'tis My Most Favorite Day Of The Year...!!

periamma · Dec 28, 2018

@kkrish Kamala Thanks for sharing the image of our Mother Earth.very interesting article on Apollo 8 . I was in tenth std. In 1969 and our HM announced a written test will be held regarding the mission of Apollo 11 and asked us to concentrate on the live commentary broadcasted by Radio.
There was no Television those days.whole night i was near the radio and heard the commentary ,didn't sleep .Participated in the written test and got second prize.i was very happy to receive the prize a small plastic box .Neil Armstrong Edwin Aldrin and Michael collins still i remember those names..You always give valuable information.

periamma · Dec 28, 2018

I think Lyca a dog was sent to space by Russia.is it correct Kamala?

kkrish · Dec 29, 2018

periamma said: ↑

@kkrish Kamala Thanks for sharing the image of our Mother Earth.very interesting article on Apollo 8 . I was in tenth std. In 1969 and our HM announced a written test will be held regarding the mission of Apollo 11 and asked us to concentrate on the live commentary broadcasted by Radio.
There was no Television those days.whole night i was near the radio and heard the commentary ,didn't sleep .Participated in the written test and got second prize.i was very happy to receive the prize a small plastic box .Neil Armstrong Edwin Aldrin and Michael collins still i remember those names..You always give valuable information.
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Thank you Rukmini (@periamma ).
Congratulations to you on winning the prize for writing about Apollo 11.

I recall my dad listening to the Voice of America on our old GEC radio. He woke me up just about a hour before Neil Armstrong put his foot down on the moon's surface. I was too young to understand the significance of this historical event and was a bit annoyed with the Americans and my dad for ruining my sleep. ;-)

If you come across the movie/book "First Man" please do watch it. It is about Neil Armstrong.

kkrish · Dec 29, 2018

periamma said: ↑

I think Lyca a dog was sent to space by Russia.is it correct Kamala?
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Yes. Poor Laika the dog.

Thyagarajan · Jan 4, 2019

kkrish said: ↑

If anyone asked what my most favorite day in the year … now why would anyone ask me that question, or care, or … oh well, just in case… someone asked me, my answer will be

December 21st.

For me December 21st is the cusp day - out with the old and start of the new. This day being the shortest day and longest night, it means from tomorrow the sun would start setting a little later and the days will stay brighter, a wee bit longer... every day till June 21st that is.

*********
Today is actually a historical day. So, a snippet from space exploration history.

Today, December 21, 2018 marks the 50th Anniversary of the first human flight beyond near-Earth orbit and took three humans 240,000 miles to our natural satellite, the Moon.

It was the day Apollo 8 launched - Dec 21, 1968 - on the most powerful rocket ever made, Saturn V.

The mission was to test coordinated performance of the crew, the command and service modules, etc. The mission was also to test navigation, communications, corrections, and a multitude of other details required for the farthest, pioneering journey humans have ever undertaken.

If something were to happen there was no lifeboat to return to Earth.

This trip was crucial in so many ways before humans can land on the moon and accomplish the mission that President John F. Kennedy called upon his nation to do.

The trajectory was so tricky. This was almost like throwing a basketball from New Delhi hoping it will fall into the hoop at Kanya Kumari. No one had done it before. All they had were calculations and hope.

They had computers with less power than today’s hand held phones.

Travelling at a new world speed record of 24,200 mph (38,938 km/hr), after 61 hours, 8 minutes, and 54 seconds of launch, on Christmas Eve, Apollo 8 reached lunar orbit.

At 68 hours, 58 minutes, 45 seconds, lost signal as it went behind the Moon. At that precise moment the three men in the spacecraft were the first humans to see Moon’s far side.

Apollo 8 orbited the Moon ten times and the crew was busy filming the craters and mountains on Moon. It was during the fourth orbit that, while Borman was trying to get a navigational fix over the horizon that he first spotted a blue-and white fuzzy blob.

It is said that this was a rare moment of an astronaut losing his cool, as he realized what he was watching: Earth rising!
Anders then takes the first photograph of our Earth from the vantage point of another world which brought to all humankind the frail conditions we live in.

The Earth, a beautiful blue against the stark blackness of empty space and a stark grayness of an empty Moon was the only thing that had color.

It was not a world with bordered countries, or people of different colors, languages, cultures. It was our home, our only home in the vastness of emptiness.

Here is that iconic picture. Now with many other pictures sent by other spacecraft this may not mean much, but fifty years ago this changed the way we treated our Mother Earth, and brought to light how privileged we are.

View attachment 257150
Image: nasa.gov
Information: nasa and other sources.

Recommended Book - Rocket Men by Robert Kurson.
View attachment 257151
image: amazon.com
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I enjoyed reading the gist. A nice recapitulation. Juxtaposed with the news is China's CHANGE'S HAD REACHED YESTER NIGHT to the far side of the moon.
It is no surprise that your favourite day is a day of space achievement about which you are not just fond of but a subject close to your HEART .
.
Wish you HAPPY NEW year less four days in case I haven't wish you already.
Thanks and regards

kkrish · Jan 5, 2019

Thank you @Thyagarajan sir.
Yes, it was interesting news to lesrn of the Chinese's rover on the far side of the moon.
Hope to learn more about our closest celestial neighbor as more nations land an explore.

