28 February 2010

Sunspots Observed

This has been a good sunspot month. Spaceweather is reporting that this is the first time since Jan07 that there have been sunposts every day of a calendar month. I got to try to observe them on three occasions and was even successful when I went out with Peter and his refractor.

Observing Hours for the Year 2010

	Day			Night			Total
	Hours	Days	Avg	Hours	Days	Avg	Hours	Days	Avg
Jan	0.00	0	0.00	12.50	8	1.56	12.20	8	1.56
Feb	2.25	3	0.75	3.75	5	0.75	6.00	8	0.75
TOTAL	2.25	3	0.75	16.25	13	1.25	18.50	16	1.16

25 February 2010

How quiet it is when The rain stops and changes     Into driving snow. Richard Wright

21 February 2010

While reading The Earth Moves: Galileo and the Roman Inquisition I came across this paragraph which reminded me of some of the arguments as to why we needed to remove Pluto’s planetary status: to wit, if we let Pluto remain a planet we will have to make many more objects planets and that will destroy the planetary system we all grew up with (M_ercury^y V_enus^ery E_arth^asygoing M_ars^other J_upiter^ust S_aturn^erved U_ranus^s N_eptune^ine P_luto^ies), which argument is itself inconsistent since we all grew up knowing Pluto was a planet.

When Galileo reported the motions of the moons of Jupiter, it drove certain people to distraction. They refused to believe that he had seen such a thing. “I must write of a harsh objection leveled at me by the astrologers and many of the physicians,” a Neapolitan philanthropist wrote to a scholar at Padua in the spring of 1610. “These people say that if so many new planets are added to the number of those know, this will of necessity ruin astrology and demolish most of medicine, in that the distribution of the houses of the zodiac, the essential dignity of the signs, the quality of the nature of the fixed stars, the records of the star-chroniclers, the government of the ages of men, the months of gestation of the embryo, oh, a hundred and a thousand things which depend on the sevenfold order of the planets – all will be destroyed from their foundation up.” The writer wasn’t convinced by these objections: after all, he quaintly noted, since the luminosity of Galileo’s newly discovered celestial objects was the same as ever, why would their astral influence increase by one iota? But one senses the ferocity of the traditionalists’ resentment. What the eye could detect with this funny “eyepiece-reed,” or cannocchiale, as it was called in Italian, destroyed “a hundred and a thousand things,” reaching into every aspect of human life. They didn’t want to see; the invention was to be a hoax.

That got me to thinking again about what is what in the universe.

The IAU does not have a definition for a sun but by convention it is a star that has planets revolving around it. A star is a self-luminous planetary object. So all suns are stars, but not all stars are suns.

Now the IAU says that a planet must revolve around the Sun. And the only time the word sun is capitalized is when it refers to the star of the solar system to which Earth belongs, also known as Sol.

Therefore, there can be no planets outside of our solar system and since there are no planets anywhere else in the universe there can be no suns anywhere else either since there are no planets to orbit those would-be suns.

So we are stuck with a universe that will be populated, when we find them, by exoplanets revolving around, one would have to assume, exosuns.

20 February 2010

Takahashi 102mm F/8.2 refractor - Peter

• 1.5" TeleVue Plossl 32mm, ##° FoV, 31.8x
• 1.25" TV Nagler 13mm, 82° FoV, 97.7x
• 1.25" TV Plossl 7mm, 82° FoV, 181.4x

Observing Location	DR
Observational Period	1030-1215 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Scattered Clouds Temperature 40° F Wind Light Breeze gusting to Moderate Breeze Wind Chill Effect 35° F Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 29.96" Hg Steady Feels Like Pleasant Transparency Fair Seeing II-IV
Instruments	West Marine 7x50 Raiatea binocular - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac

Peter and I met at Drip Rock again with the aim of observing sunspots, Venus and hopefully Jupiter. Owing to increasing clouds all we got was the sunspots.

