Yay the Cupola

I am quite excited, perhaps not quite so much as the astronauts aboard the international space station, but excited none-the-less.  The windows on the cupola, attached to the tranquility node have been opened for the first time, providing some breathtaking views of earth.  It is a good thing I am too tall to be an astronaut.  I would have wasted all my time staring out the window.  I am sure NASA needs a blogger to write about the earth turning below him right?  It would be great PR and I am only a little bit too tall.  I could hunch.

Anyway the ISS just went from dang cool to full blown awesome.  I am off to look for images have a good one.

Looking forward

With the current silliness at NASA, I need to look forward to some of the excitement that is going on in space to keep me sane. I have already informed my senators and congressmen of my displeasure and need to move on.

This month the space shuttle is scheduled to take the last of the American sections to the international space station. Node three (tranquility) will house some terrific life support equipment that will set the standard for long term spacecraft for years to come. It will at the very least let us know where we have to improve. Another exciting piece of equipment heading space-ward is the Cupola. It will be a seven window observation deck and should provide astronauts and cosmonauts an unprecedented view of the cosmos, though I suspect that they will spend most of their time looking at earth. It is about time. If you have an office on the 70,000th floor you had better have a good window.