Author Archives: Gray Rinehart

Space History, August 9, 1973: Soviet Launch to Mars

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Another “day in space history” tidbit: thirty-five years ago today, the Soviets launched Mars-7 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard a Proton rocket.

(When I was in the service, I monitored several technical exchanges between U.S. and Russian engineers getting ready to launch U.S. satellites on Proton rockets, something that would never have happened during the Cold War. And I watched the Canadian-owned [but U.S.-built] Nimiq-2 satellite get mated to a Proton rocket at Baikonur in 2002. I adapted some of what I saw during that operation into my story “The Rocket Seamstress.”)

According to www.astronautix.com, the Mars-7 probe was supposed to soft-land on Mars. As it happened,

Mars 7 reached Mars on 9 March 1974. Due to a problem in the operation of one of the onboard systems (attitude control or retro-rockets) the landing probe separated prematurely and missed the planet by 1,300 km. The early separation was probably due to a computer chip error which resulted in degradation of the systems during the trip to Mars.

Spaceflight is hard, no matter how much we’d like it to be easy.

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Today in Space History: Great Imagery Lunar Flyby

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As I’m working on MARE NUBIUM, my near-future novel of lunar colonization, I’ve run across some interesting space history items that I thought I’d post from time to time.

Today was the 40th anniversary of the launch of CORONA mission 1968-065A, a KH-4 (“Keyhole”) satellite that launched aboard a Thor rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base. (I was stationed at Vandy from 1993-95, and toured one of the Thor launch pads while a student at Undergraduate Space & Missile Training.) According to the National Space Science Data Center, “The spacecraft had the best imagery to date on any KH-4 systems. Bicolor and color infrared experiments were conducted on this mission.”

A year later — and three weeks after Apollo 11 landed on the moon — the Russians launched the Zond-7 spacecraft from Tyuratam, i.e., the Baikonur Cosmodrome. (I spent three weeks at Baikonur in late 2002.) The mission flew by the moon on August 11th and took two sets of photographs, then returned to earth on August 14th.

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InstaPundit Poll: None of the Above

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Just a friendly reminder from the Anti-Candidate, who did not release any campaign ads that prompted pretty young heiresses to release counter-ads: if you’re going to vote “None of the Above” in this InstaPundit poll, I’m available as your write-in vote.

I’m the GrayMan, and I approved this message. 😉

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Great Video: The Barbeque Song

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This was posted on YouTube a couple of weeks ago, but I just found it today — and as one who appreciates barbeque in most all its forms, I found the rundown of different styles to be a delightful tribute to one of my favorite foods.

I particularly liked the bit about whether or not Florida is a Southern state* — down to using the outline of California.

Enjoy!

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*To most of us who consider ourselves Southern, it isn’t.

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Obscure SF References in Real Life

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Do you ever have an odd science fictional reference pop into your head while doing something mundane?

The other day I was doing my usual not much and happened to rub my eye: I came away with an eyelash on the pad of my finger and carelessly flicked it away (we have to feed the vacuum cleaner something) before I thought, Wow, I’m glad we don’t have those DNA analyzer-scanners like in GATTACA.

An odd reference, I know, but I’m an odd person. As Mike Yaconelli paraphrased, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd.”

So, what SF references have you encountered in daily life?

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Sphericity — That Is, Being Well-Rounded

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My friend and brother sent me a link to an essay entitled “On Stupidity” — it included this bit that reminded me of RAH:

Different generations have different ways of knowing — different configurations of multiple intelligences. Pick your era and your subject: How many of us know anything about farming anymore or how to read the changing of the seasons? How many of us know how to repair an automobile or make a cake from scratch?

(Link: Chronicle of Higher Education.)

For those who don’t recognize the initials, RAH would be Robert A. Heinlein, one of the Grand Masters of Science Fiction. The English professor’s quote above made me think of one of my favorite RAH quotes from “The Notebooks of Lazarus Long”:*

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

I’ve always liked that sentiment, and thought at one point about planning a course of study around it. I called it “Sphericity,” as in the title of this post, by which I meant being well-rounded. Some people seem to get there naturally because they take (or make) the opportunities to explore a broad range of interests; other folks may need a little help.

How well-rounded are you? And would you add anything to Heinlein’s list?

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*The “Notebooks” formed part of his novel TIME ENOUGH FOR LOVE, but many of the aphorisms stand well on their own.

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Oh, To Be At Thule Today

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I look back with fondness at the year I spent at Thule Air Base, Greenland — in fact, today I wore my “Thule Tracking Station” hat* — but it looks as if the path of this morning’s total solar eclipse went very close to Thule. I hope the weather was clear enough for the folks to get a (safe) glimpse of the event.

This Wikipedia link has a neat animation of the eclipse path. The little black spot is the area of totality; the larger grey area would see a partial eclipse.

Ultra cool for Ultima Thule. (And no, if you pronounce it correctly that doesn’t rhyme.)

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*Our tracking station had an awesome logo: a polar bear coming out of a radome. I need to get a new hat and a couple new shirts, because mine are getting worn out.

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Halfway Home

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Passed the 50,000 word mark in MARE NUBIUM, after finally realizing that I’d started the last chapter in the wrong point of view and going back to re-work it. What I probably should’ve done is just inserted a note to the effect of “rework this” and pressed on, but it seemed too big an issue to leave unresolved.

It’s a wonder I finish anything. According to my 100K goal, I’m halfway through with the novel; who knows if the final version will be 90K or 120K, but it will be a wonder if I finish.

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