Last night was a great night in space. The Expedition 9 crew successfully completed the spacewalk that had been aborted last week, and Cassini successfully entered orbit around Saturn. Saturn! When the mission launched in 1997, I remember thinking “wow, 2004, that’s a long time away.” And here it is, 2004, and I don’t just watch NASA on tv, I work for NASA. And Cassini is orbiting Saturn.
Every time a mission reaches a major milestone, I feel like a giddy kid all over again. I mean — Saturn! With the rings and the gas and the moons and everything! That is so cool!! And December, when they release the Huygens probe that will enter the atmosphere of Titan, will be exciting as well. It’s stuff like this that boggles my mind, and makes me wonder how anyone can argue that space exploration isn’t a good thing.
So I ended up seeing Spiderman 2 last night. I’ll likely see it again in Atlanta this weekend, but I won’t mind because it was awesome! Better than the first. My only negative comment would be that neither movie has had a good ending; both have sort of faltered in the last five minutes. But the rest of Spiderman 2 was incredible. The action sequences have gotten better, the special effects more seamless, and you just can’t help but love Tobey Maguire. I know he’s Spiderman and all, but I just wanted to give him a hug. He needed a hug.
Also, as requested, here’s a link for everyone to go vote for Chris’s friend Cheri to win the ESPY for Best Athlete with a Disability. Very cool.