Thyagarajan · Jan 5, 2019

kkrish said: ↑

Thank you @Thyagarajan sir.
Yes, it was interesting news to lesrn of the Chinese's rover on the far side of the moon.
Hope to learn more about our closest celestial neighbor as more nations land an explore.
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While the rat race continues among nations with exploration of surfaces of far off planets/satellites, I presume lives could be inside deep in those planet's or satellite.
Once in discourse late Saint Kirupananda warior queried the audience that if India is HEAVEN then where the HELL COULD be. There was PIN drop silence. A boy among audience risen up and loudly said "NEW YORK. The lull in the audience turned to huge laughter !
Regards.
GOD BLESS.

jayasala42 · Jan 5, 2019

Madam, Sorry for interruption.
Thyagarajan Sir,
While citing a reference to Kripananda Variyaar Swami,
I am reminded of reading somewhere that patala loka is somewhere in South America.

Puranas have defined 7 various lokas and in Bhagavata Purana and Padma Purana, they are called Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talatala, Mahatala, Rasatala and Patala Loka.
Vishnu Purana narrates a story in which Vishnu’s 5th avatar (incarnation), Vamana asked for land from Daitya King Mahabali and how Bali left India to settle in South America.

Vamana asked 3 quarters of land from Bali

At that time, Bali was ruling over Asia, Europe and Africa. So he donated these 3 human inhabitated lands to Vamana and decided to leave.
Vamana was satisfied with Bali and gave him a boon of becoming next Indra, but until then he had to settle in Patala loka and perform yagnas.

Bali travelled towards east in a ship and settled in South America.
On this path he discovered Sutala (Islands in South East Asia and Australia), Talatala (Antarctica) and Patala (South America).
His men created settlements even in Mahatala (North America).

Patala Loka is described to be exactly below earth (then India) and one has to go 70000 yojanas deeper in earth to reach to reach there.

Mexico and Brazil are exactly below India and one has to dig a hole(tunnel) of that distance to travel vertically.
In Ramayana, Hanuman travelled to Patala (Brazil) to rescue Rama, Lakshmana from Mahiranava.
Interesting narrations.If South America is Patal loka, there is no wonder if the child said New York was naraka.(Hell)

When my grandson's punyavachanam was in US I was very curious to know what they say in Sankalpa. But except the timings,thithi and the star there was absolutely no change.He sated the same'Bharatha varshe bharatha kande, dakshine parswe etc.After the function my husband sought clarification.
He replied that by holding Akshatha in the hand and with a particular mudra of your hand, you are mentally in India and you have to say the sankalpam as though you are in India.
But in some other place I have heard a different sankalpam.
This has no connection with the snippet.Yet I just got reminded
jayasala 42

kkrish · Jan 5, 2019

Thyagarajan said: ↑

Once in discourse late Saint Kirupananda warior queried the audience that if India is HEAVEN then where the HELL COULD be. There was PIN drop silence. A boy among audience risen up and loudly said "NEW YORK. The lull in the audience turned to huge laughter !
Click to expand...

It saddened me to read that sir. It has become fashionable in India to ridicule the United States. (My family and friends in India do that also)

This is another classic example of putting others down to make oneself feel better.

What happened to the adage, "Yaadhum Oorey, Yaavarum Kelir" (Roughly translated to mean "Every place is good, all are our friends")?

Space exploration is not a rat race any more sir, it is more a collaborative effort where all the space agencies - NASA,ESA,JAXA,ISRO, RSA, etc. - work together.

Many folks have climbed the Everest, but we remember only the first two men - Sir E.Hillary and T. Norgay.

Similarly, many nations will go to the moon, but it was the United States who first put man on the moon fifty years ago, and that too within 100 years of the first flight. (Again US was the country that introduced the first mechanically powered airplane to the world)

Thyagarajan · Jan 5, 2019

jayasala42 said: ↑

Madam, Sorry for interruption.
Thyagarajan Sir,
While citing a reference to Kripananda Variyaar Swami,
I am reminded of reading somewhere that patala loka is somewhere in South America.

Puranas have defined 7 various lokas and in Bhagavata Purana and Padma Purana, they are called Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talatala, Mahatala, Rasatala and Patala Loka.
Vishnu Purana narrates a story in which Vishnu’s 5th avatar (incarnation), Vamana asked for land from Daitya King Mahabali and how Bali left India to settle in South America.

Vamana asked 3 quarters of land from Bali

At that time, Bali was ruling over Asia, Europe and Africa. So he donated these 3 human inhabitated lands to Vamana and decided to leave.
Vamana was satisfied with Bali and gave him a boon of becoming next Indra, but until then he had to settle in Patala loka and perform yagnas.

Bali travelled towards east in a ship and settled in South America.
On this path he discovered Sutala (Islands in South East Asia and Australia), Talatala (Antarctica) and Patala (South America).
His men created settlements even in Mahatala (North America).

Patala Loka is described to be exactly below earth (then India) and one has to go 70000 yojanas deeper in earth to reach to reach there.

Mexico and Brazil are exactly below India and one has to dig a hole(tunnel) of that distance to travel vertically.
In Ramayana, Hanuman travelled to Patala (Brazil) to rescue Rama, Lakshmana from Mahiranava.
Interesting narrations.If South America is Patal loka, there is no wonder if the child said New York was naraka.(Hell)

When my grandson's punyavachanam was in US I was very curious to know what they say in Sankalpa. But except the timings,thithi and the star there was absolutely no change.He sated the same'Bharatha varshe bharatha kande, dakshine parswe etc.After the function my husband sought clarification.
He replied that by holding Akshatha in the hand and with a particular mudra of your hand, you are mentally in India and you have to say the sankalpam as though you are in India.
But in some other place I have heard a different sankalpam.
This has no connection with the snippet.Yet I just got reminded
jayasala 42
Click to expand...

Splendid. You had once again kindled the curiosity how our puranas found those worlds long long ago much before Columbus or Americo vespuki.
2. You had reminded by mentioning the "lokas" names my performing AVANI AVITTAM - THE thread changing ritual where these worlds names are uttered in Sanskrit.
I now bow my head in reverence to you madam sister.
Regards.