It’s December and starting to feel like the holidays; I am behind on presents, and the tree we’ve had up since before Covid is finally seasonal again, so situation normal. I’m also planning my end-of-year donations, to food banks, animal welfare groups, medical and other help for those who need it, and more.
We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light a candle that can guide us through the darkness to a safe and sure future.
— John F. Kennedy
This video of the Children’s Choir of Ukraine is helping me get into the holiday spirit.
For various reasons involving the fine city of Edmonton, the alarm went off at 4:15 this morning. I decided to get up and start my day, to see what it’s like to be One of Those People who gets up famously early, like Michelle Obama or The Rock.
Will it mean a day of enviable productivity, or hours sliding into a disconnected haze?
We shall see.
* * *
Pretty sure I know which way this day is going. Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash
“We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it as not as dreadful as it appears, discovering that we have the strength to stare it down.”
A former NASA engineer and now-YouTuber has created a viral sensation with a video documenting efforts to send an egg to near space to test if it cracks up on landing.
Tomorrow is December first, I’m feeling a bit wistful, and it’s raining. I’m not big on shoveling but I can’t help thinking that snow would be much more fun.
So, a haiku.
November passes. Leaves cling to branches despite Rain that should be snow.
I am working on story edits today and found myself needing to look up a lunar technicality. Next thing I know, I was reading a detailed account of the first lunar spacewalk at Tranquillity Base. I thought you might enjoy it too.
July 20, 1969: The day began on the farside of the Moon. Armstrong, Aldrin and crewmate Mike Collins flew their spaceship 60 miles above the cratered wasteland. No one on Earth can see the Moon’s farside. Even today it remains a land of considerable mystery, but the astronauts had no time for sight-seeing. Collins pressed a button, activating a set of springs, and the spaceship split in two. The half named Columbia, with Collins on board, would remain in orbit. The other half, the Eagle, spiraled over the horizon toward the Sea of Tranquillity.
“You are Go for powered descent,” Houston radioed…
This also got me thinking about the farside of the moon. We’ve learned a lot about it since these images in 1959:
Orion entered a distant lunar orbit on at 4:52 p.m. EST Friday, Nov. 25, where the spacecraft will remain for about a week to test systems in a deep space environment about 40,000 miles above the lunar surface before beginning the journey back to Earth.
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