Author Archives: Gray Rinehart

Space History, Today: Final Shuttle Flight Begins

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The Space Shuttle Atlantis launched today on its final mission, and the final flight of the Space Transportation System program, STS-135.

My involvement in the Shuttle program was tangential — four shuttle landings at Edwards AFB — but still the end of the program is pretty bitter. It would at least be bittersweet if we had another system waiting in the wings.

Here’s where it all began, a little over 30 years ago, in a previous space history blog post and a picture:


(First shuttle launch: STS-1, April 12, 1981. NASA image.)

Meanwhile, in other space history: 35 years ago today — July 8, 1976 — Indonesia got its first telecommunications satellite with the launch of Palapa-1.

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A Boring Magazine Article of Some Interest to Me: 'Grey Vs. Gray'

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Actually, the full title of the imaginary article is “Grey Vs. Gray, The Definitive Argument,” as listed on the cover of TIRED Magazine, the winner of BoingBoing‘s “boring magazine cover contest.”

I didn’t see any indication that the image had been released under Creative Commons, so I won’t post it here. You can see the winning entry by itself at http://nothingofconsequence.com/boingboingcontest/tiredmagazine-big.jpg, or you can can see it along with a few other notable entries at http://www.boingboing.net/2011/07/06/boring-magazine-cont.html.

I didn’t have anything to do with the contest, but being named Gray I have a small stake in the “grey vs. gray” debate.

Which, I supposed, proves how boring my life can be.

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My Blog Goes Berserk

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Craziness in the arcane intricacies of MySQL:

I wrote this morning’s entry and posted it, only to have the system notify me that of a database error. So, I tried again, and once more for good measure. After the third error message, I decided to pack it in and try again later … only to find that the system had indeed accepted each of those attempts.

And then what happened when I tried to delete two of the posts? Another database error notification.

I’m so confused. But even if I get an error message when I post this one, I’m only going to try it once.

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Congratulations to Redstone SF!

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The online magazine Redstone Science Fiction was recognized last week by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America as a professional-level publication.


Redstone Science Fiction logo.

RSF published my story, “Memorial at Copernicus,” last August in their third issue. That story now counts as my second “pro” sale, even though it was published before my first pro sale to Analog.

Thanks, Redstone, and may you have many more years of success!

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Independence Day Shuttle Mission

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Five years ago today — July 4, 2006 — the Space Shuttle Discovery launched from the Kennedy Space Center on a mission to the International Space Station.


(STS-121 launch. NASA image.)

Mission STS-121 was the first ever to launch on Independence Day, though it did so after launch attempts on the 1st and 2nd were scrubbed.

U.S. astronauts Steven W. Lindsey, Mark E. Kelly, Stephanie D. Wilson, Michael E. Fossum, Piers J. Sellers, and Lisa M. Nowak brought German astronaut Thomas Reiter to the space station, where he joined ISS Expedition 13, and delivered 7400 pounds of supplies to the station. They also accomplished three spacewalks to work on the ISS structure and systems.

STS-121 was also the second shuttle return-to-flight mission after the loss of the Shuttle Columbia in February 2003. The mission flew an improved external tank and “the crew used the orbiter boom sensor system with a laser dynamic range imager, laser camera system and intensified television camera on the end, to examine the shuttle’s nose cap, port wing, leading edge of the starboard wing, and outside of the crew cabin.”

Of course, provided all systems remain “go,” the Shuttle era will come to a close at the end of this week. That will be a sad day.

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Latest 'Honorable Mention'

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Got an e-mail from the Writers of the Future folks a couple of days ago, with the news that I earned another “Honorable Mention” in the quarterly contest.

This brings my tally to 6 Honorable Mentions and 1 Semi-Finalist out of 13 total entries (including one sent in about a week ago).

Now to figure out where to send this little contemporary fantasy tale. And to start writing the next story.

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Monitoring Ozone from Orbit

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Fifteen years ago today — July 2, 1996 — a Pegasus-XL rocket lofted a small meteorological satellite into orbit.


(Ozone map based on TOMS data. NASA image.)

The Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer-Earth Probe, or TOMS-EP (or sometimes EP/TOMS), spacecraft operated until late 2005, and measured the distribution of ozone throughout the Earth’s atmosphere. The data set is quite extensive; if you’re curious, from this page you can find an historical record of ozone measurements for a location near you.

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Read the First Part of My ANALOG Story

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For the curious, the first part of my story, “Therapeutic Mathematics and the Physics of Curve Balls,” has been posted online at the Analog Science Fiction & Fact web site.


(Cover of the September 2011 issue.)

Scroll down about half-way on the front page for the start of the excerpt, which will probably only be active while the magazine is on sale … say, for another month or so. Or, if you prefer, here’s the direct link.

This still seems a bit surreal to me, but in a good way.

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Mapping the Early Universe

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Ten years ago today — June 30, 2001 — a Delta-II rocket out of Cape Canaveral launched a mission to study the mysteries of the very early universe.


(A graphical representation of the growth of the universe, with WMAP at the far right. NASA image.)

The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, or WMAP, was originally simply the MAP — it was renamed in February 2003 after cosmologist David T. Wilkinson.

In August 2001, WMAP arrived at the L2 LaGrange point, a quasi-stable point on the other side of the Earth from the Sun, about five times farther away from the Earth than the Moon. WMAP operated in a halo orbit around the L2 point, scanning the sky over its 7-year operational life.

Among its other accomplishments, WMAP mapped the cosmic microwave background radiation from the early universe, and produced data to determine that the universe is about 13.73 billion years old (plus or minus 120 million years). Its other findings are catalogued on this WMAP page, which also includes quotes from leading researchers.

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Galileo and Ganymede

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Fifteen years ago today — June 27, 1996 — the Galileo space probe made its first flyby of Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon.


(Single-filter image of Ganymede, taken 06/26/96. NASA image.)

The Galileo mission began in October of 1989 with its launch from the Space Shuttle Atlantis, as recalled in our space history item. On its June 1996 flyby, the orbiter cruised past Ganymede at an altitude of only about 835 km (519 mi).

The Ganymede flyby timeline includes details about observations the spacecraft made before, during, and after its flyby. You can also visit the Galileo legacy site for more information on the mission.

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