Okay, it's four years old

But it was so great to see Tracy and hear her voice as she explains her work with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

I miss Tracy. :) If she and her husband ever make it back this way, we need to go to an Indian restaurant with YKWIA and A.

Tracy is absolutely amazing!

Never mind that she was really driven to study in college and chose really good internships because she's really, really smart, with several of us slackers by comparison. Never mind that of all of us she's probably the most successful out in the world. Never mind that her job entails sending up projects to study Mars and stars light-years away.

She can really belly dance!

I don't get to see Tracy anymore, since she lives in California now, but she mentioned videos on YouTube of one of her performances to a friend and we were truly wowed. Here she is (she's the one in blue):



Here's one with her on her own:



Wow, the girl can move! Enjoy!

Yay, Tracy and Company

A friend works at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California. Here's some great news for them today:

Mars Craft Succeeds in Soft Landing: Phoenix to Begin Search for Signs of Life Beyond Earth

And as an interesting footnote:

In addition to its sophisticated cameras, soil retrievers and mini-laboratories, Phoenix carried on its journey a mini-DVD created by the Planetary Society called "Visions of Mars." It holds a library of science fiction stories and art, as well as the names of more than 250,000 people.

The DVD, featuring the likes of Carl Sagan, Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury, is made of material designed to last for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

PS Tracy's big project has been the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which arrived at Mars in 2006. I'm not sure if she's part of this project or not, but I always think of her when I hear of this sort of thing. I came across this feature on Tracy. She's very talented, and probably the most driven of the lot of us.