BOOK REVIEW: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir has quite a lot going for it. The book jacket has blurbs from giants in science fiction and fantasy like Brandon Sanderson, George R.R. Martin and Blake Crouch. Barack Obama included the book in his list of summer 2021 reads. Weir is most well-known for his blockbuster debut novel The Martian which became a blockbuster film directed by Oscar-winner Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon. His “thing” is realistically depicting hands-on science and engineering ingenuity to survive realistic, life-threatening situations. The premise behind Project Hail Mary is eye-catching (if surprisingly far-fetched for an author whose previous work has leaned so heavily on verisimilitude as a selling point). A newly discovered bacteria called astrophage somehow is causing the luminosity of the Sun to diminish at a slow but exponentially increasing rate which will lead to the extinction of all life on Earth within a few decades. Project Hail Mary is humanity’s attempt to investigate and fix the problem, but when the book begins all the reader knows is that something has gone horribly wrong and the main character has woken up alone in a spaceship (named Hail Mary) after spending years of interstellar travel at relativistic speeds in an induced coma leaving him with no memory of where he is or why. Unsurprisingly, Ryan Gosling is attached to a possible film adapation of Project Hail Mary by the producers and screenwriter of The Martian. (No word yet whether director Ridley Scott is interested in helming his second Weir adaptation.)

The structure of the story in Project Hail Mary is brilliant; it is told in two linear time-frames near simultaneously. The reader slowly learns that the main character’s name is Ryland Grace and that he was a junior high school science teacher. Because of Grace’s amnesia, the reader gets little drips of Grace’s life prior to the Hail Mary while he’s adjusting to the situation he wakes up to. Slowly he remembers that he’s there to try to save the world by discovering why Tau Ceti is the only local star near ours which has not experienced a reduction in luminosity in recent decades. Project Hail Mary was intended to be a one-way scientific mission with three scientific experts to investigate the phenomenon and discover a solution for the astrophage infestation harming the Sun and send it in four quadruple redundant “information life boats” back to Earth. So the two timelines of the story follow Grace trying to complete his mission in the future and remembering the past when he was involved in the preparation and design of the Hail Mary, along with the amazingly dictatorial leader of Project Hail Mary Eva Stratt (who would be perfectly cast by Emily Blunt or Tilda Swinton in the inevitable film adaptation). Ryland Grace is supposed to be white, American, under 40 and average looking. I had someone like Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tobey Maguire or Topher Grace is who came to mind as I was reading. Ryan Gosling would probably be great.

There’s an incredible and incredibly surprising development about one-third of the way into Project Hail Mary that I don’t want to spoil in this review. Suffice it to say that it moves the plot in a whole different direction and switches the book from scientific thriller to something else in addition. Without revealing anything more I can say that this development is an amazingly positive aspect of the story. It provides another example for Weir to show he is able to deploy his scientific chops to describe a scientifically complicated scenario and raises the emotional stakes of the story.

The reader learns some shocking things about Ryland as the earlier time frame unspools in his memory that causes us to question our identification with him as the main character. However, another plot twist very near the end of the book provides Grace with a dilemma that allows him to redeem himself to the reader and results in a very surprising ending (which I suspect will not survive the Hollywood film adaptation). Overall, I think that Project Hail Mary is at least as enjoyable and exciting as The Martian, and is almost certainly a better (written)  book. I look forward to reading more from Weir, and I strongly agree with President Obama’s recommendation to include Project Hail Mary on your summer reading list.

Title: Project Hail Mary.
Author: Andy Weir.
Format: Hardcover.
Length: 476 pages.
Publisher: Ballantine Books.
Date Published: May 4, 2021.
Date Read: July 21, 2021.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★★  (5.0/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A/A- (3.83/4.0).

PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A.
WRITING: A.

