Wayne Hale

Oh no, never had any control over the weather. Tomorrow will be better.
But beware of Hale’s Law: when the weather is perfect, the rocket (or its ground equipment) will break.

Ya can’t fool Mother Nature

Whenever someone asked ‘how does the weather look’ at 3 or 4 hours before launch, I would always respond ‘Too early to tell’

Or they can use a sawz-all to cut Discovery up into warily transportable hunks.

What a dumb idea, moving an orbiter at this date.

Why Houston Did Not Get A Shuttle Immediate reaction from many people in the Houston area was that the Orbiter disposition decision was politically tainted.  For example, this was the explanation of my old Rice classmate Annise Par…

Just so you can remember I said it before:

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In the Star Trek canon - DS9 - are we at the Bell Riots in Los Angeles?

No

And just like that, it is 1968 again

This is the saddest news of the day. Marc was absolutely the best and I will miss him

Space Architecture Sometimes a Code of Ethics helps in decision making

Time to bring out an oldie that once again is relevant:

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“meanwhile, could we please quit cancelling rocket projects before they get off the drawing board?”

Glorious high elevation ISS pass during the middle of the high school graduation ceremony for my granddaughter. Glad for a beautiful evening!

Re - reading my Heinlein.
From the notebooks of Lazarus Long, this wisdom:

“You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don’t ever count on having both at once.”

“You live and learn. Or you don’t live long.”

Why Houston Did Not Get A Shuttle Immediate reaction from many people in the Houston area was that the Orbiter disposition decision was politically tainted.  For example, this was the explanation of my old Rice classmate Annise Par…

Spurious talk: Houston getting a shuttle or NASA HQ.
JSC deteriorating with the proposed federal budget.
I expect to get a 'smoky bear' hat to wear giving tours at the JSC Historical Site when NPS service takes over.
Because Houston just doesn't care.

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Weak

Stupid idea

New blog post - something different:

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Proud Purdue Alum cheering the Boilermakers to victory over University of Houston cougars

I got one this week!

Another awe inspiring ISS pass over the northern Colorado Rockies. Reaching the terminator the station disappeared in the bowl of the Big Dipper.

Much more spectacular at bortle 3 than in Houston at Bortle 7 or 8

Today I’d like to celebrate the safe return of Nick Hague the Crew-9 Commander. He just spent 6 1/2 months at the ISS as part of Expedition 72. Nick survived a hair raising launch abort on Soyuz and still has the courage to ride a rocket into space. Hero.

Beautiful high elevation ISS pass in clear skies over Houston just now.

Humanity’s tenuous toe hold in the universe. Why would we ever give it up.

Sigh, I’ve taken better pictures.

But proud to know Steve and wish the entire Intuitive Machines team best of luck on their next flight!

I am off hiking the pilgrimage way, the Camino de Santiago in Spain.

Rarely have WiFi, never have television. Occasionally check in with the home folks over the internet.

Silence is a great thing.

Contemplation is a great thing.

Getting out of the continuous babel is a great thing.

After Ten Years: The Moment of Truth Prior to the Challenger accident, the theory was that riding on the space shuttle was like riding on a modern jet airliner; passengers are not provided with parachutes and pressure suits. Challenge…

February First again. It’s been twenty two years:

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Accident Investigations This week’s crash of a commuter train in New Jersey plus other recent events got me thinking about the lessons I have learned the hard way through several accident investigations. One of the toughe…

Thinking about accident investigations and how important it is to not jump to conclusions right away:

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A letter from the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas.

“I never thought I would live in a time when the United States government would censure a bishop, jeopardize religious free speech, or threaten to take people while they attend worship.” ⚓️

Playoff Sunday? Here is what I am thinking about:

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All of them. The bells - nozzle extensions - flex drastically during engine start. Usually hard to see unless viewed in slow motion

After Ten Years: Enduring Lessons From the Rogers Commission to reading Dr. Diane Vaughn’s book The Challenger Launch Decision took me 17 years.  For all those years I had learned the wrong lesson about the loss of Challenger.  The…

NASA has designated today as 'Remembrance Day' You can read my thoughts about it here:

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Attended a lovely ceremony at JSC honoring Frank Borman. Saw many old colleagues. Great speakers including Jim Lovell’s son, Fred Haise, and Harrison Schmidt