Tamera's Take: Space Oddity, Cats & Technology

Tamera's Take is about being here.
Are you ready?  I am.

The circumference of the Earth is 24,902 miles (40,075 km) at the Equator.  From pole to pole, Earth is only 24,860 miles (40,008 km) around.  The Earth's gravitational pull is slightly weaker at the Equator.  These are both due to the Equatorial Bulge caused by the Earth's rotation, or spin.  The slightly weaker gravitational pull and momentum of the spinning Earth makes equatorial regions ideal places for space launches.      

Thank you BBC Future for the above information.

Ground control to Major Tom.

The United States launches most spacecraft from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as close to the Equator as possible in the continental U.S.

NASA Kennedy Space Center

Side Note:  As I am typing this segment of Tamera's Take, I decide to "fact check" the Kennedy Space Center.  A second countdown is underway at this very moment for Orbital ATK CRS-4.  The first countdown on December 4th was cancelled due to high wind gusts.

Cygnus Spacecraft                        Courtesy NASA

Maybe not as exciting as a Space Shuttle launch, but equally important.

This Atlas V Rocket is carrying the Cygnus spacecraft, which contains four tons of supplies for the International Space Station, including scientific experiments.

If you visit Florida you can get up close and personal with this technology at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Worth the trip!


At latitude "0", the Equator runs directly through Ecuador (and 13 other countries).  Mark Twain wrote about his travels around the world in the book "Following the Equator".  Although he never made it to Ecuador, I cannot help but feel that he wrote about it just the same.  After all, the Spanish word for Equator is -

You guessed it.  Ecuador.

There are no rockets or spacecraft in Ecuador.  No launchpads.  That does not mean one does not think about space, even in the small fishing town of Crucita Ecuador.

Tang in Ecuador!

Without the ability to send technology to space, we would not have a lot of the gadgets that we rely on every day. Would that be a terrible thing?  It does make you wonder.

I wonder.  Would we still have Tang?  Does anyone still have Tang?  The answer of course is "yes", and "yes".   Tang was invented in the 1950's.  Contrary to popular belief it was not invented for the U.S. space program.  You can even buy Tang in Ecuador.

It comes in many flavors other than orange.  I know because we bought it.

With the help of satellite communications, an excellent flight crew and a Boeing 767, we
Crossed the Line.  We did not go through the ritual that sailors have for over 400 years (to transition from Pollywog to Shellback) but we went through a ritual all the same.

I guess you could say we are part of the (Celestial) Order of King Neptune.  That suits me.

One of Many Sunsets

We spent our first week here without cell phones, television, cable, or radio.

We had access to those things.

The two main cell carriers are Claro and Movistar.  You can get cable through DirecTV, and apparently there are a lot of WiFi companies.  Helpful hint - bring an unlocked cell phone.


We decided it was okay to unplug (mostly) for a little while.  I have to admit that we used WiFi.  It was a necessary evil to help us navigate through our new surroundings; to stay in contact with family, close friends and let people know we were doing just fine.  We used it to write this blog.

Full Moon - We Need a Telescope!

How did we spend most our time that first week?

We swam in the ocean. We walked. A lot. We walked on the beach, along the Calle Malecon, and we walked through the town.  We met a lot of people.

Walking lets you see and do things that are practically invisible to most people while driving or riding in a car.  


We spent our evenings on the roof terrace watching the sun set.  We watched the stars, wishing we had a telescope.  Night Sky helped us identify constellations.  Even when there were clouds obscuring our view.  Technology.

Those evenings we would talk about how much fun we had.  Compare notes of what we had seen. Show each other the pictures that we took.  We took hundreds of pictures. That is easy to do when they are digital.

There is that technology again.  Once you have it, there is no escaping it.  Almost.

 Our LG Washing Machine with Fuzzy Logic

We looked at the stars some more.  Can you see Pisces this time of year? Or even in this part of the hemisphere?  I will have to "look that up".  There is that technology, yet again. We really need a telescope.

Orion
Canis Major
Gemini
Taurus

These constellations were clearly visible without technology or a telescope.  A telescope that I still wish we had.

There are many myths about the sea and the stars.  They seem connected.  You can thank the Greeks and Romans for a lot of that.

Thank you!

There are plenty of modern day myths.  Chupacabra is one of our favorites.  Then there are the myths created everyday on Facebook.  Not our favorites.

Another myth was thinking that we would spend an entire week without technology.  In reality, we probably could have.

Exactly where is that Pisces constellation?  Right next to the Aries constellation.

Where they should be.  

CAT returns from his walk.

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