2019 NEBULA AWARDS: The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal Wins Best Novel!

The 2019 Nebula Awards ceremony occurred over the weekend (in Los Angeles County) and the winner for the Best Novel is Mary Robinette Kowal's The Calculating Stars! The nominees were:

• The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
• The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)
• Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller (Ecco; Orbit UK)
• Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (Del Rey; Macmillan)
• Witchmark by C.L. Polk (Tor.com Publishing)
• Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga)

Of these nominees I have read Witchmark (see review) and Trail of Lightning (review forthcoming soon) and have already purchased a Kindle copy of The Calculating Stars due to strong buzz on Goodreads. I also hear good/interesting things about Blackfish City so I will probably get around to reading that eventually. I am not a very big Naomi Novik fan so I don't really intend to read Spinning Silver. I wasn't a very big fan of Uprooted even though it won the Nebula award in 2016.

BOOK REVIEW: The Bobiverse Trilogy (We Are Legion, For We Are Many, All These Worlds)

The Bobiverse is a space opera trilogy consisting of three books (We Are Legion, For We Are Many, All These Worlds) written by Dennis E. Taylor.

We Are Legion is a pretty fun read. It is definitely space opera and based around an interestingly original premise: Bob wakes up and discovered he has basically been reincarnated as a machine intelligence (based on his original personality and brain scan). Bob basically gets hit by a bus walking back after he signs the contract to digitally preserve his brain after death.

The story moves forward with Bob becoming the animating intelligence for a spaceship that is exploring the galaxy looking for habitable planets for humanity. While this is going on Bob figures out how to clone (or more accurately, copy) himself. But these new copies are not identical to the original, and eventually the story splits multiple times as we start to follow what happens with these new Bob copies, who each get their own names and chapters.

I must admit the story gets a little bogged down in the minute details of space exploration at that point but here the fact that the author deliberately deploys humor (oftentimes quite nerdy in nature) is a key plus that kept me engaged in the story. I am curious to see how the story continues and concludes so I will probably read the sequels, eventually.

Title: We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse, #1).
Author: Dennis E. Taylor.
Paperback: 383 pages.
Publisher: Worldbuilders Press.
Date Published: September 20, 2016.
Date Read: July 28, 2017.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★ (4.0/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A- (3.67/4.0).
PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: B+.
IMPACT: A-.
WRITING: A.

Interesting and fun space opera

For We Are Many is the second book in the Bobiverse series. The key idea is the premise that consciousness can be stored and replicated in an electronic format. Additionally, the plot involves the exploration of the Galaxy and the colonization of multiple planets by the remnants of humanity, steered by artificial intelligences who are copies of the original Bob.

Another key storyline in this book is based around the discovery of a primitive alien species called the Deltans that is basically in the Stone Age stage of development. Bob spends a lot of his time following the Deltans and begins to come to terms with the fact that he is basically immortal which means he will eventually outlive most of the people (and aliens) he has grown close to.  

In addition to the benevolent aliens known as the Deltans, we are also exposed to another species, this time one which is incredibly malevolent. The Others, as they become known as, are sort of like interplanetary locusts. They enter a star system and strip of it all metallic elements, and they also kill any alien life but, ominously, remove the bodies. Eventually we discover that they are using the metals to build a Dyson Sphere around their home star, and it is presumed they use the alien bodies as a food source.

Overall, it's really hard to think of this book as a distinct story separate from the first book that precedes it and the one that succeeds it. In some sense, the trilogy as a whole makes up one complex story.

Title: For We Are Many (Bobiverse, #2).
Author: Dennis E. Taylor.
Paperback: 321 pages.
Publisher: Worldbuilders Press.
Date Published: April 18, 2017.
Date Read: August 2, 2017.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★ (4.0/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A-/B+ (3.5/4.0).

PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: B+.
IMPACT: B+.
WRITING: A-.

