Tomorrow night is the premiere of Episode 2 of Bad Universe! And just in time, Discovery Channel has put up a new teaser for it. This one is something I get asked about a lot, since it’s shown briefly in the opening credits: my ride on an F-16 with the Thunderbirds!
I cannot tell you enough how cool that was, and at some point I’ll have to blog about the whole story; prepping for it, the night before when I was soaking in my hotel’s hot tub trying not to be terrified, walking to the grocery store next door to grab some dinner and seeing planes flying overhead at hundreds of kph, drinking about three liters of water and nearly blowing my bladder out while we drove to Nellis Air Force Base.
And don’t forget to leave a comment on my earlier post to get a chance to win swag from Episode 2! The contest end tomorrow (Wednesday October 6) at noon Mountain time.
An Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle patroled the launch area as the Space Shuttle Atlantis roared into space on its final flight in May. Check out the shadow of the plume on the ground!
The full caption reads:
Lt. Col. Gabriel Green and Capt. Zachary Bartoe patrol the airspace in an F-15E Strike Eagle as the Space Shuttle Atlantis launches May 14, 2010, at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Colonel Green is the 333rd Fighter Squadron commander and Captain Bartoe is a 333rd FS weapons system officer. Both aircrew members are assigned to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C. (U.S. Air Force photo/Capt. John Peltier)
Thanks, gentlemen, for seeing off Atlantis in style.
Tip o’ the left wing to Reddit. Image credit: U.S. Air Force/Capt. John Peltier.
ABC news is reporting that the Air Force tested the X-51A scramjet yesterday, and that it successfully fired for 200 seconds, blowing away — literally — the previous record of 12 seconds.
Very cool. So screw getting your own jet pack. When do we get our own Mach 6 personal scrampacks*?
*Scrampack™ is a trademark of Phil Plait and Bad Astronomy, LLC. Any use except by the military, which could bomb my neighborhood at 7000 kph, is prohibited.
Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He's written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic and fights the abuse of science, but his true love is praising the wonders of real science.
The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking, movie reviews, and all that) can be found here.
Contact me: The Bad Astronomer "at" gmail "dot" com
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