In the Presence of Stars
Or to be more accurate:
In the Presence of Two Men Who Have Been 240,000
Miles Closer to Any of the Stars than I Have Ever Been
But that title was just too long.
Back to the point though. Last night Drew and I went to the Adler Planetarium for a preview of their Shoot for the Moon exhibit that is opening this weekend. We got to wander around the exhibits, check out Gemini 12, attempt to land the lunar module (I successfully crashed into the moon), have dinner and then hear a moderated conversation between Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin.
So never in a million years have I ever wanted to go to space. I don't even want to fly to Minneapolis, so leaving our atmosphere is out of the question. And while the talk last night didn't change my feelings on outer space travel, I do greatly respect and admire the people who do. Ok, now it sounds like I didn't respect them before. I did. Just more so now.
Anyways. Their talk was very interesting and got me thinking about how little technology (compared to today) these men had when they went up on the Gemini and Apollo missions. I think it was Drew who said that there is more computer power in a TI-82 calculator than in all the Apollo missions combined. Yikes. And looking into the Gemini capsule, there were just a bunch of switches and dials to turn. All manual. Incredible. I can't imagine what these men must have felt when they were at the moon. They described looking back at earth as though there was a brilliant blue Christmas ball hanging in a black abyss. Pretty incredible what amount of trust, faith, intelligence and courage they must have had to go on those journeys.
It was good way to spend a Thursday evening. On a completely different note, if you want to see the most spectacular view of Chicago hands-down, walk out to the planetarium. It was absolutely stunning.
Miles Closer to Any of the Stars than I Have Ever Been
But that title was just too long.
Back to the point though. Last night Drew and I went to the Adler Planetarium for a preview of their Shoot for the Moon exhibit that is opening this weekend. We got to wander around the exhibits, check out Gemini 12, attempt to land the lunar module (I successfully crashed into the moon), have dinner and then hear a moderated conversation between Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin.
So never in a million years have I ever wanted to go to space. I don't even want to fly to Minneapolis, so leaving our atmosphere is out of the question. And while the talk last night didn't change my feelings on outer space travel, I do greatly respect and admire the people who do. Ok, now it sounds like I didn't respect them before. I did. Just more so now.
Anyways. Their talk was very interesting and got me thinking about how little technology (compared to today) these men had when they went up on the Gemini and Apollo missions. I think it was Drew who said that there is more computer power in a TI-82 calculator than in all the Apollo missions combined. Yikes. And looking into the Gemini capsule, there were just a bunch of switches and dials to turn. All manual. Incredible. I can't imagine what these men must have felt when they were at the moon. They described looking back at earth as though there was a brilliant blue Christmas ball hanging in a black abyss. Pretty incredible what amount of trust, faith, intelligence and courage they must have had to go on those journeys.
It was good way to spend a Thursday evening. On a completely different note, if you want to see the most spectacular view of Chicago hands-down, walk out to the planetarium. It was absolutely stunning.
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