My protective bubble burst when I saw the number of hits we got over the past few months:

• April: 36,200!
• May: 99,200!
• June: 44,500!
• July: 36,410! (as of this morning)

(The huge number of hits in May was probably due to the combination of the MPL search and the Phoenix imaging.)

…although this could just be 10 people who really love us, hitting “refresh” 4,000 times a month.

I don’t know how this compares to other websites, but I’m humbled and a little intimidated to find we have so many readers! I guess we should write more entries (and better ones!) We’re hoping to recruit some more team members to post, too. Ideas or requests for blog entry topics are welcome! Leave us a comment below.

Our P.I. gave him an overview of the Mars program, showed slides of HiRISE and also current or upcoming lunar missions. Not surprisingly, the engineering issues interested him; in particular aerobraking, heatshields, planetary protection, and the LCROSS lunar impact experiment. He mentioned how they had some doubt whether their heatshield would work (it was first capsule to come back at interplanetary speeds of around 25,000 mph). He contrasted planetary protection in the Apollo days with the great lengths we go to to remove most microbes from Mars-bound spacecraft; for the Moon landings people were more concerned about what might come back! But LCROSS will deliberately send an upper-stage into an impact trajectory; something he noted that Apollo specifically avoided by sending it on a solar trajectory.

I hope it doesn’t sound too cliché, but it was an honor to meet a real American hero! I think all of us here are real space geeks and considered it a great privilege to meet him.

Some other interesting details about Mr. Borman and Apollo 8.

• He also commanded Gemini VII, the long-duration Gemini mission (and first rendezvous). Fourteen days in a tin-can!?! This guy must consider it a delight to fly coach, if he ever flies coach, because…
• … he’s also the former CEO of Eastern Airlines, from 1975 to 1986.
• Along with Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, the Apollo 8 crew were the Time Magazine ‘Person of the Year’ for 1968.
• Apollo 8 audio samples are used in the song High Roller by popular electronic duo The Crystal Method (one of my favorites, so I had to throw that factoid in).
• Their Genesis 1 reading is said to be the most watched TV broadcast (up until the Apollo 11 landing I presume). Not everyone’s cup of tea perhaps, but it had a certain grace.

Update: Here’s a group photo. That’s Roger Angel, director of the Steward Observatory Mirror Lab, standing beside Mr. Borman on the far right. The photo was taken by none other than Peter Smith, P.I. for the Phoenix Mars Lander and renowned builder of stereoscopic panoramic Mars cameras!