		On Wednesday - December 24^th, 2003 - we continued our long standing tradition of bringing you holiday readings with a touch of the fantastic. And since the landing of the UK spacecraft Beagle 2 was scheduled for later that day, we provided periodic updates on the status of that mission over the following days.

Suzanne will be bringing you tonight's performance of the Mary De Morgan story, Through the Fire. Here are a few words from her introducing the story. Our holiday story for this year is a charming tale titled Through the Fire by Mary De Morgan. The author is the sister of the famous artist and writer William De Morgan, who supplied the illustrations for this story. They both were great friends of William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones, Gabriel Rossetti and other greats of England's Pre-Raphaelite and Arts and Crafts movements in the late 1800's. Mary wrote fairy stories that she told to her nieces and nephews, together with the children of the Morris and Burne-Jones families. Her tales were published in three collections which appeared between 1877 and 1900. Tonight's story can be found in her first book titled On a Pincushion, published in 1877. Through the Fire is a romantic tale set in Victorian London and occurs on the nights of Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve when many magical things are possible. Little Jack befriends the Fire Fairy Princess Pyra who yearns to marry her beloved, the Water Fairy Prince Fluvius. They can only love from afar, lest her fire evaporate his water and his water extinguish her fire. Jack embarks on an adventure to the Old Man at the North Pole to seek an answer to their dilemma.

Life can be very busy and stressful and the holiday season can certainly add its own set of stresses. If you're not careful you can forget about the important things in life and neglect your loved ones. Take some time this holiday season to reflect on the important things in life and let your friends and family know what they mean to you. Like one of the characters said in "A Christmas Carol, "When happiness comes to a party, be sure to give it a comfortable seat."

And from all of us at Hour 25, we wish you the very best for this holiday season. May all your dreams come true in the coming year.

Dateline: Mars

Click here to go to the Official Beagle 2 Web Site for late breaking news about the mission.

Beagle 2 on Mars with its inflated air bags.
All Rights Reserved Beagle 2.

Beagle 2 on Mars with its solar panels and scientific instruments deployed.
All Rights Reserved Beagle 2.

December 24, 2003 4:30 PM PST

As I write these words the Beagle 2 spacecraft is falling toward Mars with an anticipated touchdown on the Red Planet in just a few hours at 6:54 PM PST {2:54 GMT Christmas Day}. All is going well.

Following the landing the Beagle 2 will transmit a radio tone to let the controllers on the Earth know that the landing has been successful. However, the first opportunity to communicate with the Lander will not occur until around 9:30 PM PST {5:30 GMT} when the American Mars Odyssey spacecraft passes overhead.

A few days ago - December 19 to be specific - the Beagle 2 Lander was separated from the Mars Express spacecraft. After spending the last half of a year joined together and flying on a trajectory designed to lead to an impact on Mars the two vehicles were now free to seek their independent destinies. One day after Beagle 2 was released the Mars Express spacecraft performed an orbit deflection maneuver that adjusted its path so that it would fly past Mars and not hit the planet. On Christmas Eve, at the time when Beagle 2 is landing on the planet, the Mars Express spacecraft will be firing its rocket motor and inserting itself into orbit around Mars.

If successful these two vehicles will be the first European spacecraft to reach Mars and the first spacecraft from the United Kingdom to land on the the Red Planet.

December 24, 2003 7:00 PM PST

Beagle 2 must now be on Mars.

Following the inexorable laws of Orbital Mechanics laid down by Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton the Beagle 2 spacecraft would have entered the Martian atmosphere a few minutes ago and by now is resting on the surface of the Red Planet. Unfortunately it is not able to communicate directly with Earth at this time and so the fate of Beagle 2 is unknown.

The engineers and scientists will have to sit and wait - nervously - until the American Mars Odyssey spacecraft appears in the sky above the Beagle 2 and can serve as a communications relay to the Earth. This will happen at about 9:30 PM PST and, if all is well, then the radio signals announcing the safe arrival of Beagle 2 on Mars will be transmitted to Earth during a communications pass that occurs about one hour later.

December 24, 2003 9:30 PM PST

Mars Odyssey is passing over the Beagle 2 landing point. If Beagle 2 is safe, then that information will soon be relayed to the Earth. If not....

