Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, May 26, 2018

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Mountain View News Saturday, May 26, 2018 

Season Announced 

for Pasadena Playhouse

Drilling Success Curiosity 
is Collecting Mars Rocks

Pasadena Senior Games/
California Senior Games

 The first of the season is the 
new comedy Native Gardens 
(September 5-30, 2018) by 
Karen Zacarias and directed 
by Jason Alexander (Seinfeld), 
that received rave reviews in its 
first productions at the Guthrie 
Theatre in Minneapolis and 
Washington D.C.’s Arena Stage. 
It tells the story of an attorney 
on the rise and his very 
pregnant wife who couldn’t 
feel more welcomed by their 
new neighbors. But when a 
friendly disagreement about 
the lay of the land escalates 
into a backyard brawl, cultures 
collide and mudslinging ensues 
... literally.

 The London hit thriller The 
Woman in Black (October 17 
to November 11) by Susan Hill, 
adapted by Stephen Mallatratt 
and directed by Robin Herford, 
comes to Pasadena just in 
time for Halloween. A ghost 
story, Woman in Black is one 
of the most popular theatre 
works ever produced -- over 
7 million have seen the show 
during its astounding 28 year 
run in London’s West End. It is 
produced by PW Productions.

 A new production of the 
great American musical 
Ragtime plays February 6 to 
March 3, 2019 and is directed 
by David Lee (at Pasadena 
Playhouse Casa Valentina, 
Do I Hear a Waltz?, 110 in 
the Shade, Camelot, Can 
Can). Nominated for 13 Tony 
Awards, including best musical, 
Ragtime had its United States 
premiere in Los Angeles two 
decades ago. Playwright 
Terrence McNally, composer 
Stephen Flaherty, and lyricist 
Lynn Ahrens adapted it from 
the book by E.L. Doctorow, 
whom President Obama said 
was one of “America’s greatest 
novelists.” The musical mixes 
its fictional characters with 
a parade of historic figures 
including Evelyn Nesbit, 
Booker T. Washington, J. P. 
Morgan, Henry Ford, Stanford 
White, Polar explorer Robert 
Peary, Emma Goldman and 
Harry Houdini.

 The touching Tiny Beautiful 
Things, taking the stage in 
Spring 2019 (dates to be 
announced), is based on the 
New York Times bestseller Tiny 
Beautiful Things: Advice on 
Love and Life from Dear Sugar 
by Cheryl Strayed. (Strayed is 
also the author of Wild: From 
Lost to Found on the Pacific 
Crest Trail, which was the first 
selection of Oprah’s Book Club 
2.0; the film version starred 
Reese Witherspoon, Laura 
Dern, and Thomas Sadoski, 
star of the Pasadena Playhouse 
production of Belleville. ) The 
stage version of Tiny Beautiful 
Things is adapted by actress and 
writer Nia Vardalos (Academy 
Award nominee My Big Fat 
Greek Wedding) and comes to 
life as a richly funny, uniquely 
uplifting and moving play. It 
is about reaching when you’re 
stuck, healing when you’re 
broken and finding the courage 
to take on the questions, 
which have no answers. This 
stage version was conceived 
by former Wall Street Journal 
columnist Marshall Heyman, 
Thomas Kail (director of 
Hamilton), and Vardalos.

 These productions join 
Bordertown Now (May 30 to 
June 24), featuring Culture 
Clash – Richard Montoya, 
Ric Salinas, and Herbert 
Siguenza, and Jungle Book, a 
family entertainment by Craig 
Francis and Rick Miller from 
Kidoons/WYRD Productions 
of Montréal Canada (July 17 to 
29). In addition, the Playhouse 
welcomes all community 
members to attend their free 
Centennial Block Party on June 
9, 2018, from noon to 10 p.m.

 For more information visit: 
pasadenaplayhouse.org.

 Engineers working with 
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover 
have been hard at work testing 
a new way for the rover to drill 
rocks and extract powder from 
them. This past weekend, that 
effort produced the first drilled 
sample on Mars in more than a 
year.

