A Tuesday of Events

July 28, 2009

I got to meet Dr. Christopher Kraft Jr. He gave a really good talk to the co-ops at Space Center Houston. He didn't do a normal talk as he put it, instead he gave us a few thoughts on how the Program is being handled and what he thinks we should consider doing with the Program. He has a few good opinions, but his opinions come from working with some of the great minds of the Apollo Era, including Werner Von Braun. He was an amazing man to listen to.
Later that evening, after the work day was over, I went to the Saturn V movie night. The organizer had to leave early, but had brought in an Apollo VII astronaut, Walter Cunningham. He did a nice little talk with us and answered questions. He encouraged us to buy his book. [oh how many of those we've gotten this quarter] Though he answered 3 questions that everyone wants to ask. (Sorry, I don't remember them all) I just remember the one about how to go to the bathroom in space.
(Picture by Sergey G.)
After Walter left, we watched a movie on the side of the Saturn V Rocket. We watched a documentary about the Apollo times and flights. Sorry almost a month later, I have forgotten the name of it. It was really cool though. Three of us had went to it.
(following pictures by Sergey G)
I officially would love to get a camera like his! :) It's far better than mine.

Military Museum of Texas

July 26, 2009

Alex and I ran across a few of the Tanks from this Museum at the Fourth of July celebration in downtown Houston. I got the little brochure and we ventured up to this museum. We got a personal tour of this museum and even the yard where they work on the vehicles they are given or buy that the military can no longer use or sell. It was a pretty cool place. The gentleman in charge of the museum came in to give us a tour of the rooms with the artifacts from the World wars, such as uniforms, inactive weapons and missiles.
The gentleman in charge was full of fun stories from his time in the military, from disarming different weapons found in houses and washed up on river banks, when the wrong people decide to disarm TNT, and about the munitions dumps in this area. It was rather intriguing and amusing to listen to at times. He even explained how repairing the vehicles can take place including sometimes the vehicles being owned by someone else after a few years.
They are hoping to either be able to own the building or be able to obtain a place that they can re-do to make it more museum efficient.
The former picture is a tank that is currently being worked on.

Lone Star Flight Musuem ... Take 2

July ... 25th ... 2009

My camera died this time ... so additional pictures are from Sergey.

They had a few different planes in the hanger this times. Still not completely open, but they are doing a great job of getting things cleaned up and working again. We found out that if we became members, we could volunteer our time to help clean up the air planes. A good deal of the restored airplanes are used for flight still. Enjoy the pictures!
The Following Pictures are credited to Sergey G.:

A Friday of Events

24 July 2009

Ellington Field~
We had a tour through work of Ellington Field. Its where they house the T-38s that the Astronauts train in and use to get from base to base for different training runs. Its also where they house the Gulfstream Jets used to teach the pilots of the shuttle how to land the shuttle (since a real shuttle can't be used).

It was a Lockheed based tour, which was fine. Lockheed Martin had a good deal to do with the training equipment and stuff in the building. We got to actually see the cockpit of a T-38 up close and personal. It was so cool, and I would love to get to work out there, but that won't happen. With the Shuttle retiring, a lot of things down here will go away.

Anyways, it was worth the 2.5 hours I couldn't charge that day!
EVA~
I also got to head over to Mission Control to watch the end of a space walk. I got there just before they finished up. But I got to watch the astronauts get back into the airlock. :D
Splashdown~
After work, we headed over to Space Center Houston to join the ever so long line of people heading to the Splashdown Celebration. It was neat, but the theatres filled up before we even got inside the damn building. We went to where there was suppose to be music, but they had set up another screen to play the speakers on instead.

We got to hear from the new NASA director Mr. Bolden, five flight directers from the era, Neil and Buzz. The flight directors were George Abbey, Gerald Griffin, Chris Kraft, Gene Kranz, and Glynn Lunney. Neil Armstrong had a good speak that clearly came from his heart. Buzz Aldrin had way more to say than he should have said. We aren't sure, but we think he might be losing his mind. Most of the guys stated what they thought about where NASA is currently headed and the general idea was "don't repeat Apollo". And it was pretty obvious, Neil does not really like to give speeches. He doesn't do media things very often. He is a private man.

It was just so crowded. So after a quick look around to see who we knew, we left. It was worth the experience, just to know those heros and great men were merely a room over from us! Close enough.

.... Work ....

Not really full adventures .... But anyways ....

Monday, I discovered "Main Event" isn't worth what it costs to go. I was a little disappointed I chose to go. But I got to meet a 5 other co-ops. A few of them work in FDOC in our building just on the first floor. That was good. Besides walking away with a sore ankle, it was fun to hang out a bit.

I got my full badge on Tuesday. I went to the lecture Space Flight 101 (and yet again, haven't gotten to sit through it all). It was so awesome. I will have to go back again and sit through it sometime! It will be worth it since I learn something new every time.

Freedom over Texas

July 4, 2009

The decision was made late on Thursday that Independence Day would be spent in downtown Houston for fireworks and festivities. It ended up being worth the drive and hassle.

