BOEING !

It was a great weekend for Boeing. Friday afternoon, Boeing launched the latest generation DirecTV 10 satellite which will provide significantly more capacity for nationwide HDTV. I worked on this satellite as well as the Spaceway satellites that are currently providing HDTV for DirecTV. Apparently, all my work is helping to provide HDTV to my own home. First contact has been made with the satellite, so things are looking good so far. (ARTICLE)

And yesterday was 7-8-7, which means that Boeing completed assembly of the first Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. A huge crowd of people stood around waiting to catch the first glimpse of Boeing's first new jetliner since 1995.

This new airplane incorporates many new technologies which are quite impressive:

- constructed of 50% composite material, making it lighter and 20% more fuel efficient
- fast cruising speed, maximum at Mach 0.85
- longer range of 8500 nautical miles, allowing for new flight paths and less stopovers
- larger windows with auto-dimming feature available to each window passenger
- LED cabin lighting to provide multiple lighting schemes
- higher cabin pressure to simulate lower elevation (6000 ft), resulting in more comfortable sleeping environments
- improved air purification and higher humidity (due to use of non-corroding composites) in cabin

Check out the new plane here.

As a result, Boeing stock is up and it's over 100 points today!