I have always been fascinated by Space. I don’t know when or what started my love for Space. I have 3 big memories of Space but I think I was fascinated by space even before.
Lost in Space
Every Sunday morning, my Mom, my brother, and I would watch the Lost in Space reruns while my Mom made pancakes. It is one of the best memories I have as a child cause I felt so loved and with family.
Space Shuttle & Challenger accident
I seem to remember being into the Space Shuttles before the Challenger accident, but that moment in time solidified my interest in space. I was in 6th grade and right after lunch the teacher wheeled a TV into our classroom and the news displayed information about the Challenger explosion. I was in shock and it seemed unbelievable. Walking home from the bus stop that night, I kept looking in the sky for something, anything.
Halley’s Comet
Also in 6th grade, Halley’s Comet appeared. I read a news article that stated that Carl Sagan predicts that we can land an astronaut on Halley’s Comet when it returns in 2061. I calculated that I will be 87yrs old if it returns on time. I told myself that I must make it to at least 87 yrs old. Period.
This was it by Halley’s Comet, I was engrossed and in love with Space and everything about it.
I love researching space, watching space movies and TV series. I am addicted. I am surprised I didn’t become an astronaut. I love Star Wars, but I love Star Trek movies and TV series even more. My favorite is Star Trek: Voyager because it has a female Captain. With Star Trek, they explore the galaxy and find new life and new experiences and I know that these things are out there.
I have been to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. I lived in Orlando, FL for a few years and I had some great space memories there.
– being awoken by the sonic booms when the space shuttle was coming home
– being able to see the space shuttle take off from my apartment or my work. Two best memories 1) night-time launch and I was watching the countdown on TV in the late 90s. I turned and walked out to my balcony and saw this big red silent fireball rising in the sky. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. This was before iPhones and I wish I captured it to share 2) gathering at the windows at work with all my coworkers watching the shuttle go up
– driving around Orlando and seeing an explosion in the sky and realizing a rocket blew up
I monitor how the Voyager satellite is doing and how far it has gotten. Pretty much anything space, I watch it. I just love it and I have a few friends that are nice enough to let me talk about it.
Do you know that Voyager has a lot of information about humans and Earth. I think about what it will be like when it finally makes it to another solar system. Will it just end up crashing into a planet? Will it be detected by another world of humanoids? I think they put a map of where Earth is located.
For most of my life I thought it would be cool to see an Alien and have out planet be contacted by Aliens until my best friend, Amir, make this comment. “If aliens are anything like us, we don’t want to meet them. If we head out to another world we will try to conquer them”. That worried me a bit.
However, I saw a recent video showing how small our star, Sun, is compared to so many other stars in our galaxy. Why would an alien species come to our little solar system with our little star?
I read awhile ago that one of Jupiter’s moons, Europa, has an ocean of water beneath its icy layer and that there may be life there. There are supposedly volcanoes in the water and deep down it may actually be warm enough to sustain life. So, I found this movie on Netflix called Europa Report. It was awesome and is about Astronauts journey to Europa and what they find there. I really enjoyed it cause it was more realistic than a movie like Aliens.
Now, I learn that Saturn’s moon, Enceladus, also has an ocean and it has more of a chance for life. That is awesome. I am surprised that there isn’t already a mission from NASA to explore one of these moons.
Cassini’s, NASA’s satellite, mission has ended and it crashed into Saturn. NASA wanted to make sure that the satellite did not crash into Enceladus or one of the other moons and possibly contaminate it with life from Earth. I hope we will go back soon. I guess we need to figure out how to drill through the thick icy layer.
All of the above things give me things to think about while I wait for us to make it to Mars NASA says that in 2035-ish, we will have a manned mission to Mars. I cannot wait.
Anyway, if I shared everything that was in my head about space, people would get the dazed look, so I am writing about it.
Wishing For A Holiday 