 Curiosity tested percussive 
drilling this past weekend, 
penetrating about 2 inches (50 
millimeters) into a target called 
“Duluth.”

 NASA’s Jet Propulsion 
Laboratory has been testing 
this drilling technique since 
a mechanical problem took 
Curiosity’s drill offline in 
December of 2016. This 
technique, called Feed 
Extended Drilling, keeps the 
drill’s bit extended out past 
two stabilizer posts that were 
originally used to steady the 
drill against Martian rocks. It 
lets Curiosity drill using the 
force of its robotic arm, a little 
more like the way a human 
would drill into a wall at home.

 “The team used tremendous 
ingenuity to devise a new 
drilling technique and 
implement it on another 
planet,” said Curiosity Deputy 
Project Manager Steve Lee of 
JPL. “Those are two vital inches 
of innovation from 60 million 
miles away. We’re thrilled that 
the result was so successful.”

 Drilling is a vitally important 
part of Curiosity’s capabilities 
to study Mars. Inside the rover 
are two laboratories that are 
able to conduct chemical and 
mineralogical analyses of rock 
and soil samples. The samples 
are acquired from Gale Crater, 
which the rover has been 
exploring since 2012.

 Curiosity’s science team has 
been eager to get the drill 
working before the rover leaves 
its current location near Vera 
Rubin Ridge. Fortunately, it 
was near enough to drill targets 
like Duluth to drive back down 
the ridge. Sunday’s drill sample 
represents a quick taste of the 
region before Curiosity moves 
on.

 Demonstrating that Curiosity’s 
percussive drilling technique 
works is a milestone in itself. 
But that doesn’t mean the work 
is over for engineers at JPL.

 “We’ve been developing this 
new drilling technique for 
over a year, but our job isn’t 
done once a sample has been 
collected on Mars,” JPL’s Tom 
Green, a systems engineer 
who helped develop and 
test Curiosity’s new drilling 
method. “With each new test, 
we closely examine the data 
to look for improvements we 
can make and then head back 
to our testbed to iterate on the 
process.”

 There’s also the next step to 
work on: delivering the rock 
sample from the drill bit to 
the two laboratories inside 
the rover. Having captured 
enough powder inside the drill, 
engineers will now use the 
rover’s cameras to estimate how 
much trickles out while running 
the drill backwards. The drill’s 
percussion mechanism is also 
used to tap out powder.

 As soon as this Friday, the 
Curiosity team will test a new 
process for delivering samples 
into the rover’s laboratories.

 For more about Curiosity, 
visit: mars.nasa.gov/msl/

 Excitement is building for 
the 2018 Pasadena Senior 
Games/California Senior 
Games Championships, 
a series of nearly 30 
competitive sporting events 
ranging from archery to 
volleyball now through July 
15 for athletes ages 50 and 
older. 

 Athletes are 
encouraged to visit www.
pasadenaseniorcenter.
org and click on Senior 
Games 2018 to register for 
competitions in Pasadena, 
Arcadia, Burbank, South 
El Monte, Glendale, Long 
Beach, Los Angeles, Simi 
Valley and Van Nuys.

 “These remarkable athletes 
are shining examples of the 
benefits of an active lifestyle 
that embraces health and 
vitality,” said Akila Gibbs, 
executive director of the 
Pasadena Senior Center. 

 Among the many medalists 
at the 2017 Pasadena Senior 
Games were Robyn Utu 
for the discus throw in the 
category of women ages 50 
to 54; and Donald Hubbard 
for the 100-meter swimming 
freestyle in the category of 
men ages 90 to 94.

 “In 2017, my first year as 
director of special events at 
the Pasadena Senior Center, 
I witnessed first-hand the 
commitment, friendliness 
and sportsmanship of the 
athletes,” said Annie Laskey. 
“While many are serious 
athletes who compete to 
win and regularly take home 
medals and sometimes 
break records, others are 
sportsenthusiasts who sign 
up because they enjoy the 
camaraderie and it keeps 
them active.”