All These Worlds is the third (and presumably, last) book in the "Bobiverse" series. The action follows seamlessly from the end of the second book For We Are Many. The premise of the Bobiverse is that an electronically replicated version of a human brain (which happened to have originally been in some dude named "Bob") is able to exist in perpetuity in computers. Bob has made multiple copies of itself and solved numerous technological issues to oversee the colonization of multiple habitable planets in our galaxy. The Bobiverse is the volume of space which copies of Bob (each of which is slightly different from the original Bob, and become their own individual personalities and computer-based intelligences) travel through. By Book 3 we have hundreds of Bob-copies running around the Universe, controlling ships and weapons. (Another key feature of the Bobiverse is the existence of 3-D printers, which can produce copies of many physical objects given the plans and the metallic resources, including making copies of 3-D printers!)

Humanity still exists, but it is trapped on an Earth which is slowly turning uninhabitable due to environmental changes (but too quickly for the .1% of humanity that remains barely alive on it). Some fraction of the Bobs spend a fair amount of their time managing the discovery, exploration and colonization of habitable planets in other star systems by humans, with the question of how to physically remove and save the remaining 16 million human beings marooned on our home planet becoming a central issue (colony ships can only hold up to 10,000 people at once, which means one need 1600 colony ship trips in order to save humanity).

Most of the time the Bobs find aliens that are technologically inferior to humanity and cause no problem but eventually they run into aliens whom they call the Others who are building their own Dyson sphere (a gigantic habitable structure which surrounds a star) and are basically pillaging star systems for the resources necessary to create their own home. They are definitely Bad Aliens and thankfully since space is pretty big, the humans and Bobs can mostly avoid them, until time comes when they can't and The Others decide to travel to our solar system.

Overall, apart from the existential question of what will be done about the Others, and whether humanity be saved (come on what do YOU think will happen?) there is not much dramatic tension in this (or, frankly, any of the previous books) but as a trilogy the three books are a pleasant diversion, especially if you are a fan of stories about space opera, first-contact with aliens or interstellar exploration.

Title: All These Worlds (Bobiverse, #3).
Author: Dennis E. Taylor.
Paperback: 282 pages.
Publisher: Worldbuilders Press.
Date Published: August 8, 2017.
Date Read: August 16, 2017.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★ (4.0/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A/A- (3.83/4.0).
PLOT: A.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A.
WRITING: A-.

BOOK REVIEW: Neal Stephenson's Seveneves

Neal Stephenson is known as a grand master of science fiction, a man who writes huge, sprawling works of speculative fiction filled to the brim with scientific facts and thrilling flights of imagination.
Seveneves is another one of Stephenson's books in this vein. Stephenson is basically science fiction royalty due to previous seminal works such as Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age: A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer and Anathem. Many of these books have been critical and commercial successes, and he has been nominated for the top awards in the fields of speculative fiction (and won several of them).

The premise of Seveneves is astonishing. The very first line of the book is "The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason." The inexplicable destruction of Earth's moon into seven large chunks is just the beginning of an intriguing and exciting story, because very soon it becomes clear that the destruction of the moon will lead directly to the end of life on Earth as we know it, resulting in the deaths of billions of humans as the planet becomes uninhabitable for thousands of years.

****   SPOILERS    SPOILERS  SPOILERS   ****

(Please note, there will be spoilers about the book in this review from this point on.)

****   SPOILERS    SPOILERS  SPOILERS   ****

There's good news and bad news. The good news is that the extinction event (called the White Rain in the book) is more than two years away. The bad news is that it will probably consist of several days of continuous devastating meteor strikes on the planet that will destroy every man-made structure on its surface, boil the seas and raise the overall atmospheric temperature several hundred degrees.

Seveneves is split into three sections, where the first section is a (somewhat) realistic (but emotionally resonant) depiction of how our society would react if it was known that all human life on the planet would basically end within 2 years. It's curious to me that there has been so much focus on post-apocalyptic media projects recently (AMC's The Walking Dead, George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road, Cormac McCarthy's The Road) when Seveneves and Ben Winter's The Last Policeman trilogy make it clear that there are several very compelling questions that are raised by considering the period before the apocalypse arrives. Maybe pre-apocalyptic fiction will become a new popular genre?

