Monday, February 18, 2013

My Evening with Buzz Aldrin, Plus Eating Under The Endeavour

Before I begin, Peepy insisted I tell you her big news. That's right! She now has her own Facebook Fan Page.

Sigh. She's always been something of a diva, so we'll just have to see how this goes.

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In other news, some of you know, I am something of a space geek. I taught myself how to speak Klingon. Sort of.

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I even wrote a book called WARP SPEED, about a Star Trek geek who gets bullied. It's jammed packed with Star Trek and Star Wars. Oh, and Batman.

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Here's a video about WARP SPEED.


So then, last year one of the highlights of my life was being selected to part of NASA's Social Media team covering the Endeavour's journey atop a 747 to Dryden Flight Research Center, and then onto Los Angeles. CLICK HERE and HERE to see those blogs.

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Here's my video of the shuttle leaving for Los Angeles. I was 500 feet from the runway!!!


I couldn't get enough of the shuttle.

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And NASA was amazing. They even went looking for me when I got lost in the desert . . .

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I was on the road when Endeavour continued its journey through the streets of Los Angeles to the California Science Center. Luckily for me, my friend Mary Leggett was right there with it!

Mary is a product manager for Toyota, and their Tundra towed the shuttle. But we'll get to video proof of that later. What you need to know is that Mary drove one of the two trucks carrying the camera crew to make Toyota's commercial!!!

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These photos are courtesy of Mary. Note night to day. She was with Endeavour for over 17 hours . . .

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I normally don't like commercials, but I love this one. Here's the Tundra TOWING the shuttle . . .


To see behind-the-scenes of the Tundra pulling Endeavour, CLICK HERE. (It really is a cool mini-mini-documentary)

(Fun Fact: Mary and I went to USC together. Then later we both worked for Doyle Dane Bernbach, an advertising agency in LA!)

So then, when Mary invited me to a LA World Affairs Council dinner to hear Buzz Aldrin and dine UNDER the Endeavour at the California Science Center, I said, "YES! YES, OF COURSE I'LL GO!!!" And I did.

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The Science Center was closed to the public. . . but open to us! Squeeeeee!!!

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There was a HUGE photo of the Endeavour traveling to the Science Center. Though we couldn't find Waldo, we found Mary!!!

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(Mary is pointing to her tiny self. To see Tiny Mary in the Tundra, you have to find her hand, then her finger.)

We admired the exhibit before going to the main event . . . seeing the shuttle again.

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Dinner was served under the Endeavour. Every third bite, I'd look up to remind myself how awesome it was to be sitting under the shuttle! I mean (if I were taller) I could have touched it!

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First Endeavour astronaut Garrett Reisman spoke . . .

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Then Buzz Aldrin, American Icon and namesake of this fellow, spoke . . .

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Then they sang a duet. (Actually, they answered questions.)

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Here are some of the answers:

1. Buzz does not believe there is life in outer space.
2. Garrett believes there is life in outer space.
3. Buzz was the first man to pee in his pants on the moon. (Yes! He told us that.)
4. Garrett holds the record for peeing in six different urine containers in space.

Later, the astronauts got to admire the out of this world beauty of Peepy . . .

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Garrett and Peepy had a staring contest. Even though the NASA astronaut lost, he was very gracious . . .

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===========================

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