Pat Forrester and friend

I normally don't keep Certificates of Authenticity (COA.) There is no standard for COAs, and unless the certificate has your exact photo printed on it, how do you know it belongs to that item?

I believe in provenance - keeping tabs on where an autograph was obtained, if in-person, or which dealer I bought it from, especially if it's from one of the few trusted sellers I frequent.

But I decided to keep this COA, which arrived unasked with the photo I sent. To my knowledge, it's the only COA - more correctly an LOA, or Letter of Authenticity - I've seen with items returned by comedian Tim Allen.

Among his other roles, Allen was the voice of Buzz Lightyear in all three "Toy Story" movies. As may be obvious (or not), Buzz Lightyear was named after astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who includes among his accomplishments being among the first to step on the moon.

But there's one accomplishment Buzz Lightyear achieved that Aldrin hadn't - the toy flew to the International Space Station, launching on STS-124 in May 2008, and landing on STS-128 in Aug. 2009 - 450 days in space, longer than many astronauts, indeed longer than the planned one-year flight by NASA astronaut ret. Navy Capt. Scott J. Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail B. Kornienko.

I met ret. Army Col. Patrick G. Forrester during the transfer of shuttle Discovery from NASA to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in April 2012. During that time I got Forrester to sign my copy of "Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years," and forewent getting photos signed due to the scrum of astronauts present.

Later, I would send Forrester a litho I had of the STS-105 landing, which I intended to get autographed by the remainder of the 105 crew or for those astronauts who flew Discovery. I soon abandoned that as impractical and too large a project.

The above is was the photo I was going to get Forrester to sign at the 2014 Space Day held at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum if I went. I didn't, and since I already had the signed litho, decided to send it off to Forrester for his signature. I received it back within a month - sending it out 16 May, receiving it back 13 June.

And again, since I already a signed litho from Forrester, decided to take a chance and send it out to Tim Allen for his autograph after reading of successes from him. I sent it to Allen on 20 June, the LOA is dated 30 July, and I received it 11 August.

Though Allen's signature is what appears to be stylized capital letters of his first and last name, I am happy with the end result - which is all that matters. I now have a "crew complete" item.

Merry Christmas! - A surprise autograph from a friend

I got excited when I got told an envelope had arrived at my old address. I was told it must have been one of my photos, since it was marked, "Do not bend."

I had lived there for seven years, but only sent out autograph requests during the last two or so. I looked at my sendout list but couldn't figure out who would return a photo after two years - I received most of my photos sent out after the Discovery transfer event at Udvar-Hazy, and of those that I didn't get back, I got most of those in-person at later events.

When I got to my old house I was puzzled as it wasn't one my white return envelopes (I found the self-seals there are better than the brown envelopes.) But when I looked at the return address, I was especially happy.

One of my buddies who goes with me on trips to meet astronauts surprised me with this photo (as well as a selection photo, in his blue flight suit) - which I was really appeciative of, since there was an event where ret. Navy Capt. Dominic L. P. Gorie was appearing but the organizer of which told me to contact him directly if I wanted an autograph.

Gorie was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in December 1994. A veteran of four space flights, Gorie has logged over 47 days in space. He served as pilot aboard STS-91 in 1998 and STS-99 in 2000, and was the crew commander on STS-108 in 2001 and STS-123 in 2008.

Gorie retired from NASA on June 4, 2010. I didn't ask where my friend met Gorie, but this was postmarked 16 Dec. 2014.

The third era of gaming with Richard Garriott

ED. NOTE: I did this article in 2010 originally for work, but it never saw the light of day because there was no local angle. I have since updated it.

Richard Garriott, 25 March 2010, New York, NY. 

Richard Garriott is back in the game.

Garriott, a computer-game designer ("Ultima"), went from cyberspace to outer space as the sixth privately-funded space explorer. Now he's back on earth, but his head is still in (cyber)space.

For Garriott is one of the co-founders of Portalarium, a company making computer games for social networking sites such as Facebook.

"We're in the third era of gaming," Garriott said. "There's no installation, and you can play with your 'real' friends," those in your friends list.

What's new about Portalarium is its Web browser plug-in, the Portalarium Player, which allows games developed on a variety of engines and platforms - not just Adobe Flash or Oracle's Java - to run in social networks.

