Valley of Gwangi

It sounds like porn, but it's really cowboys! vs. dinosaurs!

Cinco de Mayo

From Nasa:

May 5, 1961

Forty-seven years ago today, astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space. He launched aboard his Mercury-Redstone 3, named Freedom 7, to make an historic 15-minute suborbital flight.

This image shows Shepard in capsule before launch. After several delays and more than four hours in the capsule, Shepard was ready to go, and he famously urged mission controllers to 'fix your little problem and light this candle.'

Close Call

Apparently a Pac-man ghost sped by the planet Earth yesterday at a distance of about 334k miles, or about 1.4 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. It is about 250 meters across and was only discovered 3 months ago.

Mercury Flyby

The NASA space probe Messenger took this picture of the planet Mercury during a flyby last Monday. The probe was getting a gravity assist from the planet that will help it achieve its final orbit in 2011.

Missed It!

I forgot yesterday was perihelion day, or the Earth's closest approach to the sun this year. If it seemed a little warmer than usual in the Northern Hemisphere, that may have been why. Note that it was ass-cold in North Texas yesterday.