Author: Lofty Ambitions

Generation Space: A Love Story is forthcoming from Stillhouse Press. Anna Leahy is the author of Constituents of Matter, which won the Wick Poetry Prize, and the director of Tabula Poetica, including its annual fall reading series. Douglas Dechow is a co-author of SQUEAK: A Quick Trip to Objectland and a librarian at Chapman University. Together, they collaborate on scholarship about aviation, science of the twentieth century, and other projects. Their articles appeared in the journal Curator and the book Bombs Away.
5 Things, Space Exploration

Blue Origin’s Shepard Rocket: One Year Later

On November 23, 2015, Blue Origin became the first entity to achieve a controlled, vertical landing of a rocket. Its New Shepard, named after the first American in space, flew an unmanned suborbital path just above the Kármán Line to outer space and returned safely. The same rocket made three additional test flights earlier this year: January 2, April 2, and June 19. This schedule demonstrated the … Continue reading Blue Origin’s Shepard Rocket: One Year Later

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5 Things, Aviation

Omaha Beach, Normandy

Omaha Beach is the code-name-turned-common-name of one of the Allied landing sites in Normandy on June 6, 1944. American soldiers hitting Omaha Beach were assured that air and naval bombardment would knock out the German strongpoints there. When B-24s had approached Omaha Beach shortly before the landings, however, the weather had been bad, and all but three bombs fell inland, killing French civilians instead of demolishing the twelve … Continue reading Omaha Beach, Normandy

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5 Things, Aviation

Veterans Day: Normandy American Cemetery

During our fellowship at The American Library in Paris, we took a day trip to Normandy. Doug’s great uncle was a top turret gunner in a B-17 in the 100th bomb group. On August 8, 1944, his B-17 was shot down near a small town called Perigny, and all aboard perished. While we went to Normandy to see the memorial that townspeople built to honor … Continue reading Veterans Day: Normandy American Cemetery

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5 Things

Paris: The 5 Basic Food Groups

Many who visit Paris will want to indulge by dining at fancy, Michelin-rated restaurants. We’ve splurged instead on short trips to Normandy and to England and found that it’s tough to get a bad meal in Paris. In the process, Paris has given us a new set of the 5 food groups for basic sustenance. Plus, we’ve included a bonus item. Croissants The French spin butter … Continue reading Paris: The 5 Basic Food Groups

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5 Things, Aviation

Farman Magasin d’Antiquités (Part Deux)

Also, look at Paris: Antique Aviation Shop for the first part of this story. On Saturday, 14 June 2003, Pierre Farman was a passenger onboard the very last flight of Air France Concorde F-BTSD. Informally known as Sierra Delta (the last two letters of the aircraft’s call sign in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) alphabet, this particular Concorde was a record breaker, holding the … Continue reading Farman Magasin d’Antiquités (Part Deux)

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Guest Blogs, Science, Space Exploration

Guest Blog: Rebecca Green on Deep Space Communication

Rebecca Green is the Assistant to the Dean in Schmid College of Science at Technology at Chapman University, where the Lofty Duo work. We’ve been on task teams with Rebecca and know her to be a space nerd through and through. So we’re happy to share her family vacation story. This summer, I was fortunate enough to include a day trip to the Canberra Deep … Continue reading Guest Blog: Rebecca Green on Deep Space Communication

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5 Things, Space Exploration

Star Trek’s Golden Anniversary: Earth Episodes

We’re almost with our Star Trek anniversary celebration (and we’re posting our weekly Wednesday post late for only the second time in six years). So far, we’ve looked at our some of our favorite episodes, a frightening monster or two, and a few highlights for some crew members who weren’t always in the spotlight. While the crew of the Enterprise may have been boldly going … Continue reading Star Trek’s Golden Anniversary: Earth Episodes

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5 Things

Star Trek’s Golden Anniversary: Fave Non-Major Character Episodes

As soon as you’ve finished reading this week’s post, toddle off to your search engine of choice, and run a simple three keyword search: “Spock Kirk McCoy.” Once you’ve done your search, head of to the images section of your results. A scan of images quickly reveals that an incredible amount of the images have roughly the same positioning: Kirk at the image’s center, Spock … Continue reading Star Trek’s Golden Anniversary: Fave Non-Major Character Episodes

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5 Things, Space Exploration

Star Trek’s Golden Anniversary: 5 Fave Monsters

We’re continuing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Star Trek all month at Lofty Ambitions. In response to last week’s post of 5 fave episodes, it came through loud-and-clear on social media that a number of folks disagreed with Doug’s list—which is absolutely fine. We weren’t arguing that these were the best Star Trek episodes, simply that they were Doug’s childhood favorites. There are many … Continue reading Star Trek’s Golden Anniversary: 5 Fave Monsters

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