The Man Who Sold the Moon by Robert A. Heinlein

I first read this book about half a century ago when I was a teenager. I came back to it because I have a relative working for Space X, and the book is about a private enterprise effort to get to the moon. I was fascinated to see or remind myself that Heinlein was as interested in politics and business and human organizations in general as he was in the scientific aspects and engineering aspects of spaceflight. I gave this three stars on Goodreads but be warned this is a book that will seem really quite old to most readers. Already back in the 60s, when the stories were about 15 years old, it seemed quite old to me. Now it's a relic of an older era for sure.

Image: The edition I have. Not a typical science fiction cover illustration of the time. I'd guess that Signet was going for a more mainstream readership. I wonder if it worked?

Happy Lunar Landing Day!

 

Image:   Apollo 15.

Earth, ISS, aurora and clouds

Thanks, Atlantic.

This is no abstract, this is real

The moons Titan and Dione pose before Saturn and its rings.  Click that image!

Beautiful, but it makes late winter in the Near North seem cozy.

Thanks to Will McLean for pointing me to this feature from the Atlantic.

The Atlantis mission-- end of an era

Let's hope a new era succeeds it.


Again, brilliant photography from the Big Picture.

Thought for the 4th

From TomDispatch.com, on the non-withdrawal from Afghanistan:

"It’s increasingly apparent that our disastrous wars are, as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry recently admitted, “unsustainable.”  After all, just the cost of providing air conditioning to U.S. personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan -- $20 billion a year -- is more than NASA’s total budget."

Update: The more I think about this the more I realize that what I said once is literally true: the USA could have built a new world on Mars but settled instead for blowing up Iraq.

Voyager at Jupiter

From a Talking Points Memo retrospective as Voyager leaves the solar system.

A day late for the anniversary

Yes, Russia can be proud.

Music from space

This wonderful piece of video has already appeared in two blogs I subscribe to, but it deserves wide circulation, so I'm here to do my part.

A contemplation on the universe

Paul Halsall sent me this link to the Scale of the Universe Interactive Tool.  Enjoy!

Image: Jon Lomberg's reconstruction of the Oort cloud around our solar system.

Egypt and Israel/Palestine from space

Thanks to NASA, Juan Cole and Amity Law for bringing this to my attention.  Click on the pic for a better view.

Endeavor

Click for a bigger pic. Thanks to Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Endeavor leaves the Big Loony Bin

From Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Name that planet!

More here.

You can make a real contribution to the exploration of the universe

Read about Galaxy Zoo.

Opportunity on Mars

If we were a sensible species, we'd be building new countries in the sky instead of blowing up the ones we already have.

Image: See APoD for an explanation of the pic and the mission (not a euphemism for "war" in this case).

The realities of space travel today

Pictures from English Russia.

Here's one for Will McLean

The caption from The Big Picture:

Astronaut Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 mission commander, floats safely to the ground after an accident during a training session on May 6th, 1968. The Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) exploded only seconds before while Armstrong was rehearsing a lunar landing at Ellington Air Force Base near the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC).

According to Craig Nelson, the author of Rocket Men, Armstrong went right back to work, and when someone made a fuss about his near-death experience, said "It's always a sad day when you lose a machine."

A photo collection celebrating the 40th anniversary of Lunar Landing Day

From The Big Picture. Buzz Aldrin, with Neil Armstrong, photographer, reflected in his visor.

Clic the pic for larger versions.