NASA Ames Classic Car Parade
Jan. 28, 2010
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| Sheila and Lynn with Penny in front of the NASA Ames administration building. |
Via the classic car coordinator for the Gatsby Summer Afternoon, Lynn receives an invitation to participate in a classic car parade to be held at the NASA Ames Research Center. Lynn has never visited this storied research facility and happily accepts the invitation. As he learns, this event is the culmination of a number of events marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of Ames.
Although he originally suggests to Terence, the classic car parade coordinator, that he bring Bugsby, once Lynn understands the significance of the event he decides to use Penny. Her 1938 year of manufacture closely aligns with the December 1939 founding of Ames. Lynn didn't do a scientific survey of the other participants, but he suspects that Penny birthday may be one of the closer matches to the founding date of Ames. It would have been entirely possible that she could have been driven onto the original site as a relatively new car in late 1939.
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| Announcement flyer for the NASA Classic Car Parade. | NASA Ames 70th year coin given to the parade participants. |
Lynn was very pleased to receive, along with others in the parade, a platinum jubilee commemorative coin from Terence. He will proudly add it to Penny's collection of prizes and awards.
Terence matches up dignitaries with cars that have a place to offer. Lynn is delighted escort Sheila, a principal organizer of the 70-year-anniversary events, in the parade with Penny.
The parade itself is quite interesting. Many of the NASA staff are out on the sidewalks to wave and cheer the cars on. In turn, the cars blow their horns and the riders wave to the crowd. Penny contributes to the general cacophony with the wolf whistle (listen here) that Lynn has installed. Sheila was a definite asset to Lynn and Penny as she enthusiastically waves and calls to individuals in the crowd. Lynn is amazed at how many of the people that they pass know and are known by Sheila.
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| Refreshments served to the parade participants. Note the 70-year-anniversary cookies. | ||
As he tells her of his general lack of knowledge of Ames, Sheila spends time telling Lynn of the many projects and facilities at Ames as they pass them in the parade route. Among many other sites, Sheila points out the supercomputing facility. With a hidden sense of pride and mild embarrassment, Lynn doesn't mention his former role as deputy program director for computing at another national research laboratory in the San Francisco Bay Area. By capturing the honor for itself, Lynn's program was responsible for denying Ames the #1 spot on the list of top supercomputers.
The parade ends at the main administration building, where the participants find refreshments and live music to entertain.
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| A poster for the recent LCROSS mission in the lobby. | |
Looking around the lobby of the administration building Lynn spots a poster for the LCROSS mission which confirmed the existence of water on the moon in October 2009. This significant finding my enable future exploration of our solar system! Launched in June 2009 along with the LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter), Lynn recalls his own limited involvement in the early 1980s with another NASA mission, the GRO (Gamma Ray Observatory).
Lynn thanks Terence, Sheila and the others at NASA Ames Research Center for this opportunity to participate in their platinum jubilee celebration of their 70 years of innovation!
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| On the ride home, Lynn stops and captures this image of Penny in Sunol. | |
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Last updated: Jan. 29, 2010