Episode 8, Season 2 Don't Fool With a Phantom of Scooby Doo, Where Are You? aired Halloween night 1970. Scooby and the gang investigate the disappearance of a radio station manager and the appearance of a Wax Phantom.
The chase song Pretty Mary Sunlite was performed by Austin Roberts.
Soyuz TMA-1 crew (L-R): Frank de Winne, Sergei Zalyotin and Yuri Lonchakov
Soyuz TMA-1 mission patch
Soyuz TMA-1 was launched October 30, 2002 to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Commander Sergei Zalyotin, Flight Engineer Frank De Winne (ESA) and Yury Lonchakov. The crew returned on Soyuz TM-34, which landed November 10.
The landing crew consisted of Commander Nikolai Budarin, Kenneth Bowersox and Donald Pettit, who returned to Earth May 4, 2003.
Soyuz TMA-1 was in orbit when the Columbia disaster occurred, and that forced a change in how crews were changed out. The Soyuz spacecraft became the sole method to exchange crews on the ISS until the space shuttle program was reinstated in July 2005.
Aleksandr Lazutkin, born October 30, 1957 in Moscow, Russia, made one trip into space. His only mission was aboard Soyuz TM-25, which launched in February 1997. He served as flight engineer with Commander Vasily Tsibliyev and German astronaut Reinhold Ewald (ESA).
He was on board with Tsibliyev when an unmanned supply ship collided with Mir, one of the worst space disasters. It ripped off solar panels and took Mir out of alignment with the sun, causing it to lose power and decompress.
Lazutkin and Michael Foale sealed hatches, saving the rest of the station. Lazutkin sucessfully cut some of the wires connecting Mir and the Spektr module with a dinner knife.
Their quick actions helped save the space station.
Note the mild reaction of the Russians when the crew returned to Earth. The crowd goes mild.
Luna 23, launched October 28, 1974, was a Soviet spacecraft that was intended to land on the moon and return to Earth with a sample of lunar soil. Luna 16 and Luna 20 had returned successfully to Earth with samples taken from depths of 0.3 m. Luna 23 was to drill down to 2.5 m, but upon landing, it tipped over onto its side, thus rendering any sampling impossible.
Scientists manged to remain in contact with the probe until November 9.
J. Geils Band released their tenth studio album Freeze-Frame, October 26, 1981, their most successful album to date. It is the last album to feature Peter Wolf (who was married to Faye Dunaway in the 1970s).
It reached #1 on the Billboard 200 in February 1982 and generated four Top 40 singles, Centerfold, Freeze-Frame, Flamethrower and Angel In Blue.
Gennady Strekalov, born October 26, 1940, went into space 5 times. He lived on Salyut 6, Salyut 7 and Mir.
His first mission into space was aboard Soyuz T-3 as a research cosmonaut November-December 1980 to Salyut 6. He and the rest of the crew of Soyuz T-3 stayed aboard for almost 13 days.
His second trip was as flight engineer on Soyuz T-8 in April 1983 to Salyut 7. The craft failed to dock with the space station and due to damage to Soyuz T-8, the decision was made to return to Earth after only 2 days.
In September 1983, Strekalov attempted to go into space on Soyuz T-10-1 with fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Titov. The launch vehicle was destroyed by fire before the countdown had completed. The escape system fired two seconds before the rocket exploded, saving the crew, battered and bruised but alive.
His third trip, which was successful, was as Flight Engineer on Soyuz T-11 in April 1984 to Salyut 7. He returned to Earth on Soyuz T-10 about a week later.
Gennady's fourth trip was on Soyuz TM-10 as flight engineer to Mir in August 1990. He and Gennadi Manakov spent over 4 months on Mir and returned to Earth December.
His fifth and final trip was on Soyuz TM-21 as flight engineer, launched in March 1995 to Mir. He was part of the crew of the expedition Mir EO-18. He returned to Earth on Atlantis (STS-71) in July.
Soyuz 2, launched October 25, 1968, was an unmanned flight intended to dock with Soyuz 3, performing the first docking maneuver between Soviet space craft. Unfortunately, the maneuver failed to dock with Soyuz 3 manned by Georgy Beregovoy.
