Robin Williams' "Good Morning Discovery!" Wake-up Call

"Gooooood morning, Discovery!" Robin Williams provided this wake-up call to NASA's 1988 STS-26 "return to flight" mission after the loss of Space Shuttle Challenger. 

Neil deGrasse Tyson Forges A Wormhole & Talks with Curiosity

On August 5, 2012 we bit our nails and held our breath in the midst of the sheer terror/joy as NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Mars via a ROCKET-POWERED SKY CRANE.

The night before landing, however, Neil deGrasse Tyson and the Curiosity Rover shared an EPIC conversation over Twitter:

Feeling the tug of Mars: Fewer than 34 hours to go, Mars' gravity is pulling me in for a suspenseful landing http://t.co/hsDLEW4l
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 4, 2012

Call me, maybe? All the ways I could phone home after landing on Mars [video] http://t.co/IiqrN6LW
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 4, 2012

When I land on Mars, it'll be 5:31 UTC Aug. 6. See this handy chart for conversion to your time zone: http://t.co/7zJ6Z2vw
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 4, 2012

Mars on my mind...Thinking of forging a wormhole through the Twitterverse and having a conversation with the Rover en route.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

The day we stop exploring is the day we commit ourselves to live in a stagnant world, devoid of curiosity, empty of dreams.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, Neil deGrasse Tyson here on Earth, tweeting you, via a wormhole, through deep space. Do you copy?
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

<wormhole actived!> Dear @neiltyson I read you loud and clear. 5x5
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, How does it feel out there as you near planet Mars?  Are you Cold? Hot? Or just right?
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Dear @neiltyson, I'm snug as a bug in a backshell. My MMRTG gives power & heat. So much so, I use radiators to keep temps just right
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, What exactly is giving power to your Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator?
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Dear @neiltyson, MMRTG is powered by plutonium-238. I use thermocouples to convert heat from its natural decay to electric current
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, just as I suspected. An element named after Pluto. Discovered when everyone thought the little iceball was a planet.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Dear @neiltyson, for being millions of miles away it's faster than say... some TV broadcasts from London to Los Angeles ;-)
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, What's the size of your landing spot on Mars? Is it small? It's a whole planet, I'd be happy just to land anywhere.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Dear @neiltyson, target area is 12 miles x 4 miles, right next door to some of Mars' most intriguing rocks & soil
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, Wait a minute. You travelled a 100-million miles in space & hit an area 12x4 miles? Cool. Way better than a hole-in-one
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, You call EDL 7-minutes of terror. Sure, to you. But to us on Earth, it's 7 minutes + 15 minutes signal time.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, Are all your parts working as they should? Anything you're not telling us back here on Earth? (I won't tell JPL.)
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Dear @neiltyson, all that's been checked out, checks out. Got a lot of calibrations & checkouts to do once I'm on the surface
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, You've been traveling for nine months. How did you pass your time? Did they let you play "Angry Birds Space"?
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Dear @neiltyson, epic game of "I Spy," lots of Bowie. Well, that and science. I took radiation readings with my RAD instrument
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, So you're being subjected to ionizing radiation from space? You're not only a robot, you're a guinea pig.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, Did you enjoy long periods of silence while travelling through space, or was JPL always trying to talk to you?
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Dear @neiltyson, They respected my space (ha ha). I love hearing from the Deep Space Network, tho. It keeps me grounded
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, How autonomous are you? When you get to Mars can you just go six-wheeling around as you please?
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Dear @neiltyson, while I can do short autonomous drives, longer sequences are sent by the team. Wonder if they'll let me do donuts?
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, What's your favorite experiment that you will conduct on Mars? Or is that like picking your favorite child?
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Dear @neiltyson, Pick between sniffing Mars with SAM, digesting soil with Chemin or zapping rocks with ChemCam?? #TooMuchAwesome
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, Scientists conceived you, engineers designed you. But seriously, who do you like better, Scientists or Engineers?
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Dear @neiltyson, Scientists v Engineers? I'm staying out of that one. We've all gotta work together for a lonnnng time
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, After you land on Mars, what's your life expectancy? (I hope somebody alerted you that we're not bringing you back.)
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

''

Dear @neiltyson, My warranty is 1 Martian year (23 Earth months). @MarsRovers were designed for 90-day missions... #8yearslater
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, You're the size of an SUV, but with six wheels. What's the fastest that you can move?
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Dear @neiltyson, Top speed = 1.5 inches/sec on flat, hard ground. I'm not out to set Mars land speed records. I brake for science
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, Bummer. You travel through space at seven miles per second, only to drive around on Mars at 1.5 inches per second.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, What are your instructions if a Martian crawls onto your back and rides you like a Rodeo Bull?
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Dear @neiltyson, Martians? RODEO BULL? That wasn't in the briefing. But you never know what you'll find on a mission of discovery
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, We've got the #Olympics back here on Earth. But many of us will be focussed on you and your landing. Do us proud.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, As for your complicated landing on Mars Sunday night 10:30pm PT -- do not try, do.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Dear @MarsCuriosity, Neil deGrasse Tyson signing out on Earth. Back to work - for us both. Closing my Twitterverse wormhole to Mars.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Dear @neiltyson, I've got @NASAJPL on the other line. Back to work indeed. This was fun :D <wormhole deactivated>
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 4, 2012

Once again, I am compelled to tweet…
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

The day we stop exploring is the day we commit ourselves to live in a stagnant world, devoid of curiosity, empty of dreams.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012

Apollo 13: Grumman Sends Rockwell "Towing Bill"

On April 11, 1970 the seventh manned mission in the American space program, Apollo 13, launched with the intention to land on the moon. On April 13 an explosion in the oxygen tanks crippled the service module, damaging the Command Module. Their journey back to Earth had been achieved using the Lunar landing Module as an impromptu "life raft", towing the crippled Command Service Module (CSM) behind it for some 400,000 miles.

Due to the incredible ingenuity of the astronauts and the crew on the ground, Apollo 13 was brought back safely and the mission has since been called a “successful failure.”

Afterward, the engineers at Grumman Aerospace Corporation, builder of the mission's Lunar Landing Module prepared a tongue-in-cheek "Towing Bill" addressed to Rockwell, builders of the crippled CSM.

Copy of the Towing Bill -- Click to Enlarge

• Towing, $4.00 first mile, $1.00 each additional mile, Trouble call, fast service. 
• Battery Charge (road call + $.05KWH) customer’s jumper cables 
• oxygen at $10.00/lb 
• sleeping accommodations for 2, no TV, prepaid air-conditioned, with radio, modified American plan, with view (contract NAS-9-1100) 
• Additional guest in room at $8.00/night. (1) Check out no later than noon Fri. 4/17/70, accommodations not guaranteed beyond that time 
• water (no charge) 
• Personalized “trip-tik”, including all no charge transfers, baggage handling, and gratuities

= $312,421.24 (after allowing a 20% early payment discount and a 2% cash discount).