"We created the Portalarium Player to work with any engine developers want to use, licensed or proprietary," said Stephen Nichols, Portalarium's director of technology, in a prepared statement. "It will handle installation, patching and rendering all without suffering the performance hit you currently find on these networks."

In addition to running within social-networking sites, the Portalarium Player will also run on all major Internet browsers, on Macintosh computers, and on mobile devices such as the iPhone and Android phones.

Don't throw out your Xbox 360 or Wii or Playstation 3, but as of 2013 the personal computer was the system used most often (68 percent) for online gaming, reports the NPD Group, a leading consumer-market research-information provider.

That's the initial market for Portalarium - those used to play social-network games on their PCs - and that's how video games started, people playing on their Commodore 64 or Apple computers.

But even if one bought an Atari 2600 or ColecoVision gaming system, one was still by and large playing solo games - the first era of computer games, said Garriott.

Within the last 10 years online games made up 95 percent of all games, Garriott said. In this second era of gaming, one could play with other people, but one still had to by and large purchase the software to do so in a brick-and-mortar store.

Enter social networks and related computer games, such as the well-known Farmville, with its seemingly ubiquitous update messages on Facebook. Those types of games are not only big, but it's fast becoming big business.

"Those games are 10 times bigger than Worlds of Warcraft," Garriott said.

Garriott added that social-network games aren't being taking seriously because companies view their users as casual gamers. Yet, social-network gamers play an average of 40 hours a week, just like hardcore gamers, Garriott said.

Portalarium already has a poker game available, and will have a Farmville-type game, among other offerings. Those games are already popular, and those familiar with those games can easily learn how to play them, Garriott said.

"It's become clear that there are substantial opportunties for social game developers with virtual good revenue models, but the market is evolving rapidly," states Charles Hudson, vice president of business development for Serious Business and a  social-games developer on Facebook; and Justin Smith, the founder of Inside Network, which provides news and market research to Facebook and the social gaming ecosystem. The two co-authored a report, "Inside Virtual Goods: The Future of Social Gaming 2010."

And Facebook is a big part of that market. Not only has Facebook topped Google as the most-visited-site in the US on several occasions, but in August 2014 comScore, a market research firm, found that 20 percent of all time spent on smartphone and tablets is on Facebook.

However, it's not the only market. Publishing games on mobile platforms such as the iPhone or iPad will ensure Portalarium's future.

"People are switching slowly but surely to mobile platforms," said Joost van Dreunen, CEO of SuperData Research in April 2013. "This is something the industry is trying to figure out: Where their users are going to next."

Indeed, the NPD Group noted there was a 12 percent increase in online gaming in 2013 as compared to 2012, while PC gaming decreased 4 percent during the same time period.

"While many gamers prefer games in the physical format, the increased availability of digital content paired with a greater amount of connected devices has driven an increase in the number of consumers going online to access the content they want," said Liam Callahan, an NPD Group industry analyst.

Noted Garriott about online gaming's world of possibilities: "It's a new opportunity."

A well-traveled photo

Never, ever give up on your photos.

In 2012 I was able to get my "Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years" book signed by ret. Army Col. Jeffrey N. Williams at an event where he was speaking and signing copies of his book, "The Work of His Hands" - but at that time didn't think to get a photo autographed by him. I was thankful when Williams was doing another presentation at a similar event this year, and got permission to send a photo. (For some reason, Williams is a hard signature to get....)

I sent the photo in late September (to the organizers in Texas for the presentation in October in California) and then didn't hear from them. I didn't mind not hearing back nor seeeing my photo since it was "only" a picture and I didn't send in a donation to the church.

Two months later, in December, it shows up in my mailbox. The stamps weren't canceled, so who knows if it got sent late from California, from Texas, or it had wandered around the country thanks to the Post Awful system.

Incidentally, this is a well-traveled photo in another way - as I had given this picture to a friend who was going to Star City, Russia just in case Williams was there, training for his upcoming International Space Station flight.

Williams was selected for the NASA Astronaut Class of 1996. In addition to his space flights, he has performed various technical duties in both the space shuttle and International Space Station Programs. Williams has served in the Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA), Space Station, and Soyuz Branches of the Astronaut Office, led the development of a space shuttle cockpit upgrade, and completed temporary assignments at Marshall Space Flight Center supporting the test and evaluation of the International Space Station Laboratory Module and at NASA Headquarters in support of legislative affairs.

