Geeking out all over
This is where I was last night:
Lori Garver is the second in command at NASA – that I knew. She’s a local girl as well, having grown up not ten miles from where I did – that I didn’t know. I was hardly going to miss seeing her if she was going to be speaking in my (our) hometown, so despite dire warnings of major snow coming last night, off we went. I told her I’d been scared a time or two about the fate of the James Webb Space Telescope, and asked her what the prognosis for it was. She told me to “fear no more”, and assured me that it was on schedule and within budget. (Woot!)
The day before yesterday was the six month anniversary of the landing of the Mars Science Laboratory, aka Curiosity. A recent tweet I saw included this video, which is remarkable for more than just the slick animation of the landing.
The people in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory control room are genuinely joyous – cheering not for a touchdown or a slam dunk, but because of a wicked-cool triumph of science and engineering. Their triumph. For many of them, that rover is probably their life’s work, so seeing it land perfectly as planned had to be a truly joyous thing. And then there are the crowds of people gathered in Times Square and elsewhere watching with bated breath. Seeing so many ordinary folks excited about science and space exploration gave me a glimmer of hope for the future of the world. Seriously.
Who did you hobnob with this week?
I hobnobbed with Lori Garver. But you get a point for bragging about it first. You get another point for speaking to her intelligently. And yet another point for taking us. NASA hat trick for the win!
February 9, 2013 at 12:07 am
Three points! That’s unprecedented territory, no?
February 12, 2013 at 11:01 am
Sounds like you had an interesting evening at the Lori Garver event. Thanks for sharing the Curiosity video. I remember that night well…the anticipation of the landing, the jubilation at the successful touchdown, and the feeling that it was a human event bigger than just what we were watching on tv…the video confirmed the significant interest by people everywhere and I like how one gentleman proclaimed, “Wow, this brings out the best in us!” Thanks for sharing.
February 9, 2013 at 12:19 am
Yup, I remember that night as well. I still feel the excitment and the anticipation when I watch this video, and I’m still moved by the real joy those JPL people felt and showed when word came that their work was a success.
February 12, 2013 at 11:03 am
Sweet! What was the the chat/lecture about? It doesn’t say in the ticket. And the girls went too? That’s awesome. Did they enjoy it?
February 9, 2013 at 1:38 pm
She was visiting mostly to talk to the students at this career center the next day, so her talk was kind of a watered down version of what she would say to them – pretty much her path from fast food job to NASA bigwig job, and that they can do it too. Still.
Yes, I brought the girls – I’ll tell you about that sometime. Ugh.
February 12, 2013 at 11:07 am
Oh cool.
And ugh? That doesn’t sound too good
February 12, 2013 at 12:27 pm
Oh, yes you did ask me/us a question. I did nothing geeky this week, sadly.
But I did have some amazing dances last night!
February 9, 2013 at 1:39 pm
February 12, 2013 at 11:07 am
Wow, that is so cool, Sid. I wish that more laypeople had an interest in science and wish that there were more venues (books, magazines, the internet, etc) that presented science in a way that non-scientists can understand. It is obvious we need that type of education when you see how many folks are global warming deniars. Back in the old days when I was able to work, I spent a year in 1975 working for a contractor that did work at the Nasa/Langley center. In fact, until I moved to a rural area in1976, I lived in Hampton, VA which is now home to the Virginia Air and Space Center (one of the cheering crowd scenes in the video was recorded there).
February 9, 2013 at 2:38 pm
I think the understandable resources are out there, Louis – it’s just that most folks have no interest in them and no intention to seek them out. I’d guess I have an idealized vision of what working at a NASA site would be like, but even realistically I bet it included some fabulous moments.
February 12, 2013 at 11:11 am
Drop that idealized vision, Sid. Doing electrical work in office buildings was not that exciting; however, I also spent a lot of time wiring controls in the wind tunnels – now that WAS cool. Don’t ask, they were not turned on while I was in there, lol!
February 12, 2013 at 11:28 am