Dragon Capsule Links with International Space Station

Last week did not bode well for SpaceX’s first attempt at launching dragon. Aborted launches at 4am are not fun for viewers (I’m on the West Coast) never mind for the engineers that had to build, test and attempt to put the craft into space.

However, with a successful launch this past Tuesday, Dragon has now officially docked with the ISS to become the first commercial vehicle to do so. If deemed a success, this mission will secure a resupply contract for SpaceX to run similar missions in the future. The flight will also determine the capsule’s fitness for future human space missions.

And I also learned today that James Doohan (Scotty from Star Trek) ashes were also brought to space along with the capsule! May you continue to boldly go!

BBC has a great video of the capsule docking with the ISS being snagged from zero gravity by the Canadarm (so proud!)

-Matthew

Space X Launch to ISS in Just Under One Hour

History is about to be made with the first private launch to the International Space Station.

The automated Dragon cargo ship, the product of private space flight company Space X, is due to launch at 4:55 EST. You can watch the launch live at NASA’s public “Ustream” http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv

The launch represents NASA’s new strategy to use private space companies such as Space X and the parallel Orbital Sciences Corporation to supply the ISS. Seed funding as well as access to NASA patents was provided to both companies to catalyze the transition.

Space X’s Dragon Capsule (below) will be used for cargo on this flight to the ISS, however the capsule has been designed to sustain a human crew planned for future launches

Dragon Capsule

Space X’s Dragon Capsule

Below: A mockup of the capsule I captured while in the Vehicle Assembly Building this past March

A mockup of the Dragon Capsule in the Vehicle Assembly Building

Be sure to catch the launch at just before 5AM!

-Matthew

A Different Kind of Frontier (The End of the Race for Space)

Lately, I have given a great deal of thought to my childhood dream of going to space. Reflecting on space has certainly been a central part of Chasing Atlantis, the documentary we shot this past Summer about the final flight of space shuttle Atlantis. The famous lines from the opening of Star Trek described Space as the Final Frontier. It is the ultimate manifestation of the outward journey; one that leaves the confines of this world to explore the beyond. However, I feel that my own journey has breached a different frontier. A more inward journey, one of remembering past goals, finding new hopes, new projects. I may not be venturing into space itself, but I certainly feel like I have been exploring new spaces. With my colleague and friend, Paul Muzzin, Director of Chasing Atlantis, we have a documentary in the works; one which has taken on a life of itself that went beyond any of my wildest expectations. I have a new website up that has become a new outlet for creativity and thought, and the woman I met in Africa back in 2004 who became foundational to Esther’s Echo will be visiting Canada in 10 days. 

So, I may not be headed to space, but certainly I have had the opportunity to explore some incredible frontiers lately. And regardless of the Race for Space outcome, I wanted to thank all of you who supported my entry. I was so encouraged by the many supporters who wrote me continually to remind me that they were voting, by those who also shared their dreams of one day going to space, and friends with whom I was reunited even after many years who saw my entry online and wanted to share their support. You all made the competition so worth it! Besides…somewhere inside, I still believe I’ll make it there some day. Perhaps many of us will. Lots of exciting things have happened in space sciences since the end of the Race for Space. The United Nations observed the international day of human space flight on April 12th. The Space Shuttle Discovery flew on the back of a 747 to Washington replacing Enterprise at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Enterprise will be flying over New York City on April 27th, and a new company called Planetary Resources made a bold claim that steps are being taken to begin mining asteroids to delivery their precious resources to our home (they are hiring right now by the way 😉 ). 

Enterprise and Discovery Swap Places

Above: Enterprise and Discovery Swap Places

Space is a physical place. It is the place beyond the boundary of what we know and what sustains us. It is a place beyond our comfort zones in the most extreme sense. And perhaps it is a place that will yield future resources. But perhaps space, then, is also a place within where we breach the expected, the comfortable and find certain riches. So, in light of the Race for Space and the experience it has been I ask you, what frontiers are before you that you can begin exploring right now? And, if there is a competition involved, know that I’ll for sure be voting for you too!

-Matthew

http://www.un.org/en/events/humanspaceflightday/  (United Nations Day of Human Space Flight)

http://www.planetaryresources.com/ (Planetary Resources Website)

http://www.universetoday.com/94662/enterprise-go-for-big-apple-fly-over-on-april-27-viewing-guide-in-nyc/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews (Enterprise scheduled to fly over New York City on April 27th)

Headed to FanExpo Vancouver

Hey Chasers,

Quick update. Tomorrow is Vancouver’s first ever FanExpo. Typically FanExpo is centered in Toronto. The convention marks one of my favorite times of the year. As someone keen on community building, it is harder to find a more diverse, welcoming, passionate and engaging community than at the Toronto FanExpo. Having now become a permanent Vancouver resident, I was disappointed I couldn’t attend the Toronto convention last August as the dates fell during one of the busiest times of the year here at Simon Fraser University. However, word came that FanExpo would be reaching out West and coinciding with the annual Canadian Video Game Awards. Furthermore, Victor Lucas, founder of Electric Playground and Reviews on the Run under Greedy Productions, will be at the show. I had been a fan of Elec Play for a number of years but really gained respect for Victor following his insightful and creative speech at TEDx Vancouver where he discusses his new role as a father. I’m looking forward to meet him in person. 

