On Monday's show we'll be playing out a piece I recorded at the ill fated Solar Sail, Project Operations Center at the Planetary Society in Pasadena, California. It would be an understatement to say the night of the launch was a roller-coaster ride for all those involved in this privately funded space mission.
Ann Druyan - the widow of the late, great Carl Sagan, had through her company personally invested millions of dollars in Cosmos 1, but her emotional investment in the project was also considerable. She was elated as we had news of a successful launch, and evidently deeply effected as the craft then failed to make contact as expected.
Finally the evening ended on an upswing with a press conference in which Cosmos scientist expressed confidence that they had in fact heard from the craft and it was in orbit - just not the one they expected. Those hopes were of course finally dashed by a rather belated admission the next day from the Russian authorities that the solar sail was probably sailing in the Barents sea.
Although the result is a disappointment, the Planetary Society's mission is to educate and enthuse the general public about space exploration and research, and in these terms the mission was a success. They really make good use of the web; they had a mission blog, and a weekly podcast - it will be interesting to listen to their account of what happened to the Solar Sail.
Incidentally if you are wondering why there's a picture of Kirsten Dunst heading the piece, she hung around for about 3 hours at the launch. A friend of the Sagan's she showed an unexpected degree of patience for the ups and downs (literal and figurative) of space science. The evening also neatly demonstrated the difference between entertainment and science reporters. I can't imagine any other context in which an A-list actress could walk into a press room and not be bothered by journalists, but the whole time she was there the only two interview requests came, one from yours truly, and another from the local National Public Radio station.
Rhod Sharp, Kevin Anderson and Chris Vallance blog for Up All Night
Kirsten Dunst waits anxiously at the launch of the Solar Sail
Kirsten Dunst waits anxiously at the launch of the Solar Sail
If you are wondering why there's a picture of Kirsten Dunst heading the piece, she hung around for about 3 hours at the launch...
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