This is the week #StarTrek Discovery ends. Yesterday I did a walkaround of its namesake, the #NASA Space Shuttle orbiter Discovery. At the Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd_VkhMdNlk

#Politics #Trump Just my opinion, but I think Judge Cannon is fishing for any excuse to dismiss all charges. Since when is a prosecutor supposed to show "professional courtesy" to a defendant?! That's nowhere in the law.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/28/politics/trump-gag-order-cannon-classified-documents/index.html

Stupid tour guide humor ... Whilst tagging along on a docent's walking tour of Udvar-Hazy today ...

Docent: "Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were two of the Apollo 11 astronauts. Does anyone remember who the third was?"

Me: "The first director of the National Air and Space Museum!"

We laugh. No one else does. 🙄

(Spoiler ... Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins was the first director of the NASM.)

#Israel #Gaza

I think the only reason Netanyahu copped to this is the increasing international pressure after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him. ICC can't enforce it, of course, but he's eroded Israel's goodwill around the world and this incident shows he's just as bad as the people he's fighting.

(He, not all of Israel.)

https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-05-27-24/index.html

#Space #NASA

Visited an old friend today at the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center. I led some of the tours that let guests see Discovery and Endeavour prepped for delivery to museums after the Shuttle program ended.

Just add Lee Majors ... The Northrop M2-F3 undergoing restoration at the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center. Will it cost $6 million?🤔

#SpaceCoast

A lightning strike yesterday afternoon started a wildfire in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. The fire is burning west of the #NASA #KSC runway.

The map is courtesy of MINWR and Charles Boyer on Zombie Twitter.

The photo is Mr. Boyer having fun with the wildfire. 🤣

This sign could have any number of interpretations. 🤔

Nothing says #Florida like moss.

#Politics From #CNN: Special counsel Jack Smith asks for #Trump gag order in classified documents case, requests Trump be banned from falsely claiming #FBI tried to kill him.|

(Good luck getting Judge Cannon to do anything that would restrict Trump ... 🙄 )

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/24/politics/trump-gag-order-trump-classified-documents/index.html

#Space #SpaceCoast

Today's #NASA #Boeing audio-only telecon about the latest delay in the #Starliner crewed test flight. Now targeting no earlier than June 1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abzjDLcilGk

#Space #SpaceCoast #NASA

"#Boeing has reportedly had to eat $1.5 billion in #Starliner cost overruns, and it can ill afford a failure with astronauts aboard, especially after the two crashes of its 737 Max 8 jets and a door plug blowout during a 737 Max 9 flight this year to Ontario International Airport in San Bernardino County."

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2024-05-22/boeing-starliner-launch-delays-helium-international-space-station

#Politics From #CNN: Once again, Senate Republicans block bipartisan border bill. (Some Democrats opposed it too.)

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/23/politics/senate-border-bill-vote/index.html

#Politics From Baton Rouge Advocate: #Louisiana legislature passes bill requiring prison time for using an #Abortion pill without a prescription.

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/legislature/louisiana-legislature-approves-bill-on-abortion-pills/article_f5f9b10a-f8d8-5015-80b1-ba2390178828.html

#CoSoWriters

Many of you know I've been working on a history/poli sci book about Florida space policy and politics.

Although I don't officially have a publisher, I do have an academic publisher who's seen each chapter and assured me, "We are seriously interested."

This morning, I emailed off the completed manuscript to them.

Now we wait.

What else to do with my life? 🤔

The #Tomorrowland crew filmed a gag reel showing David Nix doing a pilot for a new Disney show on NBC, "The World of Tomorrow Science Hour." It wasn't used in the movie, but it was on the DVD.

If you pay closely, there are LOTS of easter eggs in this five-minute clip.

Clearly, Nix doesn't do well with children. (4/4)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_CRou3Ll7M

For me, David Nix is the crux of #Tomorrowland. But we never really get his back story.

My fanfic was to explain his origin. As I deep-dove into reserach, I found a lot of my suppositions aligned quite nicely with what the producers established in the movie and the prequel novel.

"Tomorrowland Down" starts a year after the prequel novel. You can download the PDF if interested. (3/x)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QqeSgzjmlaTY8NnfkLgshqAr1laRxhR2/view

The friend who deep-dove into #Tomorrowland production created this gag trailer for "ToxiCosmos 3" ... If you watch carefully, throughout the movie there are billboards and whatnot promoting an upcoming disaster film. Brad Bird was mocking all the apocalypse movies coming out at the time. "Tomorrowland" is the optimistic message. "ToxiCosmos 3" is the antithesis. (2/x)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw8Bxvd7cLk

When David Nix gave this speech, I thought of a line from another Brad Bird film -- "You got me monologuing!"

This was the moment in the #Tomorrowland movie when you realize the antagonist actually has a point. The best villains are the ones convinced of their righteousness. (1/x)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi1rsHkpRLE

I always thought the spiritual home for the +U universe was EPCOT, at least the original version.

For years, when you exited the Spaceship Earth attraction, you walked into "Project Tomorrow," which fit perfectly with the notion of the park as a recruiting depot. It even had a mural that looked much like the movie Tomorrowland's landscape. But, again, Disney ran away from the wink.

We created a recruitment film as a gag. It's still online. (5/5)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puI7gA2hgB0