Lab Delivery

The Kibo Lab has been successfully installed and opened up by the ISS/Discovery crews.

Discovery in Orbit at ISS

NASA/Jerry Cannon, George Roberts

Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off Saturday afternoon on its mission to the International Space Station (where it arrived today). Highlight will be the installation of the large Kibo Japanese laboratory module.

Update on Rachel's Field

In September 2006, I posted a short piece with links regarding Rachel's Field, an effort by some local prolife friends to establish a memorial to unborn babies lost to abortion. For the latest on the twists and turns on this amazing ongoing effort, please check out the Rachel's Field web site.

It's Fun to go to the I-S-D-C!

Yes, that's a take-off of a Seventies song, but the International Space Development Conference 2008 is being held here in DC tomorrow through Sunday, and that's where I'll be.

Phoenix Makes Landfall on Mars

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Timely image of Phoenix suspended from its parachute descending to the surface taken from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter


NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Icy, patterned ground on Mars, imaged by Phoenix after landing.

The Phoenix lander arrived in the northern polar region of Mars last evening. A number of spectacular images have already been released. In a few days, controllers will start commanding the robotic lander to begin digging into the permafrost and conduct experiments on the frozen water deposited there. The results may provide indications on the possibility that microbial life was or is present on this region of Mars.

Another Venture on Mars to Begin Sunday

The Phoenix lander will land on the northern polar region of Mars on Sunday. There the NASA spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin, will investigate the significant presence of frozen water at this region and what it could mean for the past or present possibility of life on Mars.

Here is the Phoenix Mars Mission home page, which I've also added to my side bar.

Personhood in Colorado

A prolife group in Colorado says on Tuesday it will turn in more than enough signatures to qualify an initiative on the state's November ballot recognizing the personhood of unborn human beings from the moment of fertilization. The initiative potentially sets up a challenge to the 1973 Supreme Court decisions which imposed abortion on demand in the United States and will highlight the visibility of abortion during this year's elections for president and other offices.

Awaiting a Launch Site Decision

Orbital Sciences Corporation will shortly announce it's decision on whether its primary launch site for the Taurus II rocket will be Wallops Island, Virginia or Cape Canaveral, Florida. The vehicle will be one of those selected by NASA to demonstrate capabilities to resupply the International Space Station.

Along with my desire to see larger rockets launched from a location three hours driving distance from my residence, I think the nation could use two Atlantic coast orbital launch facilities to provide redundancy inn case of hurricane damage to either site.

Cosmic Bumper Cars

The Space Telescope Science Institute yesterday released a collection of images of colliding galaxies to mark the eighteenth anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit. The awesome images show a variety of structures caused by the collisions of these huge collections of stars. Be sure to check the tabs for videos, information and related links.

A Blessed Day in DC!

It was quite an experience to participate in the Mass this morning with Pope Benedict XVI in Washington, DC in a congregation of over 45,000. A joyous spirit filled the participants and I also noticed excitement and interest among others who did not attend the Mass. Here are a few of my pictures from Nationals Stadium.


The Holy Father Enters Nationals Stadium in the Popemobile


Pope Benedict Delivers his Homily during the Mass



Nationals Stadium as an Outdoor Church

For more background, here are reports from EWTN and the Washington Post.

Welcome Pope Benedict XVI!

Pope Benedict arrived this afternoon at Andrews AFB aboard 'Shepherd One', the call sign for the Alitalia jet that brought him from Rome. The Holy Father will have a heavy itinerary over the next five days in Washington, DC and New York City, proclaiming the theme of his visit, Christ Our Hope.

Papal fever has been building for days and I'm excited to be able to participate. I will be going with my parish Thursday morning to the outdoor Mass at the new Nationals Stadium. Stay tuned to EWTN for TV and Internet coverage of the papal visit.

