The Space Shuttle Discovery, STS-121, is scheduled for launch from Kennedy Space Center at 12:49 p.m. Pacific time Saturday. The weather may not cooperate, so the launch may be delayed (and I imagine NASA is jittery about launch too, and will delay it if a fly lands on someone’s console at Mission Control). I’m sure all the major news outlets will cover the launch, especially given controversy over to launch in the first place. If there is a delay, check NASA Shuttle page for more information.

After much furious typing, and more furious copy editing, and even more furious spell checking, I have finally written up my Bad Astronomy review of "Superman Returns". This is my first movie review since that nutbag Tom Cruise thetaned his way through "War of the Worlds", and Superman was a lot more fun to review.

I actually liked it; it was fun, but the more I thought about it afterward the less I liked it. Too many plot inconsistencies, and I think in a lot of parts they just tried too hard. But it was still fun, and that’s sort of the minimum requirement for a movie. Anyway, I had a lot to say in the review, even when I wasn’t griping about comic book science. So give it a read!

Yesterday, I wrote that Congress may slash NASA’s Moon and Mars budget. The House voted today, and the amendment to do this was voted down.

Phew!

Curiously, the vote was more bipartisan than I would have expected. According to House records, 55 Republicans voted for it, and 168 voted against it. 89 Democrats voted for it, and 106 voted against it (one Independent voted for it). The final tally was 145 to 274, the amendment was voted down, and the Moon/Mars initiative was saved for now.

My own Representative, Lynn Woolsey, voted for it. She’ll be hearing from me.

Incidentally, I may have implied in my previous post that NASA would have lost this money. That’s not the case; instead, they would have been prohibited from using it on funding a manned mission to Mars.

Either way, this was a dumb, dumb amendment, and I’m glad it’s gone.

There is an email getting spread around by lots of people that in a few days, telemarketers will get access to everyone’s cell phone numbers, and that if you answer your phone you’ll get charged.

This rumor is false.

When you hear something like this, especially when it’s a forwarded email, always check snopes.com first. They have the real scoop on this, and show that this is a misunderstanding of what’s going on with cell phone companies and directories.

I’m sure some scam will come along eventually to try to scam people using cell phones, but this time, at least, we’re safe.

I saw "Superman Returns" tonight, and I’m working on my review. I have plenty to say! If you want a preview, check out an interview I did with Forbes magazine online.

I’ll tell you this now: the original was still better. Chris Reeve, John Williams… man. I could have done without the whole Lois-Lane-talking-instead-of-singing-while-flying-over-Metropolis bit (and really, did we want to hear Margot Kidder sing anyway?), but it is still my favorite comic book movie. And yes, I saw Spiderman, and no, it cannot hold a candle to the original Superman movie. If you disagree, then feel free to comment. But, alas, you’ll still be wrong.

According to the Washington Post, the House is looking at NASA’s budget today. I reported last week that the budget came out of committee, so it will go to the floor of the House today or soon thereafter for debate and a vote.

The problem is, some Representatives are threatening to cut NASA’s budget, and cut it pretty savagely. I’ve been reporting a lot on Republican efforts to suppress and distort science lately, but this time I’m coming down on the Democrats.

They are looking to take as much as 700 million dollars out of the Vision for Space Exploration, which is the project to put people on the Moon and Mars. The Post quotes Barney Frank:

“It’s a complete and total waste of money,” said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass. “The manned shot to Mars is a pure boondoggle.”

I disagree with him; in fact, I would go so far as to state that’s a truly dumb thing for him to say. Let me be clear: I am not a huge fan of putting humans on Mars soon. It’s a very hard problem, and one we are nowhere near understanding. We need to take this carefully, step-by-step. The first step is being able to get back into space. The second is to explore the Moon robotically. The third is to put people there. The fourth is to keep them there. The fifth is to to study the long-term effects of space on humans (there is a lot of data there, but not enough). The sixth is to figure out how to get people to Mars, then from there how they stay and survive. Those last two steps are very long ones indeed.

Many of these steps can be done concurrently. But NASA is still figuring out how to go to the Moon (oh, let’s be honest– NASA is still trying to figure out how to get into space at all), and it’s too soon to seriously work on Mars. The groundwork, so to speak, needs to be done first.

But a "complete and total waste of money"? That’s crap. Putting money now into the effort means we can figure it out later, and will spur technology and all sorts of other industry, as it always has. Frank is wrong here, wrong and talking through his hat.

Also, by going to the Moon we’ll learn vast amounts on how to go to Mars. Cutting the VSE means hurting, crippling, or destroying going back to the Moon, and let me assure you that is not a boondoggle. It’s the next logical step in space exploration, and not only can we do it, we can do it in the timetable NASA set up if it’s supported correctly.

Now I fear for that support.

The Post mentions that NASA lost a spokesman in Tom Delay, and they’re right. He fought hard for NASA, not the least reason for which was that Johnson Space Center was in his district. But let me be clear here: Delay is as crooked as Lombard Street, and while I want NASA to get what they need, I’d rather they didn’t have to rely on Delay to get it. They’ll have to make other friends in Congress.

But those friends may be hard to find. Unfortunately, to make matters worse, the bill covers a huge amount of funding ground, including wages for police, meaning funding could be shuffled quite a bit.

We’ll see how this pans out. With the Shuttle launch just days away, I wish this bill could be delayed until next week. If wishes were horses… well, Apollo 18, 19, and 20 would be on the Moon, and not collecting dust in museums. The decision Congress makes on this bill may very well have such far-reaching consequences.

Afterthought: the bill may still pass the House, but will need to be reconciled with the Senate’s version coming later this summer as well. Even if this House bill goes poorly, there may still be hope. But that hope will be amplified if this goes well for NASA. In the meantime, contact your Reps!

When the Shuttle lifts off on July 1, the astronauts on board may well be concerned about their safety. But now they have something else to worry about: kidney stones.

A University of Minnesota study revealed that astronauts may be at risk for developing kidney stones. The study simulated microgravity by having twins stay in bed for 30 days, except one of the twins exercised. The twin who didn’t tended to have higher levels of calcium in their urine, a precursor to stones.

I don’t have access to the Journal of Urology, unfortunately, where the study was published (this is, in fact, the first time I have been upset I don’t have access to the Journal of Urology). I’d like to read that article and see what’s what. It sounds interesting, honestly, since I sometimes wonder what we don’t know about long-term exposure to microgravity. We need to know this stuff before we go to Mars!

And I wonder… what will it do to the human body when people live on the Moon, in 1/6th gravity? Our bodies have evolved in one gravity, and may not work properly in lower gravity over long periods of time. What else don’t we know?