Soyuz MS-06 fixin' to blast off this afternoon!

Soyuz MS-06 crew: Joe Acaba, Alexander Misurkin, Mark Vande Hei

This afternoon about 5:17pm EDT, the next crew of the International Space Station will blast off aboard Soyuz MS-06 from Baikonur in Kazakhstan and dock with the ISS approximately 6 hours later.  The crew consists of Lt. Col. Mark Vande Hei (Falls Church, VA; first flight), Joseph Acaba (first Puerto Rican astronaut; third flight) and cosmonaut/commander Alexander Misurkin (Yershichi, Smolensk Oblast, Russia; second flight)

They will join Randy Bresnik, Paolo Nespoli and Sergey Ryanzanski already on the ISS since July 28.  The new crew will continue experiments in biology, physical science and Earth science.

What?  No chemistry?

Just 10 days ago, Peggy Whitson, Jack Fisher and Fyodor Yurchikhin returned to Earth from the ISS, splatting down near Dzhezkagan in Kazakhstan.

Happy birthday, Tommy Shaw!

Tommy Shaw, born September 11, 1953 in Montgomery, Alabama, is best known as a guitarist and vocalist for the rock band Styx! He's been with the group since 1975, Crystal Ball being his first album with them.

Shaw wrote Renegade and Blue Collar Man for their Pieces of Eight album.  He performed Too Much Time on My Hands from Paradise Theatre.

Happy birthday, astronaut Robert Crippen!

Robert "Bob" Crippen, born September 11, 1937, was aboard the first ever Space Shuttle flight, STS-1, on Columbia in April 1981.  He served as commander on 3 more missions, each on Challenger.  His second mission, with Sally Ride, was STS-7 in June 1983, during which satellites for Canada and Indonesia were released.

His third mission (STS-41-C) in April 1984 involved the first satellite repair operation, capturing, fixing and then releasing the Solar Maximum Mission satellite.

His final mission (STS-41-G) in October 1984 was the first 7-man crew.  He was scheduled to command STS-62-A but that mission was cancelled after the Challenger explosion.

He has been inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame and the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, but more importantly, he was voted one of 1981's sexiest men by Playgirl magazine!

"The X-Files" premieres 1993

One of my favorite shows ever, The X-Files, premiered on Fox TV September 10, 1993.  Starring David Duchovny as Fox Mulder, Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully and Mitch Pileggi (woof!) as Walter Skinner, the show delved into the paranormal, aliens and government conspiracies.

Bad Blood, Season 5 Episode 12, with Luke Wilson as the vampire sheriff is probably my favorite episode of the series.

Cosmonaut Yevgeny Khrunov born 1933

Yevgeni Vassilyevich Khrunov, born September 10, 1933 in the former Soviet Union, was a cosmonaut who went into space aboard Soyuz 5, January 15, 1969 and returned to Earth on Soyuz 4 January 17.

Although he was not part of the crew transfer, the Soyuz 4 - 5 docking was the first time a crew from one spacecraft had been transferred to another.  It was the only time this was done via EVA.  Apollo 9 would perform the first interior crew transfer a few months later.

Khrunov passed away in May 2000 from a heart attack.

Hall & Oates release "Private Eyes" 1981

Daryl Hall and John Oates released their tenth studio album Private Eyes, September 1, 1981.  The platinum album generated two #1 singles and went to #5 on the Billboard 200.

The second single I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) spent a week on the top of the R&B charts, which is a rare accomplishment for a couple of white guys.

Pioneer 11 encounters Saturn 1979

Launched April 6, 1973, Pioneer 11 became the first space probe to encounter Saturn on September 1, 1979.  It followed Pioneer 10 through the asteroid belt and past Jupiter, but then headed toward Saturn.  During its flyby, it discovered a new ring and almost collided with a new moon discovered the day before, Epimetheus.  After the Voyager flybys, it was discovered that Janus (already known moon) and Epimetheus occupy the same orbit and are about the same size, so it could have been either one.

On September 29, 1995, NASA announced it was closing the project after over 22 years.