To Love
Varberg 21st of July, 2011.
Hi Love!
Did you see the last Atlantis space shuttle touchdown in Florida? Here it was 11:56 in the morning on thursday the 21st. Where you live it would have been about 4 in the morning I think.
They say this is the last one of these exciting flights out in space. Well I certainly hope not!!! The shuttles out in space have been both exciting, learning and a kind of window out to something we don`t know so much about.
Now, this is really funny, Love! For 30 years these space flights have been going on. And do you know that 30 years ago your mum was 10 years old and your dad 12. So it started when they were in the age you`re now!
Do you know of the Swedish astrounat Christer Fuglesang who went on such a ride in 2006 and also in 2009? He has been taking 5 space walks, and these took him 31 h 54 min.
I would say he was celebrated as a real hero when he returned to Sweden!
Granddad Anders is making a list of all the space shuttles and the date of their maiden voyages. Would you have liked to be on one of these shuttles?
This is granddad Anders list of the shuttles:
Space shuttle Columbia, April 12 1981.
Space shuttle Challenger, April 4, 1983.
Space shuttle Discovery, August 30, 1984.
Space shuttle Atlantis, Oct. 3, 1985.
Space shuttle Endevour, May 7, 1992.
Each shuttle flew about 20 missions. One of the most exciting missions was to repair the Hubble telescope that works so that we here on earth can see out in space far, far away, millions of light years. The shuttles also contributed to the building of ISS, International Space Station. And do you know what the last space shuttle brought back today? 2,5 tons of garbage!!!
Maybe one could call it a 30-years-going-on-era-of-space-flights. See this link from NASA http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/the_shuttle/
Människans hem Home of man
Nu är det natt över jorden. Now there`s night on earth.
Darrande stjärna, gläns! Shivering star, shine!
Världarna vandra så fjärran. The worlds walk so far away.
Mörkret är utan gräns. Darkness has no boundries.
Marken och mullen och mörkret, The ground, the soil and the darkness
varför älskar jag dem? why do I love them?
- Stjärnorna vandra så fjärran. The stars walk so far away.
Jorden är människans hem. The earth is the home of man.
The Swedish writer Erik Blomberg wrote this poem all the way back in 1920. (Sorry I can`t translate the beautiful rhymes, but anyway you get the idea of the poem.)But we (on earth) have been curious about space, for a much longer time!
Here is another name fpr the earth. TELLUS. Do you know any more?
Hope you`re having a good summer! (Here is not too hot. I`ve only swimmed in the sea 4 times!)
Lots of love from grandma Gerd
granddad Anders (auntie) Cajsa
Want to know more? Look here
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?collection_id=67411
