In Support of Constellation

I know... it's been a while since I posted anything to my blog. Like everyone else, I've made the move to microblogging via Twitter and Facebook.

But I could not resist posting this most excellent video. For those who don't know, President Obama's 2011 budget proposal, which was released on Monday, cancels NASA's Constellation program in favor of a relatively undefined architecture with an undefined mission. Check out that last link for yourself and see what I mean.

The video below points out just how much has already been accomplished on Constellation and how its cancellation could affect thousands of workers all over the country. Please share it around and contact your congressional representatives if you agree with its message.

My Earliest Childhood Memory

Forty years ago today I was 4 years old. I was growing up just 25 miles from the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), where Dr. Wernher von Braun and his team of engineers were working to put men on the moon.

July 20, 1969, marks my earliest childhood memory. I was sitting in the den of my parents' home, watching the family's black & white television. The den walls had that heavily varnished stock paneling that was so popular in the 60's and 70's. I seem to remember my mom was ironing clothes, but that may be a stray flash of another memory from the same room. Apollo 11 had landed on the moon, and two men named Armstrong and Aldrin were walking on its surface. I remember that my dad had to take me outside to look up at the moon. Apparently I thought I would be able to see the American flag up there and the astronauts walking around the landing site. Of course, I couldn't see a thing... just the same old moon. And yet, I guess it was different. Looking back now, I only experienced four short years with an unexplored moon in the sky. But from that moment on, everything was different.

My most formative years -- around the time I entered elementary school -- were spent watching those test pilots and scientists journey to the moon and back, play around on Skylab, and clasp hands with the Soviets on the Apollo-Soyuz mission. I visited the brand new U.S. Space and Rocket Center in nearby Huntsville, Alabama. I played with my Major Matt Mason toys and dreamed of the day when we would be living on the moon.

I was a sophomore in high school when the first space shuttle was launched, and I kept a scrapbook for those first few years of shuttle flights. I still have it, as a matter of fact.

Then I headed to college in Huntsville, right there where MSFC is located... where Dr. Von Braun and his fellow engineers launched America's space program. I majored in computer science and mathematics. When I finally graduated in 1989, I wanted to go to work for NASA as a software developer. But, at that time, I was told that I would need to go to work for a contractor if I wanted to actually develop software. In those days, NASA civil servants were basically just contract managers. Well, I wanted to write code, so I chose the contractor route. I had two very good job offers: one with Intergraph Corporation, which was a very successful commercial company at the time; and one with McDonnell Douglas Space Systems, working on the Spacelab project. Of course, I chose the career in the space program, although it paid a little less.

Since then I have spent 20 years working as a NASA contractor on such projects as Spacelab, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the International Space Station, and now the Ares I crew launch vehicle.

I'm still dreaming of that day when people will be living on the moon. Actually, I'm doing more than dreaming. I'm working to make it happen. I hope the Constellation program will take us back to the moon. My goal now is to participate in America's return to the moon and hopefully our first journeys beyond, to the asteroids or Mars.

And to think it all started on that hot summer night in July 1969.

UPDATE: MSFC was recording memories of the Apollo 11 moon landing during the 40th anniversary celebration at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. I decided my story was worth telling, so I waited in line for my turn in front of the camera. There was more, but they edited it down to what you see below. Notice the boy peeking in over my right shoulder... that's our son.



See all the other recorded memories at the MSFC Apollo 11 4oth Anniversary site.

Constellation: Launching the Program

Here's a little preview of NASA's Constellation program. I am currently working on the Ares-I project, which is the crew launch vehicle. This is exciting stuff, people!

6th Grade Math Team Wins Trophy

Our daughter's 6th grade math team placed fourth in their division in the Pizitz Middle School math tournament on Saturday, bringing home their very first trophy. Congratulations!

Alternate Ending to The Empire Strikes Back

A furious light saber duel is under way. DARTH VADER is backing LUKE SKYWALKER toward the end of the gantry. A quick move by Vader chops off Luke's hand! It goes spinning off into the ventilation shaft. Luke backs away. He looks around, but realizes there's nowhere to go but straight down.

Darth Vader: "Obi Wan never told you what happened to your father."
Luke: "He told me enough! He told me you killed him!"
Darth Vader: "No! I am your father!"
Luke: "No, it's not true! It's impossible."
Darth Vader: "Search your feelings; you know it to be true."
Luke: "NO!"
Darth Vader: "Yes, it is true and you know what else? You know that brass droid of yours?"
Luke: "Threepio?"
Darth Vader: "Yes, Threepio, I built him when I was seven years old."
Luke: "No."
Darth Vader: "Seven years old. And what have you done? Look at yourself, no hand, no job, and couldn't even levitate your own ship out of the swamp."
Luke: "I destroyed your precious Death Star!"
Darth Vader: "When you were 20! When I was 10, I single-handedly destroyed a Trade Federation Droid Control ship!"
Luke: "Well, it's not my fault."
Darth Vader: "Oh, here we go. 'Poor me, my father never gave me what I wanted for my birthday, boo hoo, my daddy's the Dark Lord of the Sith .. waahhh wahhh!'"
Luke: "Shut up."
Darth Vader: "You're a slacker! By the time I was your age, I had exterminated the Jedi knights!"
Luke: "I used to race my T-16 through Beggar's Canyon!"
Darth Vader: "Oh, for the love of the Emperor, 10 years old, winner of the Boonta Eve Open. Only human to ever fly a Pod Racer, right here baby!
Luke looks down the shaft. Takes a step toward it.
Darth Vader: "I was wrong. You're not my kid. I don't know whose you are, but you sure ain't mine."
Luke takes a step off the platform, hesitates, then plunges down the shaft. Darth Vader looks after him.
Darth Vader: "And get a haircut!"

Old School vs. New School

Morse code vs. text messaging... Which do you think is faster? Check it out:

Pinewood Derby Skateboard?

Our son decided on a skateboard design for his Pinewood Derby car this year. Which is appropriate, considering how much he's into skateboarding at the moment. Here are a couple of shots of the finished car, which he named "Sk8r". He placed 3rd in his Cub Scout den and also 3rd place for best of show in his den. What do you think?