Sebastião Salgado, photographer, and Space Shuttle Endeavour (92–93)

On our way this morning from Joshua Tree to LA's San Fernando Valley, we took a detour to Exposition Park, near downtown, and the Science Center for a wonderful exhibition by Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado called "Amazônia," a documentation of that 49 percent of Brazil and some of its Indigenous peoples. It features large black-and-white images of aerial landscapes, forest- and riverscapes, rainstorms, often hanging suspended within the large open display space, and people's bodies and faces. A score by French composer Jean-Michel Jarre that incorporates Amazonian sounds—birds, insects, monkeys, frogs, weather, and people's voices—complements the visuals. 

A friend on FB mentioned the show a few weeks ago, and I thought it might be a good reason to come down to LA and visit my brother. Then my friend Kathi mentioned that she was going to be out in Joshua Tree, and my fate was sealed. Three birds, one stone—or at least, one long car drive!

Here is an NPR piece about the exhibition. Here is an interview with Salgado about this project. And here are some photos I shot (there are more in the NPR piece). It was a really stunning show. Well worth the trip down here all on its own.

Afterward, we went and visited the Space Shuttle Endeavour, which is also at the Science Center. We had a great chat with Eddie, who worked on the shuttles out in Palmdale as a hands-on engineer. I took a few more photos:

Thrusters. One external fuel tank remains
in the world: it is huge, with a capacity for
400 tons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen
(it happens to be housed outside the hangar,
so we could be properly blown away by its size);
all the fuel would get consumed in 8 minutes,
and then the tank would be jettisoned and
burn up in the Earth's atmosphere

The underside of the shuttle is covered with 24,300
insulating tiles, each one unique, and ranging in cost
from $20,000 to over $1.6 million per tile

The engine

Here's a photo I took of the Endeavour from Pacific Grove on September 12, 2012, as it was being flown to LA and its new home:

It really was thrilling to watch it fly overhead.

I am calling this post a twofer all on its own. Go ahead, sue me. But now I'm caught up. Aren't I?