In related news, the Mars Express spacecraft has gone into orbit around Mars. Preliminary telemetry indicates that the spacecraft successfully performed the orbit insertion maneuver and is in good condition. Updated information on the status of Mars Express is expected after additional telemetry has been received.

December 24, 2003 11:30 PM PST

The American Mars Odyssey spacecraft has concluded its communications session with its NASA controllers but did not have any signal from the Beagle 2 Lander to relay back to the Earth.

There are several possible explanations for this. The antenna on Beagle 2 may not have been properly oriented, the spacecraft's battery power may have been lower than expected, there may have been some unexpected delay in the Beagle 2 configuring itself after the landing or any of a number of technical problems may have prevented the initial contact with the spacecraft. But there is a chance that there has been a serious problem and that the Beagle 2 may not have survived its landing on Mars. Who knows? Perhaps the Great Galactic Ghoul has claimed another victim.

Engineers will try contacting the Beagle 2 tomorrow afternoon using a direct link via the 76-meter radio telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory and by repeated attempts using the Mars Odyssey and Mars Express spacecrafts.

We'll keep our fingers crossed.

December 25, 2003 1:30 PM PST

No new news from Mars. But, then again, that is not unexpected.

Yesterday's attempt to communicate with Beagle 2 through the Mars Odyssey spacecraft happened not long before the sun set over Isidis Planitia, the low lying equatorial basin where Beagle 2 landed. Following sunset the Beagle 2 was to have buttoned itself and stopped transmitting so that it could use its limited store of electrical power for staying warm during the cold Martian night where temperatures could fall to as low as -80 degrees C.

The sun has now risen on the Beagle 2 landing site and, if all is going well, the spacecraft's solar panels are recharging its batteries. In a couple of hours the radio telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory in England will be able to see the Beagle 2 landing site and astronomers there will listening for a signal from the spacecraft. Only time will tell if their efforts will be rewarded with good news.

January 7, 2004 11:30 PM PST

It has been two weeks since Beagle 2 landed on Mars. But all attempts to communicate with the probe have been met with nothing but silence.

Early communication attempts were made using the Mars Odyssey spacecraft and the radio telescopes from the Jodrell Bank Observatory. The Mars Express spacecraft has been spending the better part of the last two weeks adjusting its orbit and now is in a position to serve as a communications relay for Beagle 2. But the attempts to reach Beagle 2 through the Mars Express radio link have not succeeded. The scientists and engineers who worked on Beagle 2 are starting to belive that their spacecraft was not successful in its attempt to land on Mars.

This is very disappointing news. Beagle 2 was carrying a number of scientific instruments that would have done much to characterize the conditions on Mars and could have given us solid information concerning the presence of current or past life on Mars. The loss of these science experiments is a great disappointment to all persons who are curious about our universe.

However, the persons who worked on Beagle 2 have said that this turn of events will only slow their work, not stop it. They are already talking and planning for a new mission to mars; Beagle 3. We wish them the best of luck on their future missions and hope that they will soon have another spacecraft headed for the Red Planet.

In other news concerning planetary exploration. The Stardust spacecraft has successfully flown by the comet Wild 2, photographed it and gathered samples of its comma. That spacecraft is now headed back to Earth with actual samples of the comet for scientists to study.

And back on Mars the first of the two Mars Exploration Rovers successfully landed and has started to send back pictures to the Earth. In a few days the rover will drive off the lander that carried it to the Martian surface and start its 90 day mission of Martian exploration.

We'll have more news about these missions on our next show, which should be uploaded in a few days. We'll see you then.

compliments of the season

Listen to this show

Click here to listen to the entire show. {1:19:59}
Or

Click here for the show's intro music.{0:41}

Click here for the show's opening. {7:06}

Click here for Suzanne's reading of Through the Fire by Mary De Morgan. {1:07:27}

Click here for my thoughts about Hour 25 and the Holiday season. {2:16}

Click here for the show's closing.{2:29}

For more holiday readings be sure to listen to our Christmas shows from 2002, 2001 and 2000.

If you want to add some wickedly funny music to your holiday celebrations, then be sure to listen to last week's show featuring A Very Scary Solstice.