The second section of the book is even better than the first (in my humble opinion) because it focuses on the period of time when humanity is reduced to a few thousand people (living in what is known as the Cloud Ark, a structure formed in near-Earth orbit with the international space station as a central hub). This section of the book reads as an engineering/sociological thriller as Stephenson dazzles (or dulls, depending on your technical bent or interest) with his level of detail in describing outer space kinematics and the engineering problems involved in maintaining human subsistence in space after access is lost to the Earth and its inexhaustible supply of carbohydrates and fluorocarbons. To me, the most interesting part of this section (and the book overall) was the depiction of the human conflicts that arose once other societal structures (like countries, governments and laws) are obliterated. This was one of the key themes of Kim Stanley Robinson's Aurora which I thought was a very strong aspect of that book. Despite the fact that there are stakes greater than the question of "who will be in charge" (literally the fate of humanity itself hangs in the balance) conflicts between the various characters play out in surprising and enthralling ways. In fact, I would say that Aurora outdoes Seveneves in the area of maintaining the reader's attention, but then again, it is almost half the length of Stephenson's bulk. It is clear to me that there is a fair amount of chaff that could have been cut from the book that would have improved it. That being said, since the stakes are literally whether humanity will survive or not, that does tend to focus the reader's attention.

The similarity with Aurora does not end there, as both books have troubling conclusions that detracted from my overall enjoyment. In the third section of Seveneves we are plunged thousands of years into the future. Again, there is bad news and good news. The good news is that humanity does have a future despite the loss of 99.999999% of the population after the Moon disappears. The bad news is that (somehow) all of humanity is descended from the seven women (hence the name of the novel) who survived the events of Section 2 of the book, and this has profound implications for the billions of humans who know populate the solar system. This section of the book is strangely ineffective, as if Stephenson had run out of ideas (although we do find out that at least two groups of humans did manage to survive on Earth after the White Rain and evolved (or did not evolve) in somewhat surprising ways over the thousands of years that it took to rebound the human population numbers from a single digit number to a ten digit number. One problem is that the tension has gone out of the story, we know humanity survives and the current plot point thousands of years in the future is about which of the seven factions of humanity arising from the original Seven Eves will be successful in gaining control of our healed homeworld, simply is not as compelling as the story that got us here, and by the necessity of the time jump we are introduced to completely new characters that we really have no compelling reason to care about. Atleast Stephenson doesn't end his book like Robinson did, with a somewhat bizarre coda that seems to argue against the feasibility (and desirability) of the endeavor his characters have been devoting their hopes, energies and lives to for the rest of the book.

****   SPOILERS   END  ****

Overall, Seveneves is a very gripping read, with an absolutely killer premise which will keep any hard science fiction fan engrossed and entertained with Stephenson's geeky intricacy of his vision of an apocalyptic human future while simultaneously delivering an emotionally resonant and psychologically complex novel about human interactions (in the context of extraordinary situations).

Title: Seveneves.
Author: Neal Stephenson.
Paperback: 881 pages.
Publisher: Harper Collins.
Date Published: May 19, 2015.
Date Read: November 14, 2015.

OVERALL GRADE: A/A- (3.83/4.0).

PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A.
IMPACT: A+.
WRITING: A-.

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Cast Picture and New Trailer from SyFy's The Expanse

As ComicCon is happening this week SyFy is using this occasion to ramp up promotion for the new television show called The Expanse based on the series of books by author James S.A. Corey debuting on the cable network this December. At the top of this post is a picture of the cast representing the crew of the Rocinante: (from left to right) Dominique Tipper as Naomi Nagata, Wes Chatham as Amos Burton, Steven Strait as James Holden,  and Cas Anvar as Alex Kamal.

In addition to this cast photo, the show also revealed a kick-ass new trailer hosted exclusively at Entertainment Weekly.

