The American taxpayers have given the world a great gift. That gift is called NASA Television, and it is absolutely free. It is also some of the most educational, exciting, inspiring television programming since, well... possibly ever. And you can't get it in Canada. Here's what you're missing:

NASA T.V. focuses on live events in the world wide space program, from the launch of a new space telescope in Canada, and close-up pictures of a comet from an E.S.A. (European Space Agency) probe, to watching the American Space Shuttle dock with the International Space Station. All live coverage in real time. Watching a live video feed from a camera at the end of the robotic Canadarm, showing the Space Shuttle and the Space Station floating serenely above a massive rotating Earth below is a sight that you never get used to. It's like watching the Starship Enterprise in orbit above a class M planet, only this is the real thing, and it is astonishing. And you can't get it in Canada.

Below is a photo from the International Space Station of the Space Shuttle Atlantis
approaching to dock with station - Sunday, June 10 . (click on image to enlarge)

None of the cable or satellite providers in Canada offer NASA Television in their programming. When I phoned the C.R.T.C. (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) to find out why, I was told that because it originated in another country, it had to be approved by the C.R.T.C.. When I asked why it hadn't been approved, I was told it had never been submitted for approval. Apparently, not one television programming provider in all of Canada has ever applied to have NASA T.V. approved for broadcast in Canada. Presumably because they have not had a demand for it. And the reason there has been no demand for it is because Canadians haven't had a chance to see it. It's the chicken and the egg thing. It's a Catch-22. And it's a real shame.

When NASA T.V. isn't covering a live event, it presents commercial free programming about science, aeronautics, space flight, and history. From an in-depth analysis of quantum mechanics, to the complete history of the Apollo Moon landings, and even a series of programs targeting school kids, to inspire them to discover the wonders of science, and the Universe around them. As you might have noticed, I'm a huge fan of NASA T.V., because there was a time, years ago, when it was freely available to anyone with a large C-band satellite dish, and I used to watch it all the time. When there was a Space Shuttle mission in progress, my T.V. was on 24/7. Those were the good old analogue days, when a C-band dish brought in hundreds of free channels.

Then everything went digital, including NASA, and everyone switched to the small, targeted dishes, with pay programming (sans NASA in Canada), and they threw away their big C-band dishes. In order to continue using the big dishes involved buying digital decoders which cost thousands of dollars. So I did without NASA for the next few years. But I kept my dish. Call me sentimental.

And now my sentimentality seems to have paid off. C-band programming has seen a resurgence recently, and the decoding equipment now only costs a couple of hundred dollars. So guess who's watching NASA T.V. again, just in time for the launch of Atlantis (STS 117) last week! And I must admit I'm enjoying myself immensely. There's been no less than four space walks, installing and unfurling new solar arrays, retracting old ones, climbing all over the space station fixing things, and carrying on with the continuing construction.

Below is a photo of astronaut Patrick Forrester, working on the International Space Station - Wednesday, June 13, 2007. (click to enlarge)

With NASA Television you are part of the excitement and adventure of the space program. You are right there, watching it all happen, live, in front of your eyes, complete with "play-by-play" commmentary by scientists and astronauts, explaining everything that's going on. You are literally watching history in the making. Now, I understand that many people don't give a damn about history in the making, and would rather watch some contrived "reality" show, or mindless soap opera. But if you are one of those who'd rather wake up your brain, instead of putting it to sleep, then NASA T.V. is the best thing going.

If you have an old C-band satellite dish, all you need is an F.T.A. (Free To Air) receiver. (Feel free to e-mail me for more details.) Otherwise, phone your local programming provider, and tell them you want to see NASA Television. It will open your eyes to the thrilling world of space travel and scientific discovery, and quite possibly change your life.

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