Click here for an index of all Shows on our site.

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Links for more information relating to this week's show

Space News - Mars

For more information about the Beagle 2 Mars Lander be sure to check out the Beagle 2 Official Web Site, the ESA Beagle 2 Web Page or this article about Beagle 2 from Astrobiology Magazine.

Images of the Beagle 2 landing site as seen from the Viking Orbiter and Mars Global Surveyor can be viewed here {Part 1} and here {Part 2}.

To learn more about the Mars Express mission you can go to this ESA Mars Express Web Site, this Mars Express Web Page from JPL, this NSSDC Mars Express Web Page, or this Web Page from Mars News.Com.

For more information about the Mars Exploration Rovers be sure to check out the MER Web Site at JPL or this Mars Rover site at Cornell University.

To learn more about the Nozomi Mars Mission you can view this Web Site from the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science or this Web Site from the National Space Science Data Center. For more information about the ending of the Nozomi Mars Mission you can read this report at Spaceflight Now.

For more information about the Exploration of Mars be sure to go to the JPL Mars Exploration Site, the Center for Mars Exploration at NASA Ames, or the Mars Missions Web Site at the Planetary Society.

Information about the data returned by previous Mars missions can be found at this Mars Web Page at the NSSDC.

Information about the Phoenix Mission to Mars can be found at this Press Release from the University of Arizona. You can view a 3D picture of the Mars Phoenix spacecraft here.

For more Mars news be sure to check out the Mars News.Com Web Site.

Percival Lowell did much to shape our ideas about Mars in the early years of the 20th Century. You can learn more about his work by reading this on-line copy of his 1895 book Mars.

For On-Going Updates on Space News

The Reusable Launch & Space Vehicle News Web Site Web Page that is part of the Hobby Space Web Site is a really good place to watch for news about, well... Reusable Launch Vehicles and related subjects. I check it out just about every day and often find news there that doesn't show up anywhere else. Give it a look. {And while you're there be sure to check out some of the site's other pages. Wow! Is there a lot of information there.}

The Space Today Web Site is a great place to find space news from all over the 'net.

The Spaceflight Now Web Site carries real time information about current space missions and presents a lot of space and astronomy news. This is the place I go to when I want up to the minute information about current space missions. Do I need to say more?

The NASA Watch Web Site is another great place for getting information about current space missions. Check there also for news about other 'goings on' within NASA. Highly recommended.

Space News - The Columbia Accident - On-Going

The Columbia Accident Report

You can read the Report of the Columbia Accident Investigation on-line or download it by going here. {You will also find a link there in case you want to order a hard copy.}

The Smoking Gun

Ongoing testing by NASA seems to have found the "smoking gun" in the Columbia accident. {At least as far as the technical problems go. For information about NASA's management problems, see the news item below.} Tests found that a foam impact on the leading edge of the Shuttle's wing would blow a 16 inch hole in that structure as well as cracking and damaging other parts of the Shuttle's wing. For more information check out these stories from the Orlando Sentinel, Florida Today, Reuters, Spaceflight Now and The Houston Chronicle.

The Management Problem

Be sure to read this story from the Orlando Sentinel which discusses previous Shuttle missions where foam from the ET damaged the Shuttle's TPS and NASA's approach to dealing with this problem in the future.

During the Apollo 13 accident the words of Flight Director Gene Krantz, "Failure is not an option", set the tone for what NASA would do and went a long way toward getting the crew safely back to Earth. But during the flight of the Columbia things were quite different. Linda Ham, the head of the Mission Management Team, was not interested in getting better data about the result of the foam impact or coming up with a crash program to rescue the Columbia astronauts because, as she said, "I don't think there is much we can do". Read more about this shocking revelation at this report from the Washington Post and at this story from the Florida Today Web Site .

Be sure to check out this story from the Florida Today Web Site which details a long history of unresolved safety issues affecting the Shuttle.

Concerning Future Developments

For an interesting assessment of the Orbital Space Plane project, be sure to read this report by Jeffrey F. Bell. You might or might not agree with him, but his calculations certainly give you something to think about.

More information about the Orbital Space Plane (OSP) can be found here, another view about the OSP can be found here and another opinion about this project can be found here.