BOOK REVIEW: The Apocalypse Ocean (Xenowealth Series, Book 4) by Tobias S. Buckell

Tobias S. Buckell's Xenowealth series is an entertaining melange of space opera and Caribbean diaspora culture. I only discovered the series after his eco-thriller Arctic Rising (featuring a Black lesbian James Bond-like character!) became a bestseller in 2012.

The first three books in the Xenowealth series, Crystal Rain, Ragamuffin and Sly Mongoose were published by mainstream publishers but then Buckell successfully used Kickstarter to fund the production of the fourth book in the series, The Apocalypse Ocean. Bizarrely, even though I reviewed the first three books right after it came out somehow I missed the publication of the fourth book.

In fact the only reason I even know that The Apocalypse Ocean exists is because my friend Karen Lord who is a published science fiction author (I love writing that!) was visiting Southern California and she told me that Buckell has a sequel to  Arctic Rising out called Hurricane Fever (which is dedicated to Karen and set mainly in Barbados) and oh by the way did you know Xenowealth Book 4 came out 18 months ago?

I was able to quickly buy a Kindle copy of The Apocalypse Ocean and enjoyed it very much. The Xenowealth universe is very interesting and Buckell writes with flair. Here is the blurb from Buckell's website giving an overview of The Apocalypse Ocean:

Welcome back to the Xenowealth. 

Humanity continues to gain control of the Forty Eight Worlds as they deorbit wormholes and join the many worlds and civilizations together. But as they do so, they must deal with the horrors of past injustices as humanity forms new societies out of the wreckage of the old. 

And some of those horrors aren’t content to rest. Kay, who has rescued herself from a hellish life dominated by uncaring alien creatures, seeks bloody twisted revenge for what was done to her. 

And a new force is not happy about the manner in which the Forty Eight worlds are reshaping themselves. In fact, it’s about to put a stop to it all.

The plot of The Apocalypse Ocean is an expanded version of "Plaça del Fuego," a short story published at Clarkesworld Magazine in 2009. Both are set on the planet of Octavia, a minor planet in the Forty Eight Worlds that are connected by a wormhole network created aeons ago but are now being used by humans aliens alike. In the first three books, humanity was fighting to break free from centuries of enslavement and domination by an alien race called the Benevolent Satrapy. The humans have split into two primary factions, one group calling themselves the Xenowealth and the League of Human Affairs.

As you can tell from the name of the series (Xenowealth) Buckell's books spend more time depicting one particular group. The Xenowealth group features characters like Pepper and his daughter Nashara, who are both near-superhuman, dreadlocked wearing cyborgs known as "ragamuffins" who appear to be nearly impossible to kill. Pepper and Nashara are great characters who have appeared in most of the Xenowealth books.

In Book 4, Buckell introduces several new interesting characters: Tiago, a street kid who is a pickpocket in the city of Palentar on the island of Plaça del Fuego; Kay, a teenage girl who has been genetically engineered to emotionally control and manipulate humans and is Tiago's boss; the Doaq, a mysterious, terrifying monster who appears to have a wormhole for a mouth; and Thinkerer, a robot from the League world of Trumball who has questionable loyalties and hidden abilities.

The best part of The Apocalypse Ocean is the breakneck pace of the action that Buckell is able to maintain, as he continues to ratchet up the stakes involved and reveal more and more of the underlying structure of the larger Universe the story is set in.

I'm very glad that The Apocalypse Ocean was written and I applaud Buckell for his tenacity and audacity in getting it out there. I hope it (and Hurricane Fever) are successful enough that the wait for the fifth and final installment in the series, rumored to be named Desolation's Gap, will cone out sooner rather than later. I know that I will plunk down my hard-earned cash to pick that up!

Title: The Apocalypse Ocean.
Author: Tobias S. Buckell.
Paperback: 250 pages.
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services.
Date Published: December 13, 2012.
Date Read: July 15, 2014

OVERALL GRADE: A/A- (3.83/4.0).

