My Personal Learning Curve

In A Roundabout Sort Of Way

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

How do we know the world is round? For most of humanity, we’ll never get the chance to go up on a NASA mission to see Mother Earth from outer space. But if you have a wide enough vista of clear sky, just watch a commercial jet and you’ll actually see that while it maintains a straight, undeviating course, the earth’s curvature actually makes it look as if the jet is turning.

This shot was taken on the Easter weekend this year. The Authorbloglets and their friends were out and about near the sea – and a couple of camera buffs were shooting the coastline and other familiar scenes.

At one stage, I walked over to a nearby bench to change lenses. Unable to resist watching the condensation trail of an airliner high overhead, I happened to notice the contrail beginning to form an arc.

I instantly forgot all about changing my lens to the zoom I had in my camera bag. Instead, I stuck with my normal lens and shot this second image (below) while practically lying on my back.


For other participants in Dot’s concept, go to Sky Watch HQ.

Verse And Worse

Random Wit, Errant Rhyme. Not A Literary Crime

I went to school with Molly Cule
She tinkered around with rocket fuel
She wanted to command a mission through the heavens
Lightyears before Apollo Eleven’s

Apollo XI: A Giant Leap For Us All

So, Where On Earth Is Neil Armstrong?

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Did I ever tell you my Neil Armstrong story? No? Well, stick around because this could be as good a time as any to share it.

About three years ago, I used to drive past a memorabilia store in suburban Melbourne. On the footpath outside the store, there was always a selection of life-size figures. There was a chef, complete with an impressive waxed moustache and his toque, the white chef’s hat. There was even a medieval knight, in a suit of armour. There was a fisherman, holding a huge marlin.

I marvelled at the collection and how beautifully they were crafted. Things would change, new figures would be added and sometimes the old ones would disappear, obviously sold.

So one day, early in 2005, when the figure of a NASA astronaut, appeared with the others on the footpath, I just had to find out some details. So instead of driving past as I always did, I parked my car and actually went into the store. The manager was more than happy to have a yarn with me and told me that the figures were made of fibreglass and that they sold for an average price of about $1500.

I had to ask the obvious question. How was it I always saw the figures on the footpath, with no visible sign of security. He just chuckled. He said the figures were always brought into the shop before closing time. And he revealed there was one figure that was never, ever, under any circumstances, placed on the footpath.

It was a figure of Michael Jordan. Given his status as a sporting legend, it was considered too precious to leave out in the open. The manager then pointed to a storefront across the road. It was another branch of their business, where a range of figures including John McEnroe, complete with wooden racket and headband, stood arrayed above a balcony.

With a smile on his face, the manager told me there had been "a few" attempts to steal the figures. He said on one occasion, the would-be thieves had rocked up in a cherry picker to try and remove at least one figure - before being thwarted.

He was more than happy for me to photograph the fibreglass figures. So I went outside and enjoyed the rare opportunity to shoot a Neil Armstrong lookalike.

It was really interesting, because the quality of the fibreglass visor was so good that I was able to get a good shot of the street, reflected in its dark surface.

And I did promise you more than one Neil Armstrong story, didn’t I? I was in primary school when Apollo XI captured our collective sensibilities. During the mission, my Dad happened to hear an announcement on Voice of America and he told me that there was a chance of getting a large official NASA colour photograph of the three astronauts.

All I had to do was write to a particular address and now as I look back on the event, I cannot remember if it was NASA I had to write to, or whether it was Voice of America. Anyway, I was so excited that I sat down and wrote the letter immediately. I did realise, even at that early age, that the odds did not favour me.

It was probably a month later, when I came home from school, that a beige A4-sized envelope was waiting for me. Inside was the photograph I had coveted, of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. To me, they were more than just the three Apollo astronauts.

They were the embodiment of the spirit that I have always carried through life - that all things are possible, even the most ambitious of dreams.

For the home of ABC Wednesday, go to Mrs Nesbitt's Place.

Astro Nought

Z Is For Zero - So Start The Countdown Now

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

It’s a strange word, zero. When you look at it numerically it has no value. But when you look at it in everyday English phraseology, it takes on a different complexion altogether.

For instance, we use the phrase ``zero hour’’ to indicate critical timing or the launch of a crucial project. A few years ago, I read something that really intrigued me, especially because of its relevance to space exploration, something that has been a part of our minds since the Space Race began.

You know how the countdown to the launch of a space mission always goes backwards? It was something I just accepted as I followed, with bated breath, the progress of the Apollo missions that led to the 1969 lunar landing.

