and unpublished plans. One of
which has since come to fruition
during the #DayEarthSmiled /
#WaveAtSaturn events on Friday
19th July 2013, when for only the
3rd time in history, the Pale Blue
Dot of Earth was photographed by
Cassini’s cameras from 1.44 billion
kilometres away.
Brian Cox stepped up the pace
and instead of concentrating on a
wonder of our Solar System, spoke
about the Wonders of our Universe.
Not to be outdone, he told us about
his work on the Large Hadron Collider
and related complex astrophysics
principles with everything that
we are and know in nature and
cosmology today, from the Big
Bang theory to cosmic Inflation,
dark energy, dark matter and
cosmic microwave background
radiation. He finished with a deep
and meaningful thought (as he
is known to do) quoting the Royal
Institution of Great Britain;
“It is an undoubted truth, that
the successive improvements in
the condition of man, from a state
of ignorance and barbarism to
that of the highest cultivation and
refinement are usually affected by
the aid of machinery in procuring
the necessaries, the comforts, and
the elegancies of life; and that the
pre-eminence of any people in
civilisation, is and ought ever to be
estimated by the state of industry
and mechanical improvement
among them.”
Spacefest V: Day 2
Day 2’s lectures started off with
a bang for me as I sat in on a
great talk from one of my literary
heroes; Andrew Chaikin. Andrew
wrote what is considered to be the
cornerstone “go-to” text for anyone
who wants to know anything about
the US Space Program to the end
of the Apollo Program. His book “A
Man on the Moon” took 8 years to
write with meticulous research from
interviews with many involved in
that era. Andrew spoke about the
political context which fired JFK’s
“we choose to go to the Moon”
speech. He then spoke about the
exciting age we live in and the
54
54
Sharing a moment with an astronaut, such as Gemini XI and Apollo 12’s Dick Gordon (right),
Image: SpaceFest
is always a highlight of every attendee’s trip to SpaceFest.
rise of “commercial” spaceflight
enterprises.
From its earliest
beginnings, commercial spaceflight
is rapidly becoming a growing
industry with new players arriving
on the scene (Virgin Galactic,
XCor, SpaceX, Orbital Sciences,
Sierra Nevada etc.). Past it seems is
indeed prologue.
At lunch, we talked more about
Golden Spike and the race back
to the Moon. The time is ripe for a
commercial return and Andrew
outlined his involvement with
Golden Spike; a “railroad” firm with
the goal of establishing the first
commercial transportation service
to the surface of the Moon, using
existing technology, leveraging
Apollo experience and offering
these at prices comparable to
robotic missions to a wide variety
of customers. With the famed Jim
Lovell and Gerry Griffin already on
board Golden Spike is on course to
lay a new railroad for a permanent
lunar return.
Phil Plait (@badastronomer) the
renowned blogger, astronomer
and science author, packed out his
room with his usual mix of humour
and logical truth deconstructing
pseudo-science. He also shared
the wonder of science outreach
and how the general public can be
inspired, as they were during MSL
Curiosity’s remarkably successful
but dramatic landing on Mars. Who
can forget Times Square in New
York, filled to the brim with people
of all backgrounds watching as a 1
ton NASA rover landed LIVE on TV
ON ANOTHER WORLD! And that was
but one landing party for Curiosity
as there were so many around the
world. As Phil rightly said this was one
of the most outstanding moments
of his and our lives.
Popping back to the dealer
room I introduced myself to Fred
Haise. Fred was one of the Apollo
XIII crew and Enterprise Shuttle
commander/ test pilot during the
earliest days of the Shuttle program
in the late 70s. Here was another
man who was still sharp as a tack
and energised. His role as a STEM
ambassador and educator has
inspired many. We talked about
his dedication to completing the
Infinity Science