Sunday, May 27, 2012
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Dragon X docking with the ISS
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Commercial spaceflight marked a new first this week when the Dragon X capsule docked with the International Space Station and unloaded a half ton of groceries and stuff. It cost less to launch than a similar NASA or Russian designed space hauler, is recoverable and can be made into a crew carrier to replace the shuttle in just another year or so.
There is even a project going with Space X and Bigelow Aerospace to launch an inflatable space hotel in low Earth Orbit. How cool is that? Meanwhile Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites and Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic are experimenting with piggy-back launch vehicles and both airstrip and tail first landings. California's XCOR has cut Branson's per passenger ticket price by half already as competition pushes the development of commercial spaceflight forward at breath-taking pace. And despite the nay-sayers, there appears to be plenty of room for everybody in the market.
I figure after, the after the first manned commercial orbital mission, the next milestone will be when we see this....
Not sure whether it'll be Jimmie Johnson or Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the controls, but I'm a Ford guy, so it'll depend on who Ford sponsors as to who I root for.
Tom
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www.twayneking.blogspot.com
Playing Since: 1973
Experience Level: Novice
Interests:
[Jamming] [Socializing] [Helping]
Occupation: Freelance Writer, nonprofit consultant & grant writer
Gender: Male
Age: 72
My Instruments:
Squared Eel custom banjo, Goya classical guitar
Favorite Bands/Musicians:
Clancy Brothers, Earl Scruggs, Steve Martin, Connie Dover, Emmy Lou and anyone, Willie Nelson and anyone, Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Gordon Lightfoot, Alison Kraus, Nickel Creek, Joe Bethancourt
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Created 6/26/2007
Last Visit 5/9/2026
I grew up in the small Seventh-day Adventist college town of Keene, Texas where I graduated in 1976 with a degree in English-Communications. I married a Scots-Irish-Indian woman from Monroe, Louisiana and raised three children and some cats and dogs, birds and fish. I’ve taught school, taught swimming, canoeing and sailing, knot tying, camping and astronomy for kids. I’ve water skied on canoe paddles, assorted bits of lumber and my elbows. I have a couple of canoes and a catamaran, 3 guitars, two banjos, a dulcimer, a mandolin, a fiddle, 2 recorders, a penny whistle, fife, a bag of harmonicas, a bodhrain, pair of bones and a jaw harp or two – all of which I play badly.
I’ve helped start up 6 nonprofit organizations in 25 years and raised millions of dollars none of which ever managed to stick to my bank account. I’ve won awards for documentary screen-writing, published poetry and short stories and a book on how to organize a charity golf tournament. I was appointed to a two year term on the Public Transportation Advisory Committee for the Great State of Texas by the Governor and I work as an advocate for seniors, people with disabilities and low income families. I’m a Reagan conservative, which puzzles my fellow advocates, who think I should spontaneously combust from the sheer incongruity. On the other hand, I’ve taught them to speak Republican which has improved their rate of success with the state legislature. I am currently raising funds to expand Tiger Creek Wildlife Refuge here in East Texas. My advocacy work includes children’s issues, expanding public transportation, creating barrier free housing and promoting community wide accessibility standards that allow transportation challenged Texans to fully participate in their communities.
I have three grandchildren, a son and daughter-in-law, my beautiful daughter and her new husband and we live on beautiful Lake Palestine near Tyler, Texas. My middle son, an amazing young man, passed away more than a year ago while finishing his senior year at UT Tyler. He was going to be a teacher.
Since I wrote this, we moved away from the lake, lost almost everything and moved to Puyallup, Washington to live with my wife's sister and brother-in-law. In the midst of a recession and massive unemployment, it seemed to be the thing to do. We've cut our expenses drastically and I'm able to work on finishing up the books I have been working on.
