by Jeff Cunningham
On Wednesday, SpaceX announced via its social media presence that the company is sending its first mission to the red planet as soon as 2018. They intend to land an unmanned Dragon spacecraft on the surface of Mars as a demonstration and to “inform [our] overall Mars architecture.”
by Chris Tobias
If your corner of the ‘verse is in or around the Pittsburgh area, then we have the perfect way for you to kick off your weekend!
Take Back the Sky will be at Carnegie Science Center on Pittsburgh’s North Shore this Friday, April 15 from 6-10pm for their annual “21-and-over Sci-Fi Night.” We’ll have a table at the event where Browncoats as well as devotees of other science-fiction fandoms can sign a petition to SpaceX and/or write letters to SpaceX founder/CEO Elon Musk and president Gwynne Shotwell, asking them to name their first manned Dragon after Serenity.
by Chris Tobias
This Friday, April 8, SpaceX will launch an unmanned Dragon spacecraft to low Earth orbit aboard a Falcon 9 rocket to deliver critical cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA. SpaceX’s eighth Commercial Resupply Services mission (CRS-8), will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The instantaneous launch window opens at 4:43pm EST. (A backup launch window opens at 4:20pm EST on April 9 if necessary.) Dragon will be deployed about 10 minutes after launch, and its flight to the ISS is significant for a number of reasons.
The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is loaded into Dragon in preparation for its April 8 launch. (Photo: SpaceX)
Dragon will be carrying a very important cargo to the ISS on CRS-8. In addition to experiments that will help NASA test the affect of antibodies on muscle wasting in microgravity, provide insight into the interactions of particle flows at the nanoscale level and use protein crystal growth in microgravity to help in the design of new drugs to fight disease, Dragon will also deliver a very special cargo called the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM). This module is an experimental expandable capsule that attaches to the space station.
by Jeff Cunningham
Ni hao, fellow travellers! Today we introduce Colonel Eric Boe, the third of four astronauts selected to be among the first to pilot the first of SpaceX’s manned Dragon spacecraft, which Browncoats and sci-fi fans everywhere are campaigning to have named after Serenity.
Col. Eric Boe, US Air Force
Born in Miami, Florda, Eric Boe considers himself a native of Atlanta, where he grew up and attended high school. After graduating, he began what would become a long, distinguished- and still continuing- service in the Civil Air Patrol, the civilian volunteer auxiliary of the Air Force that performs emergency airlifts, search-and-rescue, disaster relief, as well as supporting the American Red Cross. While still a cadet, Boe was awarded the General Carl A. Spaatz Award, the highest award that the service gives to cadets.
by Chris Tobias
Ladies and menfolk, there’s a launch to be done!
If all goes according to plan (and that’s a big IF, given all the variables that go into the business of launching rockets), SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 on Wednesday evening, February 24 at 6:46pm EST that will carry the SES-9 commercial communications satellite into the black and deliver it to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit.
An evening launch is planned for tomorrow from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. There is a launch window of approximately 90 minutes that opens at 6:46:14pm EST, but a back-up launch window will open at 6:46:17pm EST on Thursday, February 25 if it becomes necessary. (Right now the weather is about 60% GO for launch.) Regardless of when the Falcon 9 breaks atmo, though, the satellite will be deployed a little over a half hour after liftoff.
After stage separation, SpaceX will attempt another landing of the first stage of the Falcon 9 on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You. The SpaceX press kit for the SES-9 mission calls the landing attempt “experimental” and cautions that “… a successful landing is not expected.” SpaceX already made history with the successful landing of the first stage of a Falcon 9 at Cape Canaveral in December of last year, but they have yet to land a Falcon 9 successfully on a droneship at sea despite several attempts. Although the odds for a successful landing may not be in their favor, Elon Musk and company have done the impossible before, so we wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if they bring that rocket in like a downy feather after all!