 The 2018 competitions are 
qualifying events for the 
2019 National Senior Games 
in Albuquerque, New 
Mexico.

Volunteers Needed 
Volunteers are needed 
at competition venues in 
Pasadena, Arcadia, Burbank, 
Glendale, Highland Park, 
Long Beach, Los Angeles, 
South El Monte, Simi Valley 
and Van Nuys. Volunteer 
positions include registering 
athletes, timing, scoring, 
manning water stations, 
running to deliver results of 
foot races, handling medals 
and providing refreshments.

 For more information about 
volunteer opportunities, 
call Renee Uriarte at (626) 
685-6724 or email reneeu@
pasadenaseniorcenter.org.

 For more information about 
the Pasadena Senior Games, 
visit: pasadenaseniorcenter.
org or call (626) 795-4331.


Championships will 
feature competitions from 
archery to volleyball

Altadena Summer Reading

 Stories have the special ability to transport even the most 
reluctant traveler to places they could never imagine! Join us 
this summer as we lean into the transportive power of books 
and let “reading take us everywhere!” Online registration for this 
year’s Summer Reading program, themed “Reading Takes You 
Everywhere,” opens Saturday, June 2 at altadenalibrary.beanstack.
org, and special summer reading “passports” will soon be 
available for pick-up at our Main Library and Bob Lucas Branch. 
Packed full of events tailored for each age group and details of 
our exciting prizes, your passport is your key to unlocking all that 
Summer Reading has to offer. Collect stamps as you reach reading 
milestones and earn prizes along the way.

 Main Library is located 600 E. Mariposa Street.

 Bob Lucas Branch - 2659 Lincoln Avenue.

 For More information call (626) 798-0833.

Twin Spacecraft Launch 
to Track Earth’s Water

Pet of the 
Week

 Max (A448137) is a 2-year-
old miniature pinscher who 
arrived to the Pasadena 
Humane Society last week 
and has bonded very quickly 
with our volunteers and 
staff here. He likes attention 
and especially enjoys treats. 
He will follow commands 
without much prompting in 
an attempt to get to the treats 
quickly. He is energetic and 
friendly, and has enjoyed 
playing with other dogs 
and toys on Wiggle Waggle 
Wagon field trips. Find out 
more about him by visiting 
pasadenahumane.org. 

 The adoption fee for dogs 
is $130. All dogs are spayed 
or neutered, microchipped, 
and vaccinated before going 
to their new home. 

 New adopters will receive a 
complimentary health-and-
wellness exam from VCA 
Animal Hospitals, as well 
as a goody bag filled with 
information about how to 
care for your pet.

 View photos of adoptable 
pets at pasadenahumane.
org. Adoption hours are 11 
a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday; 9 a.m. 
to 5 p.m. Tuesday through 
Friday; and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 
Saturday.

 Pets may not be available 
for adoption and cannot be 
held for potential adopters 
by phone calls or email.

 
A joint U.S./German space 
mission to track the continuous 
movement of water and other 
changes in Earth’s mass on and 
beneath the planet’s surface 
successfully launched at 12:47 
p.m. PDT (3:47 p.m. EDT) 
Tuesday from the California 
coast.

 The twin spacecraft of the 
Gravity Recovery and Climate 
Experiment Follow-On 
(GRACE-FO), a joint NASA/
German Research Centre for 
Geosciences (GFZ) mission, 
lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon 
9 rocket from Space Launch 
Complex 4E at Vandenberg 
Air Force Base in California, 
sharing their ride into space 
with five Iridium NEXT 
communications satellites.

 Ground stations have acquired 
signals from both GRACE-FO 
spacecraft. Initial telemetry 
shows the satellites are 
performing as expected. The 
GRACE-FO satellites are at an 
altitude of about 305 miles (490 
kilometers), traveling about 
16,800 mph (7.5 kilometers per 
second). They are in a near-
polar orbit, circling Earth once 
every 90 minutes.