Target Sunspots Constellation Aqr Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100220.1030 EST Comments Distance Light Time 0.989 AU 8m 13s Angular Size 32' 24.0" Altitude 34.2° Heliographic Latitude (B0) -7.04 ° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 85.96° Parallactic Angle (P) -19.16° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2093 I looked naked-eye and with my binocular and did not see anything. At low power I saw the group and 4 spots in it. At high power I made out 8 spots.   Groups Spots R Low power North 1 4 14 South 0 0 0 Total 1 4 14 High power North 1 8 18 South 0 80 10 Total 1 8 18 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots) Group 1049 Heliographic Latitude 21° Heliographic Longitude 131° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2093 Mcintosh System Cro Based on what Peter told me about the orientation of the image in his scope I judged the group to be in the northern hemisphere but in both the SOHO image and the Raben map it appears as a southern hemisphere. www.raben.com graphic When I plotted its location in Helio it showed the exis o fthe sun rotated. When I oriented the graphic to match the telescope view the spot showed to be in the northern hemisphere as I judged it to be. Helio graphic I am sure that NASA knows where this spot is and that Peter knows how the image in his scope relates to reality. So I must not understand how to properly use Helio.

19 February 2010

... one can see most clearly that the moon is not of an equal,smooth, and limpid surface, as she and the other heavenly bodies are believed to be by the great multitude of people, but seen from a closer vantage is actually rugged and unequal and in sum the mooncannot be concluded in any sane siscourse to be other than covered by eminences and cavities, similar to but rather larger than the mountains and valleys distributed around the terrestrial surface. Galileo Galilei 7 January 1610

Observing Location	Drip Rock
Observational Period	2030-2130 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Scaattered clouds to Overcast The forecast called for it to be less than 25% cloud cover by 2000 EST and to continue to decrease through 0100 EST. The clouds kept coming in from the NNW. When we left it had broken up a bit to the SE and was on the border between Scattered and Broken. By 2200 EST it was nice and clear. They were predicting a moderate breeze with gusts up to 30 MPH and it didn't seem like we had that although Central Park was reporting a moderate breeze while we were there. Temperature 38° F Wind Moderate Breeze Wind Chill Effect 30° F Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 29.91" Hg Rising Feels Like Mild but moist Transparency Nil Seeing
Instruments	Galileoscope and West Marine 7x50 Raiatea binocular - Charlie Nikon 10x50 binocular - Peter Peter had his Coulter CT-100 with him but the conditions were too poor to induce him to set it up.
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac

Stellarium graphic

We got brief views of Mars, Castor and Pollux and Auriga as breaks in the clouds moved over them. We even got to see M44 in our respective binoculars for a few moments. But the clouds were a real problem.

Target Moon Constellation Ari Category Lunar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100219.2100 EST Comments Lunation 1078 Phase Waxing Crescent Age 5d 22h 38m Distance Light Time (from earth) 387,936 km 1.29s Elongation 66.43° E % Illuminated 30.0% Morning Terminator Colongitude (λ E) 343.4° Evening Terminator Colongitude (λ W) 163.4° Libration in Latitude -6° 10' Libration in Longitude -7° 48' Magnitude -9.1 Angular Size 30.80' Altitude 30.80° Virtual Moon Atlas graphic Catharina Terminator In Shadow Feature In Sunlight <<< Aristoteles >>> <<< Eudoxus   <<< Delambre     Theophilus >>>   Cyrillus >>>   >>> Statistics Name Feature Type Quadrant Area Long. ° Lat. ° Diameter/Length km Depth Height Age (Baldwin) Best Observed Day References Lunar Aeronautical Chart (LAC) USGS Geologic Lunar Atlas Lunar Topographic Orthophotomap (LTO) Atlas of the Moon (Rukl) Amateur Astronomer’s Photographic Lunar Atlas (Hartfield) Exploring the Moon Through Binoculars and Small Telescopes (Cherrington) Our first look at the Moon in the Galileoscope was with the Galilean eyepiece and the field of view was less than a full Moon diameter wide. With the Plossl there was breathing space around the Moon and the image was sharp when focused. I tried to combine the eyepieces to create the Barlowed Plossl but I didn't remember how the eyepieces fit onto the Barlow tube so we didn't get to evaluate the scope at high power.