You can watch all the spectacular action along with us and the rest of the ‘verse starting approximately 20 minutes before launch at www.spacex.com/webcast. And don’t forget to use the hashtag #SpaceXSerenityCrew for any social media posts before, during and after the launch, so we can let SpaceX know that we’re all in favor of the name Serenity for their first Crew Dragon that will break atmo with a crew of American astronauts next year.
Here’s to a shiny launch day. Peace, love and rockets…
by Jeff Cunningham
Hands-down the best part of this campaign has been hitting the pavement and talking to fellow Browncoats and others who want to see our descendants living off-world. We tend to fret the setup, but the people we meet make it all worth it. With only rare exceptions, people love the idea of naming the space shuttle’s replacement after Serenity, and our most common response that we receive is for the con attendee to take the Lord’s name in vain in some way and demand that we hand them a pen to sign on!
Every once in a while, though– maybe one out of one hundred– we encounter someone who reacts not with indifference nor apathy, but with something akin to actual hostility. We’re talking about dropping their “indoor voice” and taking a tone that can best be described as shrill as they loudly proclaim that they will not support “corporations exploiting space.” Continue Reading
“Take me out to the black. Tell ’em I ain’t comin’ back…” — Joss Whedon, The Ballad of Serenity
by Chris Tobias
If you’re a space enthusiast like us, the days between January 27 and February 1 are a difficult stretch. That’s because each year we’re forced to observe a hat trick of anniversaries we wish we didn’t have to see on the calendar– a somber series of dates that remind us that it is indeed a rough road that leads to the stars.
This past Wednesday, January 27, was the anniversary of the flash fire on the launch pad during a test in 1967 that claimed the lives of Apollo 1 astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White II and Roger Chaffee. And last Thursday, January 28, marked the 30th anniversary of the day on which Space Shuttle Challenger exploded during launch, killing astronauts Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis and Judith Resnik, as well as Christa McAuliffe, a New England school teacher who was to have become the first educator in space as part of NASA’s Teacher in Space Project. This Monday, February 1, will be thirteen years since Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon reentering Earth’s atmosphere and astronauts Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, Laurel Clark and Ilan Ramon perished.
Here at Take Back the Sky, we’ve written at length about these tragedies and the heroes we lost as a result of them. (If you’d like to read more, check out our archived blogposts from October 2012 and January 2015.) This year however, we’d like to honor the memory of all of these brave men and women by taking a look at the groundbreaking work that one of them was to have done out in the black.
by Chris Tobias
The evening of Friday, January 15 was a somewhat unique one for Take Back the Sky. Our tabling experience at “21+ Rocket Science Night” at the Carnegie Science Center of Pittsburgh marked the first time our #SpaceXSerenityCrew made an appearance at an event that focused on the hard science of spaceflight instead of the fantasy and conjecture of science-fiction. After appearing at over a half-dozen sci-fi and comic cons, it was an interesting change of pace to talk space with a crowd that tended to be more familiar with SpaceX than it was with Firefly.
Chris and Ed at Take Back the Sky’s table at Rocket Science Night.
In just four hours’ time, we collected several pages of signatures on a hard-copy version of our current petition, as well as a number of form letters and postcards to SpaceX calling for a Crew Dragon named Serenity. We also talked at length with attendees about SpaceX’s January 17 launch of a Falcon 9 to deploy the Jason-3 satellite, a launch which would see another attempt to land the Falcon 9’s first stage at sea on a drone-piloted barge. (Of course we now know that mission was a success, while the outcome of the landing attempt could be described as “close, but still no wobbly-headed doll.”)
