Random Ramjet Ramblings
Stuff that falls out of my brain onto Ye Olde Interwebbes-
July 12, 2024Travel journal and photos for an amazing trip to the beautiful red rocks of Sedona, Arizona! -
September 23, 2022Another round of travel journals for a visit to the beautiful Cotswold region of England.
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January 13, 2022Santa Claus. Father Christmas. Kris Kringle. St. Nicholas. Papa Noel. Me.
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September 23, 2021"13 Minutes to the Moon" - an excellent BBC podcast focusing on the behind-the-scenes heroes of Apollo 11 and Apollo 13.
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August 8, 2021Alright Alright Alright! Our first Austin FC experience live at Q2 Stadium!
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January 27, 202135 years ago, I saw two faded words on a chalkboard. They influenced the rest of my NASA career.
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October 12, 2020Grandpa's Little Princess is almost one and got to experience her first fall Pumpkin Patch!
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August 11, 2020Repost of Bill Whittle's fantastic "Apollo 11: What We Saw" video series.
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May 30, 2020Another historic day in United States Human Spaceflight with the launch of SpaceX Crew Dragon on the DM-2 mission.
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December 30, 2019Grandpa's little buddy turns three and is obsessed with Star Wars... YAY!
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October 7, 2019An amazing baby shower for Melanie, Jarrett, and Shiloh!
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September 9, 2019A fun weekend with Cole - including the long-anticipated "Bunny Party"!
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August 23, 2019Life lessons from the love of music... and a corny joke.
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August 11, 2019In 1995 on STS-70, a woodpecker brought the US space program to a sudden halt.
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August 2, 2019It's finally here: the full video of "Apollo 50: Go for the Moon" projection show!
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July 16, 2019Celebrating that "One Giant Step" and the personal influence it had...
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July 15, 2019Melanie and Jarrett explosively reveal their baby's gender! (Spoiler alert: It's a girl!)
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July 1, 2019Restoration of the Apollo 11 MCC shouldn't mean the removal of the rest of that room's history.
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June 16, 2019An acolyte's journey to being ordained in "The Cathedral of Manned Spaceflight".
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February 28, 2019Recently, I was back at JSC and got to see some old Manned Spaceflight artifacts - including the FDO Console log book from my last flight.
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December 24, 2018A remembrance from the Apollo 8 Mission Control Center - 50 years ago today.
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October 19, 2018I love the old black-and-white Universal monster movies, and I'm not afraid to admit it!
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March 22, 2018Hiking Taggart Lake and Bradley Lake at the base of the Grand Tetons.
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March 5, 2018The joy of England isn't in London ... it's in the small Cotswolds villages with interesting places.
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February 23, 2018Belgian chocolates, beer, and a great off-the-beaten-path Belgian town on a sunny afternoon.
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February 16, 2018Chichen Itza remains as a mysterious ancient city rising out of the jungle that surrounds it.
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February 7, 2018If you're fortunate to live long enough, you'll have numerous events that may seem historic at the moment that actually stand the test of time and retain that cherished "Historic Moment" description.
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February 5, 2018This post starts a journey that will touch on a series of interesting places that I've visited over the years.
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January 23, 2018For those of us who have been intimately involved with Manned Spaceflight or if you have been interested and valued supporters from outside the program, the week from January 27 - February 1 is a particularly somber time of the year.
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July 31, 2017A review of the movie "Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo"
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January 3, 2017There are a number of “First Times” in a person’s life that really stand out…
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September 19, 2016My first up-close-and-personal experience with a true spaceflight artifact!
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July 18, 2016I received the best promotion ever ... I went from "Dad" to "Grandpa" as we wait for #babybalettie's arrival in December 2016.
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April 6, 2016Travel journals and photos from Andrew and Roger's 2016 trip to England!
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January 24, 2016Personal and professional lessons from Challenger and the Foundations of Mission Operations.
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January 15, 2016High Flight - written by American aviator and poet John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
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October 14, 2015My review of "The Martian", the film adaptation of Andy Weir's excellent book of the same name.
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September 18, 2015I entered one of my photographs from our recent trip to England into a photo contest for Charingworth Manor... and won third place out of dozens of entries!
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July 8, 2015Andrew and I had a great time at the USMNT Gold Cup 2015 opening match!
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June 21, 2015Photos and travel journal from our recent amazing trip to England!
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June 3, 2015Celebrating a half-century of NASA's Mission Control Center - the heart of manned spaceflight operations!
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April 17, 2015Memories and tons of photos from being a part of the Space Shuttle Discovery delivery and installation in the Udvar-Hazy National Air & Space Museum.
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April 14, 2015Just catching up on the events of our lives over the past year or so ... time to blog again!
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March 20, 2015Like lipstick on a pig ... it's the same old me. NEW BLOG THOUGH! Let's do this!
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January 5, 2014As a movie, “Apollo 13” captured this event really well… but nothing can truly replace hearing/re-living exactly what happened.
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October 7, 2013A critical review of the movie "Gravity". Some good... some not so good.
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October 7, 2013Ugh - love Tony, but it may be time for a change at QB for my Dallas Cowboys.
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September 19, 2013Taking my Grandfather on his Honor Flight adventure to Washington D.C. to visit the memorials.
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September 3, 2013Seeing the new MCC-21 (21st Century Mission Control Center) project evoked some memories.
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September 3, 2013A great summary by Chris Kraft on the direction of the US Manned Spaceflight program
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August 19, 2013A nice video of Noctilucent Clouds and a reflection on their impact on Shuttle Flight Operations.
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August 13, 2013A great example from the xkcd web comic on orbital velocity ... and a quick analogy with Shuttle operations.
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August 4, 2013Bill Whittle pulls no punches ... and gives an honest assessment of our space exploration program.
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July 27, 2013An amazing set of images, showing the tracks of the Mars Curiosity Rover!
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July 21, 2013Originally... thrilled with the new COSMOS trailer. Update ... not so much.
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July 20, 2013A review of our friend's new business, Lifetime Companion Dog Training
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June 21, 2013The Space Shuttle Atlantis debuts in her new "forever home" at KSC.
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June 6, 2013Take some time today to remember those brave men who made the ultimate sacrifice as part of the D-Day Normandy invasion in World War II.
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June 4, 2013Neil DeGrasse Tyson asks some pointed questions about our space exploration efforts.
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May 22, 2013Comments on an article about former Space Shuttle Flight Controllers.
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March 4, 2013A great comic strip about Astronaut Chris Hadfield, from the Zenpencils website
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March 3, 2013If you're in a Mission Control Center - Act like you've been there before.
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July 10, 2011As the last Space Shuttle mission comes to a close, I have some thoughts about the men and women of Mission Control.