You just reminded me of this novel, http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/feb/26/konstantin-tom-bullough-review, about Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the first great Russian rocket scientist: it was very good(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Tsiolkovsky)
― as verbose and purple as a Peter Ustinov made of plums (James Morrison), Thursday, 20 August 2015 05:26 (eight years ago) link
i've read and enjoyed gravity's rainbow but i dunno if 'fantastic action-adventure movie' would be my main choice of descriptor for it
called "the designer" like someone's called the godfather
the CHIEF designer no less!
never read the first circle, i'll add it to the list
― bizarro gazzara, Thursday, 20 August 2015 08:22 (eight years ago) link
Apollo 18 is on Netflix but expiring on the 2nd, so watching now. Thanks for the extensive reporting, bg.
― Exile's Return To Sender (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 30 August 2015 21:25 (eight years ago) link
a kickstarter to reissure the 1975 nasa graphics standards manual (which introduced the iconic 'worm' logo) has smashed its funding goals right out of the gate. weirdly tempted to back it myself tbh
https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/004/396/546/23b3aeda89dc77759d288b970b7844bf_original.png?v=1440769823&w=680&fit=max&auto=format&lossless=true&s=3b904ba2935aa388fd45932015483658https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/004/396/667/f3f8269bc7a1534ba10b1b6683c0bdd0_original.png?v=1440771142&w=680&fit=max&auto=format&lossless=true&s=a0be2a8209a1ae130878ef0072f6394b
― bizarro gazzara, Friday, 4 September 2015 09:59 (eight years ago) link
Cool. If you like that, you might like a design-oriented book called Spacesuit.
― Bon Iver Meets G.I. Joe (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 4 September 2015 10:58 (eight years ago) link
ooo, that does look interesting. cheers!
― bizarro gazzara, Friday, 4 September 2015 11:00 (eight years ago) link
"The Eve of the Last Apollo," by new ILB fave Carter Scholz.
― Thank You For Cosmic Jive Talkin' (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 20 February 2016 18:27 (eight years ago) link
Then there this, which mentions that story, and has a quote from it that I can't find: http://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/16/books/one-small-shelf-for-literature.html?pagewanted=all.Haven't really read but I don't quite dig the tone. Also, can't find the quoted line from the story in question in the story itself. Perhaps it was edited out later.
― Thank You For Cosmic Jive Talkin' (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 21 February 2016 00:24 (eight years ago) link
It's not a good line! ''We took one step out of the cradle; we put our foot out - and drew it back. . . . I think what it is is that space is really fucking hard, and expensive, and we have too many other problems down here" would be more accurate.
― ledge, Sunday, 21 February 2016 09:55 (eight years ago) link
Yup
― Thank You For Cosmic Jive Talkin' (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 21 February 2016 10:15 (eight years ago) link
You should read, ledge. Especially since he took your note and deleted that sentence.
― Thank You For Cosmic Jive Talkin' (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 23 February 2016 00:53 (eight years ago) link
"sputnik: the shock of the century" by paul dickson is a fun book that anyone who loves space age stuff would probably dig. lots of details about early rocket history that i never knew, plus inevitable entertaining anecdotes about how ppl reacted to sputnik (isaac asimov said it was what convinced him to stop writing science fiction and start writing popular science!).