Then I discovered that the notion of the reverse countdown stemmed from a 1929 German movie called Girl In The Moon. Fritz Lang, the director of the movie, wanted to enhance the suspense of the scene and wondered how best this could be done. He hit on the idea of reversing the traditional count from one to ten - and the scene is generally acknowledged as being the trend-setter for all space missions.

So why the reverse count? According to film historians, this is what he said: "It came from a dire necessity. I said, 'If I count 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 50, 100, an audience doesn't know when it will go off, but if I count down - 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, ZERO - then they will know. Thus the countdown."


While zero is an easy concept to evaluate and define, the word infinity is harder to explain. It encompasses everything, yet it cannot really be classed as a mathematical entity. When I was a kid and I heard the word infinity, I always thought of the focal plane on a camera, but that changed after the release of the computer-animation film Toy Story and its sequel, Toy Story 2.

There is something very endearing about Buzz Lightyear and his slogan "To infinity and beyond".

There is something of Buzz in all of us. He embodies adventure, he embodies nobility, he embodies a questing spirit. And like us, he has foibles too. He embodies a certain naivety, he embodies an inability to understand why anyone would want to harm him, he embodies the simple spirit that does not recognise severe limitations.

Like Buzz, we are all endowed with super powers at some time in our lives. And like Buzz, we all realise occasionally that an indomitable spirit alone is not always sufficient to achieve the impossible.

Buzz Lightyear touches us all in many ways. And of course, as someone who spent many happy years at a boarding school in the beautiful Himalayan tourist attraction of Darjeeling, I am always delighted by the reference to the little town in the scene where Buzz is "Mrs Nesbitt", is very much the worse for wear after one too many cups of tea.

And yes, space exploration, such a part of my childhood, still gives me a buzz. But I sometimes wonder if, during all those tense pre-launch moments at NASA mission control, anyone thinks of Fritz Lang and his great idea.

For the home of ABC Wednesday, go to Mrs Nesbitt's Place.

Delight Saber

That Cargo Is No Fluke, Skywalker

May the fort be with them. Astronauts on the space shuttle Discovery will have a little something extra in their gear when they blast off in October - Luke Skywalker's original Jedi lightsaber. As part of the 30th anniversary celebration of "Star Wars", NASA has agreed to carry the prop weapon into orbit. The lightsaber was handed over to the space agency by Chewbacca at Oakland Airport, not far from George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch. The lightsaber will be greeted in Houston by a group of stormtroopers, along with R2D2.

FOOTNOTE: Now it's a flightsaber!

Flying High

Report Says `Intoxicated’ Astronauts Blasted Off

US astronauts were allowed to blast off into space after turning up drunk for launches, reports ABC News.

A panel appointed by NASA to report on the mental health of astronauts found that on at least two occasions astronauts were allowed to fly on space shuttle launches, even though flight surgeons warned they were intoxicated and posed a flight-safety risk.

The panel's findings were reported by Aviation Week & Space Technology, a publication that covers the space program closely. Several sources separately confirmed the report for ABC News.

No names or missions are cited in the report, according to Frank Morring, the Aviation Week writer who broke the story. Officially, NASA said the report contains serious information the agency will have to consider. It has scheduled a news conference for Friday afternoon.

Every Mum Needs Her Space

Shuttle Footage On Chicago Baby Monitor

A Chicago teacher doesn't have to turn on the news for an update on NASA's space mission. She just turns on her video baby monitor. Since Sunday, one of the two channels on Natalie Meilinger's monitor has picked up black-and-white video from inside the space shuttle Atlantis. The other still lets her keep an eye on her baby. ``Whoever has a baby monitor knows what you'll usually see,'' Meilinger said. ``No one would ever expect this.'' Live video of the mission is available on NASA's website, so it's possible the monitor is picking up a signal from somewhere.

Once In A Blue Moon

Aldrin Memories Create A Media Buzz

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This shot was taken a few hours ago, at dusk on Sunday. We were outdoors on a breezy but very mild evening when I noticed that the moon looked as though it was being cradled by the almost-bare branch of this plane tree. It was just right for a quick photograph – the gentle curve of the branch and its few remaining leaves in silhouette, and a two-thirds moon floating in a clear azure sky. I think it was meant to be photographed.

There was another lunar connection for the evening, with Buzz Aldrin being interviewed about Apollo XI on Channel Seven’s Sunday segment `Where Are They Now’. For me, the highlight of the interview was Aldrin pointing to the mission patch on his NASA jacket. As he picked out the detail of the eagle carrying the olive branch, he quoted the words from the famous plaque left behind on the lunar surface - ``We came in peace for all mankind’’.