I'm not one for supernatural thrillers but this one I enjoyed. Ghost Ship was released October 25, 2002 just in time for Halloween, but I didn't see until much later. With a cast like Gabriel Byrne, Julianna Margulies and Karl Urban, I was sold. Emily Browning, who played the ghost of the young girl, went on to appear with Kristen Chenoweth in American Gods.
The opening scene is rather gruesome and I learned that it had been changed from a even more gory beginning to tone it down. Ick. My first thought was that the ship contained a design flaw that would have been caught before the ship was completely built.
Beyond that, the movie is exciting and contains a lot of chills. The supernatural connection isn't revealed until the end, and it has sort of a happily ever after finale. Until Margulies' character is in the back of the ambulance...
Susan Leigh Still Kilrain, born October 24, 1961 in Augusta, Georgia, is a veteran of two Space Shuttle flights. Her first mission was aboard Columbia (STS-83) as pilot in April 1997. That mission was cut short because of a problem with Fuel Cell #2 and had to land early.
The mission was rescheduled for July 1997 on Columbia (STS-94), when she served as pilot again. It is the only time in history that two space flights with more than one crew member flew with the exact same crew.
Soyuz TMA-06M crew (L-R): Kevin Ford, Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin
Mission patch
Soyuz TMA-06M, launched October 23, 2012, carried members of Expedition 33 to the International Space Station. The crew consisted of Commander Oleg Novitskiy, Evgeny Tarelkin and Kevin Ford (NASA).
They greeted the residents of the ISS Sunita Williams, Yuri Malenchenko and Akihiko Hoshide. They remained on board until March 2013 when they returned to Earth.
This is one of those books I picked up thinking that it
might lead to another interesting series of mysteries with an ancient Egypt
setting. Other authors have done so and
successfully, too. I had hoped Manhunt
by Christian Jacq would be as good as they are.
I was wrong.
It has been quite some time since I have read a book so
poorly written. It has been translated
from French into English so perhaps a lot got lost in the translation, but it
was so messed up I finally stopped reading after I had read just over half it.
Jacq commits the cardinal sins of writing by constant
head-hopping so much you don't know who's point of view the scene is in. It makes reading very confusing. He also uses huge data dumps and the ever intrusive narrator. In one scene, a woman speaks to the main character Kel and after only two greetings, she tells him her entire backstory.
Huh?
Okay, Jacq. You’re an expert on ancient Egypt. We get it.
Characters are cardboard, not developed at all and dialogue is so choppy, it doesn’t
flow like a conversation should. One
paragraph made absolutely no sense and I read it several times to figure it
out.
Maybe his non-fiction work is better written,
but if you want a good ancient Egyptian mystery read Agatha Christie’s Death
Comes as the End, or P. C. Doherty’s Amerokte series or Lauren Haney’s
Lieutenant Bak series
Front Row (L-R): Charles Veach, Tamara Jernigan, William Shepherd
Back Row (L-R): Michael Baker, James Wetherbee, Steven Maclean
Mission patch
Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-52) blasted off October 22, 1992. Its crew consisted of Commander James Wetherbee, Pilot Michael Baker, Charles Veach, William Shepherd, Tamara Jernigan and Steven MacLean (CSA).
The crew carried out experiments and projects that were joint ventures with the Canadian Space Agency, the European Space Agency, Italian Space Agency and France's Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales.
Also, some of Gene Roddenberry's ashes flew on this trip. Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, died the previous October.
Prolific Japanese actor Toshiyuki Nagashima, born October 21, 1956 in Chiba, Japan, has appeared in a number of films, but most importantly, a Gamera movie and THREE Godzilla movies! In 1989, he starred in Godzilla vs. Biollante. In 1996, he appeared in Gamera 2: Attack of the Legion.
His next appearances in Godzilla movies were Godzilla vs Megaguirus and Godzilla against Mechagodzilla.
However, in 2000, he appeared in the science fiction movie Pyrokinesis, which I saw once and loved it. I can't find it anywhere so if you know where I can find a copy, I'd appreciate it.
