Stars and stripes, fireworks and rockets. Sometimes you just have to give in and cheers to the USA.
Freaking hell. *Wipes dust from page*
*Looks around posts and datas*
Naaaah, Bs. I couldn't forget this blog. I just didn't seem to manage to kick my own ass and post here.
Let's cut to the chase then, shall we?
----------
7 Minutes of Terror
I have stayed up today until almost 4 AM watching the live broadcast of NASA's landing on mars, and would like to share that experience with whoever of you freaks actually reads this thing.
Ps: I am quite stunned. I seen i have over 8 thousand pageviews! Thanks for that, anonymus citizens of the world. I hope you can keep reading so we can reach OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAND VIEWWWS. How epic would that be, really?
Don't be lazy, watch it. I could explain everything in steps but the video does it just so much better and awesomely.
The Magic Number
Last night around 2 AM i was a rocket science fangirl, hugging a gigantic bowl of popcorn, stuffing my face with it, with earphones and eyes glued to a 10x7" window on my screen stopping my own loud chewign every time someone said importand stuff.
"The capsule has been released!"
And theyd' jump out fo their chairs cheering and so would i - silently of course, or my parents would murder me tenderly. A bunch of men and women in blue shirts, one of them with an awesome mohak, 9 thousand miles from mars. 9 miles. The most complex landing on an outer planet. It was like a sci-fi movie, but better, it was real, and it was history, and I was watching it.
I tought those seven minutes would feel neverending, due to the tenseness of the situation and the despair of at least 100 people sitting in an operation room with obvious needs for diapers. But damn, it was fast. Very fast. The whole thing was successful and fascinating. I wish i could hug all the people in there.
I won't comment on every step of the way, but every new step of the landing, like the video shows above (scroll up and watch it if you haven't, you lazy bastard, I swear it's worth watching), was a moment without breathing until they confirmed quotes such as:
"Parachute released!"
"Rear rockets are on and working!"
"Curiosity has safely touched the ground! We are on it people!"
For every one of those phrases shot through their headset and announcing systems, there were busts of cheers, nervous laughter, screaming and tears. Every second counted there, and i believe the worst feelign for them was the fact they'd celebrate one step was successful, but knew the whole thing wasn't over yet. Even after the landing, it's just the beginning of an approximatedly 2 years of exploring where a lonely robot as big as a car finds her way through the dusty red planet.
Like my friend Javier Darkona said, "I'd be happy if i got to be their janitor even, really". Being a part of that must be a stunning experience. I'll take this opportunity and thank him for being my squealing companion throughout the evening.
"Curiosity"
What a name. What a name. I couldn't think even if i had 3 months free with the only task of coming up with something to baptise a jeep-sized robot shipped to Mars, of a better name. That thing inspired me, and made me hate every local newspaper here for not having Curiosity in their front page this morning.
What else but something that moves humanity and triggers our very core into instigating, investigating, revolutionizing (is that even a word?), than curiosity? This isn't NASA's first robot, at all, of course, but that was the most Inspector Gadget thing they ever done. If you would like to have a brief quick peek on their history, check out Nasa's History Timeline.
Dare Mighty Things
Might is a word very hard to translate to my language at least. The closest thign would be "power", but it just doesn't suit it, does it? Dare mighty things. An invitation from one of the world's 'hax-est' institute of technology, to the world itself.
What really moved me today (In Brazil's time it was 2h20 am, august 6th, when the landing was complete, while in the USA it was 10h20 pm from august 5th) was sharing a feeling i tought was extremely rare these days. This daring, this optimism and hope of knowing how to achieve something and fulfilling it. Nowadays people are used to staying comfortable, passive, letting whatever the world has for them come without actually chasing anything. Seeing Mars Landing today made me see there's still hope, not only for discovery, but for us to stand up and do something, ask questions, dare.
I could almost feel I was in that room with the blue-dressed engineers, technicians, operators, managers, a piece of the most awesome geek cake of the planet. And being able to see them, and, I hope i'm not equivocated when saying this, but being able to understand what they felt, made me cry like a little baby when the first picture of Curiosity's shadow casted on extraterrestrial soil popped on the screen.
Touchdown video
Being the bitch that I am
The whole thing was fantastic, really. However, I might have mentioned I study journalism. so i was pretty wired to recieve some newspapers when i left home for university, and I got extremely pissed of at seeing no papers had even mentioned the landing. One of the biggest papoer of the city had their wrap up at 20h45, which means, obviously, they didn't give a crap about waiting to see the outcome of the landing.
This is sort of what dissapoints me. The fact I knew today when i mentioned the landing to people, most of them would say "Oh thats cool" or "Mars... What??". In the last 24 hours history has been made and mankind got great achievements, and none of those bullocks had it on print paper to tell the world what happened. Later of course in online news and maybe even on TV there were some news about it, but brief, brief things, nothing in the front page, nothing in the first section of the screen or the general section of the show. God damnit. I wanted to have something concrete to pick up and say "I was 21 years old when NASA made one of their hardest landings and i watched the whole thing, look at this paper".
Gladly not everythign is lost for I believe weekly and montly magazines will be talking about this, but i am still quite dissapointed at today's brazilian news.
Soon - The Right Stuff review
There's an amazing book by Tom Wolfe and movie based after it called, in it's original english title, The Right Stuff.
I made a mistake while trying to buy the book and accidentally bought the DVD instead. I had promised myself i woudln't watch it before reading the book but as I oftenly stab myself in the back, curiosity (hint hint nudge nudge), took the best out of me and i rolled the record. I still haven't got the book, mostly cause the movie sort of ruined the mystery for me now, but sometime i'll get it.
The book written by the world aroudn known journalist was made after the testimonials of the astrounauts wives. The trick is, he didn't write about women telling their husbands stories. He told the whole story using that information and did give a great role for the wives, but made a huge work out of it.
I won't say much more, let's leave the actual movie review for another word.
Stay tuned and dare mighty things!
Edit: Last Minute picture!
I just checked Facebook and Curiosity now has sent a Horizon picture!
NASA's caption: What does Mount Sharp look like on Mars? Check it out -- Here are the latest images from the Mars Curiosity rover: http://go.nasa.gov/PzSDX6
Farewell, and live long and prosper~
