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SpaceX Releases Gorgeous Videos and Photos of Successful Shuttle Launch

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Viewing history on an iPad

On its second try, SpaceX successfully completed the first launch of a commercial spacecraft on Tuesday morning at 3:44am. Right now, the Dragon spacecraft is in orbit, and the SpaceX team is doing checks and scans to prepare for its docking attempt with the International Space Station on May 25th. From the SpaceX updates website:

 

Mission Highlights: During the mission, Dragon must perform a series of complex tasks, each presenting significant technical challenges (dates subject to change):

  • May 22/Launch Day: SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launches a Dragon spacecraft into orbit from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
  • May 23: Dragon orbits Earth as it travels toward the International Space Station.
  • May 24: Dragon’s sensors and flight systems are subjected to a series of complicated tests to determine if the vehicle is ready to berth with the space station; these tests include maneuvers and systems checks in which the vehicle comes within 1.5 miles of the station.
  • May 25: NASA decides if Dragon is allowed to attempt berthing with the station. If so, Dragon approaches. It is captured by station’s robotic arm and attached to the station, a feat that requires extreme precision.
  • May 25 - 31: Astronauts open Dragon’s hatch, unload supplies and fill Dragon with return cargo.
  • May 31: After approximately two weeks, Dragon is detached from the station and returns to Earth, landing in the Pacific, hundreds of miles west of Southern California.

 

I've included some high quality videos below from the Vimeo site - there are also photos. They speak for themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

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SpaceX's Dragon to Become First Commercial Aircraft to Visit International Space Station

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The title pretty much says it all. At 4:45am EST on May 19th, SpaceX will live stream the launch of their Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket. It's a huge day for space geeks such as myself, but I'm glad that the coverage is extending to the mainstream.

For all of the talk about budget cuts to NASA and ending the shuttle program, it's great to report on the future of space travel. I really believe that space (and the ocean) need to be explored to better understand what role we play in this vast universe. It's not about finding aliens, but about doing the science that's hard to do within the physical confines of Earth. But I won't lie and say I wouldn't be excited if we found a Mass Relay ...

Note that this is a demonstration mission, but assuming everything goes well cargo (and potentially astronauts) will be ferried back and forth in the future.

For more info check out their press kit.

Pay Attention When Using Your Tech!

 

I walk my dog nightly, and there are a couple of things that annoy me:

  • People that call to my dog without asking
  • People that touch my dog without waking
  • People that wander into my path because they're not paying attention

While the first two are straight up disrespectful, the third is just as annoying.  Whether people are talking on someone walking with them, talking on the phone, or texting, my dog has almost been crush by the raggedy sneakers of some idiot.  

However, fining for texting is just stupid. It doesn't discourage the activity, and I damn sure don't want cops spending their time looking for people walking as opposed to solving real crime. 

I know I've been guilty of texting while walking.  To be fair, I try to be good about it  - I tilt my phone in such a way that I can see what is ahead of me.  However, I lose the sense of feeling when people come up either behind me or directly on the side of me. I've definitely been surprised by people, especially bikers and joggers, that come up quickly behind me as I'm trying to share my latest joke with the world.

Texting is an amazing piece of technology that let's you stay connected with friends without having to have an actual phone call.  No excuse to walk into other people though.

The good news is that I remember several annoying high school kids from Fort Lee, so that's a plus. Ticket them like crazy!

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Online Courses for Free and Customized Educational Videos

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Yup, it's me. High school was awesome.


I've been a huge fan of MIT's online OpenCourseWare initiative. For 10 years, MIT has made several of its engineering courses (and a few others in the Sloan business school) available online free of charge. Impressively, it was more than just a few PDFs - there was lecture videos, lab notes, problem sets, and exams.  It was truly an interactive way to learn for those of us proactive enough to seek out information online.

Now, Harvard and MIT are teaming up to offer free online courses. Similarly, Stanford, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michiganan are also planning to offer free online courses. The two groups are using different companies, which will bring the competition needed to truly flesh out the best way to offer information online.  The best thing about these efforts is that they will be actual courses, which will be graded either by professors, peers or crowdsourcing.  While I doubt that you'd be able to use these for any actual course credit outside of the involves university, it's still a great idea.  Just think about what this can look like a generation from now. 

Hopefully, universities will be as inventive as TED, an educational video site, is when it comes to interactive educational video. They've just unveiled a great way to mix and match segments of videos as well as add annotations, quizzes, and other parts to create a product customized for a specific audience. This is great because sometimes it can be a pain to send someone a video and mention what part they should pay attention to - with this solution, the video itself can be as brief and contain the relevant text itself.  Cool stuff!

Here's to using technology to help improve education! And for free!