Thursday, November 14, 2013

I'm gonna go to the place that's the best...

Jim Irwin on the moon, Apollo 15, 1971

For about 20 years now, space has been my obsession, with a specialty in the history of manned space flight. Let's call it...Michelle's college.

So while I was going to real college and studying my way through every boring philosopher on the planet; 

I was also going to Michelle's college and studying my way through every available book on the space program that had ever been printed. 

I can be obsessive.

To understand half of these books I had to take physics as an elective. I voluntarily signed up for physics...that's how obsessed I was with becoming an expert on this stuff.

I went to see NASA people speak, I saw monuments and astronaut's childhood homes, visited the museums where their spacecraft are, read not only the history books and the tech books, but also all the biographies. 

I even read the books on the Soviets and their space program - they had one, too, you know - Sputnik, Soyuz, and a poor little doggy named Laika, and a hero named Yuri Gagarin, and also the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova.

And then I got to the point where I actually already knew everything in the new books I was getting.

BUMMER. It's like when you get to the end of a TV series. What now?

So I started trying to teach.

You know, some people just don't appreciate the value of having a true expert in their midst.

Take Chelsea, for instance.

I'll say, hey Chels, you know, your birthday, July 21, is also the date that the Apollo astronauts--

But I can't even finish saying the word 'astronauts' before she shouts 'NO' and leaves the room.

What's up with that?

Or, sometime at work when we're desperately trying NOT to work, I'll bring up my favorite subject, the Saturn V rocket, and my dear co-workers suddenly develop a pressing need for smoke break/potty break/uh, I'll go with one of you break.

What's up with THAT?

The very worst was last year when my nephew's homework assignment was a report on one of the Apollo missions.

It was the most exciting thing ever!

For the whole two minutes it took to get to my brother's house, get inside, and try to talk about my favorite subject in the whole world to an 11-year old who's intent on playing his DS thing.

He did not care about the Apollo missions, at all.

WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?

So, to bring a very long, boring story to an end (sorry), I no longer try to talk about my favorite thing.

(Except for that one time when we were watching Big Bang Theory and Howard was going up in the Soyuz and I was telling Dwayne about the Soyuz landing, and then they said exactly what I had just said on the TV. That was cool.)

I'm underappreciated.

:(

Okay, all joking aside, it makes me sad that no one wants to know about our incredible feat to get to the moon, or how and why it happened. 

Or why the program stopped at 17, and why the Saturn V - the rocket that took us to the moon - cannot be made today. 

Oh no.

I did it again, didn't I?

Me, sort of yelling (I'm very softspoken, actually, I never get loud): Everyone who left the room for smoke break/potty break/uh, I'll go with one of you break, you can come back now, thanks!

It's time for a whole new obsession...I'll take any and all suggestions! 

(Make sure to take into account my way diminished mental capacity, though. No driving. No sharp objects. No math. Other than that, we're good.)

:)

20 comments:

  1. Wait, how did you learn physics without math?

    And you don't need a new obsession; you just need to send your obsession into the future rather than focusing on history. There are a lot of exciting things developing in space exploration. Unfortunately, very few of those things have anything to do with NASA.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Back then, I had math! Honors Calculus! Stop that! LOL
      I work in Brokerage Accounting, for heaven's sake!
      But I have Topamax brain, so anymore, all my math is taken up at work, there's none left for anything else. I'm very serious. LOLOL

      I know there is, the private sector is where it's at. NASA just doesn't have the funding to compete. You're absolutely right, I need to start Googling...

      Delete
    2. Check here:
      http://www.planetaryresources.com/
      and
      http://www.spacex.com/
      and
      http://www.mars-one.com/en/

      Delete
  2. I think I need that pottie break now, slinks off ...lol good to have a healthy obsession. Admit I know some about the moon flights, but not much. Another obsession? hmmmm how many licks to the center of a tootsie pop?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a very good question.
      Those are really good, too, I've had one before.
      :)

      Delete
  3. It's a fine obsession. Don't let the turkeys get you down. You're among peeps here in el blogosphero. I once got to give a talk right before an astronaut gave his talk. At least it wasn't the other way around... "tough act to follow" is an under-statement! :-)

    I'm curious... why do you think they stopped at 17? I'm no expert, but I know a bit about a huge solar flare that happened on August 2, 1972, between Apollos 16 and 17. There are conflicting stories about what that would've done to an astronaut on the surface of the moon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OMG, I can only imagine. Intimidating.

      Did you ever read Michener's novel, 'Space'? He actually has an Apollo 18 go to the far side of the moon, and the two LEM astronauts are killed due to a solar flare. His theory, if I remember correctly, was that they were less protected on the far side than they were on the Earth side.

      I always just fell for the party line, that they shut the program down at 17 due to cutbacks.

      Delete
  4. Did you know that a lot of astronauts were Eagle Scouts? I took Calculus in the Engineering Department at my Alma Mater for kicks. I got a B.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Susie, I actually did know that...remember, I read a LOT of autobiographies, LOL.

      Delete
  5. Hey, let's get together for a stimulating chat on quantum physics! OMG! Finally, someone who's as twisted as me!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL You are so funny...that is about how my conversation openers sound, no wonder people run away! I guess us twisted people need to stick together!

      Delete
  6. It really does seem that our interest in space has really waned doesn't it? I mean you hardly ever here of it anymore. That does make me kinda sad.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, because our shuttle program went away. We still have astronauts going up, but because they're not going up HERE, it's just not visible to us - e.g., not shown by the media - and so not on our radar.

      Delete
  7. Haha great post - hey you can obsess about space any time. If you can't obsess about space, what can you obsess about??!!
    I too find it so difficult to come to terms with what has become of our space programmes. It took about 60 years between the first manned flight and landing on the moon. It's over 40 years since we landed on the moon and where have we got to?? I can't believe the loss of vision and nerve. I still avidly follow missions, but they lack the adventure and magic. It might be that I have lost something, but to me, they are too much about what resources can we find and exploit than let's do something wonderful and find something new!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes...and I am sure most of the people at NASA feel the same way we do. The difference between then and now is JFK and the Cold War...Back then we were in a constant back and forth with the Soviet Union, and JFK threw down the gauntlet when he said we would go to the moon and make it back safely before the decade was over. Suddenly we had a charismatic leader and a vision and a mission.
      I wonder if we can get some kind of great confluence of events to happen like that again.

      Delete
  8. I would love to go to NASA someday. That would be a "blast!" :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL that's good...
      I would like to go to the centers in TX and in FL...I haven't been to either.
      I did go to the one in Huntsville, though.

      Delete
  9. CHEESE!!!!! Everybody loves cheese. Except the people who aren't worth knowing. ;)

    Hey, I'd listen to your space chatter any day...but I might interject some theoretical possibilities and blow the whole conversation into a new dimension.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That would be perfect! I would so love it if that happened, lol!

      Delete