Tom's WEB Blog

Head on over to Windows Update. SP2 is out and ready to improve your Vista system if your unlucky enough to be running it! :)

Space shuttle Atlantis landed safely in California on Sunday, bringing home seven triumphant astronauts after their successful service call on the Hubble Space Telescope. After two days of delay due to storms, the third time was the charm for Atlantis as it touched down on the dry lakebed runway at Edwards Air Force Base at 11:40 a.m. EDT to end a 13-day mission to the 19-year-old Hubble. Rainy weather thwarted the shuttle's attempts to land in Florida earlier on Friday and Saturday. Returning to Earth with Altman were pilot Greg C. Johnson and mission specialists Michael Good, Megan McArthur, John Grunsfeld, Michael Massimino and Andrew Feustel. A pressure glitch in one of Atlantis' auxiliary power units set off an alarm during landing, but was never an issue, mission managers said. Altman and his crew spent just under a week linked with Hubble, where spacewalking astronauts installed two new instruments, replaced aging batteries and gyroscopes, and revived two long-dead instruments that were never designed to be opened, let alone repaired, in space. The result: A rejuvenated Hubble more powerful than ever before, one that is capable of peering back to when the universe, now 13.7 billion years old, was just a nascent 500 million years of age. The space telescope's new instruments and repaired tools should continue its work to probe the structure of the universe, black holes and the existence of dark energy. Atlantis' last mission cost about $1.1 billion to fix Hubble, though nearly $10 billion has been invested in the telescope since its inception and 1990 launch. NASA will have to pay an extra $1.8 million to ferry Atlantis back to its hangar here at the Kennedy Space Center, a process which should take a week and depends on good weather. The shuttle orbited Earth 197 times and flew 5.3 million miles during the trek, which marked NASA's 126th shuttle flight and the 30th mission for Atlantis. NASA plans to fly up to eight more shuttle missions to complete construction of the International Space Station. Well done!

Get that Vista system to look like 7...

http://forum.thewindowsclub.com/windows-tips-tutorials-articles/26198-make-vista-look-behave-like-windows-7-a.html

http://woa2.com/a-walk-through-time/

This is very cool! Just check it out and enjoy the photos :)

Looking good for around 2:00pm Monday EST.

STS-125: Mission to Service NASA's Hubble Space Telescope
Veteran astronaut Scott Altman will command the final space shuttle mission to service NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, and retired Navy Capt. Gregory C. Johnson will serve as pilot. Mission specialists rounding out the crew are: veteran spacewalkers John Grunsfeld and Mike Massimino, and first-time space fliers Andrew Feustel, Michael Good and Megan McArthur. During the 11-day mission's five spacewalks, astronauts will install two new instruments, repair two inactive ones and perform the component replacements that will keep the telescope functioning into at least 2014. In addition to the originally scheduled work, Atlantis also will carry a replacement Science Instrument Command and Data Handling Unit for Hubble. Astronauts will install the unit on the telescope, removing the one that stopped working on Sept. 27, 2008, delaying the servicing mission until the replacement was ready.

Happy Birthday Daryl!

20! Damn I feel old!

And any one that sees Bingo today...

rub his head and tell him he's been a good boy for 11 years!

The 13th Annual Susquehanna Valley Shutterbugs Juried Show is tonight at the Taber Museum. If your downtown for "First Friday" swing by the show between 7:00 and 9:00 pm for the food and wine reception and to cast your votes for popular choice. I have 3 photos that made the show hanging. Keeping my fingers crossed that the judges liked at least one!

Had a great time at Ricketts Glen on Sunday. Weather couldn't have been better. Check out some of the photos from the day on my Flickr Stream.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77361276@N00/

Have to go again when the weather isn't so nice. It was had to capture the falls with so much light!