In July 2002, Williams commanded a nine-day coral reef expedition operating from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Aquarius undersea habitat off the coast of Florida. Williams has also served on the space station backup flight crews for Expeditions 12, 19, and 20.

Williams served as the flight engineer and lead space walker for space shuttle flight STS-101.

STS-101/Atlantis (May 19 through May 29, 2000) was the third shuttle mission devoted to space station construction. Objectives for the 10-day flight included transporting and installing over 5,000 pounds of equipment and supplies, and included Williams’ first EVA lasting nearly 7 hours.

In 2006, Williams served as flight engineer for Expedition 13, launching on March 29 on the Russian Soyuz TMA-8 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan and docking with the station on March 31.

During the six-month tour of duty aboard the International Space Station, Williams performed two successful space walks (one Russia and one USA) logging an additional 12 hours and 25 minutes of EVA, and also saw the arrival of two space shuttle missions, the resumption of construction of the orbiting laboratory, and the restoration of a three-person expedition crew.

The Expedition 13 mission concluded on September 28 with a safe landing in central Kazakhstan.

On his third space flight, Williams served as a Flight Engineer on Expedition 21 and commanded Expedition 22, again launching from Baikonur on Soyuz TMA-16 on September 30 and docking on October 2, 2009.

During his second 6-month stay onboard the International Space Station, Williams again saw the arrival of two space shuttle missions as well as the integration of a Russian Mini-Research Module, the US Tranquility Module, and the Cupola.

His third flight concluded on March 18, 2010, with the Soyuz landing in Kazakhstan.

During his three flights, Williams logged over 362 days in space, including more than 19 hours in three EVAs.

Williams is currently training as a backup for the one-year flight spanning Expeditions 43-46 beginning in March 2015 and for the prime crew for Expeditions 47 and 48, schedule to launch in March 2016.

I thought this was a neat "behind the scenes" photo of Williams, taking while training during Expedition 13. Signed 11 Oct. 2014, Sun Valley, Calif.

Hello, old friend - Part 3 (viewing Hubble)

Following a tour of the Enterprise exhibit, the participants then got a look of Hubble@25, which is showcased at the Intrepid until Sept. 14, 2015.

As noted in the brochure,

The Hubble@25 exhibition features rarely seen original artifacts, stellar photographs, Hubble-produced images and immersive envrionments that showcase the history of the project and reveal its unparalleled scientific achievements.

Indeed,  at 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday is an educational program, "What does Hubble do?" which answers that very question.

Of course, no Hubble exhibit would be complete without the handhold that Massimino pulled from the telescope. The accompanying card notes, "Jagged edges from the end of the handle have been removed for metallurgical analysis so engineers can determine how the material held up to the rigors of space."

May not have been a primary objective, but hey, when life hands you a lemon....

There were a couple of artifacts that could be labeled as favorites of mine. There's the basketball that Edwin Hubble, the telescope's namesake, used as a forward in a 1909 game. Recreated concept drawings show the preliminary design for some of the tools used to repair Hubble, with the tool as built next to it.

Then there's the EVA checklist carried by Megan McArthur, as evidenced by the green stripe. She did not perform the spacewalk - Massimino, John Grunsfeld, Michael Good and Drew Feustel did in various pairs - but McArthur helped support the EVAs through operation of the shuttle's robotic arm.

Checklists are always fascinating to me, because there's so much that goes into the planning of a mission. I have two three- or four- inch binders with the flight data file for Missions 61F and 61G, which would have deployed a Centaur liquid-fueled upper stage from the space shuttle (later canceled following the Challenger accident.) Every minute of a flight is scripted, every detail taken into account. I forget the exact number, but I believe Massimino said he spent about 700 hours practicing for his spacewalk - which is a lot considering a typical EVA lasts about 6-1/2 hours.

All too soon, the Tweet-Up ended. Some of us got our pictures taken with Massimino, in addition to a group shot of all of us - I'm in the blue jacket in front of the guy with the outstretched hands:

I was glad to be chosen for the Tweet-Up, and just as glad to be able to use my journalistic skills and bring an account of that night for those that were unable to attend. Questions and comments are welcome!

