On Being Human

May 16, 2008
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Governor General Michaëlle Jean today unveiled Canada’s newly minted Victoria Cross medal at a formal ceremony at Rideau Hall.

Until now the Victoria Cross, Canada’s highest military decoration, was minted in Britain. All future medals awarded to Canadians will be minted in Canada. Though the design is faithful to the original design commissioned by Queen Victoria in 1856, Canada’s Victoria Cross includes a number of small but significant Canadian design and content features. “Today the Victoria Cross becomes fully, truly Canadian,” Prime Minister Harper said.

The original inscription, “For Valour,” has been changed to the Latin “Pro Valore,” on Canada’s Victoria Cross. “We are using the ancient language employed by our English and French ancestors to express the universal ideal that they shared,” said the Prime Minister. Other uniquely Canadian elements include metal from the 1867 Confederation medal, as well as metals from each of Canada’s regions.

Ninety-four Canadians have won the Victoria Cross for displaying extraordinary courage, endurance and sacrifice in battle. The last living recipient, Second World War veteran Smoky Smith, died just over a year ago.

Every day, in military missions at home and abroad, Canadian soldiers, sailors and airmen are putting their lives on the line for us”, said Prime Minister Harper. “Someday, somewhere, one of those men or women will do something so brave, so gallant, so exceptional, that he or she will join the legendary cadre of the Canadian Forces who wear the pride of a nation on their chests”.

Canada’s Victoria Cross was produced through a collaboration of the Departments of National Defence, Veterans Affairs, and Natural Resources, the Royal Canadian Mint and Rideau Hall.

Mike Griffin, 58, had wanted to be administrator of NASA since the inception of the agency. To him, the appeal of the job was never about position or title but about the fact that space fired his imagination. It still does, and now, thanks to him, manned exploration of the moon and Mars is becoming a real possibility.

image Credit NASA

With advanced degrees in half a dozen fields and experience managing military and civilian space programs, he was the ideal choice when President George W. Bush needed a new NASA administrator to manage the moon-Mars initiative he announced in 2004. Mike made it immediately clear that he would do things differently. With four simple words—"Just call me Mike"—he began restructuring NASA into the kind of openly communicative and inspired organization it once was. A true engineer in the broadest sense, he understands systems—whether they are rockets, satellites, airplanes or the U.S. Congress. Not only can he quote you the history of a technical concept, but he can also derive the theory for you.

NASA is dead serious about having footprints back on the moon by 2020, and even now the metal is being cut on the new ships that will fly those missions. Mike Griffin—a true rocket scientist—is precisely the kind of person who will see that the job gets done.

By Marsha Ivins (Ivins is an astronaut and a veteran of five space-shuttle missions)

On a personal note, I have gained so much knowledge about space and science through the dedicated efforts of NASA administration; openly and generously sharing the experiences of all NASA missions with the general public. Michael Griffin, has helped forge the future of space habitation and travel as well as encourage the average person  to be a part of new discoveries and vital information on any given day. He is a visionary, I deeply respect and admire.  Congratulations to Dr. Griffin, for the honor. It is well desrved.

Excerpt from NASA news Letter
 
WASHINGTON -- NASA invites people of all ages to join the lunar
exploration journey with an opportunity to send their names to the
moon aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, spacecraft. 

The Send Your Name to the Moon Web site enables everyone to
participate in the lunar adventure and place their names in orbit
around the moon for years to come. Participants can submit their
information at http://www.nasa.gov/lro, print a certificate and have
their name entered into a database. The database will be placed on a
microchip that will be integrated onto the spacecraft. The deadline
for submitting names is June 27, 2008.

"Everyone who sends their name to the moon, like I'm doing, becomes
part of the next wave of lunar explorers," said Cathy Peddie, deputy
project manager for LRO at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Md. "The LRO mission is the first step in NASA's plans to
return humans to the moon by 2020, and your name can reach there
first. How cool is that?"

The orbiter, comprised of six instruments and one technology
demonstration, will provide the most comprehensive data set ever
returned from the moon. The mission will focus on the selection of
safe landing sites and identification of lunar resources. It also
will study how the lunar radiation environment could affect humans.

LRO will also create a comprehensive atlas of the moon's features and
resources that will be needed as NASA designs and builds a planned
lunar outpost. The mission will support future human exploration
while providing a foundation for upcoming science missions. LRO is
scheduled for launch in late 2008.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is being built at Goddard. The
mission also will be managed at the center for NASA's Explorations
Systems Mission Directorate in Washington.

Send Your Name to the Moon is a collaborative effort among NASA, the
Planetary Society in Pasadena, Calif., and the Johns Hopkins Applied
Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

To send your name to the moon, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/lro

Today is my birthday and we are enjoying my new sony ericsson 5 mega pixel camera phone. I am busy working on videos for the Vancouver Film School contest on youtube. Check it out, you may also enter and win a full scholarship. I have already been accepted to the school beginning march 2009 and thrilling to know that my future as a filmmaker is becoming a reality. Please view the new videos on the page with fantastic soundtracks by Matt Milne.     

 

I have been so busy with life and plans that I am late on puttting up this blog. Here it is anyway in remembrance of our great Monarch.

 

April 21st marked Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's 82nd Birthday. Here's a youtube video featuring that day.