One of the really fun aspects of the evening was “selling” the name Serenity to folk who aren’t Browncoats (or at least aren’t yet anyway). I found myself emphasizing the fact that the name does not call to mind any ideas of aggression, conquest or domination, and instead evokes thoughts of peace, harmony and oneness with the ‘verse. Interestingly, one woman used that very argument as a reason not to sign our petition, saying that she adamantly refused to attach such a beautiful name to a machine that private industry would use for profit at the expense of the Earth’s people. Of course, I respectfully disagreed with her assessment of SpaceX’s intentions, and told her she might feel differently if she did a bit of reading about Elon Musk and why he founded SpaceX and then watched Firefly so she could see for herself exactly what Serenity and her crew stood for. Come to think of it, I found that I ended most of the evening’s conversations with the recommendation that people watch Firefly and Serenity, so in that regard our tabling efforts may have done as much to promote Joss Whedon’s show and movie as they did to promote the idea of a real spaceship named after the one Whedon created!
Our “Jayne bear” mascot is always popular with folk who visit our table.
Of course, there were still a few Browncoats in attendance, and it was a lot of fun to see their eyes light up when they realized who we were and why we were there. We especially enjoyed talking to Courtney, a twenty-something Browncoat who is originally from Pittsburgh but is now serving in the US Air Force and is stationed in South Dakota. She enthusiastically signed our petition and wrote a postcard to SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell in support of the name Serenity, and then told us she planned to tell all her “fellow nerds at the base” in South Dakota about Take Back the Sky and what we’re trying to do. She also invited us to come visit her and her friends at this year’s SoDak Con in June. It’s that kind of enthusiasm that makes us confident that we can succeed. Heck, if every Browncoat had Courtney’s attitude, no power in the ‘verse could stop us! If you’re reading this Courtney, thanks for your service, keep flying and stay shiny. And if we make it out to SoDak Con, we’ll be sure to look you up.
To be honest, the only real downside to the evening was that it was over way too soon. We can’t thank the Carnegie Science Center enough for their hospitality, and we hope to be able to return for their “21+ Sci-Fi Night” on April 15.
Peace, love and rockets…
— Chris
by Chris Tobias
We want to remind Browncoats and space enthusiasts in the Western Pennsylvania area that they are invited to join us for “21-and-Over Rocket Science Night” at the Carnegie Science Center on Pittsburgh’s North Shore tomorrow evening (Friday, January 15) from 6-10pm.
The #SpaceXSerenityCrew will have a table set up at Rocket Science Night, where we’ll be gathering petition signatures asking SpaceX to announce the official name of its first Crew Dragon as Serenity at San Diego Comic-Con this July. We’ll also have form letters, postcards and “Leaf on the Wind” sheets that you can send to SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk and president Gwynne Shotwell to let them know you think Serenity would be the shiniest name in the ‘verse for their first manned Dragon capsule.
And while we’re there, we’ll be all manner of excited to talk with Rocket Science Night attendees about SpaceX, their recent vertical recovery of a Falcon 9 first-stage booster rocket, their upcoming launch of the Jason-3 satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Sunday, or any other aspects of Commercial Spaceflight.
So come on out and join us for an evening of fun with rocket science, and don’t forget to use the hashtag #SpaceXSerenityCrew all weekend long on social media, especially during SpaceX’s Jason-3 launch, which you’ll be able to watch live on NASA TV starting at 1:30pm, EST this Sunday, January 17.
We hope to see you tomorrow. Peace, love and rockets…
by Chris Tobias
I’m a huge fan of science-fiction, and my first love is Firefly, but there’s more to this geek than my coat of a brownish color. For example, I’m also an avid reader and collector of comic books. I have been since I was a little kid. My personal comics collection numbers in the thousands and I read dozens of titles regularly, both from the big publishers, DC and Marvel, and the smaller independent companies. I’ve often said that if my wife knew what my monthly comics budget really amounted to, I’d probably be in some very big trouble!
So, of course I was very interested in something that caught my eye last week online. In a January 3 post on the website Bleeding Cool, Rich Johnston reported that DC Comics admitted in a late-2015 blog post that fan protests on social media had, in fact, affected DC’s decisions on how to move forward with certain characters.
Take Back the Sky 
You must be logged in to post a comment.