Alvord Desert Dawn

A good photo showing Ben being put into the suit by Paulina J. around dawn, in the Alvord desert.

More frequent updates at twitter.

Yet Better Progress

The other night an incredible feeling, we had suit pressure up to that of an Apollo Lunar Suit (A7L model). Very exciting and what we've learned takes us forward, this week I'll implement fine adjustments that will put us ready to fly! Frequent updates at twitter.

Robert Louis Stevenson

"Every heart that has beat strongly and cheerfully has left a hopeful impulse behind it in the world, and bettered the tradition of mankind." -- Robert Louis Stevenson

Tolkien

“It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien

Ray Bradbury

“If teachers and grammar school editors find my jawbreaker sentences shatter their mushmilk teeth, let them eat stale cake dunked in weak tea of their own ungodly manufacture.”

-- Ray Bradbury

Convergent Evolution diagram

The fascinating phenomenon of convergent evolution is depicted in this diagram for my students and eventual readers in a forthcoming book. For more see McGhee, G. 2011. Convergent Evolution: Limited Forms Most Beautiful. Cambridge, MIT Press.

Recent Pressure Suit Work

After a good first test flight, integrating suit with balloon, I've been working on modifications, often assisted by Pacific Spaceflight team members, to make adjustments and revisions based on what we've learned. I've shaped a new helmet / suit neck ring junction so we can start on another suit (always need severa; a main flying suit, a backup flying suit, and at least one 'test suit' for trying out new ideas, installed glove fingertip lights (red to preserve night vision during predawn suitup in balloon operations), and we have started training new team members in the many suitup, maintenance and flight operations. We're on our way UP!