Finally saw a NASA Wallops launch from Wilmington with my own two eyes!

On Wednesday September 18th, Oribital Sciences and NASA Wallops launched the Antares/Cygnus mission to resupply the International Space Station.  I made another view from Rt141 and Rt48 west of Wilmington Delaware to show where to look but I used the Google earth data from the April launch information since there didn't seem to be a file from that launch. It proved useful.

I was able to see the contrail of the rocket, because I knew where to look.  Here is a picture of just the contrail blowing away, in the center of this photo.  That is Salem nuclear power plant in the lower left and this picture is looking south from west of Wilmington.

I have circled it here.

This makes me want to try harder to see a night launch.  I should have stayed awake for that might launch on Sept 6th.

Another NASA-Wallops Launch tomorrow at 10:50am

I did not see the LADEE launch from NASA Wallops earlier in the month.  But a ton of people did. Tomorrow (Wednesday September 18th), Oribital Sciences and NASA Wallops will launch the Antares/Cygnus mission to resupply the International Space Station.  Viewing possibilities from the Mid-Atlantic region can be found here.  I made another view from Rt141 and Rt48 west of Wilmington Delaware to show where to look but I used the Google earth data from the April launch information since there didn't seem to be a file from tomorrow's launch.

You can see the Delaware Memorial bridge just under the red part of the trajectory left of center in the picture.  That's a pretty visible point to look for while looking south east.

The window is from 10:50 am to 11:05 am.  Maybe we can see this one.

NASA launch from Wallops tonight!

There is a launch of a moon probe tonight from NASA Wallops down the Delmarva peninsular from Wilmington.  Orbital Science, the company that put together the launch vehicle,  have helpfully supplied a Google Earth file which plots the trajectory of the launch so that you can see where to look from your own location on the East Coast.  The only problem is there are very few 3D landmarks in Delaware to use as a reference.

Here is the view from second base in Frawley Stadium looking southeast.  You can see the trajectory of the rocket over the bleachers.

There is coverage of the launch at the NASA website.

Look Southeast at 11:27pm.

Test the size of your vocabulary(statistically)

Ran across this clever test that gives you a list of words and asks if you know them.  The list is special in that it is a list ordered by frequency of use in the English language.  The more you know of the lesser used words the more likely your vocabulary extends to that point and thus the program derives and estimate of the size of your vocabulary.

Leaving aside the sticky discussions of what is a word, do we include the inflected forms, what about technical terms, etc. My vocabulary is...

To put that in context I am in the 90th percentile or top 10th percentile for my age group on this particular test.

Try it yourself.  - http://testyourvocab.com/

Video of the raging Shellpot creek

This was the creek in all its raging yesterday morning.

Shellpot Creek rises after yesterday's torrential downpours

Yesterday's rain rapidly filled Shellpot creek in the morning.  Here is a picture.

It's back to normal now, but it is always exciting to see and hear it.

Presidents of the United States of America at the Nationals Games

The presidents run races in between innings at the Nationals games in Washington, D.C.

They also throw t-shirts to the crowd.

I am sure after a game there presidents' approval ratings couldn't be higher!

Snapped off tree from this Monday's storm

The neighborhood across Shellpot Creek from us had a tree snap in half, break a line pole and take out electrical wires to the area on Monday night during some pretty powerful thunderstorms.  I walked up to get some pictures.

View of the tree and the snapped off pole.  The tree went completely across the street.

At least on telephone pole was snapped off at the top.

The tree looks burnt on one side.  I wasn't able to get a story from anyone as to whether the wind did this, lightening or whether contact with the wires caused it.

Power was surprisingly restored in only a few hours by 7:10pm.  The firefighter I spoke to said they needed to clear the road immediately from the tree because that was the only way into the development should there be a fire.  Seems everyone did a good job.  I do feel bad for my neighbors.

Nasa logo

This nice Nasa logo ...

... was on the mobile quarantine facility that the Apollo 11 astronauts had to stay in to protect everyone on Earth from moon germs.  Yes, the information said "moon germs"

I need to take the logo and make a T-shirt out of it or something.

(at our visit to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy center)

Layers and layers of aircraft at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy center

It seems that the general approach at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy center is that the aircraft are displayed with a minimum of artifice.  There is the layer of aircraft on the floor.  Another set hanging above them and they seem to be filling in a third layer above that.

There are three hangers, the Space hanger, the plane hanger and a restoration hanger where you can watch restoration of new aircraft joining the displays.

The first site on entering is the Blackbird.

There was a remote controlled unmanned helicopter that could drop nuclear depth charges on enemy submarines.  That put me in mind of the nuclear warhead torpedoes we saw at the Pearl Harbor museum that warned that they were just as likely to destroy the vessel that fired the torpedo as the target.  The mutual assured destruction of nuclear warfare seemed to be present at all scales from global to battle.

This set of spacesuits was outside of the space hanger.  The tiny one was not for a child, unfortunately but was a doll made to promote the space suit.

They also had the a Conchord.

And THE Enola Gay.  It was up on jacks, so they tucked more aircraft in underneath it.

Two flying wings, one from Nazi Germany.

There was so much to see that it is worth a trip back again.