Throwback Thursday - Mike Massimino

With Mike Massimino, mid-2002, at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, NY. I did an article on his appearance there for the newspaper in Franklin Square, his hometown. (Unfortunately, with a number of moves, I no longer have a copy of the article.) "Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years" had just come out, but I didn't have the book on hand when I met him, otherwise Massimino would have been the fifth or so signer. Despite appearances in the New York area, I would not meet Massimino again until 2011, at the Earth, Air, Ocean and Space: The Future of Exploration event at MIT in Boston.

Hello, old friend - Part 2 (viewing Enterprise)

The 25 participants of the Hubble25Social held at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum, held 2 December 2014. Astronaut Mike Massimino, co-curator, is in his flight jacket at right center. Author is to viewer right and in back of the person wearing the NASA T-shirt.

Upon entering the Intrepid's Space Shuttle Pavilion, one is greeted with a large mural showing Enterprise over New York City. I had seen Enterprise twice before - once during the transfer ceremony with Discovery, with the latter taking the former's spot at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center in April 2012, and then a few months later near Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, when Enterprise and her 747 carrier did a low and slow approach, circling New York City. My view was nothing like what Intrepid showed, though, not with a point-and-shoot camera!

There's a corridor leading to Enterprise itself, with signage stating the voices one hears coming from the fifth (and last) free flight of the orbiter's Approach and Landing Test. It's rather appropriate, starting with "Houston, go for takeoff," and then ending with "5... 3, 2, 1..."

And then the corridor ends and one sees this:

The back end of Enterprise, covered by a tailcone (which it didn't use on ALT-5.) Out of the four remaining orbiters, each uniquely is displayed or will be displayed in different phases of flight: Endeavour will be mounted vertically at the California Science Center; Atlantis has its payload bay doors open as if on orbit; Enterprise is on all three of its landing gear as if it just landed; and Discovery at Udvar-Hazy is at wheels stop (including rotating the wheels to line up scuff marks.)

For those who haven't been up close to a shuttle orbiter, it's hard to realize just how big it is - although most of it is its 60 feet long by 15 feet wide cargo bay. Comparing the shuttle's length (122 feet) to a DC-9 airliner is obsolete, since very few people know what a DC-9 looks like. The modern comparison would be that the shuttle is slightly smaller than an Airbus A320.

Still can't figure it out? The payload bay can fit a school bus, or my favorite comparison (thanks, Omni!) one of those tractor-trailers that blast by you on the interstate. Or the next time you're in a space or aviation museum that has a Mercury, Gemini, or Apollo capsule, marvel how small those are.

Or compare it to a Russian Soyuz capsule. The one that carried Greg Olsen is on display at Intrepid, too.  I saw his capsule when it was on display at MarketFair, a Princeton, NJ shopping mall - here's a good comparison between the size of the capsule and Olsen.

The capsule carries three people, the shuttle up to eight astronauts. The docent told us that NASA astronaut Scott Kelly - like Olsen, also from New Jersey - was also responsible for bringing the capsule to the Intrepid, helping to suggest the carrier would be a good display home.

The Soyuz TMA-6 capsule, on loan from Greg Olsen. He landed in the capsule on October 11, 2005, following a 10-day journey to the International Space Station.

Useful instructions in case a Soyuz capsule comes down in your backyard.

But I'm jumping ahead. There were just 25 people on the Tweet-Up, and they were divided into two groups. One would learn about Enterprise and related exhibits, including Olsen's Soyuz capsule. and ther other would follow Massimino as he talked about the Hubble exhibit.

I was with my wife as well as with fellow space enthusiast @MarylandSpace, who gravitated toward the shuttle. That worked out well, as I was eager to see Enterprise. I had previously been to Intrepid, but had not had a chance to see the pavilion.

There were displays on the origin of the Enterprise name. Originally, the orbiter was to be called Constitution, in honor of the document's bicentennial - which is why, with some facetiousness, I suggested that the replacement for Challenger be called Farragut, following Franz Joseph's name and numbering scheme of Star Trek heavy cruisers.

But what struck me was Enterprise itself.

