And now I'm back in the grays?! :((((

His study in the UK must have been *difficult*. I hope in Portugese his surname is pronounced something like fook.

I am proclaiming a Space/McKinnon tradition: A minimum of one Honeybear reference annually. [now in its second year]

Having lived on Terminal Island I embrace this scenario.

So glad you linked to this. I missed it first time around. Am bookmarking.

I can't shake the notion that these photos were actually taken in the depths of the sea.

My new wallpaper. Kudos to the digital imagers at NASA, et al.

Absolutely, The Golden Compass. So close but then ______

When I read about Boeing getting the contract and SNC being shut out, my first reaction was that Boeing was too big to ignore. All other things being equal backing an alternative transport system just seems smart. Having continued development of both the capsule and "shuttle" systems keeps flexibility and may provide…

Thank you for speaking out. And it is NOT an irrational fear. They are out there in the dark, waiting under leaves and in dark corners over doorways.

I was not contradicting that it is a mineral, simply adding that it has a long history of being used as the name of a color. I'm on a mobile. I try to keep to the point and also can't easily copy.

Per Wikipedia turquoise was first used as the name of a color (blue-green) in English in 1576.

Add another title to your resume: Link curator extraordinaire.

I had to go check out imdb. Ha! His acting is overwrought, his character is fraught, and his headshot is over the the top.

The more the merrier! Even though I have been following all these Mars missions and thinking how neat and thank goodness we are still funding space exploration, it was not until I read your lead paragraph and then that tweet that imaginary reality hit. We are eventually going to arrive on Mars to find a WALL-E world.

Experts. Can't live with them; don't want to live without them. :)

Re NASA announcement: HOT DAMN!

The latter solution would certain open the door to massive job openings for astronauts plus solve the problematic location of survival-training facilities.

Talk about a topic that's fallen off the media radar! Thanks for the summing up and all the links.

I can't honestly naysay you. Just regrets. Some are over how I like to remember SyFy was before it was SyFy, like TLC when the L mean't something besides Lowest common denominator.