"Our commander comes down back to earth"

Unless you've been living on the dark side of the moon for the last few months, you've probably heard of Canadian Chris Hadfield, on his second trip off-planet, the first Canadian to be in command of the International Space Station. I'm a big fan. :)

He first crossed my radar when the news broke about his famous Twitter exchange with William Shatner, followed by tweets with a who's who list of other Star Trek actors. I was captivated by his photos of the planet from space, and highly entertained by his punny sense of humour. On Monday night I was glued to my computer, watching the NASA TV live feed of the Soyuz return, on the edge of my seat, and it was magical to see the capsule and the chute appear to touch down gently (although it was actually not really that gentle...) in a sunny field in Kazakhstan.





Hadfield's last video post before he left to come home was a cover of 'Space Oddity' by David Bowie, with the lyrics changed to be more appropriate for someone who (thankfully!) did not die in outer space. :P




If you're on Twitter and not following Hadfield yet, what are you waiting for?!

Star Wars Identities

It's Reading Week! I celebrated by spending the weekend in Edmonton, where we went to Star Wars Identities at the Edmonton science center. I wasn't really sure what to expect - I just saw Star Wars and signed up. :) It was advertised as having 200 original props, costumes, art work, and models, so I was really excited to see the exhibit.



Threepio and Artoo

 

Young Anakin Skywalker in his podracer

 

Jabba's Palace prop and costume

 

Ship models

 

Me and a sassy x-wing pilot

 

This was in another section of the science center. Chis Hadfield is a Canadian who is currently commanding the International Space Station. He Tweets from space. Check out this wonderfully geeky Twitter exchange between a real live space commander and some Star Trek actors.

 

The highlight of the exhibit was an interactive 'build your own Star Wars character' adventure. Upon arriving, each person is given an electronic bracelet, which tracks certain selections you make at the interactive stations throughout the exhibit. You can choose the character's name, race, personality, family history, who they look up to, and so on. At the end, you can choose the light side or the dark side. Then it generates your character and emails it to you. SO COOL!



My character is a Togrutan (like Ahsoka Tano from the Clone Wars cartoon series!). Her hero is Princess Leia, and while she is very Force-sensitive, she chose to be an x-wing pilot over being a Jedi.

 

It was entirely too much fun. :) If you like Star Wars at all, even just a little bit, I highly recommend the exhibit. I did learn a few things I didn't know, and even on the Saturday of a long weekend it wasn't too crowded, because they stagger the entry times. It was definitely worth the price of admission!