Well, maybe it’s for the best I didn’t depend on a successful Mars landing as a gift to my wife – tho it’s far too early to give up hope yet. The British Beagle 2 spacecraft was supposed to touch down on Mars (and what a touchdown it was to be!) at 8:54 PM Central Time Christmas Eve, but so far the American Mars Odyssey orbiter already on station failed to pick up Beagle’s brief “I’m down OK” music riff. Later today on Christmas there’s supposed to be complete communications established by Jodrell Bank Radio Observatory during the next communications window with the spacecraft – everybody keep your fingers crossed and follow the news postings at Beagle Control.
At the rickyjames landing site in Alabama on Earth, Christmas Eve was a complete success, despite (or because of?) copious consumption of Yellow Tail wine (good stuff!) that frequently interfered with mission guidance parameters. Subsurface deposits of jeans, shirts, socks and sweaters were discovered to replace dwindling mission stores, and it’s true, new clothes make you feel good. I received a re-supply module with some Hershey’s chocolate and Clem’s Dakota BBQ Sauce from my all-knowing North Dakota in-laws to tide me over between pilgrimages to that legendary Alabama smokehouse, Dreamland BBQ (Ain’t nothin’ like ‘em nowhere (TM)). Extensive astronomical observations were carried out with The Universe – 365 Days. Leisure time crew activities with Bushwacked by Molly Ivins and Ghettomusick by Speakerboxxx (wonder if THOSE two have ever met?) have been scheduled by various members of my family. The two most significant scientific discoveries were one way-cool alien UFO and (I had no idea these were available!) an Albert Einstein Action Figure!!! Hey, my birthday is in March, wonder if there’s won (er, onw, er, one – looks like I really drank a LOT of Yellow Tail!) for Newton and Hawking…
Oh, and I got a DVD.
Time to climb into the Surface Excursion Vehicle (SEV) and go on a (star) trek over the river and through the woods of Tennessee. Merry Christmas, everybody!!!
6 Responses to Christmas on Two Planets
Cambone
December 26th, 2003 at 9:03 am
From Birmingham Alabama!
“between pilgrimages to that legendary Alabama smokehouse, Dreamland BBQ (Ain’t nothin’ like ‘em nowhere (TM))”
..you got that right. Good to see another Alabamian with a great site!
kryptothesuperdog
December 28th, 2003 at 7:59 am
that’s a cool action figure you’ve got there, rickyjames! Better not get a Newton one, though, they might not get on…
My girlfriend bought me a Richard Feynman book which I found out about through a link from this site. I’m about half way through, and it’s very entertaining. Once I’m done with that, there’s Magic Universe and The Universe in a Nutshell, both of which look fascinating.
My sister also managed to find a UK supplier of the Fisher Space Pen, which I’ve been wanting for years!
Drog
December 28th, 2003 at 7:17 pm
I read “Surely you’re joking, Mr. Feynman” and “So what do you care what other people think?” many years ago, but I hadn’t heard of “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard Feynman.” Feynman is one of my heroes–I’ll definitely be getting this book. How is it?
kryptothesuperdog
December 29th, 2003 at 2:04 am
I’m enjoying it very much. It’s a mixture of lectures, interviews and articles from throughout his career. The only problem is that his tangential speaking style doesn’t translate very well to the written word, but you get used to that pretty quickly. I’ll certainly be checking out his other books afterwards.
Sweetwind
December 29th, 2003 at 8:31 am
Steve Mirsky wrote a cute little article about the Einstein action figure. He predicted that future action figures will include:
(Now I’m just wondering why he didn’t include a Steve Mirsky action figure in there too! :-)
Anonymous
January 12th, 2004 at 6:46 pm
Perhaps modesty kept Steve Mirsky from including himself in the Big Box o’ Steves. I’m fairly sure of it, in fact. Best wishes–Steve Mirsky