To the MOON!

I believe I have mentioned here before that I'm a bit of a nut about the American Space Program. Everything about it fascinates me, and whenever the chance to see any real space memorabilia up close has presented itself, I have always taken the opportunity. My kids are also fascinated by the stuff, so for Spring Break this year, Jordan and I took Sarah and Jack to the rocket center in Hunstville, Alabama.

When you get to Huntsville, it's pretty hard to miss the full scale mockup of the Saturn V rocket on display at the entrance to the center. Standing as tall as a 36 story building, you can see it from virtually anywhere in the area.

They have a new building at the center that was just dedicated in January of 2008. It houses the original test version of the Saturn V. It never actually flew, but instead was the source vehicle for all of the engine, transport, and assembly tests.

While we were there, we took in a 3D movie about Mars. Here's Sarah sporting her 3D glasses.

There's also a Zero Gravity ride outside by the rockets. You strap in and are hurled upward, feeling zero-g for a couple of seconds on the way back down. Unfortunately Jack didn't quite make the height requirement, so he hung out while the rest of us took off.

There were a number of flown items from each of the Apollo moon missions, including this flight suit worn by John Young while inside the Lunar Module on the surface of the moon. John Young is my personal hero. Here are a few of the things he did in his lengthy NASA career.

• He flew on the first manned flight of the Gemini spacecraft with Gus Grissom aboard Gemini 3.
  
• Flying again as Commander of Gemini 10, the mission was the first dual rendezvous with two Agena Target Vehicles.
  
• He first went to the Moon aboard Apollo 10, flying the Command Module solo - the first person to do so in lunar orbit.
  
• He flew to the Moon again as Commander of Apollo 16 and was the ninth man to set foot on the Moon.
  
• He is listed in the Guiness Book of World records as setting a speed record for travel on the surface of the Moon with the lunar rover (11.2 mph!)
  
• He was again Commander on the maiden flight of the Space Shuttle.
  
• He flew the Space Shuttle again on the very first Spacelab mission, also making him the first man to fly in space six times, and is the only man to have commanded Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle missions.
  
• He worked for NASA for 42 years and retired on December 31, 2004 at the age of 74.
  

This is one of the modified Hasselblad cameras used during the Apollo 11 mission, the first time man set foot on the Moon.

These are plaster casts of Neil Armstrong's hands, taken to make custom gloves to be worn on the surface of the Moon.

This is the Command Module "Snoopy" in which John Young, Ken Mattingly, and Charlie Duke rode to the Moon.

Here's Sarah trying her hand in the original Apollo command module simulator.

Jack shows us the shuttle Pathfinder, which was the first Space Shuttle mockup used for construction and transportation testing. It never actually flew, and is in fact hollow. The fuel tank, however, is the very first shuttle fuel tank constructed, used for all of the static launch tests of the shuttle system. The lower two engines on the back end of Pathfinder are the actual engines that flew on the maiden voyage of Columbia, the very first Space Shuttle flight. The booster rockets are inert mockups.

A Boy and his Bat

If you keep up with this blog you know how much I love my children, Sarah and Jack. They are just phenomenal kids. I'm very lucky.

This is Jack. He's 8 and he loves baseball. The day these images were taken was on the weekend after he was smacked in the mouth by a line-drive during practice. There's even a pic below of the sore in his mouth, EWW! (I waited until a few days after the blood went away. Trust me, it was not pretty.) Not only did he not miss his game, but he batted like a champ, cracking a two-run single and a two-run double to help his team win a 12-10 game.

I was not so sure his heart was in it back when he was playing T-ball, but I think he really likes it now in his second year of coach-pitch.

I love you, Jack-Jack.

Easter Babies

Jack and Sarah spent the weekend with us for Easter. They are getting so big. On friday I took Sarah to have her hair cut for the first time in a nice salon. I'll have pics to share of that event later this week, but you can already tell from these images that she looks fantastic. Special thanks to Jordan for helping the kids with their Easter outfits. She's fast becoming their own stylist.

God, I love these babies!

Christmas, Part II: Emma and the Bunny

Our lab, Emma, received a Christmas gift this year from Jordan's aunt Libby and uncle Warren. They got her a bunny from the American Kennel Club.

I didn't figure she would react to it the way she has. At first she looked at it strangely like she was waiting for it to move. When it didn't, she gave it a good sniff. Finally, she picked it up and trotted all over the house with it like she was going to hide it like a bone. In the process, she bit down on it a little too hard and it squeeked at her. I guess the squeek made her think it was somehow still "alive," so she commenced to shaking it furiously until it was "dead."

Over the next couple of days she carried it with her everywhere. Occasionally she would bring it to me and drop it in my lap or at my feet. She didn't do this to get me to play fetch, I think she did it as an offering.

Emma carries that bunny around like it is an egg, always very gently. I'm not sure what she thinks about that bunny, but I am sure she loves it.

Random Image Wednesday

Today I'm posting a few images just because I like them.

You're thinking, “How is this different from every other day?”

Well, it isn't.

This is one of my favorite images of Jack. I think it captures his personality just about perfectly. It isn't new, but I love it anyway.

Thanksgiving, Part 1

I figured it was time to post a few images of the other members of my household. These were all taken over the Thanksgiving holiday.

First, this is Jack. He's 8 and the greatest little boy a parent could ever ask for.

Next up is Emma. She's our blond, and boy is she. Since we lost Cooper, Emma has been the beneficiary of all of our displaced love.

Here's a little detail I shot of an old rusty plow, just for good measure (note: the plow does not live with us.)

Check back soon for part 2.

LUNA

October 6, 2006 was a perfect night for shooting the moon. Not only did we have absolutely perfect weather—clear skies, cool temps, virtually no humidity—but as it turned out, the October full moon happened to be closer to the Earth than most full moons. The moon’s orbit around Earth isn’t a perfect circle, and so there’s always a time each month when the moon is closer to Earth than at any other time—called its “perigee.” Only on rare occasions does a full moon occur at perigee. The beauty of this, for a photographer, is that the moon was actually about 20% larger in the sky than normal. So, like I said, with perfect weather—and a perfect moon—I couldn't resist.

I had actually wanted to do this for some time, but I'm glad I waited. I feel like the results, had I done it earlier, wouldn't have been as breathtaking. I shot this with a tripod-steadied Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 lens, using its dedicated 2x teleconverter. When you take into account the 1.5x multiplying factor that my Nikon D200 imparts, I had the equivalent of a 900mm lens! You can see for yourself, the result was amazing.

I designed the poster you see above for my son, Jack's 8th birthday. He's a space nut and needed a cool new image to be the focal point of his newly decorated space-themed room. When I went to have it framed, the guys at the frame shop went nuts and begged me for copies of their own. I figured, why not make them available as limited edition, signed-and-numbered prints. I decided to only make 10 signed edition prints available, and naturally Jack got number 1.

So here goes, get them while they last. I have only 6 prints remaining available at $99 each (not including shipping). Each one is 16"x20", color, with a white border. The prints are made on 100-year archival satin photo paper, at 2880dpi, using an Epson 9600 printer with Ultrachrome inks. Trust me, these are fine prints. If you know someone who is a space nut, think about giving them one of these as a Christmas gift.