Standard Deviations From the Beaten Path

On this day, July 20th, in the year 1969 humans landed on the moon. This is, in my opinion the coolest thing that has ever happened. Before graduating to the level of adult nerd, as an adolescent nerd I read everything I could about space. There is nothing uncool about space. Cosmic rays come from space, and that has a lot to do with why I’m so excited to be studying them, but the most awesome thing about space is that we landed humans on the moon 41 years ago.

There were no computers, not by modern standards anyway. There were no robots. There was just pure, unadulterated human chutzpah and a whole bunch of really smart people who found a way to make it happen. That’s why I wanted to do science. I wanted to figure out how to make things happen. And I have. Duck tape and cable ties. So take some time today to reflect on how awesome space is. Here’s an article in wired with less snark and more pretty pictures.

There’s a video up (a couple of videos, even) of Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon, rapping with Snoop Dogg. See the song Rocket Experience, and the making of video. I grew up on books about the space race. I really should go back and re-read some of them, because that is just one of those few things the sheer awesomeness of which does not attenuate with age. I’m far too myopic and prone to motion sickness to ever go into space myself, but I’ll take studying things in space for a living.