PLOT: A.
IMAGERY: A.
IMPACT: B+.
WRITING: A.

WATCH: 1st Trailer for Christopher Nolan's Interstellar

The first teaser trailer for Christopher Nolan's Interstellar was released yesterday, and already has well over 1 million views on YouTube. The film stars Matthew McConnaughey (Dallas Buyers Club), Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) and Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises, Les Miserables). Sir Michael Caine makes an appearance, as well, of course, as he does in almost all of Nolan's films.

Nolan's Inception was my favorite movie of 2010 and is one of my favorite movies of all time. To say I am looking forward to November 7, 2014 is an understatement!

The short description of Interstellar is "A group of explorers make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage."

Get excited!

FILM REVIEW: Gravity

The film Gravity has turned out to be a huge box-office hit ($200+ million) and crtical favorite, an unusual bright spot in Hollywood's fall box office, when more serious, dramatic films that vie for Oscars and other awards are released. But Gravity is also a realistic contender for end-of-year awards, with an impressive pedigree of the people involved with the production. It is directed by an Oscar-nominee Alfonso Cuarón (who co-wrote the script with son Jonas) and starring two popular Oscar-winners Sandra Bullock (Best Actress for The Blind Side) and George Clooney (Best Supporting Actor for Syriana).

Gravity has received some of the best reviews of the year, with a 97% rating (87% from audiences) on rottentomatoes.com. Interestingly, it is also one of the rare movies released in 3-D which most people seem to think takes advantage of the new technology in a way that justifies the ticket price hike.

I saw Gravity at one of the best theaters in Los Angeles (the Arclight Cineramadome) in 3-D and enjoyed it immensely. The film is quite immersive, with a cast that basically consists of only Bullock and Clooney. The story is set in space, and depicts a disaster that occurs while their characters are doing a space walk on a Shuttle mission to repair the Hubble telescope.

Gravity has stunning visuals and a suspenseful (if somewhat far-fetched) plot that left me with my pace elevated and on the edge of my seat. Some have criticized the film for scientific inaccuracies in the depiction of orbital mechanics and logistics of living and working in space. But for the vast majority of viewers, including yours truly, Gravity is the first movie which really makes you feel like you understand what it is like to be in space, and it is both exciting and terrifying.

Although the film stars both Clooney and Bullock it is really carried by Bullock who if she had not won her Oscar in 2010 would probably be a lock to win this year and is almost guaranteed to be nominated for her performance as Dr. Ryan Stone. It is Dr. Stone's first time in space so she is the person who the audience identifies with (since it is our first time in space also). Clooney plays Matt Kowalski, a veteran space captain who is on his very last mission and he is the person both Ryan and the audience look to for help and reassurance when things go awry early in the film.

Overall, Gravity is an amazing cinematic experience that one should not miss, and one that most people will remember for quite a long time after they leave the theater.


Title: Gravity.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón.
Running Time: 1 hour, 31 minutes.
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for intense perilous sequences,  some disturbing images and brief strong language.
Release Date: October 4, 2013.
Viewing Date: October 10, 2013.

Writing: B+.
Acting: A.
Visuals: A+.
Impact: A+.

Overall Grade: A (4.0/4.0).

Water Found On Planet Mercury!

The Messenger spacecraft orbited the planet closest to the Sun, Mercury, in March 2011 and now an analysis of some of the data found by that device indicates that a lot of water has been found on another planet in our Solar System.

Mercury may be a scorching hunk of rock just next door to the sun, but planetary scientists have discovered nearly pure frozen water and even some organic material in the planet's frigid polar regions. 

The findings from the Messenger spacecraft orbiting the planet cap the decades-long search for water on the second-hottest planet in the solar system and may help scientists better understand the origins of the molecular building blocks for life on Earth. 

