One Small Step for Quilters....

Hi Everyone!

I survived my experiment at NASA.  Coincidentally, did any of  you see this news story:  First Quilter in Space that was online yesterday?  I wish I could say that I was at NASA to experiment on how to quilt in space, but of course, I wasn't.  First of all, I loved the story, but they got it wrong--there was another astronaut who quilted--I remember Alex Anderson had Jan Davis, a three-time shuttle veteran on Simply Quilts years ago--however, I don't think she actually quilted in space.

I needed to be at the gate by 9am to get my visitor's badge.  Once I had it, I was all "officially official!"

Next I proceeded to the building I needed.  Maybe some of you didn't know, but NASA has a large research facility adjacent to Langley AFB here in Hampton Roads.  Also, out on the Eastern Shore of Virginia is Wallops Island--a rocket launch facility.  They recently blasted off a rather large rocket out there and I would have loved to go to see it, but it actually launched on the third attempt, and by then I lost track of when it was to be launched.

Anyway, I found the building just fine as I had already been there.  I was going to the Acoustics Research Lab.  Once I arrived, I had to have a hearing test.  The experiment was on the Large Civil Tilt Rotor study and four of us were there to listen to sounds of aircraft and rate what we heard.  After a bunch of paperwork, safety briefs, and instructions, we finally got down to it.  Essentially we were to listen to a sound of an aircraft (specifically a helicopter) flying over, pretend we were out in our yard at home, and rate the sound on a scale of 12-14 different criteria.  Some of them were "annoying to not annoying,"  "smooth to rumbly," "squeaky to not squeaky," "threatening to harmless," etc.  In all, we listened to 20 different aircraft.  I believe the purpose is to find a sound that is less offensive to people who have to hear it.  Before yesterday I never would have dreamed that there could be so many different sounds of helicopters that could be so different.

Once the experiment was over, we had to have another hearing test.  I should say that the sounds we heard were not that loud--they weren't any louder than a vacuum cleaner, so there was no danger to our hearing, but I suppose they want to make sure that everyone can hear just fine.  I was back on my way home before 11 AM, so I still had plenty of quilting time yesterday.  For my "trouble," I was paid $50 plus mileage, so it is a nice little bit of "pin money" to spend on a future fabric purchase.

It was fun, but not as exciting as this:

If you've been following this blog for awhile, you have seen this photo before.  It is my husband and Neil Armstrong.  My husband had the opportunity to meet Neil, as well as Gene Cernan (the last man to ever walk on the moon) and Jim Lovell (from Apollo 13 fame) back in 2011 when he was in Afghanistan.  The USO brought the astronauts over to visit the troops.  It was a really cool experience for my husband.

Have a great day!
JoAnne