NASA's Cassini spacecraft is getting a grand but hilarious opera send-off before it plunges through Saturn's atmosphere and vaporizes Friday.
An actor from TV's old "Star Trek: Voyager" series, Robert Picardo, said he dashed off the lyrics in about a minute, several weeks ago. He collaborated with the creative director of The Planetary Society, and, presto, "Le Cassini Opera" was born.
Picardo set the words to the instantly recognizable aria "La Donna e mobile" from Verdi's "Rigoletto."
While Cassini's 20-year mission has been "a serious success," Picardo said the opera is definitely a comedy. Here's how it opens: "Goodbye, Cassini. Your mission's fini. Bravo, Cassini! Have some linguini." And on it goes, paying humorous tribute.
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"No tragedy here. All good things — NASA missions, 'Star Trek' series, turkey and Swiss sandwiches with avocado — come to an end," Picardo told The Associated Press.
Cassini's program manager, Earl Maize, loves the performance.
"It's very heartwarming to us," Maize told reporters Wednesday at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
"Part of what we try to do is to extend everybody out to Saturn. It's not science for the ivory tower. It's for humanity, and so everybody to get on the ride, come with us, is just phenomenal."
That was Picardo's goal, too. A longtime fan of both space and opera, he merged those interests in "Star Trek: Voyager" as the holographic doctor who bursts into song. It seemed fitting that he celebrate Cassini in song, too. He actually got to see Cassini's hitchhiking moon lander, the European Huygens, before it left Earth in 1997.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft is shown heading for the gap between Saturn and its rings during one of 22 such dives of the mission's finale in this illustration. The spacecraft will make a final plunge into the planet's atmosphere on Sept. 15. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Picardo said Wednesday from Beverly Hills, California, that he sang "Le Cassini Opera" through twice. Five minutes, and that was a wrap.
"It was definitely a seat-of-the-pants production," he said.
Picardo, who's on the board of the Planetary Society , an advocacy group for space exploration, said he's delighted that the opera has been so well received
The Cassini-Huygens duo arrived at Saturn in 2004. Cassini remained in orbit around the ringed planet, as Huygens parachuted onto Titan, its biggest moon, in early 2005.
Cassin faces a deliberately fiery end on Friday. Its fuel tank essentially empty and its mission complete, Cassini will burn up like a meteor in Saturn's sky.
BOSTON (AP) — Apparently, it's pretty easy being green after all.
That was the takeaway from Tuesday's physical examination of Myrtle, an ancient green sea turtle that has delighted visitors to the New England Aquarium in Boston for more than 50 years.
Veterinarians performed Myrtle's checkup after the 500-pound reptile was hoisted from the aquarium's Giant Ocean Tank in an enormous crate on a chain. Watching the humungous turtle elevated from the tank in a way that resembled the way a piano is lifted outside a building provided some of the aquarium patrons with an unexpected thrill.
Myrtle is thought to be up to 95 years old, which would place her just beyond the upper boundaries of the species' longevity. But the big turtle is “in robust condition” despite her advanced age, said Mike O'Neill, manager of the ocean tank.
There's every reason to believe Myrtle will stick around for years to come, O'Neill said.
“She is iconic,” O'Neill said. “One of the really special things we see is parents with their kids who say, ‘This is Myrtle, she has been here since when I was a kid.’ She has this multigenerational impact, which is really special.”
Giving the massive sea turtle a physical exam is no small feat, and it happens about twice per year. First, a team of divers shepherded Myrtle into the underwater crate, which was lifted from the water by a winch. The process took place during open hours at the aquarium, and dozens of onlookers watched as Myrtle was brought to a deck for the exam.
Next, a team of veterinarians, vet techs and aquarists worked together to draw blood from Myrtle, check her flippers for range of motion and make sure her eyes, mouth and nose were in working order. Aquarium staff assured curious children that the turtle was in no danger — and that the veterinarians were trained professionals safe from her powerful jaws.
Myrtle then received an ultrasound, her weight was taken, and she returned to the ocean tank, O'Neill said. The turtle was back in the ocean tank munching on lettuce and cabbage by late morning on Tuesday.
Myrtle has been visited by about 50 million people over the decades and has gotten used to humans in that time. The aquarium's website boasts that Myrtle, who arrived from another aquarium in 1970, “loves having her shell scratched.”
Green sea turtles are the second-largest species of sea turtle, and they live in tropical and subtropical oceans around the world. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists them as endangered and decreasing in population.
Myrtle shares space with a pair of loggerhead sea turtles named Carolina and Retread who are about half her age and size. The aquatic roommates also received physicals on Tuesday and are “also both doing great,” O'Neill said.
Myrtle, a green sea turtle, swims past New England Aquarium divers preparing to get into and extract the creature from the Giant Ocean Tank exhibit for a medical examination in Boston, Tuesday, April 9, 2024. Myrtle, who's around 90 years old and weighs almost a quarter of a ton, underwent a medical examination that included blood draws as well as eye, mouth and a physical examination to ensure the creature remains in good health. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)
New England Aquarium staff hold to restrain Myrtle to prevent the massive sea turtle from injuring a veterinarian performing a medical examination in Boston, Tuesday, April 9, 2024. Myrtle, who's around 90 years old and weighs almost a quarter of a ton, underwent a medical examination that included blood draws as well as eye, mouth and a physical examination to ensure the creature remains in good health. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)
Myrtle, a green sea turtle, swims past New England Aquarium divers preparing to get into and extract the creature from the Giant Ocean Tank exhibit for a medical examination in Boston, Tuesday, April 9, 2024. Myrtle, who's around 90 years old and weighs almost a quarter of a ton, underwent a medical examination that included blood draws as well as eye, mouth and a physical examination to ensure the creature remains in good health. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)
New England Aquarium staff and visitors looking at Myrtle as the massive sea turtle rests in a crate after being hoisted out of a giant ocean tank before a performed a medical examination in Boston, Tuesday, April 9, 2024. Myrtle, who's around 90 years old and weighs almost a quarter of a ton, underwent a medical examination that included blood draws as well as eye, mouth and a physical examination to ensure the creature remains in good health. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi) (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)
FILE - Myrtle, a green sea turtle estimated to be almost 90 years old, swims in the main tank at the New England Aquarium, April 22, 2016, in Boston. Veterinarians performed Myrtle’s check up Tuesday, April 9, 2024, after the 500-pound reptile was hoisted from the aquarium’s Giant Ocean Tank in an enormous crate on a chain. Myrtle is thought to be as many as 95 years old, which would place her just beyond the upper boundaries of the species' longevity, but aquarium staff said the big turtle is in robust condition despite her advance age. (AP Photo/Bill Sikes, File)