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 23 February 2016 01:07 (eight years ago) link
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/01/from-astronaut-to-refugee-how-the-syrian-spaceman-fell-to-earth
― like Uber, but for underpants (James Morrison), Tuesday, 1 March 2016 10:10 (eight years ago) link
Albums that never were and never will be:Prince Major Nelson - Cosmic RainCocoa BeachHarem PantsLittle Red Sputnik/Little Red MercuryJeannie Talk 2 NASAGemini (Evil Twin)Saturn VVAB VIRK Eye C Bust of ApolloAnna Banana RiverStar CityGumdrop vs. SpiderLight Dis CandleTranquility BassLovelace Clinique OgFlame TrenchI Would Fly 4 Un OrbitKapton AmericaDrogueSwimming LeeI Wanna Be Your RoverReg o' LithNurse Dspaminacan Dr. RendezvousSteel EelHeat ShieldEVAPLSS PLSS PLSSFit 2 Fly
― Cry for a Shadow Blaster (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 12 June 2016 17:31 (seven years ago) link
( I didn't know where to post that so I posted it here)
― Cry for a Shadow Blaster (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 13 June 2016 23:18 (seven years ago) link
http://apollo11.spacelog.org/page/04:05:22:37/
― Gravity Well, You Needn't (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 22 September 2016 01:04 (seven years ago) link
Also just saw that Margaret Dean Lazarus is co-writing the memoirs of an Apollo astronaut: short interview with her here https://medium.com/the-ribbon/author-interview-margaret-lazarus-dean-a027b36fa2c9#.8avlganc8
― I hear from this arsehole again, he's going in the river (James Morrison), Thursday, 22 September 2016 01:33 (seven years ago) link
Wonder which of the Apollo astronauts hasn't already written a memoir. Let's see.
― Gravity Well, You Needn't (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 22 September 2016 01:47 (seven years ago) link
Um, Scott Kelly, born in 1964, was not part of the Apollo program. Would be interested to read her novel.
― Gravity Well, You Needn't (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 22 September 2016 01:53 (seven years ago) link
Argh, i wondered if i had misremembered, and the link was down and i could not check, so i thought it would be fine, and here i am. Ashamed.
― I hear from this arsehole again, he's going in the river (James Morrison), Thursday, 22 September 2016 02:38 (seven years ago) link
The novel is very good, btw
― Gravity Well, You Needn't (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 22 September 2016 02:46 (seven years ago) link
John Young needs to write one.
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 19 October 2016 21:39 (seven years ago) link
I find it hard to believe he didn't.
― Sketches by T-Boz (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 19 October 2016 21:50 (seven years ago) link
It seems to be named after a song by a recent Nobel-prize recipient.
― Sketches by T-Boz (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 19 October 2016 21:52 (seven years ago) link
blowing in the wind -- an inexplicable late-life turn to conspiracy
― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, 19 October 2016 22:22 (seven years ago) link
Eh, not quite.
― Sketches by T-Boz (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 19 October 2016 22:54 (seven years ago) link
Mentioned third post in
― Sketches by T-Boz (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 19 October 2016 23:35 (seven years ago) link
Hello, space-nerd checking in finally
I got "We Seven" for Christmas, haven't started it but timing turned out bittersweet with Glenn's passing.
― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 17 January 2017 06:04 (seven years ago) link
that's the one that reprints the life magazine articles from the time of the mercury missions right? always meant tog et around to reading that one but i haven't yet, so looking forward to seeing what you think about it
gene cernan's passing has reminded me that i don't think we've talked about the last man on the moon anywhere else on ilx have we? i watched it when it came to netflix and thought it was a decent overview of the man and his career but it could have done with being longer - there was lots of stuff i'd have liked to have seen more on, and i wish there was more input from jack schmitt. i'm fascinated by the amount of important work he and cernan did on the moon during apollo 17, and their justified frustration that their discoveries were never followed up by other missions.
in other space-dork news i'm going to see chris hadfield lecture on friday. saw him (and met him!) last year and it was fantastic - he's such a charismatic ambassador for space
― How To: Make the perfect summer jorts (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 17 January 2017 09:48 (seven years ago) link
exciting! i enjoy him in the interviews & other stuff i've seen - full report plz
― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 17 January 2017 21:01 (seven years ago) link
I'm ashamed that I haven't posted more in this thread - (long story, all IRL nonsense) but James Redd nagged me over here after Gene Cernan's passing was noted on the obit. thread.
It worked like this - my mom was a mid-level apparatchik in the O.C. political establishment - somewhere in the early 70s she met Skylab astronaut (and O.C. resident) Jerry Carr at a function and got us (mom, dad, & me) VIP passes to see the launch of Apollo 17. I was seven years old and liked NASA more than ice cream - nevermind that we also flew on a Pan Am 747, my dad and I hung out at the plane upstairs bar. We also went to Disney World, but fuck that shit compared with a Saturn V launch.
