"Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit." - Frank Borman



The space shuttle Discovery successfully launched today on a mission to deliver the first of three parts of a large laboratory module to the International Space Station. Eventually, the module will include an "exposed" area where astronauts will be able perform experiments in the vacuum and extreme temperatures of space.

Source The New York Times

Blue is always my favorite color for flowers, and roses are my favorite flowers. But the trouble is that there are few, if any, true blue roses. The rose shown above, Blue Moon, is one of the bluest varieties. In the lore of flowers, blue is usually associated with the unattainable or the impossible. Perhaps this is also the genesis of that old expression “once in a blue moon …”

And maybe even that old standard by Rodgers and Hart ...

Blue moon
you saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own

Blue moon
you knew just what I was there for
You heard me saying a prayer for
Someone I really could care for ….



And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will hold
I heard somebody whisper please adore me
And when I looked to the Moon it turned to gold

Blue Moon
Now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own

“Treading the soil of the moon, palpitating its pebbles, tasting the panic and splendor of the event, feeling in the pit of one's stomach the separation from terra - these form the most romantic sensation an explorer has ever known.” ~ Vladimir Nabokov



Another really nice picture from Mars. The Phoenix lander is at the top of the image, the heat shield is in the middle, and the parachute is at the bottom.

“You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.” ~ Friederich Nietzsche



Eta Carinae

Eta Carinae sits about 8,000 light-years away .... The blue variable, the most luminous star in the Milky Way, is predicted to explode within the next hundred thousand years.

“Jump, and you will find out how to unfold your wings as you fall." ~Ray Bradbury



The Phoenix lander (lower left) drifts down towards its final resting spot. Notice how close it comes to that large crater.