The dust jacket of Death
of a Musketeer boasts a quote from Margaret Frazer: “A fun read.” I’m not sure I agree with s. Frazer, because
although a good book, I did not find it to be a fun read. I would describe more as ‘put-downable’. It
has a great setting using Alexander Dumas’ characters from his Three Musketeers
to solve a murder.
The story opens just as D’Artagnan has challenged Athos to a
duel.Porthos and Aramis are nearby when
the four of them are attacked by the Cardinal’s men.The musketeers fend off the attackers and
then go off to celebrate.Their drinking
lasts until way into the night.As they
leave the last pub, they encounter another musketeer, who has been murdered,
and they discover it is a woman in disguise.Naturally, the musketeers take it upon themselves to solve the murder of
this woman who has a remarkable resemblance to the Queen.
Most of the antics of the story take place during night
times, and it seems that no one in France sleeps at night.It doesn’t matter what hour it is, everyone
seems to be awake, and the musketeers seem surprised to realize they have
awakened someone.
D’Almeida keeps true to the spirit of the Three Musketeers
but it seems odd to have them try to solve a mystery, using their heads instead
of their swords.The story involves a
plot to discredit the Queen using the Duke of Buckingham, which we’ve seen
before in Dumas’ work. There are times when D’Almeida has a character reminisce
or goes off on a tangent to describe the surroundings.Okay, you’re an expert on 17th
century Paris. We get it.
Other readers might find this one more satisfying than I
did. This is the first one of a series, but I'm not interested in reading anymore.
Bobby "Boris" Pickett's Monster Mash reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 October 20, 1962. Released August 25, it has become an annual favorite for Halloween ever since. Pickett had been performing with his band the Cordials and did an impression of Boris Karloff one night during a performance. The audience loved it and band members encouraged him to do more with it. Thus, Monster Mash was born.
Soyuz MS-02 crew (L-R): Robert Kimbrough, Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko
Mission patch
Soyuz MS-02, launched October 19, 2016, carried members of Expedition 49 to the International Space Station. The crew consisted of Commander Sergey Ryzhikov, Andrey Borisenko and Robert Kimbrough (NASA). Soyuz MS-02 docked with the Poisk, the Mini-Research Module 2 (MRM-2), a docking port installed by Russia added in 2009.
They stayed on board the ISS for 173 days, returning in April 2017.
Soyuz TMA-3 crew (L-R): Pedro Duque, Aleksandr Kaleri, Michael Foale
Mission patch
Soyuz TMA-3, launched October 18, 2003, was the seventh trip to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Commander Aleksandr Kaleri (Roscosmos), Michael Foale (British astronaut, NASA) and Pedro Duque (Spanish astronaut, ESA). Kaleri and Foale were part of Expedition 8, but Pedro Duque returned on Soyuz TMA-2 about a week later.
Kaleri and Foale returned to Earth in April 2004 with Andre Kuipers (Dutch astronaut, ESA) after more than 194 days.
Seated (L-R): David Wolf, Shannon Lucid, Rhea Seddon, Richard Searfoss;
Standing (L-R): John Blaha, William McArthur, Martin Fettman
Mission patch
Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-58), launched October 18, 1993, used for the first time the Portable In-Flight Landing Operations Trainer (PILOT) simulation software. Its crew consisted of Commander John Blaha, Pilot Richard Searfoss, Rhea Seddon, William McArthur, David Wolf, Shannon Lucid and Martin Fettman.
PILOT was tested to be used as a tool to help the mission commander and shuttle pilot maintain proficiency for approach and landing.
During the mission, Rhea Seddon sent a message to her husband astronaut Robert Gibson when she surpassed his total time of almost 633 hours. Gibson teased that he had more launches than she did at the time.
Karl Henize, born October 17, 1926 in Cincinnati, Ohio, traveled into space aboard Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-51-F) July-August 1985 as mission specialist. Chosen as an astronaut by NASA in 1967, he completed jet pilot training at Vance AFB in Enid, Oklahoma(!) and served as support crew for Apollo 15 and Skylab 2-4 missions.
On Challenger, he logged 188 hours in space.
