Wednesday, 5 August 2009

$100,000 Tool Bag Lost in Space Returned by E.T. on His way Home

Maybe the tool bag is full of stars... Haha... sorry I couldn't resist, being a right-wing conspiracy nut and all. Anyway, I was reading how a tool bag lost by a spacewalking astronaut last year met its fiery demise in Earth's atmosphere Monday after months circling ever closer to the planet. The original story about NASA's lost tool bag back in November 2008 said the bag was worth $100K which got me to wondering, what in the world could be worth that much in a tool bag.

ET Phone Home after you grab that bag... As it turns out, tool bags at NASA are not your normal everyday run of the mill hammer and nail type contruction tool bag. The tool bag weighed about 30 pounds (14 kg) and was about the size of a small backpack. It contained grease guns, trash bags and a scraper tool valued at $100,000.

Sounds like a normal $100,000 bag to me... sure would like to be able to buy stock in the company that sold NASA grease, trash bags and a scraper for that much money. So what does a tool bag in space look like? Click here to watch $100,000 of US taxpayer money in orbit.

Since they knew it burned up on re-entry, I wonder how much money NASA spent tracking it?

Dang, now I'm gonna have that great song from 2001: A Space Odyssey playing in my head all day.

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Posted by sentiant at 4:55 AM in The wonders of space exploration

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Wednesday, 15 July 2009

I totally screwed up an article, so I'm giving you the moon instead

i feel like mooning someone... The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum has launched a new website to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing and President Kennedy’s grand vision that made that achievement possible.

WeChooseTheMoon.org, went live at 9:32 a.m. on July 16th, 2009 – exactly 40 years to the minute after the historic launch. The site, powered by AOL, recreates Apollo 11’s lunar mission, minute by minute, with an interactive experience that lets visitors experience the mission as it happened, using archival audio, video, photos and “real time” transmissions.

People interested in experiencing the virtual recreation of Apollo 11 can pre-register to receive event email reminders and get regular “real time” updates during the four-day mission in July. Additionally, users will be able to follow the event on Twitter and through new AOL programming features coming at http://news.aol.com. “This site represents a unique opportunity for viewers to ‘go back in time’ and experience one of mankind’s most amazing achievements,” said Tom Putnam, director of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. “From actual mission audio transmissions and archival video to mission factoids and news reels, visitors to WeChooseTheMoon.org will be able to track every step of the Apollo 11 mission, as it happened, 40 years later. “We’re incredibly thankful to AOL for powering the site and promoting it across their extensive online network, and for our 15-year agency partner, The Martin Agency, for dreaming up this inspiring concept,” Putnam said. “Students, historians and anyone who finds space exploration fascinating are in for a treat at WeChooseTheMoon.org”...