Janet Gogerty's Blog: Sandscript - Posts Tagged "space"
Sandscript on Soyuz
On the south coast this morning it was mild grey and wet; in Baikonur, Kazakhstan there was a blue sky above the frozen Steppes.
They have become as regular as buses, occasionally on clear nights we watch it cross 250 miles above our roof, but this week we are taking more interest than usual. At 11.03 GMT I watch a perfect lift off, a Russian Soyuz rocket vibrates the television, on board are Russian commander Yuri Malenchenko, US astronaut Tim Kopra and a real British astronaut. Tim Peakes, Star City and the Cosmodrome have become part of our lives in the last few days, years of preparation condensed into a Horizon programme.
I have to go out but arrive back in time to catch up with live coverage. After six-and-a-half hours, at 17:33 GMT, their capsule successfully docks with the International Space Station. We have a Christmas dinner to go to and miss the moment two-and-a-half hours later when the hatch finally opened and the ISS crew welcomed the three newcomers on board. Tim Peake, previously an army major and helicopter pilot, will spend six months on board the space station orbiting the Earth. He has spent six years training to become the first professional British astronaut to be employed by the European Space Agency.
His wife is cool, capable and very supportive, she and I have one thing in common, we’ve both been left to do all the Christmas cards.
Meanwhile back on tonight’s news we were able to see Tim on board and catch up with the enthusiasm of children around the country; Tim’s own son jumping up and down in excitement as the rocket took off, pupils at Tim’s old primary school, children at the science museum. Equally excited are the television experts seeing the scientists of tomorrow. It does not matter what nationality the space heroes are, the International Space Station is proof of what cooperation between countries can achieve, it is literally above the turmoils of the world.
I have written in previous blogs, 2013 and 2014, about the ISS.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
They have become as regular as buses, occasionally on clear nights we watch it cross 250 miles above our roof, but this week we are taking more interest than usual. At 11.03 GMT I watch a perfect lift off, a Russian Soyuz rocket vibrates the television, on board are Russian commander Yuri Malenchenko, US astronaut Tim Kopra and a real British astronaut. Tim Peakes, Star City and the Cosmodrome have become part of our lives in the last few days, years of preparation condensed into a Horizon programme.
I have to go out but arrive back in time to catch up with live coverage. After six-and-a-half hours, at 17:33 GMT, their capsule successfully docks with the International Space Station. We have a Christmas dinner to go to and miss the moment two-and-a-half hours later when the hatch finally opened and the ISS crew welcomed the three newcomers on board. Tim Peake, previously an army major and helicopter pilot, will spend six months on board the space station orbiting the Earth. He has spent six years training to become the first professional British astronaut to be employed by the European Space Agency.
His wife is cool, capable and very supportive, she and I have one thing in common, we’ve both been left to do all the Christmas cards.
Meanwhile back on tonight’s news we were able to see Tim on board and catch up with the enthusiasm of children around the country; Tim’s own son jumping up and down in excitement as the rocket took off, pupils at Tim’s old primary school, children at the science museum. Equally excited are the television experts seeing the scientists of tomorrow. It does not matter what nationality the space heroes are, the International Space Station is proof of what cooperation between countries can achieve, it is literally above the turmoils of the world.
I have written in previous blogs, 2013 and 2014, about the ISS.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
Sandscript Into Infinity
Do you keep a diary or resolve to keep one every New Year? Many years ago I was given a five year diary which lasted at least a decade of good intentions and still has many blank pages, but it does record some major life events; if anyone can ever decipher the tiny writing crammed into the allotted space per day and year.
In more recent years I received a handsome note book blissfully free of dates. I vowed to keep a journal for the purpose of preserving the art of handwriting and recording family history. Released from the obligation of daily jotting I would devote several pages to important events and places and people visited. I haven’t yet recorded Christmas.
But I am onto the third gift journal. Each entry begins with a few neat sentences, but quickly deteriorates into a cramped scrawl, especially if I am lounging with my feet up on the sofa. I imagine the diarists of old would need to sit upright at their bureaus to be able to handle their quill and ink.
In the unlikely event of me becoming a famous author posthumously, will my family be tempted to burn these diaries and journals to protect my reputation? If they bother to look at them they will find no scandal (there is none to help in the fame stakes ), nor salacious details of non writing activities at home. But hopefully my jottings will be a unique personal account of everyday life in the early years of the Twenty First Century.
And which will last longer, the paper books or this Blog? When I needed to look up a previous blog about the River Thames I typed in ‘Janet Gogerty Sandscript River Thames’ and up it came, from over two years ago; will it be there forever? Will our Goodreads Blogs and book reviews float through the ether into eternity, or only until the internet is switched off?
Like radio waves beaming out into space will the billions of words on the internet still be out there somewhere when the electricity is switched off for good? Will our Facebook posts and e-mails be accessible to clever Alien archaeologists or future Earth scientists? If so then, Greetings from 2016 A.D.
In more recent years I received a handsome note book blissfully free of dates. I vowed to keep a journal for the purpose of preserving the art of handwriting and recording family history. Released from the obligation of daily jotting I would devote several pages to important events and places and people visited. I haven’t yet recorded Christmas.
But I am onto the third gift journal. Each entry begins with a few neat sentences, but quickly deteriorates into a cramped scrawl, especially if I am lounging with my feet up on the sofa. I imagine the diarists of old would need to sit upright at their bureaus to be able to handle their quill and ink.
In the unlikely event of me becoming a famous author posthumously, will my family be tempted to burn these diaries and journals to protect my reputation? If they bother to look at them they will find no scandal (there is none to help in the fame stakes ), nor salacious details of non writing activities at home. But hopefully my jottings will be a unique personal account of everyday life in the early years of the Twenty First Century.
And which will last longer, the paper books or this Blog? When I needed to look up a previous blog about the River Thames I typed in ‘Janet Gogerty Sandscript River Thames’ and up it came, from over two years ago; will it be there forever? Will our Goodreads Blogs and book reviews float through the ether into eternity, or only until the internet is switched off?
Like radio waves beaming out into space will the billions of words on the internet still be out there somewhere when the electricity is switched off for good? Will our Facebook posts and e-mails be accessible to clever Alien archaeologists or future Earth scientists? If so then, Greetings from 2016 A.D.
Sandscript
I like to write first drafts with pen and paper; at home, in busy cafes, in the garden, at our beach hut... even sitting in a sea front car park waiting for the rain to stop I get my note book out. We
...more
- Janet Gogerty's profile
- 19 followers