One of my favorite pieces of memorabilia made it across the country in time for FanExpo. A close friend of mine and member of the Esther’s Echo Board of Directors, Micaela Roughton, found a Battlestar Galactica promotional package for the sci-fi epic’s entry into the Emmy awards. The package, featuring glossy photos of the cast and 3 episodes prior to completed post-production, was limited to cast/crew and judging panels but some found their way online for sale and Micaela snatched one for me. Over the years I have been securing autographs for the book. My brother and his fiance were holding onto the Emmy package for me and mailed it from Toronto just in time. Michael Hogan was slated to be at FanExpo tomorrow (Saturday the 21st), but it seems now he may have cancelled. I will truck it out none-the-less. 

I’ll have shots from the event up soon. I also have a final update from the Race to Space in the next blog! Thanks so much again to everybody who supported me by voting!

You can find the link for FanExpo Vancouver at http://www.fanexpovancouver.com/ and, if you’re going to be at the event, tweet me! @chasingatlantis 

Cheers,

Matthew

“We’ve Chosen to Not Afford It”

A very cool friend of mine, James Joyce (not to be mistaken for James Joyce the Irish Novelist), sent me a link a while back to an article in Discover Magazine that I just resurrected from my Facebook Inbox. James studies astronomy at the University of Toronto and gets access to much cooler equipment than I do *shakes fist. Anyhow, the post, by “Bad Astronomer” Phil Plait, features a panel discussion at The Amazing Meeting  (TAM) in Las Vegas in July of 2011 right around the time that we were filming in Florida for our first round of Chasing Atlantis Footage. The panel is made up of science celebs Bill Nye (The Science Guy), Astronomers Neil Tyson and Pamela Gay, and theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss who are all speaking on the future of humanity in space. The video is older now, but I hadn’t seen it yet and it still addresses the current state of affairs of the current space program (with one update below).

Now, we touched on this topic quite substantially with Chasing. Although, probably more on a micro scale. The livelihoods of many of the individuals we spoke to in Titusville was directly connected to our future in space. When we interviewed retired Astronaut, Story Musgrave, he was certainly critical of humanity’s lack of progress into space and the fact that the Space Shuttle had not ushered in a new era of cheap space flight. But one thing was clear, the question of space travel centered around a central point…money. Can we afford to go there?

The Kennedy Space Center is a fascinating place. And I have certainly been fortunate to have had the chance to visit so many times in the past few months with Chasing. But one thing is evident, the visitor center is almost becoming more of a “Good-Ol Days” museum than anything else. The music played is from the 60’s. Videos depict Kennedy with his famous lines ushering in the space race. And we are reminiscent of days when the US was spending 7% of its GDP funding Apollo. I began to wonder, outside of geo-political catalysts such as the Cold War, will there ever be the same impetus on space travel? The answer is unclear, but Neil Tyson did make two points that really stood out in my mind.

1) Governments push frontiers before capitalists do. Why? Because governments can soak the risk. Tyson cites Louis and Clarke, Columbus, Magellan all who traveled on Government funding to explore. Once the frontier was pushed back, companies took advantage of the new opportunities. Private industry is now taking a more direct involvement into space; albeit space tourism for the moment. Perhaps our push to the planets will still require a government directed project. However, Tyson does argue that the patents created by government through NASA are now also being used by private industry to help offset the initial costs. Perhaps this will lead to breakthroughs in future human flights to the planets.

2) Pamela Gay states at one point in the panel discussion that we cannot afford to go back to space. Tyson’s response? “We have chosen not to afford…The bank bailout of 2009 exceeded the 50 year total budget of NASA.” He went onto say that if we “double NASA’s budget” and we could do all the amazing space related endeavours we currently dream to do such as going to Mars, returning to the moon, landing a probe on Europa. (My personal fav would be Europa or Mars. But there is something to be said about putting actual humans into space)

There is an update to this meeting from TAM. There was dismay expressed by the panel of the dismantling of the James Webb Space Telescope. Since this was posted, that program has actually been saved. I am personally very excited about James Webb. The scope will have 17 times the light gathering power of Hubble which already has exceeded our expectations in terms of the window it opened into the Universe. James Webb will be able to resolve distant stars, perhaps help us understand more about dark energy/matter and increase our ability to find other planets. AND, I just discovered that there is a 24 hour live webcam where you can watch the thing being built. Crazyness. (Link below)

We spend far more on the war machine than we do on exploration. And much of our exploration has been, unfortunately, inspired by war and conflict or the desire to conquer. Perhaps the exploration of space is an opportunity to explore for the sake of exploration itself, something that, as Bill Nye says, brings discovery and adventure; something we inherently need as humans.

