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Do you know this piece of lunar history? #spacehistory
I recently visited the best space museum I’ve ever seen – a place where you’re nose to nose with spacecraft that actually flew. Space-ready engines and an entire Titan rocket too. Replicas, like the Wright Brothers’ first airplane, are accurate enough to fly.
The picture below features a reconstruction of the Kitty Hawk Flier that Orville Wright piloted on December 17, 1903. But here’s what gave me goosebumps.
Look at the right-hand side. See that safe sitting on the blue pedestal, open to display precious artifacts?
It contains a postage-stamp-sized piece of fabric from the Wrights’ original plane and a sliver of its wooden propeller. Neil Armstrong carried these souvenirs with him on the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle, landed on the moon, and brought them back to Earth a mere 65 years and 7 months after Orville’s flight.
Click here to learn more about the Stafford Museum, and don’t miss it if you’re in Oklahoma, USA. Everything a space geek could want.
Most of us will rely on science fiction to get into orbit. Here are links to a couple good sci-fi reads, plus a bundle of sci-fi and fantasy to check out. Click a link below the image and start reading.
The Heisenberg Corollary – Cutting-edge science. Blood-thirsty aliens. Can a band of nerdy scientists save the multiverse one dimension at a time? A science fiction fantasy mash-up with attitude. Humorous Science Fiction. Click here now.
Defiant Space– A planet desperate to survive. A starship with monstrous enemies. Can a mission into the unknown prevent catastrophe? Space Fleet, Space Opera. Request a free review copy! Click here now.
Dozens of Sci-Fi and Fantasy stories to choose from – If you have Kindle Unlimited, read for free. Click here now and start browsing.
Do you listen to audio books? Amazon is testing a new Virtual Voice, and I created an audio version of a lonely gardener’s space station adventure, Venture. Listen to the free sample or the entire story – Kindle and paperback editions available too. Post a review and let other sci-fi fans know: How’s the story? How’s that Virtual Voice? Should others read or listen? Click here to check it out.
HAPPY READING
3,000 years ago, a star went nova, and it’s light is about to reach Earth #NASA #astronomy
You’ve heard of Old Faithful – that’s a geyser. How about the binary star T CrB? It’s one of only five recurring novas in our galaxy. Astronomers believe it will explode again between now and September 2024.
T Coronae Borealis, or T CrB, may have been spotted as far back as 1217. It was observed in 1866 and 1946. The nova isn’t likely to be noticed by anyone who’s not looking for it, but still… way cool:
The star system, normally too dim to see with the unaided eye, will jump to magnitude +2 during the event. This will be of similar brightness to the North Star, Polaris.
Once its brightness peaks, it should be visible to the unaided eye for several days and just over a week with binoculars before it dims again, possibly for another 80 years. NASA
While we’re waiting, there’s time to study the constellation of Corona Borealis where T CrB resides.
If you’d like a little help, the best book I’ve ever found for identifying constellations is The Stars by H. A. Rey. The book may have been written for kids, but it’s excellent for all ages. I have the World-Wide edition. Even if you’re not looking for T CrB, this book belongs on your shelf. Click here to find it on Amazon or search your favorite spot for used books. It’s been around forever.
Thanks to NPR for Never seen an exploding star? and NASA for View Nova Explosion, ‘New’ Star in Northern Crown.
New reader Sci-Fi review – Hermit on Mars
My thanks to Scott! He’s helping other readers find my book and more great sci-fi too. Check out the complete review of Hermit on Mars and find lots more stories in Sci-Fi – click here to go to Liminal Fiction.
Rauner’s Colony on Mars continues with this third book in the five book series, Hermit on Mars. I’ll admit, when I first read the title, it seemed a bit claustrophobic to me – would the whole book be about a single person living alone in a cave on Mars?
Our hero is someone else altogether. Sig is blundering through middle to late middle age with something less than grace. His kids are grown, the last one about to leave his family kinderen home, and relations with his partner, Helmi, have grown strained. She’s a by-the book type, and is unhappy that Sig’s mother is living a life free of the usual societal constraints with the Hermit.
Sig is on his way to deliver some critical parts to the mkazzi – the loners, mostly prospectors, who live in the caverns underneath the Hermit’s home. Who is the mysterious Hermit? Why have the mkazzi never met him? And why are power outages worsening, threatening to send this pack of independent people back to the order and organization that they despise?
It’s been fascinating to watch the colony grow, from the original Kamp Kans to the addition of the District in the last book, and the start of Cerberus, the halfway point that by now has developed into a small town of its own. In Hermit on Mars, Rauner plays with themes of order vs. freedom, safety vs. danger, and we start to see some of the true Martians – people born on Mars who are shedding Earth ways and habits. I loved the tension between the colonists and the mkazzi, and there were moments of great beauty as Sig learns to appreciate Mars in all her glory, instead of just huddling behind the protective walls at Cerberus. Scott at Liminal Fiction
Click here for Hermit on Mars, available from favorite online stores.
Click here for Amazon Kindle and paperback editions for the entire Colony on Mars series.
Kate's Science - Real and Fantastic 