On-Going Coverage and Reference Sources

The Columbia Accident Investigation Board Web Site is a good source for information about the results of the on-going investigation into the loss of the Columbia.

NASA has a Web Site with information about the loss of the Columbia, the on-going investigation into this accident, the crew and other related subjects.

CAD Digest has a very good compilation of information about the Columbia accident.

Florida Today has a Web Site with updated coverage of the loss of the Columbia.

This NASA Web Page contains pictures of the crew of the Columbia along with other pictures from their mission. {Audio files from STS-107 can be found here and video files can be found here.}

You can find the Press Kit from the STS-107 mission here.

ISS News

The Florida Today Web Site has a very interesting report about the causes of the ISS budget problems and their impact on the space program. It makes very interesting reading.

Click here to view the press kits for various ISS missions.

Check out the NASA International Space Station Web Page or the Boeing Web Page to learn more about this project.

A great source of news about Russian space activities, including their work on the ISS, can be found at the Russian Space Web.

Do you wonder where the Space Station is right now? You can use your browser to view real time maps showing the location of the ISS by going to this link at the NASA Space Link Web Site or here at the Johnson Spacecraft Center. Please note that your browser must support Java to make use of this satellite tracking software.

You can find out when the ISS - or many other spacecraft - can be seen from your location by going to this NASA Web Page. Please note; your browser must support Java for this application to work.

Click here for information about the audio files used for Hour 25 and for information about configuring your browser and downloading audio players.

Please note Web Pages from external sites will open in a separate browser window and that Hour 25 Productions are not responsible for the content of any external Web Sites.

Return to the Index for this month's shows

A Very Scary Solstice Listen to this show

On Saturday - December 13^th, 2003 - we had a room full of guests when we interviewed some of the members of the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society and the Theater Banshee Company to discuss their recently released CD, A Very Scary Solstice. I discovered A Very Scary Solstice a few weeks ago and after I got done giggling and laughing I knew that I would have to have the ~~perpetrators~~, er.. creators and performers of this album on Hour 25.
John Yelvington and Holly Long		Sean Branney and Andrew Leman
Rebecca Marcotte and Matthew Fahey Carolyn Palmer and Josh Thoemke		What these imaginative folks have done is to graft Lovecraftian themes onto traditional Christmas Carols. The result is, in a word; entertaining, refreshing, wonderful and hilarious. OK, that's more than one word, but you get my drift. There is something wonderfully twisted about hearing a familiar Christmas song and then realizing that the words are evoking images of ancient demons and horror, while the music is invoking traditional holiday images. However, more than just having imaginative word play, what sets this album off from so many others is that the performers are all really talented. Not only do they have great voices, but they are able to manage complicated multi-part harmonies and complex interwoven vocal themes with style and grace. This CD has given me more pure entertainment than just about any piece of music in recent memory. It is most highly recommended.
Sean Branney, Andrew Leman and Aidan Branney

One reason Sean and Andrew were able to produce such a wonderful CD is that they have some very talented friends. And where might one find such talented persons when they aren't doing Lovecraftian things? In the theater. Specifically at the Theater Banshee Company, which Sean started a few years ago.

If you live in the LA area you really ought to drop in a watch one of their productions. These folks do really good work. Their current production, What the Butler Saw, is an English farce that pokes fun at all things pompous and stuffy. After recording tonight's show Suzanne and I stayed at the theater and had a wonderful evening enjoying this play.

There is still another week left in the run of What the Butler Saw and it would be well worth your taking an evening out from your holiday activities to go to this play and have a good laugh. But the play ends its run on December 21, so if you snooze you lose. Click on this link for more information about the Theater Banshee Company and What the Butler Saw.

Good Reads

Cover for Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre.

H.P. Lovecraft is an author whose stories and imagery have become such a part of popular culture and the literature of the fantastic that one can be familiar with the flavor of his works, even if you have never read one of his stories. But if that is the case for you, then you really do owe it to yourself to go straight to the source and sample the work of the most influential horror writer of the 20th century.

