Everest +10

Keith's note: On 19 May 2009 at 6:15 pm EDT (20 May 4:00 am Nepal time) Astronaut Scott Parazynski stood on top of the world with piece of the Moon. My old, voided, damaged NASA badge (and a picture of astronaut Sunni Williams' dog Gorby) went along while Miles O'Brien served as our news anchor back in New York. Each of us has gone through a lot in the subsequent decade - some good, some bad. For Scott and I this adventure is as fresh in our minds as something that happened just yesterday. Its an adventure that just keeps on giving.

My Star Trek Episode at Everest

"In late April 2009 I found myself at Everest Base Camp for a month. I was living at 17,600 feet in Nepal 2 miles from China and 2 miles from the highest point on our planet. I was surrounded by the epic majesty of the Himalayas, a thousand people supporting several hundred Type A individuals with a shared intent to summit the mountain and stand in the jet stream. And all of this was enabled by the austere and noble Sherpa people. I was on a mission not unlike a space mission. My team mate was my long-time friend Scott Parazynski, an astronaut. And I had 4 small Apollo 11 Moon rocks in my pocket. I could just stop there and what is in these sentences would be cool enough. This had all the makings of a Star Trek episode - and I knew it."

That Time My Friend Walked Above The Sky (Book review)

"Then there's the books written by people who have attempted to climb Mt. Everest or other impressive climbs. Again, the sheer audacity of these climbs almost writes books with little human intervention required - other than memory. Of course, many climber tales are also crafted in a formulaic fashion - with one major exception: climbers like to talk about their fears, the awful conditions they endured, stupid choices, and how their path to the summit and back led them to new places in life - some of which are not always good. These books also talk about how one has to deal with real danger that can appear at any moment - danger that no one can ever be totally prepared for. And that danger can be unrelenting. There is no comfortable ride to the summit like there is to outer space."

from NASA Watch http://bit.ly/2QcMoB2
via IFTTT