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i have to admit that i kinda like strobes... if they're set up by someone who knows what they're doing. because at that point, all i had to do was push the little button. easy ;)
i hope this isn't cheating.... but this technically is today. and to be honest, i wasn't really gonna top it in this weather.
Northern CAF 'Civity' Class 331 electric multiple unit 331 026 is pictured leading sister 331 009 to a halt at Preston whilst working 2C06 08:04 Blackpool North - Liverpool Lime Street on Spril 11th, 2022.
28 NOV 14
*Catching up*
This was Friday, day after Thanksgiving. Our dear guest B---the near next to perfect guest/new fam I could ask for. I have no complaints about her at all except that she does not believe in sleep whatsoever. I was exhausted after last night and I thought she would be too having woken up at 8 am to help with the preparation madness, but no, she wanted to talk again last night and kept me up, so it was hard waking up this morning, but boy am I glad I was up and at 'em, because it was time for a trip to NASA.
I am a total admitted nerd, and NASA is home to the kings and queens of nerdom respectfully. Apparently B might very well have been the biggest nerd of us all reading every single thing there was to read to the point where my dad and I were three galleries away, and we had to backtrack to find her.
If you have never been to NASA Space Center, let me explain it. It, first of all, is huge. Think of a large college campus and multiply that by 2. Unlike most touristy things you may go to, it is actually a working facility where you get to see the real astronauts training if there is a mission, real life mission control, you get to see the real life rocks taken from the moon, etc. They say everything is big in Texas, and this place will only verify that for you. I WISH we could have gotten to go on the last of the 3 tram tours to the gigantic swimming pool where astronauts train to simulate weightlessness on earth. It is HUGE because they have to be able to fit an entire mockup of the space craft inside of it for training purposes.
Ugh, I love this place dearly and I always come away secure in the knowledge that 1) I am much too dumb to be a part of the NASA world, 2) I am forever amazed at the amount of parts required to built one rocket and that each of these not only has to be created, but installed, and triple checked before each mission 3) The beauty of humanity working together for a singular amazing cause...which is now headed towards 2030, to get to Mars.
So exciting. I spend 90% of the time going oooo, aaaaa, eeeeeee like a little kid.
Today we had the distinct pleasure of visiting the brand new mission control center for the Orion mission which is sending a rocket to out to I believe, chart a path for future Mars exploration. We learned that each person works 3, 8 hour shifts with an hour in between so that crew one can hand over to crew two, and so forth. Each station has about 4-5 computers and each person is communicating with about 20 people at one time in their earpiece. There is also a required agent of the foreign countries who speaks their language in case of any discrepencies, and each astronaut on a mission is REQUIRED by the end of their 5 month stint on the International Space Station to be fluent in the visiting nations language.
Coming up next featured in the top left image is a brand new mock up of the challenger piggy back riding on top of an aircraft which will allow visitors to go inside both vessels and see what the astronauts see as they come back to earth. Now you've seen it on the news---this is true to size. I mean, its is just jaw dropping.
I think for B, this was truly a brand new experience. I don't think there was ever such a focus on NASA or space travel when she was in school--kind of literally a foreign concept, but for us, we grew up with this right in our backyard, there are no school children that have not gone on at least 1 trip here, and of course we remain ever etched in the memories of mankind with the whole, "Houston we have a problem" and more important, the first word ever on the moon, "Houston, Tranquility Base, the Eagle has landed."
After all was said and done, I bought a year long membership. Yes! Had to do it. Tomorrow, is the road trip, yesss!
Day 331 of 365, looking along the Grand Union Canal from Brentford Lock towards The Great West Rd and GSK House