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3 CommentsMoon Rock Gains Traveling Companion for Historic Return to Space
"Collected from the Sea of Tranquility on the lunar surface, the moon rock and its Mt. Everest companion will be displayed inside the station's Tranquility module, which the STS-130 crew will deliver to the station. During the presentation, Parazynski will share the story of his journey to the top of the world and what inspired him to carry along the lunar sample, followed by an audience question and answer session. The event is scheduled from 11 a.m. to noon CST in the Blast Off Theater in the Mission Status Center at Space Center Houston. NASA Television will air a recording of the event at 3:30 p.m.
Updates, photos and videos during the presentation will be posted on NASA's Johnson Space Center Twitter feed and can be followed using the hashtag #moon_everest. From 12:30 to 1 p.m., Parazynski will answer questions live via Twitter. To follow Johnson on Twitter, visit: http://www.twitter.com/NASA_Johnson"
You can read up on Scott's climb at onorbit.com/everest
Playing With Moon Rocks and Duct Tape at the Dinner Table
"You see, as a precaution of sorts, I had the Nugget [our code name for the Moon rock] blessed in a Buddhist Temple in Pengboche on the trek in to Base Camp. Climbers have all manner of things (including themselves) blessed all the time. But this was special. And how people (westerners and Sherpas) reacted to these little pieces of the Moon really caught Scott and I by surprise. But that's another story I'll have to write about soon."
Preview: Confessions of a Moon Rock Courier
"I facilitated telephone conversations with astronauts aboard the International Space Station and communicated via satellite with the real world on a daily basis. I lived amidst a place with powerful historic resonances. And I encountered a people - Sherpas - with an other-worldly and serene approach to life, teaching one of them to look up at the night sky to track satellites while I watched others treat the moon rock I carried as a sacred object."
"The STS-130 crew will carry both rocks into orbit and will permanently install them in the new node "Tranquility" that they will attach to the space station."
That's the dumbest idea I've heard in a long time.
I can think of roughly ten million things you could do with a sample from the moon that are better than putting it on the Space Station where a dozen people or so will see it.
Keith's note: Let's see, the moon rock (actually 4 small flecks) has been encased in lucite for 40 years as a display piece. It would seem that no one has found a use for those little flecks in all these years.