Target M41 Constellation CMa Category OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100219.2120 EST Statistics Size 30' Magnitude 5 Surface Brightness 12/square ' Density medium Visibility 6 Distance 2,500 ly Location Where is M13 graphics Stellarium graphic References Karkoschka: E6 Comments Peter suggested we try M41 to see how the scope did on an open cluster and while he was talking me through the hop in the binoculars the gaps in the clouds closed up and we decided that was going to be it for the night.

We stopped off at a Starbucks near Peter's building and when we got to his house the sky was beautifully clear, at least that portion we could see of it between the buildings lining 56 St.

17 February 2010

There will be two remaining visible passes when the ISS will pass by with STS-130 still docked:

Thursday, 18Feb10
STS-130 and ISS

appears

0609 EST in the NW at 5 degrees altitude, mag. -1.5

max alt:

0612 EST in the NNE at 26 degrees altitude, mag. -2.4

disappears:

0617 EST in the E on the horizon, mag. 5.1

Friday, 19Feb10
STS-130 and ISS

appears:

0631 EST in the NW at 2 degrees altitude, mag. -1.2

max alt:

0635 EST in the NE at 68 degrees altitude, mag.-4.0

disappears:

0640 EST in the ESE on the horizon, mag. 2.9

twilight begins at 0617 and the Sun wakes up at 0645 EST so this might be a difficult one to see even though it is high and bright

If all goes as planned STS-130 will undock from ISS at 1954 EST on Friday, 19Feb10. It will begin its fly-around of ISS at 2019 EST and start to separate from ISS at 2137 EST. After that time ISS will appear to chase STS-130 across the sky on any visible passes until landing.

Saturday, 20Feb10
STS-130

appears:

0522:15 EST in the NNW at 17 degrees altitude, mag. 0.6

max alt:

0523:49 EST in the NNE at 26 degrees altitude, mag 0.7

disappears:

0528:31 EST in the E on the horizon, mag.6.0

12 seconds after STS-130 appears
ISS

appears:

0522:27 EST in the NNW at 17 degrees altitude, mag. -2.4

max alt:

0524:01 EST in the NNE at 26 degrees altitude, mag. -2.3

disappears:

0528:44 EST in the E on the horizon, mag. 3.0

Sunday, 21Feb10
STS-130

appears:

0544:11 EST in the NW at 14 degrees altitude, mag. 0.6

max alt:

0546:36 EST in the NE at 66 degrees altitude, mag. -1.1
only 1.5 degrees away from mag. 0.0 Vega

disappears:

0528:31 EST in the E on the horizon, mag. 6.0

43 seconds after STS-130 appears
ISS

appears:

0544:54 EST in the NW at 14 degrees altitude, mag. -2.4

max alt:

0547:20 EST in the NE at 67 degrees altitude, mag. -4.1
only 0.9 degrees away from mag. 0.0 Vega

disappears:

0552:44 EST in the E on the horizon, mag. 3.0

If weather conditions are good STS-130 will land Sunday night at 2020 EST at Kennedy Space Center.

13 February 2010

11 February 2010

Observing Location	6 Ave @ W 11 St, New York, NY Lat.: 40.735542° Long.: -73.998324°
Observational Period	2115-2130 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 32° F Wind Gentle Breeze gusting to Fresh Breeze Wind Chill Effect 32° F, 19° F in gusts Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 29.70" Hg Rising Feels Like Cold All of the snow, slush and ice that had evaporated in the mild temperatures this afternoon are setting up into black ice and ice puddles making walking treacherous. Transparency Excellent Seeing II
Instruments	West Marine 7x50 Raiatea binocular - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Orion’s S Constellation Ori Category Asterism Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 2010 EST Statistics Location Stellarium graphic Comments I saw this asterism mentioned in the Feb10 issue of Sky and Telescope and since it was clear out and I had my binocular I decided to give it a try. It is in the Belt of Orion, itself an asterism, and snakes between Alnilam and Mintaka. Some of the stars are faint enough that they were hard to make out in this light-polluted location. Interesting but will not make a must see list.