Politics of Condescension

It seems that the two Democratic presidential wannabees aren't so much tearing each other up but each tripping themselves up. Hillary Clinton had barely torpedoed her own campaign with her tale of imaginary snipers when Barack Obama comes along commiserating with affluent liberal donors in San Francisco about small town residents 'clinging' to guns or religion out of 'bitterness' over the economy.

Noemie Emery writes that Obama's revelation has been a pattern followed by some previous Democratic candidates.

After their unexpected loss in 2004, Democrats were much too impressed by Thomas Frank's treatise What's the Matter With Kansas? which complained that they lost because middle-class voters were too stupid to vote their 'real' interests (which were presumably served by the Democrats), because conservatives wickedly played on their fears. ('Fear' is the Democrats' answer for every vote they don't get.)

Yuri's Night

Saturday is the annual celebration of Yuri's Night with 189 parties scheduled on and around the planet. Find a party near you to celebrate humanity's steps into space. I'll be attending the celebration at the Goddard Space Flight Center Visitors Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Trading Places

Soyuz launch of Expedition Seventeen on Tuesday Credit: NASA TV

The crew handover on the International Space Station is underway with the arrival on Thursday of Expedition Seventeen to relieve Expedition Sixteen.

Circus on the Severn Folds Its Tent for 2008

The Maryland General Assembly adjourned its 2008 session last night. This WBAL report summarizes what was done and (in some cases, thankfully) not done. Here is a summary of legislation posted by the Maryland Catholic Conference.

Terri's Day

Today is the third anniversary of the court-imposed cruel death of Terri Schindler Schiavo. Terri's family have asked that this date be observed as a day of remembrance.

Meanwhile, Nat Hentoff takes Barack Obama to task for his comments on the 2005 congressional action on Terri's case.

When he was a professor of constitutional law, Obama probably instructed his students to research and know all the facts of a case. The reason Congress asked the federal courts to review the Schiavo case was that the 41-year-old woman about to be dehydrated and starved to death was breathing normally on her own, was not terminal, and there was medical evidence that she was responsive, not in a persistent vegetative state.

Entrepreneurial Space Developments

This was a big week for developments in the emerging commercial space industry:

- XCOR went public with the announcement of its Lynx suborbital spaceplane. The vehicle's applications could include space tourism, scientific research and helping to address the military's need for 'operationally responsive' access to space.

- A commercial agreement was announced for flying a portion of a deceased persons ashes to the lunar surface, in an expansion of an existing service that takes human ashes into space.

The Space Access 2008 conference is taking place in Phoenix, Arizona. Henry Cate has posted his first report here. Note that his final paragraph links to several other bloggers covering this conference, which brings together the leaders in the emerging entrepreneurial space industry.

Welcome Home Endeavour

Space Shuttle Endeavour returned to Florida Wednesday evening following its sixteen day mission adding to the capabilities of the International Space Station.

Have a Blessed and Happy Easter!

At daybreak on the first day of the week
the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus
took the spices they had prepared
and went to the tomb.
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb;
but when they entered,
they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
While they were puzzling over this, behold,
two men in dazzling garments appeared to them.
They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground.
They said to them,
"Why do you seek the living one among the dead?
He is not here, but he has been raised.
Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee,
that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners
and be crucified, and rise on the third day."
And they remembered his words.
Then they returned from the tomb
and announced all these things to the eleven
and to all the others.
The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James;
the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles,
but their story seemed like nonsense
and they did not believe them.
But Peter got up and ran to the tomb,
bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone;
then he went home amazed at what had happened.

Lk 24:1-12

For an explanation of why Easter comes so early this year, check out this Space.com article.

Entering into the Paschal Mystery

Hugh McNichol of PewSitter.com writes about the Easter Triduum which began this evening of Holy Thursday.

For us Catholics this evening event begins recounting the events that will lead to the Cross on Good Friday, and thankfully the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. However the focus on the Eucharistic sacrifice, the partaking of the Eucharistic Bread is the event that keenly shows our Catholic identity and union.