I’d urge you to check out the original article here:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/10/20/our-future-in-space-panel-at-tam-9/

The video link for the 55 minute panel discussion is here:

http://vimeo.com/30742999

The link to the James Webb Space Telescope Page is here:

http://www.jwst.nasa.gov

-Matthew

I (You) Dream of Space: A New Opportunity for us Both to Get to Space

Hey Chasers,

Over the last few weeks I have been promoting my entry in Metro Newspaper’s Race to Space, an online voting competition to send one of Metro’s readers to Space.

That competition has now closed and I am ever grateful for your support. We closed yesterday at midnight EST at just under 30,000 votes putting my entry in 13th place overall out 1688 entries! Huzzah. I get the results back from that competition on April 9th. Don’t worry, if I won the Canadian leg of the competition, I will certainly let you all know!

BUT, today, while surfing twitter, I came across a new opportunity for us all to get to space. It’s a project called I Dream of Space www.idreamofspace.com. Their motto is simple, “Space is for Everyone.” The plan works like this: You buy a cool space poster for $10 and get entered into a draw to win a ticket on one of the new commercial space flight companies like the one Metro is using in their own space competition. Each poster (like a ticket) increases your chances of winning the draw. The company providing the ticket has not yet been determined, but I would recommend checking out the site. You can also follow “I Dream of Space” on twitter @winatriptospace

Cheers,

Matthew

Last Day to Vote in the Race for Space

Hey Chasers,

At midnight EST, the Race for Space Closes. Thank you very much for your support and votes! The goal is to hit 30K by the end of the evening. So let’s try to push for it!

Here is the link to vote http://metroinspace.com/ca/view/ct94 you can vote 10 times on any internet enabled device. 

The youtube version of my entry in the Race for Space Competition is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmNmy1YDuoo Helps to explain my passion for the night sky.

Thanks everybody!

-Matthew

The Race for Space Continues

Hey Chasers,

Metro’s Race for Space continues, and with the addition of a celebrity, there is stiffer competition than before. In an effort to inspire some more votes to get into orbit and to give a 3 minute overview of this website, I put together this short spoken word. I had performed it at SFU a few weeks ago and it was suggested that I record it. Wanted to get it up before April 5th when the competition closes, but after that, I think I’ll do a more elaborate version of it. 

Here is the link to the video http://youtu.be/rmNmy1YDuoo 

We stand at just around 23,500 votes thus far! Let’s see how far we can push it before April 5th. Thanks again to all of you for your support!

Here is the competition link: http://metroinspace.com/ca/view/ct94

-Matthew

-Matthew

Day 9 in the Race for Space

Hey Chasers,

Although there has been some site issues with Metro In Space lately, we have managed to crack the 19K mark and move into 12th place overall in the Canadian competition. So awesome. The plan is to try and hit top 10 by the end of the competition, April 5th, and come out over 27,000 votes. Totally achievable. 

Thank you for your patience if you’ve been trying to vote and haven’t been able to make it onto the competition website. I haven’t been able to today either, but I am guessing the site will be back up later today. 

Also, Burnaby Now ran a story on the Race for Space that featured me as well! You can check out the article here! A big shout out to Jennifer Moreau at Burnaby Now who contacted me to do the article! Thanks, Jennifer!

Remember to keep voting at http://metroinspace.com/ca/view/ct94 You can vote up to 10 times a day from any device. So, if you vote at home, work, and on your phone, that’s 30 votes a day!

Blessings, 
Matthew 

Day 7 In the Race for Space

Hey Chasers,

Now passing 15K votes in the Race for Space. 2500 more and I move up into 12th place overall in the Canadian competition. I’ve sent out the information about the event to a number of news media outlets now and it has started to get picked up. Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario’s Netnewsledger.com  posted an article about the Race for Space to share with my hometown community where both Paul and I were born. A shout out to James Murray at Net News for posting the article and helping to spread the word. The article on NetNews can be found  here.

Overall, I have noticed that the average number of votes per hour is starting to increase. I think I can definitely catch top 10 by the end of the voting period and, if things go even more awesomely, maybe even hit the top of the chart. Burnaby Now is also going to be posting an article as I’m presently out at Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby campus East of downtown Vancouver.

Thank you all again for your continued votes. You can continue to vote at my entry on the competition’s page here http://metroinspace.com/ca/view/ct94 Remember, you can vote 10 times a day on any computer or mobile device you’re on. So, for example, if you vote at work/school, home and on your phone, that’s 30 votes a day!

To get an idea of why this is so exciting, I’d invite you to read the description of the flight experience here: http://www.spacexc.com/en/the-experience/sxc-space-flight/

Thank you for continued support and for helping me continue this new chase!

Blessings,

Matthew &8-)