10 February 2010

"Much of my memory's gone completely. I am very old, you see. Startlingly old. Yes, I think if I were to tell you how old I was it would be fair to say that you would be startled. Odds are that so would I, because I can't remember. I've seen an awful lot, you know. Forgotten most of it, thank God. Trouble is, when you start getting to my age, Which, as I think I mentioned earlier, is a somewhat starteling one -- did I say that?" "Yes, you mentioned it." "Good. I'd forgotten whether I had or not. The thing is that your memory doesn't actually get any bigger, and a lot of stuff just falls out. So you see, the major difference between someone of my age and someone of yours is not how much I know, but how much I've forgotten. And after a while you even forget what it is you've forgotten, and after that you even forget that there was something to remember. Then you tend to forget, er, what it was you were even talking about." Reg Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency Douglas Adams

8 February 2009

Observing Location	Pier 17
Observational Period	0330-0430 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 23° F Wind Gentle Breeze gusting to Moderate Breeze Wind Chill Effect 12° F Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 29.91" Hg Steady Feels Like Very Cold Transparency Excellent Seeing Excellent
Instruments	West Marine 7x50 Raiatea binocular - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

The temperature is a little warmer than it was yesterday morning but the humidity is also a little higher so it feels colder.

While waiting for the Shuttle launch I observed two bright stars on either side of a tall building with illuminated antenna mast. As bright as they were I knew they must have a name but didn’t recognize them. Then I saw Mars a little to the left and knew that they were Castor and Pollus. I observed Mars and M44 in the binocular.

Stellarium graphic To the east of Mars was a string of bright stars that kind or reminded me of Hydra and I did recognize Corvus beneath it but thought Corvus and Crater were above Hydra. Now that I see a star chart I know that I missed seeing Leo and Saturn. Stellarium graphic I had a finder made up for M80, M4, M6 and M7 but didn’t want to use the Palm until after all my Shuttle launch alarms had gone off and by then I was cold enough and sore enough that I wanted to go home.

OBSERVED

Time	Launch Probablility
1953 EST 7Feb10	weather currently No Go
2043 EST	40% weather currently No Go
2114 EST	weather currently Go
2345 EST	weather currently Go
0145 EST 8Feb10	weather currently No Go
0218 EST	weather currently No Go
0312 EST	weather at all three European abort landing strips is No Go
0321 EST	local weather currently Go European abort sites No Go
0340 EST	local weather currently Go
0351 EST	abort sites weather No Go
0400 EST	local weather currently Go Zaragoza abort site weather acceptable
0401 EST	Go for launch
0414:17 EST	Liftoff

I had just about given up on a launch this morning when I saw something bright over NJ. I watched for a while and finally decided that it must be a plane or helicopter even though I couldn't see any navigation lights. It didn't change direction and was not where I expected the Shuttle to come from. As I turned around to check the time on the Watchtower clock across the river I saw something bright and golden moving north beneath the Moon. That was at 0422 EST according to the Watchtower clock. I knew it had to be the shuttle and worked to get it into my binoculat FoV. Just after I found it the engines cut off then flared again briefly. During that time the alarm for MECO that was set for 0422 EST went off. I continued to track the anticipated trajectory of the Shuttle and saw several flashes of white light which were the RCS jets firing to increase separation from the ET and control Shuttle orientation. MECO was confirmed by Endeavout at 0422 EST.

