6.5-ton UARS Satellite Coming Down – Everybody Panic?

NASA's 6.5-ton UARS Satellite will de-orbit... pretty soon. When it re-enters the atmosphere, there will be a light show of immolation as parts get torn off and ignited by atmospheric friction, vaporizing the satellite… well, all but that pesky half ton remainder.

A dead climate satellite that has been circling Earth for 20 years will make a fiery death plunge this week, with some pieces of the 6 1/2 ton spacecraft expected to reach the surface of the planet, NASA officials say.

The bus-size Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, will likely plummet down to Earth sometime around Friday (Sept. 23), according to NASA's latest projections. There is a 1-in-3,200 chance that UARS debris could hit a person, though NASA considers that scenario extremely remote.

"Re-entry is expected Sept. 23, plus or minus a day," NASA officials wrote in an update posted Sunday (Sept. 18). That means that by Saturday (Sept. 24), the UARS satellite should slam into Earth's atmosphere and break apart.

Credence Clearwater Revival was one of the truly magnificent bands to surface from the 1960s. They had a carefully crafted southern/swamp rock twangy sound that screamed of Deep South origins. In truth, they were San Francisco regional products. I’ve always liked “It came out of the sky.” The twangy bar/garage band sound and steady driving beat make it fun to listen to and to play. They lyrics nail the way things happened in the days of the missile/space race.

I grew up in the lower mid west. There were always UFOs appearing to people who were only too ready to report them and take any fame and fortune that might derive from the sightings. At least one local newspaper stringer would show up to photograph any eviscerated cattle that might have been somehow related to the little green visitors. The local cops would show up and poke around for the cameras. If it was a particularly slow news day, the FBI might even put in an appearance.

The local fundamentalist churches would get into the act as well. Such sightings were invariably either a work of the devil or a harbinger of the second coming. A truly great bible thumper could work both angles in and attack the Pope, the Catholic Church, and the international Jewish conspiracy.

When the local chapter of the John Birch Society showed up the real fun took place. All such sightings were somehow products of Soviet espionage and treasonous behavior by anyone who declined to search under their beds for reds three times a day.

This CCR song captures all this furor and insanity in a 2 minute 57 second track.

CCR sometimes delved into social commentary. John Fogarty penned a few lyrics that have maintained their edge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz4aNwlNrsg&feature=artist

Wrote A Song For Everyone(J.C. Fogerty)

Met myself a comin' county welfare line.
I was feelin' strung out, Hung out on the line.
Saw myself a goin', down to war in June.
All I want, All I want is to write myself a tune.

CHORUS:
Wrote A Song For Ev'ryone,
Wrote a song for truth.
Wrote A Song For Ev'ryone
And I couldn't even talk to you.

Got myself arrested, Wound me up in jail.
Richmond 'bout to blow up, Communication failed.
If you see the answer, now's the time to say.
All I want, All I want is to get you down to pray.

CHORUS

CHORUS

Saw the people standin' thousand years in chains.
Somebody said it's diff'rent now, look, it's just the same.
Pharoahs spin the message, round and round the truth.
They could have saved a million people, How can I tell you?

CHORUS
CHORUS
CHORUS