He passed away in October 1993 from high altitude pulmonary edema during a climb of Mount Everest. He was part of test to study how people's bodies would be affected by radiation for long duration space missions.
William "Bill" Anders, born October 17, 1933 in Hong Kong, went into space aboard Apollo 8 in December 1968. It was the first manned spacecraft to orbit Earth's moon and return back to Earth. Anders, with Frank Borman and James Lovell were the first men to see the moon up close. Anders served as the Lunar Module Pilot.
He is credited with taking the famous Earthrise photo of the Earth rising over the moon's horizon, December 24, 1968.
Exactly one year ago, I wrote about The Donald's efforts to end the "War on Coal" as he likes to call it was failing and facing reality. Now after over a year of Secretary of Energy Rick Perry trying to find a plan to keep money-losing coal plants up and running, the White House has shelved the plan.
For years, consumers have been seeking renewable, cleaner and cheaper sources of energy and thus, have been using less coal. So Perry's biggest obstacle has been who going to pay billions of dollars to keep coal plants open and operating. The DOE has also suggested invoking a Korean War-era law, the Defense Production Act, that would put the burden of coming up with the money on Congress.
You can imagine how that went over on the Hill. The White House hasn't commented on this course of action.
During his campaign, The Donald repeatedly told coal miners they were going back to work. And since then he has tried to revitalize an aging industry by rolling back many environmental protections such as allowing coal plants to dump their toxic waste into our waterways. The Donald's promises to take care of the miners has turned into taking care of coal companies and owners. By scaling back on environmental and safety measures, coal miner deaths have skyrocketed since Trump's inauguration.
A storm in the northern hemisphere photographed by Cassini in 2011.
The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, launched October 15, 1997, was a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. Cassini was the fourth space probe to encounter Saturn but the first to enter into orbit.
The Cassini probe was named after Giovanni Cassini, an Italian astronomer who discovered four of Saturn's moons and noted the separation of her rings.
The lander Huygens lander was named after Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens, who discovered Titan and is noted for his studies of Saturn's rings.
Cassini arrived in July 2004 and spent the next 13 years, far beyond its intended mission, studying the planet. It was intentionally sent plunging into Saturn's atmosphere September 2017, to destroy it, preventing it from contaminating other celestial bodies.
The lander Huygens descended to the surface of Titan January 2015. It took the first pictures from the surface of another moon besides ours.
Roberto Vittori, born October 15, 1964 in Viterbo, Lazio, Italy, is an astronaut with the European Space Agency and a veteran of three space flights.
His first mission into space was aboard Soyuz TM-34, launched in April 2002 as flight engineer to the International Space Station. He returned to Earth about two weeks later on Soyuz TM-33.
His second trip into space was aboard Soyuz TMA-6, launched in April 2005 as flight engineer to the ISS. He returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-5 later that month. He became the first European astronaut to visit the ISS twice.
His third flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-134) May-June 2011 as mission specialist to the ISS, the next to last flight of the space shuttle project. Vittori was the last non-American to fly on a space shuttle.
Explorer 7 was launched October 13, 1959 from Cape Canaveral. It measured solary x-rays and cosmic rays. It took the first measurements of the Earth radiation from space and initiated the era of satellite studies of the climate. It transmitted data until February 1961 and went dead in August of that year.
Nie Haisheng, born October 13, 1964, is a Chinese astronaut and a veteran of two missions in space. After high school, he became a fighter pilot in the Chinese Air Force.
His first trip into space was aboard Shenzhou 6 as Flight Engineer in October 2005, the first day of which was his 31st birthday. He spent 5 days in space before returning to Earth.
His second mission was as commander aboard Shenzhou 10 in June 2013 to the Tiangong 1 space laboratory. He and his fellow astronauts spent two weeks in space.
My main man Billy Joel released his sixth studio album 52nd Street, October 12, 1978. The album generated 3 Top 40 hits: My Life, Big Shot and Honesty. It won two Grammys in 1979, Album of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Performance Male. It has gone 7 x platinum.
I think Until The Night is one of the best love songs ever.
