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July 27, 2005

Tracking the shuttle; tropic of coconut

NASA shows you where the shuttle Discovery is, plotted on a Day-Glo blue and green Earth, updated every minute.

Here's the same view for the International Space Station.
Both are updated every minute.

Yet another view shows the current positions of the shuttle, the International Space Station and other spacecraft such as The Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) and the Chandra X-ray Observatory on the sphere.

There's also a Google Maps hack that "unwraps" the Earth, showing it as a long strip with the positions of both the station and the shuttle. The two are scheduled to rendezvous at 7:18 a.m. Thursday.

Google Maps Mania, which tracks the uses people have found for GoogleMaps, is excited:

...With this map, you can watch the rendezvous live. The map updates every minute with data from NASA. If you're using the Firefox browser, each craft will trail a tracking line as it moves through its orbit. The white marker and line represent Shuttle Discovery, while the red marker and line represent the International Space Station.

As you sit with the mashup open you can actually see the paths the two spacecraft take! Very cool! :) For more information about the Space Shuttle Discovery's current mission, visit here.

It must be cooler up there.

Here on the surface, we're not enjoying our tropical New England weather. We're wondering if August will be hot enough to earn us a spot in the Coconut Blog: News, Notes, and Dispatches From Wherever Coconuts Grow.

If there's a coconut story out there, it's here.

Check out this recipe we found there: Grilled Coconut (from the Charlotte Observer):

Grilled coconut is another unexpected taste: No one expects the flavor, but it's extraordinary. Crack a fresh coconut and slice it into wedges. Lay the pieces white-side down directly on the grill and grill over low coals until toasty brown. (This can take up to 15 minutes, depending on how hot your coals are.) Dip the coconut into the melted chocolate and munch away: A candy bar flavored with smoke. You have to taste this one to believe it.

We're eating only cold food at our house, but if somebody else would stand over the grill, I'd get in line for this.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 5:39 AM | Permalink