Category Archives: Uncategorized

Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honor and recognition in event of success. – Apocryphal advertisement attributed to Ernest Shackleton for his 1914 Antarctic Expedition We cannot … Continue reading →

This month contains NASA’s Day of Remembrance as it does each year.  Each year the events that need to be remembered draw more deeply into the past.  This year is extraordinary because it marks the twentieth since we lost Columbia … Continue reading →

When I was a child, 5 or 6 years old, I had a recurring dream that I could fly.  Not fly an airplane but fly like a bird.  Although better than any bird because I could traverse continents in minutes … Continue reading →

My Great-Grandmother died when I was in grade school.  By then I had already gotten a bookish reputation, so she made sure I inherited two books from her library.  The first was a religious book, ‘The Manliness of Christ’ published … Continue reading →

Watching the commissioning of the James Webb Space Telescope, the control team took a couple of days to just monitor how the new space vehicle was performing.  That the spacecraft was operating a tad different than pre-mission predictions is not … Continue reading →

And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.  – Ecclesiastes 12:12 KJV I read a lot.  Technical journals (AIAA, ASME, ISSF), Aviation Week … Continue reading →

It has been twenty years since the flight of STS-108 also known as ISS Utilization Flight (UF)-1.  In retrospect, 108 seems just another routine, hum drum, typical ISS resupply/crew change/ assembly mission; there were so many of them on the … Continue reading →

Terror.  Trembling fear and anxiety.  My buddies decided we should each jump off the high diving board at the community pool the summer I turned eleven.  That diving board was not over 8 feet – possibly less – but at … Continue reading →

Recent unconfirmed media rumors about engine controller issues brought a long-ago memory to the surface. About 1991, the Chief of the Flight Director office decided that it would be good to have an exchange program between the Flight Directors and … Continue reading →

stove·pipe  /ˈstōvpīp/  noun noun: stovepipe; plural noun: stovepipes; noun: stove-pipe; plural noun: stove-pipes the pipe taking the smoke and gases from a stove up through a roof or to a chimney. an information conduit that traverses vertical levels efficiently but … Continue reading →