Soyuz MS-10, launched today, suffered a booster failure and the crew of Expedition 57 to the International Space Station had to abort. Commander Aleksey Ovchinin and Flight Engineer Nick Hague parachuted to safety and were recovered safe and sound in Kazakhstan.
To the delight of Trekkies everywhere, Engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott appeared in Relics an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The USS Enterprise discovers a Dyson Sphere, and find a missing transport ship, the USS Jenolan. They find a diagnostic loop in the ship's transporter buffer that has allowed Scotty survive for 75 years.
Scotty struggles to fit into the future and catch up on the last 75 years, but manages to prove that he is still useful.
Soyuz TMA-11, launched October 10, 2007, carried two members of Expedition 16 and the first Malaysian astronaut to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Yuri Malenchenko (Roscosmos), Peggy Whitson (NASA) and Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, who flew as part of an agreement between the Russian and Malaysian governments.
Shukor stayed on the ISS for about 10 days and returned to Earth on Soyuz TMA-10. Malenchenko and Whitson stayed on board for almost 192 days and returned in April 2008. The first Korean astronaut, Yi So-yeon, joined them on the return trip. She had arrived about 10 days earlier on Soyuz TMA-12.
During re-entry, Soyuz TMA-11 made a ballistic maneuver, which meant its descent was steeper than normal, due to a malfunction. They landed safe and sound about 475 km from their target.
Franco Malerba, born October 10, 1945, went into space aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-46) as payload specialist in July-August 1992. He is the first Italian citizen in space. He was part of the Tethered Satellite System project, which was a joint effort between NASA and the Italian Space Agency. However the satellite could not be deployed due to a tangled tether line and the project was scrubbed until STS-75 in 1996.
I picked up this book when we were in Hawai’i two years ago,
looking for inspiration for my own Hawai’ian mystery. Kneubuhl is a Honolulu playwright and writer
for a television series “Biography Hawai’i”.
It is the first book in a series
of mysteries set in 1930s Hawai’i.
Set in 1935 Honolulu, the story opens as the new year starts
when a museum curator is found murdered.A priceless painting is stolen from the museum at the same time.(I felt a Daniel Silva-esque novel coming on
but was quickly appeased.)Kneubuhl’s
sleuths are a British-speaking Samoan-born Ned Manusia and Mina Beckwith, a
Honolulu socialite and newspaper reporter of Polynesian descent.Despite the fact, Mina’s twin sister Nyla is
married to a local police detective Todd Forrest, Ned and Mina take on the
mystery themselves, since Ned brought paintings from England for display.
It isn’t long before the painting is recovered.With art theft removed as a motive for the
murder, Ned and Mina have to determine what is.By now, more people are killed and they stumble upon a possible cover-up
of the U.S. government having a hand in Hawai’i’s last king’s death, over forty
years before.King Kalekaua died in San
Francisco in 1891.The official cause of
death is listed as Bright’s disease, an inflammation of the kidneys, but
Kneubuhl’s story entertains the idea that he was poisoned to pave the way for
the U.S. government to end the monarch and annex the islands.
Not really a stretch of the imagination.
Kneubuhl infuses a lot of history, imagery and the
environment of mid-1930s Hawai’i but they come across as data dumps and tend to
take the reader out of the story.Also,
she describes Mina’s and Nyla’s clothes in every scene but unnecessarily.
One of the most entertaining movies ever, and one of the best ensemble casts ever assembled, The Princess Bride was released October 9, 1987. Directed by Rob Reiner, It is one of the few movies that is required viewing for everyone. Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Billy Crystal, Carol Kane and Peter Falk are just a few of the stars. Not many films have so many lines that are quotable as The Princess Bride.
Yury Usachov, born October 9, 1957 in the former Soviet Union, is a veteran of four space flights, including two on Soyuz spacecraft and two on space shuttles.
Usachov's first trip into space was aboard Soyuz TM-18 in January 1994 as part of the Mir EO-15 crew. He performed EVAs to assess potential damage done to Mir when Soyuz TM-17 hit the space station twice while leaving. They found no damage. He returned to Earth in July 1994.