With the loss of Columbia, Enterprise was pressed into service, lending some of her fiberglass wing panels - which were of the same age as Columbia - to test in order to see what caused the loss of that shuttle.

Enterprise's port wing still bears scars from when a "chicken gun" fired a foam-block projectile into it. The fiberglass cracked. If such a thing could happen, what could happen to reinforced carbon-carbon, which is less stronger than fiberglass, asked the docent?

Using a RCC panel from a production orbiter, they got the answer: A 16-inch size hole in the wing, the "smoking gun," according to a Columbia Accident Investigation board member.

One can walk around Discovery, but a barrier keeps people at arms length - and then some - from the orbiter.

A profile of Enterprise. The forward reaction control system is a dummy, painted (though incorrectly) to look like the RCS present on production orbiters. Enterprise's wings were also painted to look like flight shuttles, but retained its name on the payload bay doors rather than forward of them. Speaking of which, I was fascinated to find out from the docent that the payload bay doors are space-capable, although the payload bay itself lacks the equipment needed to support spaceflight.

Here, one can walk underneath Enterprise, and it feels like one can reach up to touch the shuttle, with interesting details few have seen or know about. After this we went to Mike Massimino and get a tour of the Hubble exhibit, which will be in Part 3:

A close-up of Enterprise's crew hatch. The "tile" pattern around it differed from production orbiters, especially Challenger, which had a "stair-step" pattern around it. Notice the rescue sticker. Columbia also had upper ejection panels during the first four missions, which were test flights, but only Enterprise retained the panels.

Not all tiles on Enterprise were dummies. On the left are low-temperature reusable surface insulation tiles, which covered most of Columbia's body. On the right, what looks to one participant as a filter is a sample of an advanced flexible reusable surface insulation, resembling a blanket. Most of Discovery and Atlantis' thermal protection system (and that of Challenger) were of the AFRSI blankets, replacing the majority of LRSI tiles.

I have yet to figure out what these disconnects are, if this was for where Enterprise was mounted onto its 747 carrier aircraft. If so, this would have been refitted for an external tank disconnect, and instead of a recessed area, would have a flipper door that would have closed after the external tank was jettisoned.

These tiles were mounted on Enterprise's landing gear door. Not all tiles on the shuttle were dummies. These were used also in the Columbia accident investigaton, when a "chicken gun" fired a projectile at the door to see if it caused any penetration. Notice the MISC designation; "real" tiles from spaceworthy orbiters usually began with V070.

Hello, old friend - Part 1

The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum held their first Tweet-up, led by co-curator and former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino, who is also the museum's senior advisor for space programs.

It was held in Intrepid's Space Shuttle Pavilion, which also houses the prototype orbiter Enterprise, so the 25 attendees could (and did) get , a behind the scenes tour of  not only their new Hubble@25 exhibition, but also of the shuttle itself.

But first... what the heck is a Tweet-up, anyway?

Tweet-ups, also known by NASA as Tweetups, are a way for enthusiasts to share what they learn on various social networks, not just Twitter. (NASA now calls them Socials.) They include Instagram, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and blogs such as this.

Think about such events as formal citizen journalism. NASA, the federal government's largest user of social media, has this to say:

NASA Social is a program to provide opportunities for NASA's social media followers to learn and share information about NASA's missions, people, and programs. NASA Social is the next evolution in the agency’s social media efforts. Formerly called NASA Tweetup, NASA Social program includes both special in-person events and social media credentials for individuals who share the news in a significant way. This program has brought thousands of people together for unique social media experiences of exploration and discovery.

That's it. If you use Twitter or Facebook in your everyday life, this is an extension of those Tweets and posts. I was already a Facebook user but didn't think much of Twitter until my work, first as a reporter and then as an web producer, got me to use it. It's an art crafting a succint and informative thought (and maybe also a picture) into just 140 characters. And then to see others either "favorite" that thought or share it with others across the world, literally, well... that's just mind-blowing.

For this Tweet-Up I also used Twuffer, a program which allows one to schedule Tweets in advance. Check-in for the Intrepid event began at 6, with the event itself running from 6:30 to 8 p.m., so I used Twuffer to give followers some background about Hubble and Enteprise (newest Tweets are on top, oldest at the bottom).

And with that... let's take a look at the actual Tweet-up itself!