The new research "doesn't mean we have life on Mercury," said UCLA planetary scientist David Paige, lead author of one of three papers published Thursday by the journal Science. "But it is relevant for the question of life in the solar system in general." 

As much as 1.1 trillion tons of ice could lie on or just beneath Mercury's surface in the nooks and crannies of craters that never see sunlight, according to scientists working on the Messenger mission. Much of that ice may be protected by a dark layer of carbon-rich organic material several inches thick, they said.

I wonder if someone will ask Marco Rubio about this discovery?

Space Shuttle Endeavour Arrives in California!

The 4th Space Shuttle, Endeavour, has arrived in California en route to its final destination at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, where it will be part of an exhibition that opens on October 30, 2012.

Sally Ride, 1st U.S. (Lesbian) Woman In Space, Dies

Sally Ride was a role model for millions of women for her pioneering
 role in literally going where no woman had gone before

Sally Ride, one of the United States' most famous female scientists for becoming the first American woman to go into space (twice), died on Monday after a long fight with pancreatic cancer.

Of interest to the LGBT community is this quote from Ride's official obituary:

In addition to Tam O’Shaughnessy, her partner of 27 years, Sally is survived by her mother, Joyce; her sister, Bear; her niece, Caitlin, and nephew, Whitney; her staff of 40 at Sally Ride Science; and many friends and colleagues around the country. 

Ride was married to another astronaut, Stephen Hawley from 1982 to 1987. Ride considered Tam O'Shaughnessy her life partner for over 27 years, and O'Shaughnessy serves as the CEO of the company Ride founded, SallyRideScience.com.


It will be interesting to see how many of the press reports that cover the death of Sally Ride as an icon for American woman will also include information about Ride being an icon for the LGBT community.

WATCH: Time-Lapse Video Of Last Night's Lunar Eclipse

Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse from William Castleman on Vimeo.

First Planet Found In Habitable Zone 20 Lights-Years Away: "Gliese 581g"

Very cool news! NASA announced on Wednesday that researchers at UC Santa Cruz and the Carnegie Institute of Washington have found the first extra-solar planet which scientists believe is not too cold or too hot to sustain life.

From the official report:

The paper reports the discovery of two new planets around Gliese 581. This brings the total number of known planets around this star to six, the most yet discovered in a planetary system outside of our own. Like our solar system, the planets around Gliese 581 have nearly-circular orbits.

The new planet designated Gliese 581g has a mass three to four times that of Earth and orbits its star in just under 37 days. Its mass indicates that it is probably a rocky planet with a definite surface and enough gravity to hold on to an atmosphere. 

Gliese 581, located 20 light years away from Earth in the constellation Libra, has two previously detected planets that lie at the edges of the habitable zone, one on the hot side (planet c) and one on the cold side (planet d). While some astronomers still think planet d may be habitable if it has a thick atmosphere with a strong greenhouse effect to warm it up, others are skeptical. The newly-discovered planet g, however, lies right in the middle of the habitable zone.

The planet is tidally locked to the star, meaning that one side is always facing the star and basking in perpetual daylight, while the side facing away from the star is in perpetual darkness. One effect of this is to stabilize the planet's surface climates, according to Vogt. The most habitable zone on the planet's surface would be the line between shadow and light (known as the "terminator").

Makes the geek in me very happy!

WATCH: Final Night Launch of Space Shuttle

Hat/tip to Towleroad

VIDEO: A depiction of all of known space

hat/tip to TowleRoad.

VIDEO: 3-D Tour Of Space Via Hubble

VIDEO: Longest Eclipse of the 21st Century

Hat/tip TowleRoad

Black Marine General Astronaut to Head NASA

President Barack Obama has selected Major Charles Bolden to be the Administrator of NASA. Bolden, 62, is a Brigadier General of the Marines and has also been into space four times, twice as commander of Shuttle missions, inluding the one that put the Hubble Telescope into orbit in 1990. He would be the first African American and second austronaut to head the space agency.

(Hat/tip to Maybe, it's just me)