 “GRACE-FO will provide 
unique insights into how our 
complex planet operates,” said 
Thomas Zurbuchen, associate 
administrator of NASA’s 
Science Mission Directorate 
at NASA Headquarters in 
Washington. “Just as important, 
because the mission monitors 
many key aspects of the Earth’s 
water cycle, GRACE-FO data 
will be used throughout the 
world to improve people’s lives 
-- from better predictions of 
drought impacts to higher-
quality information on use and 
management of water from 
underground aquifers.”

 Over its five-year mission, 
GRACE-FO will monitor the 
movement of mass around our 
planet by measuring where 
and how the moving mass 
changes Earth’s gravitational 
pull. The gravity changes 
cause the distance between the 
two satellites to vary slightly. 
Although the two satellites 
orbit 137 miles (220 kilometers) 
apart, advanced instruments 
continuously measure their 
separation to within the width 
of a human red blood cell.

 GRACE-FO continues the 
U.S./German partnership of 
the original GRACE mission, 
which operated from 2002 
through 2017. “This mission 
continues and advances 
an amazing achievement 
of science and technology 
pioneered by the United States 
and Germany,” said Zurbuchen.

 For 15 years, GRACE’s 
monthly maps of regional 
gravity variations provided 
new insights into how the Earth 
system functions and responds 
to change.

 Among its innovations, 
GRACE was the first mission 
to measure the amount of ice 
being lost from the Greenland 
and Antarctic ice sheets. 
The mission improved our 
understanding of the processes 
responsible for sea level rise 
and ocean circulation, provided 
insights into where global 
groundwater resources are 
shrinking or growing, showed 
where dry soils are contributing 
to drought, and monitored 
changes in the solid Earth, such 
as from earthquakes.

 Frank Webb, GRACE-FO 
project scientist at NASA’s 
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 
Pasadena, California, noted 
that to understand changes 
taking place in the climate 
system, scientists need data 
records several decades long.

 “Extending the data record 
from GRACE will allow us to 
better distinguish short-term 
variability from longer-term 
trends,” he said.

 The GRACE-FO satellites 
will spend their first few 
days in space moving to the 
separation distance needed 
to perform their mission. 
When they reach this distance, 
the mission will begin an 
85-day, in-orbit checkout 
phase. Mission managers will 
evaluate the instruments and 
satellite systems and perform 
calibration and alignment 
procedures. Then the satellites 
will begin gathering and 
processing science data. The 
first science data are expected 
to be released in about seven 
months.

 JPL manages the GRACE-
FO mission for NASA’s 
Science Mission Directorate 
in Washington, under 
the direction of the Earth 
Systematic Missions Program 
Office at NASA’s Goddard Space 
Flight Center in Greenbelt, 
Maryland. The spacecraft 
were built by Airbus Defence 
and Space in Friedrichshafen, 
Germany, under subcontract to 
JPL. GFZ contracted GRACE-
FO launch services from 
Iridium. GFZ subcontracted 
mission operations to the 
German Aerospace Center 
(DLR), which operates the 
German Space Operations 
Center in Oberpfaffenhofen, 
Germany.

 For more information about 
GRACE-FO, visit: nasa.gov/
gracefo

Free Monthly Events at 
Pasadena Senior Center

 There is something for 
everyone in May at the 
Pasadena Senior Center, 85 E. 
Holly St.

 You do not have to be a 
member to attend. Some events 
require advance reservations as 
noted.

 A Toast to the Joys of Music – 
Tuesdays to May 29, from 9:30 
to 11:30 a.m. Tom Campbell 
returns to play his guitar and 
sing covers of traditional 
country, country rock, blues, 
folk, gospel and classic rock 
music made famous by The 
Grateful Dead, Vince Gill, 
Merle Haggard, B.B. King, 
Willie Nelson, Elvis Presley, 
The Rolling Stones and others.

