Lucy in the sky with.....

Brandy the Astronaut!

Diamond planets!  Who would have thought?  I am not educated enough to be an astronaut, nor an astrophysicist  But I love space anyway.  My heart broke for Pluto.  I cried for the Columbia...twice.  Once for the first shuttle launch (tears of joy), and once when we lost her(tears of despair).  I cried for Challenger.  I cried for Atlantis, the final launch.  I have stayed up late and woke up early to see the shuttles land and take off.  I even saw the shuttle land in California and heard it's sonic boom from hundreds of miles from it's actual landing spot.  I have seen satellites and the ISS  looking like nothing but a star inching it's way across the night sky.  I cant tell you how many times I have stayed up to see meteor showers or to try and get a glimpse of a comet going by.  As a child I even had a star that I claimed as my own.  I would go out on the swings next to my apartment and swing as high as I could, all the while keeping an eye on my star.  I still know where it is.  I have never looked it up though.  I dont want to find out that someone else has claimed and named it some awful combination of letters and numbers.  I am perfectly happy in my delusion that I have my own personal star.

In the Mercury capsule

So, when my inlaws came out to California from Texas last week, we took them up to the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland.  It was so much more fun than I expected it to be.  I am not really sure what I expected to begin with, but it wasnt this much fun.  I got to dress up as an astronaut...or at least stick my head through a black cloth and have my face stick out of a helmet.  I got to put my head in a nasty dirty helmet...but it was worth it!  I sat in a Mercury capsule.  I got to stand in an impression of astronaut footprints.

Walking on the moon

We had fun playing in the "Zero Gravity room".   It was actually a camera with a space station looking background that flashed "jump" and took a picture of you jumping in the air looking like you were in zero gravity.  We also got to be on tv with John Glenn on his first space walk.  I'd show you my picture, but I look more like a zombie than a person walking on the moon, so you'll have to do with seeing my husband's picture. LOL  There was a video game to try and land a lunar module.  We saw a real moon rock.  They had a scale that showed your weight on earth...*sigh*, the moon, and on Mars.

Footsteps of greatness

Unfortunately it was super foggy that night so we didnt get to try out any of the telescopes.  We did get a nice slide show presentation from one of the volunteers.  We learned a lot about the origins of the telescopes and the Space and Science Center.

To top off the night, they were having their summer SciFi Saturday series.  We got to see Close Encounters of the Third Kind in their megadome theater.  I havent seen that movie in years!  It was one of my favorite movies as a kid.  The only downside to the movie was some man who came and sat next to me during the movie.  He had a thermos of beer that he had apparently been walking around with all day.  So guess what happened when he opened it?  It sprayed all down our row of seats with me getting the brunt of the beer blast in my face.  I dont even like beer!!

Overall it was a great day out.  Beautiful views, wonderful learning experience and fun.  If you are ever in the Bay Area, I'd suggest a day trip there.  You can even hike in the redwoods behind the center!