From the Earth to the Moon – The Signature Edition: This is one of my favourite TV series of all time. It’s well scripted, acted, filmed and directed, to the point in which you will get glassy eyes at some of the most dramatic and epic moments. My favourite is still the episode in which Apollo 12 arrives at the Moon, perhaps the most anti-climactic moment in the history of space travel. Even if you watched this on TV, each of the 12 episodes are a must to fully understand the titanic scope, knowledge and courage that took humans into their trip from the Earth to the Moon. Prices vary from retailer to retailer.

Lego Saturn V: This one is a given: Saturn V + command module + lunar module + lunar rover + Lego = insane win. I wish it was as big as the gigantic Millennium Falcon, but it’s good enough as it is. Everyone will like the set, and it’s a perfect way to celebrate the 40 Anniversary of humankind’s first trip to the Moon. $US139 [Amazon]

Moonfire: At $US1500, this is one very expensive book. But it has a real lunar rock inside. Not all of them, however: Only 12 of its limited-edition 1969 (numbered from 1958 to 1968). And the moon rock is not from the Apollo mission, but from a certified meteor. Alternatively, you can always buy the beautiful – and a lot cheaper at $US31 – Full Moon. $US1500 [Taschen]

Trip to the Kennedy Space Center to watch a shuttle launch: Going to the Kennedy Space centre is always fun. Going to see a launch and feel the ground tremble below your feet while the sky fires up in Halloween orange and chimney red? Simply amazing. Going to watch one of the last shuttle launches next year? An absolute must. If you give this trip to any space aficionado out there, he or she will love you forever. $US38 adult/$US28 child for the admission ticket, add $US21 adult/$US15 child for guided tour, plus cost of flight and hotel. [Kennedy Space Center]

NASA Flight Jacket: The other day I got a real USAF fighter pilot jacket at a second hand shop. I wish I had that for a perfectly dorky Tom Cruise impression at the Dubai Air Show. This NASA Flight Jacket is the next best thing. Kind of. And it comes with all the patches. You only have to provide the Right Stuff. $US79.99 [The Space Shop]

IMPOSSIBLE Ride in the Space Shuttle: Even if you had all the money in the world, NASA would never let you ride the shuttle. A Soyuz spacecraft, sure, but no space shuttle. Nosir, no big bang for you on top of this Reagan era wonder. You will have to enjoy this video and get over it, because sadly it wouldn’t happen even if you were Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and JesusChrist all rolled into one. Priceless. [NASA]

DON’T BUY Astronaut ice cream: This thing is disgusting. I want to like it every time I try it, but it has the most horrible taste. Die space ice cream, die! Give me Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie any day. $US4 [The Space Shop]

Give us your recommendations in the comments.

All Giz Wants is our annual round-up of favourite gift ideas, including amazing attainable objects and a few far-out fantasies. We’ll be popping guides catered to different interests several times per day for the next week, so keep checking back.

Cross promotions sometimes don’t make much sense. I’ve got nothing against Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for agreeing to pitch NASA to youngsters, but really, there are better ways to capture youth attention.

The Rock just wants to make sure we remember that NASA’s responsible for the rubber soles on our shoes, and the (apparently humorous) inclusion of freeze-dried fruit in cereal. But c’mon, NASA. We need fewer celebrity endorsements, more trips to Mars if we want to keep kids convinced the organisation has reason to exist. [Techland]

If you were hanging out outside in Utah on Wednesday night, chances are good that you witnessed a pretty rare astronomic event: a friggin’ huge meteor that lit up the entire sky.

Clark Planetarium Director Seth Jarvis said the stony meteorite was probably travelling 80,000 miles [129,000km] an hour when it hit our atmosphere. He said it happened 100 miles [160km] up in the air; so despite the brightness, Utah was never in any danger. “These collisions can do damage, but they are extremely rare; and literally once in a century do you observe something that’s actually doing damage,” he said. Witness Andy Bailey said, “Oh, it lit up the whole sky, like almost brighter than the day. It was bright.” Don White was in Wyoming and told KSL Newsradio for a moment he suspected a nuclear strike. “With something that brilliant and that fast, it was like, whoa, did we just get hit or something? It would have been some bigger noise I guess if a nuclear device had gone off,” he said.

