Wednesday, January 01, 2014

Happy New Year, Everyone!

An artist's concept of the Orion vehicle soaring in Earth orbit atop a Delta IV upper stage motor...during Exploration Flight Test-1.
NASA

2014 looks to be an action-packed year in terms of what's happening in sports, films and space exploration. Sports-wise, you have next month's Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Movie-wise, you have the return of Autobots and Decepticons to the big screen with Transformers: Age of Extinction, Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels once again teaming up as Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne in Dumb and Dumber To, Part 1 of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay and the final Hobbit installment, There and Back Again. Oh, and you have the start of principal photography for 2015's Star Wars: Episode VII in the coming weeks! Woohoo.

Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels reprise their roles as Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne in DUMB & DUMBER TO.

With space exploration, Japan launches Hayabusa 2 to an asteroid this December (hopefully), MAVEN and India's Mars Orbiter Mission probe reach the Red Planet this September, NASA's Orion capsule makes its much-anticipated test flight into space that month as well, and the New Horizons spacecraft crosses the orbit of Neptune on August 25—exactly 25 years to the day that Voyager 2 flew past the gas giant. After that, the next world on New Horizons' radar is none other than Pluto itself! Oh, and later this month the Opportunity Mars rover will mark her 10-year anniversary since landing on the Red Planet. Lots of cool milestones this year...if you're a space geek.

The logo for the 2014 BCS National Championship Game in Pasadena, California.

January 2014
-Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (Jan 3)
-BCS National Championship Game in Pasadena, California: Auburn vs. Florida State (Jan 6)
-Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus freighter launches cargo to the International Space Station (Jan 7)
-71st Annual Golden Globe Awards (Jan 12)
-Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (Jan 17)
-I, Frankenstein (Jan 24)
-NASA's Opportunity rover marks its 10th year of operation since landing on Mars (Jan 25)
-56th Annual Grammy Awards (Jan 26)

The logo for the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

February 2014
-Super Bowl XLVIII in East Rutherford, New Jersey (Feb 2)
-Opening Ceremony – XXII Olympic Winter Games of Sochi (Feb 7)
-The LEGO Movie (Feb 7)
-The Monuments Men (Feb 7)
-RoboCop (Feb 12)
-2014 NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans, Louisiana (Feb 16)
-Pompeii (Feb 21)
-SpaceX's Dragon ship launches cargo to the International Space Station (Feb 22)
-56th annual Daytona 500 in Florida (Feb 23)
-Closing Ceremony – Olympic Winter Games (Feb 23)

Promotional artwork for 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE.

March 2014
-86th Academy Awards (Mar 2)
-300: Rise of an Empire (Mar 7)
-2014 NCAA March Madness basketball tournament begins with Opening Round Game (Mar 18)
-Stretch (Mar 21)
-Conclusion of the March Madness tournament prior to the 2014 Final Four games in Arlington, Texas (Mar 29)

A photo I took of an annular solar eclipse that occurred above Southern California, on May 20, 2012.

April 2014
-Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Apr 4)
-2014 NCAA Final Four basketball tournament in Arlington, Texas (Apr 5)
-NCAA Final Four Championship Game in Arlington, Texas (Apr 7)
-A total lunar eclipse will be visible over east Australia, the Pacific, and North and South America (Apr 15)
-Transcendence (Apr 18)
-An annular solar eclipse will be visible over parts of Antarctica and Australia (Apr 29)

Promotional artwork for GODZILLA.

May 2014
-Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus freighter launches cargo to the International Space Station (May 1)
-The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (May 2)
-NFL Draft (May 8-10)
-Godzilla (May 16)
-Million Dollar Arm (May 16)
-X-Men: Days of Future Past (May 23)
-Start of the 2014 French Open tennis tournament (May 25)
-98th Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (May 25)
-Maleficent (May 30)
-A Million Ways to Die in the West (May 30)

Optimus Prime returns to the big screen in TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION.

June 2014
-Edge of Tomorrow (Jun 6)
-SpaceX's Dragon ship launches cargo to the International Space Station (Jun 6)
-Conclusion of the 2014 French Open (Jun 8)
-Start of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil (Jun 12)
-22 Jump Street (Jun 13)
-Launch of Europe's fifth Automated Transfer Vehicle, Georges Lemaitre, to the International Space Station (Jun 17)
-The Purge 2 (Jun 20)
-Transformers: Age of Extinction (Jun 27)

Caesar and his Simian race rise up against the humans in DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES.

July 2014
-Start of the 2014 Tour de France (Jul 5)
-Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Jul 11)
-Conclusion of the FIFA World Cup (Jul 13)
-2014 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Minneapolis, Minnesota (Jul 15)
-Jupiter Ascending (Jul 18)
-Conclusion of the Tour de France (Jul 27)

Megan Fox as April O'Neil in TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES.

August 2014
-Guardians of the Galaxy (Aug 1)
-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Aug 8)
-The Expendables 3 (Aug 15)
-Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (Aug 22)
-Start of the 2014 World Rowing Championships in the Netherlands (Aug 24)
-NASA's New Horizons spacecraft crosses Neptune's orbit on the way to Pluto (Aug 25)
-Conclusion of the World Rowing Championships (Aug 31)

An artist's concept depicting NASA's MAVEN spacecraft studying Mars' atmosphere.

September 2014
-SpaceX's Dragon ship launches cargo to the International Space Station (Sep 12)
-NASA’s Orion vehicle makes first flight into space on Exploration Flight Test-1 (Sep 18)
-NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft arrives at Mars (Sep 22)
-India’s Mars Orbiter Mission probe arrives at the Red Planet (Sep 24)

Ben Affleck as Nick Dunne in GONE GIRL.

October 2014
-Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus freighter launches cargo to the International Space Station (Oct 3)
-A total lunar eclipse will be visible over North America, the Pacific, Australia, and east Asia (Oct 8)
-Gone Girl (Oct 10)
-Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Oct 10)
-Comet C/2013 A1 to make close flyby of Mars (Oct 19)
-A partial solar eclipse will be visible over far eastern Russia and most of North America (Oct 23)
-Paranormal Activity 5 (Oct 24)

Jennifer Lawrence returns as Katniss Everdeen in Part 1 of THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY.

November 2014
-Interstellar (Nov 7)
-Dumb and Dumber To (Nov 14)
-Fury (Nov 14)
-The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (Nov 21)
-Horrible Bosses 2 (Nov 26)

An artist's concept of Japan's Hayabusa 2 spacecraft exploring an asteroid.

December 2014
-The Hobbit: There and Back Again (Dec 17)
-Night at the Museum 3 (Dec 25)
-Unbroken (Dec 25)
-Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft launches to asteroid (162173) 1999 JU3 (TBD)
-The United States and the United Kingdom officially withdraw their troops from Afghanistan, marking the end to 13 years of combat operations in the Central Asian country (Dec 31)

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