I remember when President Kennedy committed to putting someone on the moon. The Space Race launched a lot more than just rockets to the moon. It launched science and engineering as the jobs of the future. It launched a whole industry bent on making things small enough that they could fit into a space ship - everything from telemetry to medical instrumentation and most of it evolved into things we take for granted today, like cardiac monitors in the ER, pacemakers, and laptop computers.
Last August, the US launched the Phoenix Mars Lander. Getting stuff there isn’t an issue. Getting it to slow down from 17,000 miles per hour and land is the issue. And the Phoenix was successful. Steve, at Whites Creek Journal, blogged about this yesterday and we’ve got the first photo from Mars after the jump. (Steve has more links to photos as well, just go there.)

Not pertinent to this posting, but what happened to new postings/stories? I know it was a holiday weekend, but MCB seems to have died out in the last several days with no updates at all.
*tap* *tap* Is this thing still on?
tap* *tap* Is this thing still on?
The democommie effect.
Crickets.
All you hear is the sound of crickets.
numberthanhell5-4+8:
You and your pals never cease to amaze me. I think that there might be any number of reasons for nobody posting here all week, but I’m not that powerful. Now you and your guntotin’ pals, otoh, you are one scary buncha mofos.
but I’m not that powerful
The sound of crickets does not denote power. It is about boredom. Don’t you have Jesus General to save?
You two should get a room.
DB Carden:
That would be a gay thing and I’m pretty sure that 8ball+1 would be upset with that (I wouldn’t be interested in rooming with him if he was a her).
Hey, Knucklehead10+3-4:
It’s pretty simple, stupid (just like you); when you go away I’m happy to do the same. Did you get a chance to do some research into that idiotic gaffe of yours about how many times this nation has been attacked by foreign powers? Probably not, as that would involve reading.
the question is, how many times has this nation been attacked by domestic powers
John and Bobby Kennedy:
Not counting the current 7 years long assault on the freedom, peace and privacy loving peoples of America?