After the mission was over the A17 crew took a meet-and-greet around the states and somehow my mom got us into the California stop. I can't really remember what I asked Cernan - I was way too self-conscious. Nevertheless everyone signed my stuff. I just unpacked everything at my new place and have to get it framed.
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/C2U1aSWUoAAkm5r.jpg
I watched The Last Man on the Moon - it's not necessarily a memorable documentary, but it is worth watching. It's entirely possible that the only answer to "what was it like to walk on the Moon and how did it change you?" will be whatever we can piece together from what these guys say and I'd watch it for that reason alone.
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 27 January 2017 10:13 (seven years ago) link
wow.
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, 27 January 2017 10:30 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, wow, thanks.
― In Walked Bodhisattva (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 27 January 2017 11:55 (seven years ago) link
holy shit elvis, that's amazing. that's gonna look fantastic in a frame.
We also went to Disney World, but fuck that shit compared with a Saturn V launch
seeing the saturn v on its side at kennedy space centre last summer was one of the more stunning things i've ever set eyes on in real life - i can't even imagine how incredible it must have been to see one of those things take off.
― the greg evigan school of improvised explosive devices (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 27 January 2017 14:57 (seven years ago) link
http://www.earthtothemoon.com/apollo_10.htmlhttps://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR4U0J4RDIVNqhCva25E8vmuJCk0q05EQ9rUkOyyCQuHIekYHEAHouston, this is Snoopy! We is GO and we is down among 'em Charlie!
― In Walked Bodhisattva (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 28 January 2017 03:15 (seven years ago) link
thanks elvis! what an incredible experience.
in other news: 50th anniversary of Apollo 1 tragedy today :/
― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 28 January 2017 03:57 (seven years ago) link
Very envious and impressed
― I hear from this arsehole again, he's going in the river (James Morrison), Saturday, 28 January 2017 06:40 (seven years ago) link
http://hackaday.com/2017/05/29/re-creating-the-apollo-dskys-display/#more-258907
― koogs, Tuesday, 30 May 2017 08:24 (six years ago) link
weirdly tempted to chip in some cash for that
― heck i've even been an 'oyster pirate' (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 30 May 2017 08:26 (six years ago) link
Greatly enjoyed the first four stories I read this weekend in The Dream Life of Astronauts, which are set on Merritt Island and read like a mix of New Yorker stories written by a Southerner like, say, Padgett Powell, with Ballard's Memories of the Space Age. Which may not be quite accurate and will probably put you off reading it but perhaps I can describe better upon reading the rest of the stories.
― Two-Headed Shindog (Rad Tempo Player) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 2 October 2017 04:11 (six years ago) link
Did not know of that book, but now i want
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Monday, 2 October 2017 09:10 (six years ago) link
RIP John Young
― The Harmony Illustrated Encyclopedia of Blecch (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 6 January 2018 23:04 (six years ago) link
;_;
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 6 January 2018 23:44 (six years ago) link
dammit :(
― pee-wee and the power men (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, 6 January 2018 23:46 (six years ago) link
Crap
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Sunday, 7 January 2018 01:35 (six years ago) link
Curious about this new Apollo 8 book
― The Sound of the City Slang (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 31 January 2018 01:39 (six years ago) link
One of the most haunting radar images I think we'll ever see...the Space Shuttle Columbia debris field, 15 years ago today. pic.twitter.com/5Ba8IdBFLZ— Matt Lanza ⛄️ (@mattlanza) February 1, 2018
― mookieproof, Thursday, 1 February 2018 22:03 (six years ago) link
oof :(
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 1 February 2018 22:04 (six years ago) link
What video is that, Elvis? Stupid YT is geoblocking it.
― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Friday, 23 February 2024 00:43 (two months ago) link
it's the trailer for It's Quieter In The Twilight - a 2022 doc about Voyager's flight team. It's streaming in a couple of different places, but you can find it on the torrents
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 23 February 2024 03:53 (two months ago) link
Cheers!
― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Friday, 23 February 2024 04:39 (two months ago) link
I think I posted this one before? The Homemade Documentaries YT channel has been making space documentaries that are routinely superior to any of the NASA ones - especially his Voyager one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M62kajY-ln0
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 23 February 2024 04:45 (two months ago) link