[KSL via Boing Boing]

If you are having problems, you can tune in to NASA TV.

Click on the small playback button — and sit through the 30-second ad — to watch it in the page.

This will be the last shuttle launch in 2009. Then we will only have five more launches:

• STS-130 Endeavour: ISS assembly flight 20A: Node 3 and Cupola. February 4,2010
• STS-131 Discovery: ISS assembly flight Utility and Logistics Flight 4: Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo. March 18, 2010
• STS-132 Atlantis: ISS assembly flight 19A: Mini-Research Module 1. Final planned flight of Atlantis. May 14, 2010
• STS-134 Endeavour: ISS assembly flight ULF6, ELC 4, ROEU, Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. Final planned flight of Endeavour. July 29, 2010
• STS-133 Discovery: ISS assembly flight ULF5, MPLM Leonardo, (to be left permanently attached), ELC 3. Final flight of Discovery. Final Shuttle flight of the program. September 16, 2010.

All good (and bad) things have to end one day. [NASA]

The latest object to shoot high-def video from the edge of space is… an armchair. To promote its REGZA SV LCD TVs (LED backlight, local dimming), Toshiba trekked into the Black Rock Desert with a helium balloon. This is the result.

This is the first part of the ad. The second half for their Satellite T Series ULV laptops will come out next year. [Toshiba UK via Engadget]

Facts about the shoot:

• The shots were taken at a staggering 98,268 feet above the earth using Toshiba’s own cameras
• To reach the altitude required and to conform with Federal Aviation Administration regulations, the weight of the rig had to be carefully managed to a weight of no more than four pounds
• Tied to the rig was a specially created full-sized model chair made of biodegradable balsa wood – the chair was made by a company called Artem and cost about £2,500
• Launch coordinates of the rig were – 119 degrees, 14 minutes by 40 degrees, 48 minute (12 miles North-East of the town of Gerlach, Nevada)
• The quality of the footage from the Toshiba IK-HR1S cameras was: 1920×1080 pixel count; 1080i @ 50hz; 100 Mbps
• The temperature dropped to minus 90 degrees when the chair reached 52,037 feet
• The chair took 83 minutes to reach an altitude of 98,268 feet where it broke and took just 24 minutes to fall back down to earth with the rig.

But that doesn’t mean they’re expecting much. Even though NASA has spent half a year planning how to get the rover out of the loose sand it’s stuck in, every step will be dependent on what happens during the previous one. Right now NASA only has six forward rotations of Spirit’s wheels planned. They anticipate extreme slippage, and will have to re-evaluate the next steps once that first minuscule motion is completed.

If work continues at that pace, it’s easy to see why escape efforts are planned to last until 2010. Even if Spirit can’t get out of the sand trap that swallowed it, there’s still plenty of good the rover can do while stationary. Just know that, whatever happens, we’re all pulling for you little buddy. [Network World via Slashdot]

It’s an announcement that’s been expected for some time.

Are we talking about enough water for astronauts to actually live off? That’s what NASA is analysing now, attempting to scale the results of the small section studied by LCROSS. But “it’s water like any other water,” NASA said, though it’d need purification to drink. I guess that whole moon bombing didn’t turn out so boring after all. [CNN]

Click on the image to see the high resolution

So simple, that little blue thing. So lost in the blackness of the Void of Nothingness.

This unique perspective of Earth was taken by the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera on board Rosetta, from 633,000km on 13 November 2009 at 6.28am (AEDT). The image — which form by three exposures under orange, green and blue filters — shows the South Pole at a resolution of 12km per pixel.

Rosetta is coming back home for the last time, to take the impulse necessary to reach the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. When it reaches it in 2014, Rosetta will first study the comet flying alongside, then it will attempt to set its mechanic feet on it. For that, it will use the Philae lander that it carries along its decade-long trip around the Solar System.

Philae will drill holes into the comet to study its nucleus in search of life’s building blocks, and it will land on firing two harpoons to avoid bouncing off its surface. That will be when Captain Ahab — the mission controller back on Earth — laughs like a maniac and Starbuck shakes his head in despair. [ESA]