Some of the best collections of Lovecraft's stories are the three anthologies pictured above; The Best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre, The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft: Dreams of Terror and Death, and The Transition of H.P. Lovecraft: The Road to Madness. These books, published in very nice trade paperback editions by Del Rey Books, cover the range of Lovecraft's stories, from his shorter atmospheric works to the defining stories of the Cthulhu mythos. In them you will find something for everyone who is interested in horror and the fantastic, from stories of creeping horrors in the night to tales that put the concerns of human society in perspective with the sweep of cosmic time.

Over the years the text of Lovecraft's stories have suffered from creeping errors, typos, dropped words and lines along with various other publishing indignities. {It is said that all of the standard paperback editions of his works are filled with such errors.} A few years ago S.T. Joshi worked with Arkham House Books to create the definitive editions of Lovecraft's stories. The Annotated H.P. Lovecraft, edited by S.T. Joshi and More Annotated H.P. Lovecraft, annotated by S.T. Joshi and Peter Cannon, {from Dell Publishing} reprint some of those corrected stories and extend them by including notes and background information that you will find nowhere else. These books also feature illustrations that illuminate the stories and their backgrounds to give you the visual flavor of the world where H. P. Lovecraft lived. These books provide invaluable insight into H.P. Lovecraft and his writing and are not to be missed. They are most highly recommended.

Lovecraft's style can be a bit thick and ponderous for contemporary tastes. And even if you enjoy his style, reading too many of his stories in one sitting can be a bit like eating a large box of double thick chocolate chip cookies. One or two are fine, but a couple dozen leave you feeling unwell. Lovecraft is best enjoyed in small doses. Read a story or two and then put them aside for a few days. Then sample another couple stories. You'll enjoy them more if you spread them out over a few weeks instead of gorging yourself in a weekend orgy of reading.

These books are all great reads. Just don't read them in bed before dropping off to sleep. If you do, though, we will not accept any responsibility for the dreams you dream that night.

Cover for More Annotated H.P. Lovecraft.

Listen to this show

Click here to listen to the entire show. {1:31:32}
Or

Click here for the show's intro music.{0:41}

Click here for the show's opening. {16:55}

Click here for our interview with Sean Branney and Andrew Leman. {28:34}

Click here for Oh Come All Ye Olde Ones.{1:26}

Click here for our interview with Holly Long and John Yelvington. {9:21}

Click here for The Carol Of The Olde Ones.{1:11}

Click here for our interview with Rebecca Marcotte and Matthew Fahey. {9:28}

Click here for Awake Ye Scary Great Old Ones.{1:27}

Click here for our interview with Carolyn Palmer and Josh Thoemke. {8:20}

Click here for Cthulhu Lives.{0:45}

Click here for our interview with Sean Branney, Andrew Leman and Aidan Branney. {7:51}

Click here for Oh Cthulhu.{3:22}

Click here for the show's closing.{2:11}

Click here for an index of all Shows on our site.

Please note that the songs from A Very Scary Christmas are all Copyright © 2003 by HPLHS, Inc. and are used with their kind permission. All Rights Reserved. Any additional distribution or use of these songs requires the explicit permission of the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. Cthulhu is watching and he knows where you live.

Click here if you have a problem hearing the show and you're using Internet Explorer.

If you enjoyed this show and would like to know when other interviews are uploaded to the Hour 25 web site, then send an email to me at wwjames@earthlink.net and I will add your name to the free Hour 25 Newsletter mailing list. That way you'll get a brief notice in your email every time a new show gets uploaded to the web.

Links for more information relating to this week's show

Lovecraftian Links

You've got to check out the web site for The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, the folks who brought us the music and merriment for tonight's show. If you want to get a copy of A Very Scary Solstice for your very own, then here's the link. {You can also hear more samples of their music at this location.} And if you want to get a copy of A Shogoth on the Roof, then go here.

You can find some really great Lovecraftian and Miskatonic University stuff - books, shirts, book covers, and more - from Pegasus Publishing. {And if you're looking for something there and you can't find it, then call them on the phone. I know that they haven't had time to get all their new merchandise up on their web site.}

Like I said in the interview, the folks who worked on A Very Scary Solstice are all great singers. Holly Long has released several CDs that showcase her talents. You can hear more samples of her work and learn more about her at her Web Site.

Space News - Mars