Target Moon Constellation Oph Category Lunar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100208.0425 EST Comments Lunation 1077 Phase Waning Crescent Age 24d 2h 12m Distance Light Time (from earth) 397,450 km 1.32s Elongation 62.30° W % Illuminated 26.9% Morning Terminator Colongitude (λ E) 201.2° Evening Terminator Colongitude (λ W) 21.2° Libration in Latitude 4° 24' Libration in Longitude 6° 57' Magnitude -8.9 Angular Size 30.07' Altitude 8° 2' Virtual Moon Atlas graphic In Sunlight Feature In Shadow <<< Promontorium Laplace     Copernicus >>> <<< Wilhelm   <<< Longomontanus   The Moon never rose tonight until close to time for the Shuttle launch. I observed it quickly before leaving. The terminator was passing down through the middle of Mare Imbrium.

7 February 2010

Observing Location	Pier 17
Observational Period	0350-0455 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 17° F Wind Light Breeze gusting to Moderate Breeze Wind Chill Effect 7° F Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 29.84" Hg Rising Feels Like Very Cold Transparency Excellent Seeing Excellent
Instruments	West Marine 7x50 Raiatea binocular - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

On the way down here I saw Mars down one of the cross streets.

Target Moon Constellation Sco Category Lunar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100207.0350 EST Comments Lunation 1077 Phase Waning Crescent Age 23d 1h 37m Distance Light Time (from earth) 392,738 km 1.31s Elongation 73.90° W % Illuminated 36.3% Morning Terminator Colongitude (λ E) 188.7° Evening Terminator Colongitude (λ W) 8.7° Libration in Latitude 5° 31' Libration in Longitude 7° 50' Magnitude -9.5 Angular Size 30.43' Altitude 10° 57' Virtual Moon Atlas graphic Terminator In Sunlight Feature In Shadow <’<< Plato >>>   Mosting >>>   Ptolemaeus >>>   Alphonsus >>>   Arzachel >>> <<< Clavius   Although Mosting was in shadow its rim was illuminated. I am not seeing anywhere near the detail in this binocular that I saw with my 15x50 Canon IS binocular but I am able to pick out at least the larger features. When I first looked at the Moon I thought maybe it was in Virgo because of the number of stars above it. Then I saw a group of stars forming a kind of large circle to the Moon’s lower left and that reminded me of the big fish in Pisces. Then I connected up three stars in an arc above and to the right of the Moon with an orange star to its lower left and that looked like Scorpius. When I checked Planetarium quickly (I can watch the cold sapping the battery power) it said I was right about Sco. Stallarium graphic

SCRUBBED

NASA tried to launch STS-130 this morning at 0439 EST. It was supposed to fly up the east coast passing NYC at about 0447 EST when the main engines are shut down (MECO). It was a cold but otherwise great day to see the launch here but the weather did not cooperate down there. The launch was scrubbed at 0429 EST.

Time	Launch Probablility
18457 EST 6Feb10	80%
1147 EST	60%
0223 EST 7Feb10	10%
0309 EST	weather is No GO
0343 EST	weather is No Go
0415 EST	weather is No Go
0427 EST	weather is No Go
0429 EST	SCRUB

The launch is now scheduled for 0441 EST tomorrow, 8Feb10, when the likelihood of good weather is set at 60%, but it sounds like conditions at the abort landing strips in Europe might not support a launch then. The next launch attempts if Monday is not possible would be at 0351 EST on Tuesday, 9Feb09 and Wednesday, 10Feb10 at 0325 EST. I don't remember seeing them attempt to launch on four sequential days. Usually they try two days then take a day off to let the fuel tanks rest before pressurizing them again for another two days of attempts.

---

NASA is go for a second attempt at launching the Shuttle tomorrow morning at 0414 EST and so am I. The weather at the Cape is supposed to be 60% Go although NOAA is predicting cloud cover at ~40% at all launch times through Wednesday. Cloud cover here is supposed to be ~25% which does not bode well for seeing the horizon and it will be worse Tuesday and worse still on Wednesday. No mention has been made about weather at the abort landing sites in Europe which was mentioned this morning as a concern for a Monday launch. I will be heading back to the Seaport early tomorrow morning just in case. As of 1852 EST tanking of the ET had commenced.