Trivia Pur$uit

In October 1995, the potato became the first vegetable to be grown in space. This was part of a joint project between NASA and the University of Wisconsin to find ways to feed astronauts or space colonies.

Omission Control

Houston, We Have A Straggler

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This was just such an unusual image that I had to capture it. The abandoned figure of the NASA astronaut was just one of the many scenes I shot during the big clear-up after Moomba, the week-long Melbourne festival that welcomes autumn. There was something forlorn about this figure, propped against a portable generator before being loaded onto a truck. I grew up in the Apollo era, when astronauts represented courage and the essence of adventure. It's always struck me as highly appropriate that Andy, the child ``hero'' of the movie `Toy Story' had two favourite toys, Woody and Buzz. A cowboy. And an astronaut. There could be no better embodiment of the American pioneering spirit.

So You Want To Play Real-Life Quidditch?

NASA Gives Moon Sport The Lunar Tick

Want to play a real-life game of quidditch, like Harry Potter? Yes, you too could fly around heroically, just like the apprentice wizards at Hogwarts. I can even tell you where the games will be held – on the Moon. No, I ain’t kidding. I just came across this archived report from a fortnight ago, while I was researching something else today.
It’s a story by Jonathan Richards at TimesOnline, based on an interview with one of NASA’s chief scientists. Jeff Volosin, the lead global exploration strategy manager for NASA, said a ``micro-gravity sports competition’’ held inside a giant bubble on the surface of the moon was not beyond the realm of possibility.
“If you had a large, pressurised habitat, people could take advantage of the low-gravity environment by attaching wings to themselves and flying about,” Volosin said. It’s not as far-fetched as you might think, because the United States announced three months ago it would send astronauts back to the moon in 2020, with plans for a permanently occupied settlement from 2024.
“Ever since the end of the Apollo program, folks around the world have been thinking about returning to the Moon, and what they would like to do there,” Volosin said. Flying around like the wizards at Hogwarts is certainly within the realms of possibility. In addition, Vosolin flagged the notion of ``lunar commerce’’.
Not familiar with the term? I wasn’t either, but the article explains it succinctly.
``Among the ideas proposed,’’ says the article, ``are using cameras to monitor the melting of the polar ice caps, the establishment of `lunar heritage sites’, such as where the first astronauts landed, and `robotic races’, in which teams on earth would steer remote-controlled devices through courses on the moon’s surface.
If you want more details, the NASA paper outlining the objectives of the proposed lunar colony is called ``181 Things To Do On The Moon’’. I’d say quidditch would rank pretty high, but you might like to leave a comment with your suggestions for things to do on the moon …

Astronaut’s Process Of Self-Discovery

Flight Surgeon Calls For NASA Support System

The Baltimore Sun has got it so right today, in its coverage of the case of Lisa Nowak, the NASA astronaut who is charged with the attempted murder of Colleen Shipman. Nowak returned to Texas for a medical assessment, but at this stage, NASA has not clarified whether that assessment included a psychological evaluation.
The newspaper highlighted the viewpoint of former NASA flight surgeon Jon Clark, who told CNN that NASA needs to have a stronger psychological and behavioural health support system for shuttle astronauts. While the legal focus revolves around the fact that Nowak posted $25,500 bail on Tuesday evening (US time), her immediate career is in limbo as NASA has put her on a 30-day leave and removed her from mission activities.
Clark, who lost his wife, astronaut Laurel Clark, in the 2003 Columbia disaster, told CNN that Nowak supported his family then and he supports her now. ``She was a mother before she was an astronaut. I mean, she really was into family life, and what's happened in the last few days has just been totally a shock. She is a really wonderful, good, caring person,’’ he said. "You have to find forgiveness and love in your heart to get her through this." His words provide a human counterpoint to a story that has completely dominated the international media.
Speaking about the pressure on NASA’s shuttle astronauts, Clark said, ``They don't have to have any evaluation before or after a mission, and it is only when something catastrophic happens, does this ever even come to light.’’
The Baltimore Sun also refers to a NASA interview last year, just before Nowak’s Discovery mission. The mother of twin five-year-old girls and a teenage son spoke candidly about the strain her career placed on her family. ``It's a sacrifice for our own personal time and our families and the people around us,’’ she said. ``But I do think it's worth it because if you don't explore and take risks and go do all these things, then everything will stay the same.’’