This is the Web Page for space.launch.info, a newsletter to inform visitors to Titusville Florida, and the surrounding Space Coast about the Space Shuttle launch they hope to witness while they are here. Feel free to check out the information here, and at the Space Launch Viewing FAQ Page, where more information is located.

While at Cape Canaveral for the Shuttle Lauch we ran into The Cheshire Catalyst, an old school phreak who was the last editor of TAP, the first phone phreak zine. In recent years he has been helping the general public enjoy shuttle launches by publishing this extremely useful information guide, printing launch zines, and assisting the HAMs in rebroadcasting NASA chatter with a longer range repeater. He was also personally responsible for the fact that the area code there is 321, as in 3-2-1-Liftoff. Very cool character.

There are plenty of launches to go see, including another shuttle launch in August, and if you're going this guide will come in very handy. BTW, he is absolutely correct that if you go to Kennedy Space Center you must see an IMAX movie. We're talking wall sized movies filmed in 3-D from the perspective of Astronauts. Its the closest you can get to actual space travel without getting an advanced degree in Aerospace Engineering, logging thousands of hours piloting various combat aircraft, and going through years of training where you learn to do the work of a plumber and an electrician in an extremely uncomfortable and combersome suit in an environment where the word "down" doesn't actually mean anything but the word "oops" means anything from "oops" I lost a billion dollars to "oops," everybody is dead.

Watching a lauch, btw, is highly recommended. We drove a long way, didn't get to sleep much, spent a lot of money, got screwed by our hotel, got frustrated and cranky, got rained out for two days, and spent hours baking under the summer sun, and the launch only lasts like 5 minutes. But TV cameras cannot convey how bright the engines are, how loud it is, or, ultimately, how exciting it is to see it happen first hand. When you see that machine streaking across the sky you know those guys are bad ass.

SpaceLaunchInfo.com - Home Page

Our aim is to provide you with all the information you need to observe satellites such as the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle, spectacular events such as the dazzlingly bright flares from Iridium satellites as well as a wealth of other spaceflight and astronomical information.

Another great site for figuring out when you can see stuff in space from your backyard.

Welcome to Heavens-Above!

Objects like ISS and the Space Shuttle are fairly large and relatively low. Its possible to see them with the naked eye. This Nasa site helps you figure out when they'll be visible in your area.

Human Space Flight (HSF) - Orbital Tracking

The space shuttle Discovery split a nearly cloudless sky with thunder and fire at 2:38 this afternoon, and roared safely into orbit on schedule.

And Memestreams user Palindrome and I were there along with a number of friends of ours! A perfect way to celebrate the 4th of July! Certainly the biggest rocket I've ever seen and one that truely inspires on many levels. I've got lots of links to post, but access is limited from my cellphone. More to follow.

Shuttle Roars Safely Into Orbit on Schedule - New York Times

The first person to note that the Aleutian Cleveland Volcano was spewing ash was astronaut Jeffrey N. Williams aboard the International Space Station.

Looking down on the Alaskan Aleutian Islands two weeks ago, Williams noted, photographed, and reported a spectacular ash plume emanating from the Cleveland Volcano.

APOD: 2006 June 7 - An Alaskan Volcano Erupts

The Aymara, especially the elderly who didn’t command a grammatically correct Spanish, indicated space behind themselves when speaking of the future – by thumbing or waving over their shoulders – and indicated space in front of themselves when speaking of the past – by sweeping forward with their hands and arms, close to their bodies for now or the near past and farther out, to the full extent of the arm, for ancient times.

This is a very interesting perspective on time.

Backs to the Future

In one new study, six objects ranging in heft from five to 15 times the mass of Jupiter were observed. None are bound to stars. All are young and have disks of gas and dust that resemble disks found around young stars. Our own Sun had such a disk, out of which asteroids, comets and planets formed, theorists say.

SPACE.com -- Strange New Worlds Could Make Miniature Solar Systems

Heathyr wrote:
Willy Wonka could have powered his Great Glass Elevator on hydrogen produced from his chocolate factory.

E. Coli is a critical ingredient in the coming robopocolypse, in which evil robots hunt, kill, and eat people and use their flesh to generate electric power.

RE: New Scientist Tech - Technology - Chocolate generates electrical power

Porting the hacker ethic to the nonvirtual world, magazines like Make and blogs like Boing Boing are making it cool for geeks to get their hands dirty again...

But the hands-on revival is leaving home chemists behind.... “There are very few commercial supply houses willing to sell chemicals to amateurs anymore because of this fear that we’re all criminals and terrorists,” Carlson says. “Ordinary folks no longer have access to the things they need to make real discoveries in chemistry.”

To Bill Nye, the “Science Guy,” says unreasonable fears about chemicals and home experimentation reflect a distrust of scientific expertise taking hold in society at large.

This Wired article is very apropos in light of my CACM article. Apparently between trying to prevent terrorism, meth production, and fireworks accidents, state and federal regulators have pretty much made amateur chemistry illegal in the United States, which is going to do wonders for our future.

There was a debate on MemeStreams about whether product liability and tort law restricted individual freedoms. This is also a perfect example of that.

Wired 14.06: Don't Try This at Home

Well, generally the most important thing we learned is how diverse the bodies of the solar system are. Each one is unique and that's because they've had a different history, different evolution. Jupiter, with it's great red spot is just the largest of dozens of giant hurricane-like storm systems. And two of Jupiter's moons, Io, has a 100 times more volcanic activity than Earth. Europa has an ice crust probably on the liquid water ocean. On to Saturn, we've found Saturn's rings are riddled with wakes from moons, which are orbiting inside the rings and outside the rings. And there is a moon there called Enceladus, which is the whitest, brightest object in the solar system and has a very fresh surface. And there's the moon Titan, which has an atmosphere in which liquid natural gas rains on the surface.

I think many MemeStreamers will enjoy this interview with one of the Voyager scientists.

JPL.NASA.GOV: Voyager Interview