Space Tourism

The idea of space tourism isn't very new any more, but some misconceptions about it still abound. Can anyone spot the scientific falacy in this news clip I came across recently? Apart from one error in understanding how gravity works, this article does point out that there are quite a number of space tourism companies very close to starting business, a fact that I don't think the general public realizes yet. I'm not sure it will be a thriving business yet by 2020, but I do expect the first paid suborbital space flights to start within the next five years.

"The Independent (UK) reports, 'There are predictions floating around that space tourism could be a $700m industry by 2020, flying thousands of passengers a year as far as zero gravity and back, for the thrill ride of their lives.' Virgin Galactic is offering seats 'at $200,000 a pop.' Also mentioned are Xcor, Armadillo Aerospace, and Blue Origin, which 'had gone silent for two years until dramatically re-emerging a few months ago with a $3.7m NASA grant to develop a craft for orbital space flight.' NASA is said to be 'focusing...on seeding commercial ventures, and last month it offered $75m in grants to commercial operators that can put scientific payloads into suborbital space on its behalf.'"

Tennis kids

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Hacked!

I don't know how the credit card companies do it, but they noticed these seemingly innocuous charges on one of our seldom used credit cards today and immediately called to let me know they saw "unusual activity" on my account. Maybe it was the fact that I'd never ordered from stardoll.com, or maybe it was the three small orders on the same day, but something about it correctly triggered their fraud investigation program. I'm very thankful for their excellent programing and for their call even though it was late at night. The card is now cancelled and the charges won't go through. I went online and checked the rest of my cards, and they all look normal. But you can bet I'll be checking a few more times over the next few weeks, and requesting my free credit report again too!

Poison ivy

Our woods and the yard near it are peppered with beautiful, shiny red poison ivy.
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Driving out to the back 40 on our "Gator"

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Space BINGO

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Standing in front of the Cygnus

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Lunch in the orbiteria

Pizza, corn dogs, french fries and ice cream!
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Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day

Today is Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day at Orbital! Jordan is in the auditorium now for a lesson called "Everything You Need To Learn About Science in One Hour". I'll send updates throughout the day.
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Jessie's first watermelon!

The verdict is in -- watermelons and babies is VERY MESSY.
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Sneak peek at the Cygnus spacecraft

This full scale model of the Cygnus spacecraft is being set up outside our office in preparation for the stockholder meeting tomorrow. The real Cygnus is my main project these days, with about 80% of my team working on this program. It's very impressive to finally see it in real life, even if it's just a mockup.
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Blogging from my BlackBerry

Oops! I need to figure out how to blog from my new BlackBerry Bold without the disclaimer being automatically attached. I think if I switch to a different account, like this, it will work better.
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Feeding time

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Tackling the woods

We spent some time this weekend attacking the dark tangled forest behind our house. Did I say attacking? Perhaps I should use gentler terms like pruning, coaxing, reclaiming some of our land (can those terms be applied when using chainsaws, axes, and machetes?). We want to stay on its good side, afterall! Sometimes these woods remind me eerily of the untamed forests of Middle Earth, and I'm not quite sure whether we're making progress or only fooling ourselves into thinking we are. But afterall, we did spend several hours at it on Saturday, so we must have made an impact. (Right?)

BEFORE:


AFTER:

Playing with Jessie

Playing with Jessie can be fun, but watch out for your eyes! She's really into exploring orifices -- nose, mouth and ears are equally susceptible! As you can sort of see from these pictures, she's also standing now. First step will be coming up any day...

Ancient trees

We found these fascinating beauties at Fox Croft school, near Middleburg. I believe they're a type of Weeping Willow, though much older and more gnarly than any other I've seen! Click on the photos to view full size to get all the detail.

Our first kayak outing of the year (two weekends ago)

Everyone going in the same direction is indicative of a well organized outing...


Jordan's big enough to paddle his own kayak around this year!

Jessie being cute

Two weeks with Oma and Den

Oma and Den left today, after a great two weeks. The weather couldn't have been better, so we got lots of outdoor time and of course lots of photos.

What a difference a year can make!

April 6, 2010



April 14, 2009

Fishing at Berghan's

Jessie outdoors