WeatherBug graphics

4 February 2010

Observing Location	Bryant Park
Observational Period	1315-1330 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 34° F Wind Light Breeze Wind Chill Effect 28° F Humidity Low Barometric Pressure 30.32" Hg Falling Feels Like Cool Transparency Excellent Seeing Good
Instruments	West Marine 7x50 Raiatea binocular with Baader AstroSolar filter film- Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Cap Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100204.1315 EST Comments Distance Light Time 0.986 AU 8m 12s Angular Size 31' 30.0" Altitude 32.9° Heliographic Latitude (B0) -6.27 ° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 295.67° Parallactic Angle (P) -13.60° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2093 SOHO says there is a group there that is just one big spot but it isn’t a big enough spot for me to see it at 7x hand held.   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots)

2 February 2010

Observing Location	Bryant Park
Observational Period	0500-0530 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 28° F Wind light Breeze Wind Chill Effect 24° F Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 30.26" Hg Steady Feels Like Raw Cold Transparency Excellent Seeing
Instruments	Naked-eye - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target COSMO-SkyMed 3 Double Flare Constellation Serpens Caput & Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 2010 EST   CalSky   First Flare Second Flare Time 0524:44 EST 0525:52 EST Alt. 66.5° 62.1° Az. 133.4° SE 11.9° NNE Mag. 0.1 1.0 Surface SAR panel unknown mirror Constellation Serpens Caput Ursa Major Comments Not Seen I was seeing a few stars but probably not down to Mag 1. And not enough of them to identify constellations or even form asterisms. For the second flare my window of viewable sky did not extend far enough west to encompass north.

0531 EST

Astronomical Twilight begins

0603 EST

Astronomical Twilight ends
Nautical Twilight begins

0636 EST

Nautical Twilight ends
Civil Twilight begins

0705 EST

Civil Twilight ends
Sunrise

---

The groundhog did not see his shadow this morning. We are supposed to have an early spring. But Punxsutawney Phil is reported to have seen his shadow and that means six weeks more of winter. I hope it is a local phenomenon and out hazy skies will grant us the early spring.

1 February 2010

NightCal graphic

---

Observing Location	Bryant Park
Observational Period	1400-1415 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Hazy Overcast Central Park is reporting Clear Temperature 33° F Wind Light Breeze Wind Chill Effect 28° F Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 30.19" Hg Falling Feels Like Raw Transparency Poor Seeing II
Instruments	West Marine 7x50 Raiatea binocular w/Baader AstroSolar filter film- Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Cap Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100201.1400 EST Comments Distance Light Time 0.985 AU 8m 12s Angular Size 32' 30.9" Altitude 27.5° Heliographic Latitude (B0) -6.07° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 334.21° Parallactic Angle (P) -12.44° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2093 SOHO tells me that Group 1043 of Solar Cycle 24 is there and that there are 4 spots in it but I can’t even see the group.   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots)

---

I just Watched Destination Moon. Filmed by George Pal in 1950. The movie makes you wonder if Fox News is right about the lunar landings being faked when they periodically air their 'lunar landings were Hollywood productions' documentaries. This movie predates NASA by eight years, JFK’s announcement that we would go to the Moon by 12 years and the accomplishment of that goal by 19 years (but I don't think it was the first Mission to the Moon movie and HG Wells' books about lunar missions are older). And Pal even has the “bunny hop” on the lunar surface. It is amazing how much he got right before we even decided to go there. Given the Obama budget announced today it may be the closest we get to a walk on the Moon for a while. There is so much pork in Congress that that battle is likely not over though.

---

The prospect of commercial taxi service into space for NASA astronauts rases some questions, and I am sure there will be many more to come.

?

When we buy seats on the taxi will there be a taxi driver provided; the astronauts have to drive the taxi themselves; or will the taxis be an autonomous transfer vehicles? If the astronauts have to drive the taxi themselves what happens if they go up on a yellow cab and a Checker comes to pick them up? Will they have the training to drive whatever flavor of taxi is on hand? Will the current astronauts hang around waiting for all of this to shake out or will they bail out after their last ISS construction mission leaving us with nobody to send up when we eventually decide it is time to again send somebody somewhere?