair of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, who calls her on her racist world view and tactics.

Yes, evidently California’s junior senator thinks it is particularly compelling and insightful to point out to a black man that other black folks disagree with him.

And people ask why I can’t take liberals seriously – they just aren’t serious people!

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Or watch where you’re going

President Barry Obama, one cool cat waltzing through a doorway in L’Aquila, Italy.

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