An interesting side note to the STS-120 has to do with the lightsaber that was used by actor Mark Hamill in the 1983 Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi film. The original lightsaber is being flown to the space station and then returned to Earth, in honor of the 30th anniversary of director George Lucas' Star Wars franchise.
Lucas was at the launch, and heard a crack on NASA TV from an ISS crewmember that they were "a little worried" about the Shuttle Commander totting a lightsaber.
-A.L.
"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence...Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race." - Calvin Coolidge
"If you're falling off a cliff you may as well try to fly, you've got nothing to lose." - John Sheridan (Babylon 5)
"Sometimes you got to roll the hard six." - William Adama (Battlestar Galactica)
Ian Malcolm: God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs.
Ellie Sattler: Dinosaurs eat man … woman inherits the earth.
Jurassic Park
"I don't believe in man made global warming because God promised to never again destroy the earth with water. He sent the rainbow as a sign."
- Sean Hannity Forums user Avi
"And BTW the concept of carbon based life is only a hypothesis based on the abiogensis theory, and there is no clear evidence for it."
-Mazen707 informing me about the facts on carbon-based life.