Doug King

Space Shuttle kiss! 😘 Enterprise and Discovery met nose to nose in April 2012 when we welcomed Discovery into our collection. #ValentinesDay

@TeslaJoy @Nightstalker89 I also bought FSD during that $2K March 2019 FOMO sale. At the time it added no extra functionality, so we were paying money in exchange for a promise. That promise has yet to be fulfilled.

@Nightstalker89 This is what my invoice said.

I did a calculation of the $7K FSD capability I bought back in 3/2019. I didn’t get FSD beta software until late 10/2021 so I’ve been using this capability for 52 months so far. $7,000 / 52 months = $134.62/month I’ve been paying ~$135/month so far for something that doesn’t work right, and Tesla hasn’t updated the software since 11/2024. There are also many Tesla owners who paid $8K-$15K for FSD in countries that don’t even have FSD beta available yet. I really hope @elonmusk and @Tesla will do the right thing by allowing us early FSD customers to transfer FSD license any time we choose to, when we are ready and financially able to buy another Tesla, instead of cutting off the transfer completely and leaving us hanging. For us who participated in FSD beta program, we contributed to FSD data points that made FSD much better today (even though I cannot enjoy it). It would only make sense allowing us to grandfather our FSD license from vehicle to vehicle in the future to realize its true value and potential.

@jcadman22 @evchels D'oh! When and where did that happen? I'm actually in Maryland for the time being.

It was so nice to catch up with you @evchels ☺️

@CinemaTweets1 For a movie that advertised itself as being highly scientifically accurate I was annoyed by all the obvious physics mistakes. Also, I found the way the astronauts were acting at the beginning of the film to be insultingly reckless.

Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity has turned into a somewhat divisive film in the decade since its release. I personally know a few folks who can’t stand this film, while others swear by it. I think it’s an unbelievable achievement & sneaky rewatchable. The special effects are absurd.

@ThatEricAlper Everybody leaves if they get the chance, and this is my chance.

Crystal blue skies and autumn foliage make for beautiful conditions at Cornell.

@KiraJosei @SaveStandard Would permanent standard time be better? I typically wake up with the sun. One summer I worked in Japan. Etiquette required that I couldn’t leave the lab till late in the evening. But then I would wake up at 4:30am with sunrise. I got so little sleep.

Permanent DST is threatening to make Americans even less healthy. A significant part of why Japanese live 5 years longer is 6:30am Radio Taiso routines. Summer DST already makes that difficult, extending it to winter means families will rush to work/school in darkness. This could result in even higher Medicare costs @DOGE_HHS as DST disproportionately harms the sleep and health of the elderly and parents. See @AASMorg Make America Healthy Again!

@etroll451 @111wonderfu1 That was exactly my thought

@111wonderfu1 Sunny Day Sweepin' the clouds away On my way to where the air is sweet Can you tell me how to get, How to get to Sesame Street?

Brian invents Good Vibrations

@andyweirauthor You win some, you dim sun…

Um... futurism.com/scientists-pre…

@KerbalNut @SciGuySpace If you do the VIP tour at Houston you can see the ghost shuttle and sit in the flight deck.

@SciGuySpace Doesn’t Houston already have a shuttle?

This bill is dumb as hell, and I live 5 minutes from Space Center Houston.

@EpicToneDogg @clipsonlines I was going to say the same thing. Feels stolen.

@clipsonlines A scene straight from the Animatrix episode “Beyond”

@LanaYCandado @Evil_MerlinX @AlexBolewski @SciGuySpace Three, actually. I’ve seen them all in the last two years. They’re at Marshall, Johnson, and Kennedy Space Centers.

The primary contractor for the Space Launch System rocket, Boeing, is preparing for the possibility that NASA cancels the long-running program. arstechnica.com/space/2025/02/…

@Erdayastronaut What was the purpose of Elon's statement? Trolling?? Great meeting you at the Astro Awards!