His second trip to space was aboard the Soyuz TM-23 spacecraft in February 1996 as part of the Mir EO-21 crew. Shannon Lucid joined him for part of his stay. He returned to Earth September 1996.
Usachov's third mission was on Atlantis (STS-101) in May 2000 as mission specialist to the International Space Station. The mission lasted almost 10 days.
His fourth and final trip into space was aboard Discovery (STS-102) in March 2001 to the ISS. He was the commander of Expedition 2, which lasted until August, when he returned to Earth on Discovery (STS-105).
Over the course of his career, he has performed seven EVA and has spent 553 days in space.
Def Leppard's power ballad Love Bites from the monster album Hysteria, reached #1 October 8, 1988. It was the sixth single released from the album and the only one to reach #1. It enjoyed the momentum generated by Pour Some Sugar On Me, which was released just previously.
Janice E. Voss, born October 8, 1956 in South Bend, Indiana, was a veteran of 5 space shuttle missions.
Voss' first mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-57) in June-July 1993 as mission specialist. During the flight, the astronauts conducted numerous experiments inside the SpaceHab module.
Her second flight was aboard Discovery (STS-63) as mission specialist in February 1995, the first mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir program.
Her third flight was aboard Columbia (STS-83) as mission specialist in April 1997. The mission was cut short due to a problem with Fuel Cell #2.
Her fourth mission was aboard Columbia (STS-94) as mission specialist in July 1997. This was the make-up flight for STS-83 which had to be cut short.
Voss' fifth and final mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-99) as mission specialist in February 2000. It was the last solo mission of Endeavour, since the rest were devoted to the International Space Station.
Janice passed away in February 2012 from breast cancer.
Brent Jett, born October 5, 1958 in Pontiac, Michigan, is a veteran of four space shuttle missions. He became a Naval aviator, and was deployed overseas aboard the USS Saratoga to the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean.
Jett's first mission into space aboard Endeavour (STS-72) in January 1996 as pilot. He spent almost 9 days in space.
His second mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-81) as pilot in January 1997 to the space station Mir, spending just over 10 days in space.
His third trip into space was aboard Endeavour (STS-97) as commander in December 2000 to the International Space Station.
His fourth and final mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-115) as commander in September 2006, the first assembly mission to the International Space Station since the Columbia disaster.
In another unsurprising failure, Luna 7, launched October 4, 1965, crashed onto the moon three days later. It managed to carry out its mid-course correction October 5, but then it lost attitude control as it approached the lunar surface. It plummeted to the moon at a very high speed.
Queen's rock classic Another One Bites the Dust reached #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 for three weeks in 1980, October 4-18. It spent 13 weeks in the Top Five, and 15 weeks in the Top Ten. It remained on the charts for 31 weeks, more than any other single in 1980.
It is ranked as #34 on Billboard's All Time Top Songs and has sold over 7 million copies. The song won an American Music Award for Favorite Rock Single.
The three astronauts who make up the crew of Expedition 56 to the International Space Station have returned safely to Earth, touching down in Kazakhstan. The crew members are Commander Drew Feustel, Flight Engineer Ricky Arnold and Soyuz Commander Oleg Artemyev. They spent 197 days in space, traveling over 83 million miles.
Charles "Charlie" Duke, born October 3, 1935 in Charlotte, North Carolina, went to the moon on Apollo 16 as Lunar Module Pilot in April 1972. He became the tenth and youngest person to walk on the moon.
Mercury-Atlas 8 astronaut Walter "Wally" Schirra, Jr.
Mission patch
Walter Schirra blasted off in Mercury-Atlas 8, Sigma 7 spacecraft, October 3, 1962. It was the fifth manned mission of NASA's Mercury program and the third orbital mission. Schirra orbited Earth 6 times in just over 9 hours.
The mission was considered a technical success since all engineering objectives were completed. The spacecraft used less fuel than expected and Schirra returned healthy after nine hours in space. However, heavy cloud cover and bad photography exposure of Earth's surface were not productive. The mission wasn't hyped as much since the success of the previous two orbital flights and the Cuban Missile Crisis had the public's attention focused elsewhere.
