July 16, 1969, three brave men set out to make history. Instead of following the beaten path, they choose go where no one had gone before and pave a path of their own. In full knowledge of the risk and in spite of all the naysayers, they aspired to greatness.
In the words of Theodore Roosevelt:
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those timid spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
Honor the courage and the ambition of the crew of Apollo 11 and tell Congress to Dare Mighty Things once again:
http://www.penny4nasa.org/take-action/
David Ruck is the creator of the documentary film project “I Want to Be an Astronaut,” which follows one kid’s dream of being an astronaut and the hard work he’s putting into making that dream come true. The film is in its final stages of post-production.
Astronaut.com conducted a short interview with Ruck about the film. Here’s one question from the interview:
Why did you decide to do a movie about one kid’s dream of being an astronaut?
“I have to tell you that I really didn’t plan to do a movie about a kid who dreamed of being an astronaut. I hate to admit it, but I was pretty much a space skeptic until one day when I was watching Bill Maher’s show. He had astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson on and he said we had spent more money on bailing out the banks than we had spent on NASA’s budget for it’s entire 50 year history. And that kind of stopped me in my tracks. I thought, really? That doesn’t seem right. But it was true. And that made me angry. To think we could spend more on bailing out our banks than the entire budget for NASA. And I wondered, “do kids even dream about being astronauts anymore?”
At the time, I lived near Chantilly, Virginia which is by the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum, and I thought, “well, if there are kids that want to be astronauts, this would be a good place to find them.” Low and behold, there in Chantilly High School I found the Robotics Team and the captain of the team was this amazing kid, Blair Mason, who had wanted to be an astronaut from the time he was 3. He had lived his whole life doing what he needed to do to make it happen. It was kind of surreal. He was the nicest kid ever, and super smart, and he just loved space. Literally lit up a room talking about it, and I thought, “wow, this is a story that needs to be told because we need to inspire kids to follow their dreams,” and that’s how this all started.”
Read the rest of the interview at the link below and check out the IndieGogo campaign calling for help to finish up the film. Teachers are already asking Ruck for copies of this film to show in their classrooms, so if you can, consider chipping in for a movie that may inspire millions, young and old, to reach for the stars once again.
http://astronaut.com/i-want-to-be-an-astronaut-interview/
via Astronaut
The famous asterism known as the Summer Triangle ascends in the eastern sky during June evenings.
Today is Flag Day. View a slide show of historical photos featuring the U.S. flag: http://nyr.kr/11eGUIe
When they throw the water on the witch, she says, ‘Who would have thought good little girl like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness?’ That line inspired my life. I sometimes say it to myself before I go to sleep like a prayer.
The crew of Shenzhou 10 have performed their setting out cermony, right before they board their rocket. See a video of the event here.
images: news.cn/xinhuanet