You might not know this (mostly because I've never talked about it), but I'm a big space fan. If I had the money lying around, I'd put together my own ship and go myself. I love everything about space...the idea of going...the drive for a new frontier...even just looking. If any of you are space fans, too, make sure you check out something that you might not notice or even hear about, that is happening this summer. Namely, the very close conjunction of the planets Mars, Venus, and Saturn. I heard about this happening very early this summer, and I've been watching the three planets dance together, sometimes with the Moon involved, for several weeks. You can read details on this at Space.com here. They were at their closest (from our perspective) two nights ago, but they're still very close and you'll still be able to see them if you look off to the west not too long after sunset. Venus is easy to spot (evening star and all that, you know) but after twilight is gone, you'll also spot Mars and Saturn without too much difficulty forming a triangle with Venus. (I also recommend the program Stellarium to assist you with star- and planet-spotting...it's FREE, and your kids will love it. Oh, and also check out Celestia...also free, and a really cool way to get your kids into space, as you fly around the solar system and even around the galaxy. Owen absolutely LOVES this program. Since we don't have warp drive yet, this is the best we're going to be able to do.)
This doesn't happen very often, and won't again in our lifetimes, so go out and enjoy it while you can.
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