My jaw dropped when I heard the death toll this morning from the cyclone that hit Myanmar (formerly Burma). It was 15,000 then and now its up to 22,500.
Shocking.
May 6, 2008
Hammers down no more
Two weeks ago we drove up to Charlottesville for my nephew’s birthday party. As we pulled into a truck stop north of Rocky Mount for a kids’ bathroom break, I was struck by how desolate it was. There were maybe two trucks parked on the sea of surrounding asphalt. The lady behind the counter never looked over her newspaper. Rows of flashing slot machines pimping pre-paid calling cards sat empty, waiting for truckers who never arrive.
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Soyuz: Russian for “falls like a rock”
I was thinking today about the recent wild ride the returning International Space Station crew received last month when their Soyuz capsule went ballistic. This crew was lucky to be alive, after their Soyuz burned through the atmosphere facing the wrong way. The explosive bolts that normally separate the modules did not fire, pointing the capsule’s heat shield away from the Earth.
Seems that has been happening frequently, subjecting its passengers to G-forces of up to 8 times gravity. A normal landing puts a far more manageable 4.5 Gs on the cosmonauts inside.
The problem is that – flawed as it is – Soyuz is the only option between the time the Space Shuttle fleet is retired and NASA’s new Orion vehicle is ready. In the meantime, please watch for falling (and smoking) astronauts.