We got there just before the festival area opened at 4pm. It was a hot day for sure. I found out later, Houston actually hit a record High that day. We hung around and checked out the NASA exhibit. It was neat. They had a few sized down models on display, including the new Atlas rocket and the shuttle. They had a moon rock on display that people were allowed to touch. So I can now say I have touched a MOON ROCK! :)
We walked down past the first army of port-a-potties. I thought it was just a little comic relief to see the armies of port-a-potties. I got a water, but I was foolish and didn't keep a steady flow into my body that day. I ended up not feeling thirsty until it was far too late. I developed a hell of a headache and no longer wanted to move. As the headache got worse, I realized it was me getting more and more dehydrated. I downed 2 bottles of water in about 20 minutes and within the next hour, I made myself eat. I was being evil to my body, and then I decided to do what I could to take a little better care in the stressful heat. There was also several tanks, like real big tanks, on the street. They were from a museum somewhere along the outer area of Houston. Its now on the list of places to visit!
Clay Walker played that night. Turns out I know a lot more of his songs than I realized I did. I rather enjoyed the concert, even from a long distance. We waited almost an hour in the line to get Alex a funnel cake, and I figured why not and got a Turkey leg. It was okay, not great.
We found a nice little spot on the hill and waited out the falling evening listening to music from Clay Walker. From this spot, there was hill sledding from the younger ages. The fireworks were at about 9:30 and ended just before 10pm. They did two identical shows for the two hills in the park. I thought it was really cool show set to music. It was worth the whole thing.

After the show, traffic was really bad. We walked down town for about an hour. I wanted to go down to the Theatre district and see what else was down there. Even after an hour traffic was still really bad, but we didn't have much trouble getting back into downtown from a side street and then out to 59 to 45-S. Oh the fun! Got home around 12:30am.

Lone Star Flight Museum

Galveston, TX
I ventured down to the Flight Museum today. Someone really sparked my interest in it at work. So, I thought I would go down and see how restoration was going and just to see what might have been so neat! They had one of the hangers open to the public and the other still packed with the planes, engines, and other things that are still being restored or haven't really been touched since Ike ripped through the museum last year. The planes on display were really neat, and I enjoyed the trip.
It would have been neat to see more of what they use to have up. There were a few planes that could be seen through the door into Hanger 2 that would have been awesome to see. But maybe once its all back together. I asked when things might be back to normal as I was leaving, and was told "A couple of years or a couple million, which ever comes first." So basically, after I graduate in two years.

Anyways, Enjoy the pictures!

Haak Vineyards and Winery

The official Website of Haak Vineyards and Winery

Quickly visited Haak Winery today. I picked up a Purple Porous and a Pink Pelican. Mom got me a little knight holder for a bottle. I thought it was so cute. I love knights and dragons. Because deep down I've always had that dream of being swept off my feet by a Knight in Shinning Armour and he would be my prince charming for life. Too bad fairy tales never happen in real life. :-/ Anyways, Its hanging out in the kitchen until I return to the apartment.

Wish everyone the best, this will be the last adventure post for a while. As I hopefully start work tomorrow. :)

~Galveston~

We went down to Galveston today! I kind of showed mom some of the destruction Ike had that hasn't been fixed yet. Mom had never seen the Gulf of Mexico or anything similar to the Ocean before. So she was kind of in awe when we drove up the hill that connects to the Seawall at Galveston. We drove along the sea wall and got lunch at one of the fresh seafood places. The food was decent. We walked down to the beach at the Seawall and went down on to the beach. The lifeguard kept hollering at some body that was swimming. I thought it was funny.

The water was warm and the sand very hot. It burned my feet some while I was walking, and I had sandles on! We walked down the rock pier and I think mom didn't really want to leave. She loved the vastness of it and how small it could make you feel. I do rather enjoy just being there and enjoying everything. But it was really humid and my feet hurt. I was ready to go.
We decided to find the Railroad museum that is in historic downtown Galveston. We finally found it, only to discover the doors were locked. When we walked around to the back to look through the gate, it was obvious why they were closed. Their other buildings had been destroyed and were being gutted. The problems Ike caused are still seen all over down here. Between the ships still sitting on land to the building that look like they were torn in pieces.
Ended the day with a trip to Froberg's Vegetable and Fruit Farm for the fresh produce I will be cooking with the next couple of weeks. And a quick stop for ice cream at Marble Slab Creamery.

It was a good day! Hot, but good.

Tomorrow, the Haak Winery. :)

Houston Zoo

Went to the Houston Zoo today. It was really cool! The animals have nice exhibits. Most are larger and except for a few of the species, there were at least two of them out to be seen. It was really hot today though. They have a fairly large amount of animals, and its only $10 to get in. It was so worth the time ... just needed a shower when I got home.

Enjoy the pictures:
Jelly Fish ....
Injured American Bald Eagle .... She was but feet away from us.
Sleeping Lion ... Jonathan ... he was right up against the glass.
Me with the Komodo Dragon .... he was huge!
A mini Monkey my mom really liked ....
The baby elephant with a couple of others ...
The baby giraffe that was born my first quarter down here ...
The cheetahs ....