RIP Sally Ride

When I heard the news last week that Sally Ride had died, my first thought was, how sad. She was so young. Then I stopped and thought about the impact her life and her achievements had on women, young and old.

Sally Ride communicates with ground controllers from the flight deck during the six day mission in Challenger, 1983.

Much was made of her venture into space as an astronaut in 1983. She joined NASA in 1978 and, at the age of 32, became the first American woman to enter into low Earth orbit. I can remember watching the newscasts over several nights as she completed the space mission, thinking how exciting it was to see a woman taking on such an important role. How many young women did she inspire to dream big and work hard to achieve that dream?

As how many young women did she encourage to pursue an education in science through her Sally Ride Science company. In 2001, she co-founded the company in an effort to make the study of science and engineering appealing to young people. The company creates entertaining science programs and publications for upper elementary and middle school students, with a particular focus on girls. Ride also wrote, or co-wrote, five books on space aimed at children, with the goal of encouraging children to study science.

In 1987, she left NASA to work at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Arms Control. She served on the investigation panels for two space shuttle disasters, Challenger and Columbia, the only person to serve on both. Ride remains the youngest American astronaut to be launched into space.

I decided to write about Sally Ride today after reading a comment in the newspaper by Amy Mainzer, an astrophysicist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She was quoted in the Los Angeles Times: "The impact of Sally Ride and women like her cannot be overestimated. She proved that it was possible to work in space physics and as a space scientist and be female at the same time. What she did was prove that you could make it all the way to the top and accomplish amazing things in these fields - and still have a pair of ovaries."

The world needs more strong women like Sally Ride.

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Picture thanks to Wikipedia

It’s not crazy, but it should be

The Youth Drama Camp is going well and is so much fun, but it is also very time-intensive. Two weeks to prepare for a production and mount it? Whew! Not to mention finding new ways to keep almost 30 kids engaged and focused. 
Today I'm sharing a bit of nonsense from my friend, Tracy Farr. Since the current mission is the last one for the Space shuttle Atlantis, I thought this reflection on the end of the Apollo missions would be fun to share.  

I don’t know how it happens – it just does. One minute I’m lounging on the couch sipping on a tall glass of sweet ice tea, when all of a sudden, WHAMO! a crazy idea comes to mind – such as: If I took a shower after mowing the yard, maybe my armpits wouldn’t smell so bad.

These little crazy ideas usually plop on my shoulders like bird droppings, and there’s nothing I can do about it – like this one: Want nice smelling armpits? Don’t mow.

For example, the other day while I was reading about the Apollo missions and how much astronaut stuff was left behind on the moon, the craziest idea of all time splattered right on my noggin: Want to get rid of a lot of moon junk and make a little profit? Sell it on Lunar eBay.

NASA wants to send man – which probably also includes woman – back to the moon. There’s a lot of space junk up there just lying around, gathering dust. When they get there, woman will mutter something about how man doesn’t know how to pick up after himself, and then tell man to clean it up (that’s her primary mission). They’ll slap sale stickers on everything, upload digital pictures to Lunar eBay, Twitter about it for awhile, and wait for the profits to pour in.

FOR SALE: Vintage Lunar Rover. Has 15.25 miles on the tires, electric engine is still good, but hasn’t been driven in awhile. Winning bidder is expected to pay for shipping which comes to about 45 cents per mile (.45 X 238,857). What a steal! Good luck on your bidding. If you have any questions, I’m “AstroDude67” on Twitter.

“Beth, come here. You’ve got to see this.”

“What is it this time, Ricky?”

“Why do you always talk to me that way when I find a good deal on Lunar eBay?” Ricky asks. “I want to bid on one of those moon buggies. It may cost a couple of million, but the shipping’s only $107,500. So, what d’ya think?”

Believe me when I say, you don’t want to know Beth’s response.

By the time NASA closed down its Apollo program in 1972, six crews of astronauts had been to the moon, 12 men had actually walked on the lunar surface, and an estimated 300,000 pounds of man-made “debris” was left behind in order to bring home 800 pounds of rocks. Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but then again, I’m not a rocket scientist.

Wait a minute! Is it possible the folks at NASA were thinking ahead? That they left all that stuff up there on purpose for the sole reason of selling it one day on Lunar eBay? Is it possible they KNEW?

“Buzz, this is Houston Mission Control, can you hear me?”

“Affirmative, Houston.”

“Buzz, try not to hit those golf balls too far. We’ll need to find them in about 40 years. Selling just one of them at auction could pay for the entire Apollo program. Do you copy?”

“Roger, Houston. Slice it into a sandpit, make a few bucks. No problem.”

FOR SALE: Two vintage golf balls hit by Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the Par 3 Lunar Municipal Golf Course. Please review payment options. Credit cards or cash only. We do not accept Pay Pal. Good luck on your bidding. If you have any questions, contact “AstroDude67” on Twitter.

Yep! Those NASA guys are pretty smart!

Of course, there are some people who have “bad” crazy ideas, choosing to believe man never made it to the moon. They believe the whole thing was a hoax orchestrated by NASA in order to win the Cold War. Yes, they do believe man-made debris is scattered on the moon’s surface, but they think it’s there because NASA dropped it from a low-orbiting rocket to hoodwink the rest of us.

These naysayers did a lot of drugs in the 60s and 70s. They probably get “earth” and “urethra” mixed up.

I undoubtedly believe that man has walked on the moon and will do so once again. It’s our ability to recognize and take advantage of “crazy ideas” (the good kind) that will one day take us to Mars and beyond; it’s our crazy ideas that define us and make us who we are.

So the next time you catch me lounging on the couch when there’s yard work to be done, just remember – I’m contemplating a crazy idea that just might change the world in which we live. The snoring helps me think.

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Tracy Farr is a teacher living in East Texas and drives a school bus for the fun of it. In his spare time he plays the banjo, but never on Thursdays.