Taxi Vouchers – Tuesday, May 
1, from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Qualified 
low-income adults who are 
50 and older and live in the 
Pasadena area will receive two 
vouchers for taxi rides. Proof 
of income and a California ID 
are required. Quantities are 
limited.

 Scenic Walkers Club – 
Wednesdays to May 30, at 
10 a.m. Join members of the 
Pasadena Senior Center’s 
Scenic Walkers Club for walks 
to scenic local places to enjoy 
the great outdoors and get some 
exercise. For more information, 
including where to meet up 
each week, contact Scenic 
Walkers Club coordinator Alan 
Colville at alancolville@charter.
net.

 Estate Planning Basics, 
Part 1 – Thursday, May 24, at 
10 a.m. Learn the basic facts 
everyone should know about 
trusts, wills and probate issues. 
Presented by the Law Offices of 
Geoffrey Chin.

 Estate Planning Basics, Part 2 
– Thursday, May 31, at 10 a.m. 
Learn the basic facts everyone 
should know about estate taxes, 
conservatorships and durable 
powers of attorney. Presented 
by the Law Offices of Geoffrey 
Chin.

 Friday Movie Matinees – 
Fridays, June 1, 8, 15 and 22, 
at 1 p.m. Everyone enjoys the 
experience of watching movies 
and the pleasures they bring. 
June 1: “Phantom Thread” 
(2017, R) starring Daniel Day-
Lewis and Vicky Krieps. The 
life of an aging, renowned dress 
designer at the center of 1950s 
British society is disrupted by 
a young, strong-willed woman 
who soon becomes a fixture in 
his life as his muse and lover. 
June 8: “Film Stars Don’t Die 
in Liverpool” (2017, R) starring 
Annette Benning and Jamie 
Bell. A young actor starts 
up an affair with a famous, 
older Hollywood actress in 
1978 Liverpool where their 
passion and lust for life is 
tested to the limits by events 
beyond their control. The film 
is based on true events. June 
15: “The Post” (2017, PG) 
starring Meryl Streep and Tom 
Hanks. Katherine Graham, 
the first female publisher of 
The Washington Post, and the 
newspaper’s editor, Ben Bradlee, 
race to catch up with The New 
York Times to expose a massive 
cover-up of government secrets 
that spanned three decades and 
four U.S. presidents. The film 
is based on true events. June 
22: “The Awful Truth” (1937, 
NR) starring Irene Dunne 
and Cary Grant. Unfounded 
suspicions lead a married 
couple to begin divorce 
proceedings, whereupon they 
start undermining each other’s 
attempts to find new romances. 

 Lost Memories – Tuesday, 
June 5, from 1 to 3 p.m. 
Follow the Ramirez family in 
a four-episode telenovela-style 
miniseries as they confront 
the challenges of Alzheimer’s 
disease when Grandma Gloria 
begins to show signs of memory 
loss. There will be a discussion 
after each episode about the 
warning signs, diagnosis 
process, disease progression 
and challenges a family can 
face before they are able to 
come together. Each episode is 
between seven and 10 minutes 
long. RSVPs are required: call 
(626) 685-6732. Presented by 
the Alzheimer’s Association.

 For more information visit 
www.pasadenaseniorcenter.org 
or call (626) 795-4331.

 The Pasadena Senior Center 
is an independent nonprofit 
agency that offers recreational, 
educational, wellness and social 
services to people ages 50 and 
older. 

 Start your summer early!! Pasadena Community Orchestra 
presents its final FREE concert of the season Saturday, June 9, at 
6:30 pm, in Memorial Park, 222 Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre 
(2 blocks east of Michillinda).

 This annual Concert in the Park is not to be missed. There will 
be patriotic marches, show tunes, a kids’ march, and an auction. 
Come early, bring your chairs, bring food, and plan for a wonderful 
evening. See flyer below. 

 For further information, please call 626.445.6708 or see PCO’s 
website at: pcomusic.org.


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com