This is SUCH a complicated topic and many people are voicing opinions with some basic facts missing. Please allow me a few minutes to explain this situation in depth: Let's start at the beginning... SpaceX and Boeing were hired in 2014 to provide commercial crew services to the ISS for NASA. SpaceX was the first to successfully fly and safely return crew with operational flights beginning in 2020. Boeing had an unsuccessful test flight in 2019 which required a redo in 2022 which was considered successful despite a few thruster malfunctions, it safely flew the mission to and from the ISS. It should be noted, that Boeing received nearly double the amount SpaceX did for the Commercial Crew Program, mostly for "timeline assurance" - ironic This eventually led to the flight of Boeing's Starliner Crew Flight Test with Butch and Suni in June, 2024. Immediately once on orbit, the vehicle experienced thruster issues and small helium leaks which were more off-nominal than they would've liked. The safest thing to do was to dock to the ISS where they could further test and figure out the exact issue and determine the safest thing to do next. The ISS was their original destination and once on Station, the Crew was safe AND had work to do as highly trained NASA astronauts, station keeping, and doing research and science. During this period, there technically wasn't a known, safe way to get Butch and Suni back, so NASA and SpaceX devised a way to have them return as the 5th and 6th crew on the Crew-8 Dragon, C206 Endeavour in the case of an emergency on station. After a few months of testing, NASA decided the safest thing to do was to have the Boeing Starliner return uncrewed, which would free up that docking port to allow the Crew-9 SpaceX Dragon Capsule a place to dock. So in September, the malfunctioning Starliner returned (safely), uncrewed, and for about two weeks the official way off the station in an emergency was by being the 5th and 6th crew inside the Crew-8 Dragon capsule, but then on September 29th, Crew-9 docked to the ISS. THIS MEANS, THE SPACEX CREW DRAGON CAPSULE THAT IS DEEMED TO "RESCUE" / UN-"ABANDON" / "SAVE" BUTCH AND SUNI HAS ALREADY BEEN DOCKED TO THE ISS SINCE SEPTEMBER. People seem to be missing this point. And here's where this all gets pretty complicated... NASA / Roscosmos flew Crew-9 with only Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov so there would be two seats available to return Butch and Suni from the ISS. They even brought up two SpaceX space suits with them since the Boeing Starliner ones weren't compatible with Dragon. Normally, the ISS crews do 6 month stays with overlapping "expeditions" where half the crew basically rotates out every three months. What it really means is, GENERALLY, you go up on one spacecraft, you come down on that same one. And crewed spacecraft come up every 3 months, basically play a game of tag, and they swap with half the crew that's currently onboard. They alternate, US Commercial Crew and Russian Soyuz vehicles. Sometimes these schedules change, and sometimes missions have crew on much longer than 6 months, with the record and the safe timeframe being considered about one year. So the plan has been to have Butch and Suni join Crew-9. This means they are part of Expedition 71, 72 AND 73 on the ISS. Basically they got to do an extra expedition, something that I think most professional astronauts might see as a good thing. Since normally you don't have a crew leave the ISS until their replacements arrive, this means Crew-9 isn't slated to leave until Crew-10 arrives. In December it was revealed that Crew-10 is targeting no earlier than March because the particular SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that was slated to be used for that mission is not yet ready because it is brand new and there was still fabrication, assembly, testing and final integration of the vehicle necessary before it flew. This Crew Dragon, C213, is the fifth and likely final Dragon Capsule that will be built. So why are they waiting on a brand new spacecraft to launch Crew-10? Why aren't they just using one of the other 5 to fly Crew-10 sooner and get Butch and Suni home sooner? Well, C207 Resilience flew Polaris Dawn and is modified for free flying and is docking-portless at the moment, and will be flying Fram-2 soon. C206 Endeavor is undergoing refurbishment as planned after its 5th flight. C212 Freedom is currently docked to the ISS and C210 is currently slated to fly Axiom-4. So what options are there? What if they really do say "just bring them home already!!!"... well it causes a bit of a mess. First off, they would abandon their expedition 72 crew mate, Don Pettit, to be the only person onboard the US segment of the ISS. Leaving him alone to do all station keeping, leaving virtually no time to do science or research, he'd become a full time janitor / maintenance man until he was relieved of his duties. It should be noted that when they increased crew size from a crew of 3 to a crew of 4, the amount of science that could be done nearly doubled, which goes to show just how much time and energy it takes to keep the station operational for a crew. Another option is rush completion and certification of the C213 Dragon and fly Crew-10 earlier, which I think we all agree is a terrible option, and likely one SpaceX wouldn't sign off on, no matter how much pressure there is from up top. Another option is to switch Crew-10 to fly on C210, which is also not great since the Crew has been training specifically to certify and test out C213 as part of their mission. Swapping two crews' hardware at this point would be fairly negligent too. Lastly, the option is to just wait until Crew-10 arrives, swap the crews per usual and allow Butch and Suni to fly home on Crew-9's Dragon Capsule once Crew-10 is settled in and operating the station. This is the option NASA, and ultimately SpaceX, chose. These are just plain and simple the facts of the situation, hopefully it helps you develop an informed and nuanced opinion on this complicated subject matter.

Is this the first time we got audio of a meteorite hitting the surface? Caught on a doorbell camera. cbc.ca/player/play/vi… Thanks to Roy MacLellan for the tip

@lisa_dreher97 How’s your scorpion kick?

@TeslaJoy License on your phone?

Went to Bible study tonight without my wallet or physical driver’s license. Only had my iPhone and Apple Watch with me. I felt so liberated! 😂

@RocketLab @ucbssl @NASA Minor correction: It’s “University of California at Berkeley” or “UC Berkeley” but not “University of Berkeley.”

Going to Mars IS awesome! 🛰️ 🛰️ Learn more about the two identical spacecraft designed, built, integrated, and tested by Rocket Lab for @ucbssl and @NASA's ESCAPADE mission, from the makers of Mars spacecraft themselves. The ESCAPADE mission sets to further unravel the mysteries of the Red Planet, studying its unique hybrid magnetosphere. 📅 Mark Your Calendars: No earlier than October 13, the mission launches on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral, FL! 🚀

3 trees 🌲 in Paris @DaStanfordTree Thanks Andrew for bringing some good Luck 😏 to Paris

The Home of Champions. Still. Always. Forever. 🌲♥️🌲

When the clock hits midnight, the Pac-12 grant of rights will expire and ten members will find themselves in new homes. To the conference we grew to simultaneously love and hate because of its insane finishes, cannibalistic parity, and inept leadership: Thank you and goodnight.