#throwbackthursday

Twinsies!  (2015)

Many fantasies were learned

I, uh...have long felt fascination with Joanne Catherall, ngl.

Dreamwork

Cloud Fishing:

To fish from a cloud in the sky

You must find a comfortable spot,

Spend a day looking down

Patiently, clear-sighted.

Peer at your ceiling:

Where a light dangles, hook & line

Could be slipping through.

Under the hull of a boat

A fish will see things this way,

Looking up while swimming by — 

A wavering pole’s refraction

Catching its eye.

What will you catch?

With what sort of bait?

Take care or you’ll catch yourself,

A fish might say,

As inescapable skeins of shadow

Scatter a net

Over the face of the deep.

Phillis Levin. 

Deke's in Spaaace!

Fifty years ago, two nations launched a mission that proved space could bring the world together.

On July 15, 1975, NASA launched the Apollo spacecraft for the Apollo‑Soyuz Test Project — the first international human spaceflight mission. The Apollo and Soyuz crews carried out… pic.twitter.com/mUBrBpkiOc

— NASA's Johnson Space Center (@NASAJohnson) July 15, 2026

I didn't even correct NASA about this happening 51 years ago (somebody else already had).

Anyway, here's Deke!

Because of the unique orbital dynamics, both launches were scheduled to take place in midafternoon local time on Tuesday, July 15. Midafternoon at Baikonur was the middle of the night in Florida, so we actually slept through the Soyuz 19 launch. 

Since our wake-up time was ten in the morning, I was already awake when John Young knocked on the door. It was unusual to be on the other end of that little bit of business—the first time since 1962 for me. 

Tom and Vance and I had a gentleman’s lunch of steak and eggs with John, Ron Evans, and Jack Lousma. We heard then that Soyuz 19 was safely in orbit and that everything was looking good for us. 

We got suited up, got in the truck, and drove out to the pad. I have to admit I felt pretty good walking across the swing arm to the spacecraft … what the hell, it was only thirteen years overdue. I never planned on being the world’s oldest rookie astronaut, but I wasn’t going to complain. 

We strapped in, Tom in the left couch, Vance in the middle, me on the right. The only hiccup in the countdown was an umbilical that got hung up. We didn’t want to have to stand down and recycle for a launch a couple of days later, because Soyuz 19 would have to come home. (That’s what that backup Soyuz was doing on the pad.) 

The umbilical problem cleared, and right on time we lit up and took off. 

I’d debriefed every Gemini and Apollo crew, so I wasn’t surprised by much that happened. The noise at liftoff was greater than I imagined it … we had eight engines running back there, and they got even louder as we moved through Max Q, then things began to smooth out. 

Whoppo! Shutdown was pretty abrupt. You went from being pushed back in your couch to hanging in your straps. We were in zero-G... 

The first order of business was to move the CSM away from the S-IVB stack, turn around, and come back for the docking module. Tom did the flying and did it perfectly. Then we got out of our suits and got down to work.

Glad he finally got up there.  Not bad for an old man...

Langue des Signes Française

Everything I know about LSF I learned from New Order.

Je suis la nuit

“I am the night”:

I am the night

This night of space frozen by the cold idiocy of the moon.

I am money

Money that makes money without knowing why.

I am man

Man who pulls the trigger and shoots emotion

To live better.

Joyce Mansour.

You walk in clouds of glitter

And the sun reflects your eyes.

ホタル

fireflies
the meadow
wearing constellations

Aoi

— Basho Society (@BashoSociety) July 13, 2026

I Would Like to Have Seen Montana

Laura Dern has paid tribute to the late Sam Neill after his tragic passing.

“Sam was my beloved lifetime friend… He showed me the depths of loyalty, protectiveness and love always with the driest of wit.

A true and noble gentleman, who was wrapped up in my dream leading man.… pic.twitter.com/95R4aBYAlh

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) July 13, 2026

Damn.

People rightly talk about the film's groundbreaking digital effects, but the heart of Jurassic Park is the scientist overwhelmed with awe at seeing the creatures he's studied his whole life alive and in the flesh. And it doesn't work unless Sam Neill sells the hell out it. https://t.co/oynUxGzFEp

— Zack Stentz (@MuseZack) July 13, 2026

Just damn.

I most often think of Sir Nigel's other roles, particularly in Red October, but I think to remember his joie de vivre, I will have to watch JP tonight.

Pax.

PS - JP has been Samuel's favorite movie since he was a wee lad (he is very upset by Neill's death), and he used to love intoning the Universal theme during the opening.

