64
" Our ability to measure and apportion time affords an almost endless source of comfort.
“Synchronise watches at oh six hundred,” says the infantry captain, and each of his huddled lieutenants finds a respite from fear in the act of bringing two tiny pointers into jeweled alignment while tons of heavy artillery go fluttering overhead; the prosaic, civilian looking dial of the watch has restored, however briefly, an illusion of personal control. Good, it counsels, looking tidily up from the hairs and veins of each terribly vulnerable wrist; fine: so far, everything’s happening right on time…
“Oh, let me see now,” says the ancient man, tilting his withered head to wince and blink at the sun in bewildered reminiscence, “my first wife passed away the spring of -” and for a moment he is touched with terror. The spring of what? Past? Future? What is any spring but a mindless rearrangement of cells in the crust of the spinning earth as it floats in endless circuit of its sun? What is the sun itself but one of a billion insensible stars forever going nowhere into nothingness? Infinity! But soon the merciful valves and switches of his brain begin to do their tired work, and “The spring of Nineteen-Ought-Six,” he is able to say. “Or no, wait-” and his blood runs cold again as the galaxies revolve. “Wait! Nineteen-Ought — Four.”… He may have forgotten the shape of his first wife’s smile and the sound of her voice in tears, but by imposing a set of numerals on her death, he has imposed coherence on his own life and on life itself… “Yes sir,” he can say with authority, “nineteen-Ought-Four,” and the stars tonight will please him as tokens of his ultimate heavenly rest. He has brought order out of chaos. "
― Richard Yates , Revolutionary Road
67
" Discovery first flew in 1984, the third orbiter to join the fleet. It was named for one of the ships commanded by Captain James Cook. Space shuttle Discovery is the most-flown orbiter; today will be its thirty-ninth and final launch. By the end of this mission, it will have flown a total of 365 days in space, making it the most well traveled spacecraft in history. Discovery was the first orbiter to carry a Russian cosmonaut and the first to visit the Russian space station Mir. On that flight, in 1995, Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot an American spacecraft. Discovery flew twelve of the thirty-eight missions to assemble the International Space Station, and it was responsible for deploying the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990. This was perhaps the most far reaching accomplishment of the shuttle program, as Hubble has been called the most important telescope in history and one of the most significant scientific instruments ever invented. It has allowed astronomers to determine the age of the universe, postulate how galaxies form, and confirm the existence of dark energy, among many other discoveries. Astronomers and astrophysicists, when they are asked about the significance of Hubble, will simply say that it has rewritten the astronomy books. In the retirement process, Discovery will be the “vehicle of record,” being kept as intact as possible for future study.
Discovery was the return-to-flight orbiter after the loss of Challenger and then again after the loss of Columbia. To me, this gives it a certain feeling of bravery and hope. ‘Don’t worry,’ Discovery seemed to tell us by gamely rolling her snow-white self out to the launchpad. 'Don’t worry, we can still dream of space. We can still leave the earth.’ And then she did. "
― Margaret Lazarus Dean , Leaving Orbit: Notes from the Last Days of American Spaceflight
68
" Science n’ Shit in a Hip-Hop Style with Stephen Hawking
(Kick-snare, kick-kick snare).
‘Let me tell you my plan for the human race, well I would but I can’t,
‘Cos I can’t move me face,
So my computerised voice is how I’ll go,
I type with me eye to keep the flow
We’re all gonna go live in outer space
Where zero gravity will stop me dribbling all over the place
I’ll tell y’all how I’ll get there:
With some rockets built into me special wheel chair
The moons of Jupiter, in perfect animation
We’ll all live in a huge space station
I’ll be able to dance and chase all the fanny
And finally get me end away with me nanny.’
Science n’ Shit in a Hip-Hop Style with Stephen Hawking II
‘From the moons of Ganymede, Io & Titan,
I’ll tell y’all somethin’ that’s sure to enlighten
In space, there are galaxies nebula & stars
And dying suns that are going super no-va
But no anomalies can compare,
To how much I wanna run my fingers through your hair
Sir Patrick Moore, a true space oracle,
With your knowledge of cheats and gorgeous monocle
I’m coming out as gay, and I don’t give a hoot
I’m the first fuckin’ vegetable that turned into a fruit
Word. "
― , Shorts
