Fall to Earth

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Falling to Earth Book CoverFrancis French, Space Camp Hall of Fame inductee and author of the books Into that Silent See and In the Shadow of the Moon, has a new one coming out!

Having no doubt been impressed with his previous works, Apollo astronaut Al Worden got Francis to help him out with his memoir, Falling to Earth, which was launched today.

To celebrate the release, as well as the 40th anniversary of Al’s Apollo 15 launch, The Smithsonian Air & Space Museum is hosting a book signing and talk.

If you’re going to be in Washington D.C. on Friday, stop by and say hello to Francis and Al!

The event itself is free.

The book talk with Al Worden will start at 11:00AM EDT.  If you’re not able to attend in person, the talk itself will be broadcast over the internet.

Visit the Event Page to access the webcast on Friday or any time before Friday to get the full schedule of events.

And if you like the book, you can head on over to its Facebook page and “Like” the book!

Norway – ISC 2011 Opening Ceremony

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International Space Camp 2011 kicked off today with the opening ceremony.

There were noticeably fewer teams this year, which is certainly unfortunate.  But there were some really, really top notch presentations.

Without a doubt though, the best presentation was from Norway.

Teacher Lisa Ellen Thorsen and students Lene Minh Stephansen and Kristian Reed were en route to Huntsville when a misguided Norwegian destroyed large portions of two government buildings with a bomb and shot 85 kids at a summer camp.

Ms. Thorsen makes some remarkable, fantastic comments regarding the whole incident.

And, after a moment of silence, they successfully inject a great deal of levity into the room with a well executed and very funny introduction to their home country.

Best wishes go out to all of Norway.  Judging by Lisa’s remarks, the Norwegian people will be just fine in time, despite such sad events.

International Space Camp 2011

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International Space Camp LogoThis weekend will play host to one of my most favorite things at Space Camp:  The International Space Camp 2011 Opening Ceremony shall be held this Saturday.

Educators and students from all over the world have arrived or are on their way to Huntsville, Alabama.

And they’re going to have a great week!

Robert Pearlmen Featured in USA Today

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Space Camp Hall of Fame inductee Robert Pearlmen, editor and founder of CollectSPACE.com, was featured today in a USA Today article about the rising interest in space memorabilia as of late.

Among Pearlman’s prized possessions is a 4-by-4-foot, 200-pound aircraft-grade milled aluminum hatch — one of 40 made for the International Space Station— that sits in his Houston living room. Of the 40 hatches made for the space station at the time, 38 are in space.”I fell in love with flown hardware, not mementos,” Pearlman said.

Robert himself seems to have been in particularly high demand lately with the end of the Space Shuttle program swiftly approaching. And I must say he did a particularly wonderful job with SpaceFlightNow leading up to the launch of STS-135 just the other week.

Update 07/21/2011

Robert was also interviewed by NPR on the same subject. That interview can be heard on their website.

Covert Affairs

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Space Camp gets a nod on this week’s episode of the show Covert Affairs on USA.

The synopsis of the NASA-themed episode is:

Annie gets orders to infiltrate a NASA satellite maintenance team that may have a staff member giving intelligence to Colombian FARC rebels. Annie meets Will and his son Charlie at a Mars Day ceremony at NASA headquarters in D.C. She’s impressed with Charlie’s enthusiasm for science, space, and his dad’s accomplishments, but his father has all the makings for a motive. Will’s underpaid, recently divorced, and NASA has refused funding for his satellite-refueling project.

The main character mentions having attended Space Camp.

The show will be airing throughout the week.  Check our local listings.