PPS - Movie still hits just like it did the first time in '93.  Rest in Peace, Dr Grant.

Space travel's in my blood

There ain't nothin' I can do about it.

I Trip Through Your Wires

Patience of an Angel:

You can beat me, beat me! beat me, said the demon who
stood near the stoup of holy water, but you cannot destroy
me. I am the rebel angel but I am an angel and my face
that you so often mar bears at least the trace of one virtue:
patience. You can beat me! beat me! my time will come.

Max Jacob.

Welcome Aboard, Calypso Gene

In space, no one can hear you laugh.

Poems Are Now Battlefields

There is no Frigate like a Book:

There is no Frigate like a Book

To take us Lands away

Nor any Coursers like a Page

Of prancing Poetry -

This Traverse may the poorest take

Without oppress of Toll -

How frugal is the Chariot

That bears the Human Soul -

Emily Dickinson.

Do We Want to Go to the Moon or Not?

NASA news conference, July 11, 1962:

DR. ROBERT C. SEAMANS, JR., Associate Administrator, NASA. I would like first to say that when I joined NASA almost two years ago one of the first places that I went to was Langley Field, and there reviewed work going on on a research base under Dr. John Houbolt. This work related both to rendezvous and what a man could do at the controls, of course under simulated conditions, as well as the possibility of lunar orbit rendezvous.

It was pointed out at that time that by not taking certain of the essential elements down to the lunar surface and back to a spacecraft in orbit around the moon, taking it down the last hundred miles and back up, that it would be possible to scale down the launch vehicle requirements in the ratio of roughly two to one. It was clear to us at that time that the key to such mode involves a rendezvous that must be carried out with very high regard to reliability and safety considerations.

Following this time, that is, in the following December and January months, NASA was carefully considering manned flights beyond Mercury. It was quite reasonable at that time we should not only consider the direct mode, which we did, but also the various types of rendezvous, both in orbit around the earth, in orbit around the moon, and on the lunar surface... 

DR. D. BRAINERD HOLMES, Director, Office of Manned Space Flight, NASA...We who study this program, and who also bear the responsibility for implementing it, have unanimously come to the conclusion know there is no one to contest this conclusion studied, all are feasible.

However, the group within NASA has further come to the conclusion that the advantages of the lunar orbit rendezvous mode from the standpoint of cost, from the standpoint of schedule, from the standpoint of simplicity, from the standpoint of minimal additional developments which must be undertaken immediately, is the mode to go.

Thus my favorite From the Earth to the Moon episode was born.  And who would build the lander?  Why, Tom Kelly and the Grumman gang, of course:

In January 1962 we competed for a NASA-funded study of LOR and the LM. Although we thought our proposal was a good one, Convair won the award: fifty thousand dollars for a four-month study. We proceeded with our company-funded study anyway, and in June we submitted our study report to NASA. Shortly thereafter we were invited to brief our findings to Joseph F. Shea at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. 

Shea had recently been recruited to NASA by Brainerd Holmes, NASA’s associate administrator for Manned Space Flight, and had been assigned to settle the “mission mode” issue. An experienced systems engineer from the Titan ballistic missile guidance program, Shea projected intelligence, engineering talent, self-confidence, and leadership. He was the right man to make a momentous decision. 

In my first meeting with him in Washington, Shea continually interrupted my briefing with difficult but logical questions and meaningful comments: What makes you so sure the rendezvous can be accomplished? It’s a long way from home, and there won’t be much help from the ground. Have you calculated the allowable guidance errors for each rocket firing during rendezvous? How good are your LM weight estimates? If LM is overweight, it gets multiplied all the way down the launch stack. 

Our study results on the relative advantages of LOR were by then quite mature, and I was on solid ground with our data, able to parry Shea’s thrusts. Our LM design studies had also progressed to the point where they seemed credible, and each major design feature was supported by technically satisfying arguments. John Houboult joined enthusiastically in the interrogation; it was like defending a doctoral dissertation. 

After two hours of grilling, Shea smiled and said that we had done a useful study on our own initiative and promised to consider our input in reaching his decision. He complimented me on my presentation and in-depth knowledge. I left the room elated that I had survived a baptism by fire. 

Two weeks later NASA announced that they had selected LOR as the Apollo mission mode and would proceed with an industry competition for the design, development, and construction of the lunar module. The LM request for proposal was issued in late July, with responses due in early September. We were ready.

Indeed, they were ready, and they won.  Then the real fun began.  Anyway, Happy LOR Day to all who celebrate!