The other Washington DC photos

It wasn't until last week that it really dawned on my that I'd be in Washington to see Discovery. There were NASA booths and tables all over the museum, and one of the Imax movies was the shuttle repair of Hubble. And I'll admit, during the launch sequence, I cried.

They have the shuttle in the Space Hanger, and it looks like there were still putting things back in order that weekend. But right next to the shuttle wing is the Freedom 7 capsule, which sat on top of a Mercury Redstone rocket. The whole capsule, including retro-rocket package and parachutes, would fit in my cubicle. So that made for an interesting comparison.

I still want my jetpack (damnit!).

Here is one of the original anthropomorphic robots used to test space suits.

Just in case you ever wondered about the impact SF/F has on the sciences, there was this display.

A corner of computers used for the early space program. That cabinet in back? That's 4k of memory. Not 4 meg or 4 gig, 4k. The iPod Touch I carried in my pocket held more memory and raw processing power than all of the computers displayed… combined. Heck, the camera I used to take this photo had more computing power.

And I include this shot just so everybody know that rocket scientist also have wicked senses of humor (this was a "green room" for the NASA engineers). You'll have to embiggen to get the joke.