GRETA GARBO

GRETA GARBO  1925

Greta Garbo (1905-1990) born in Stockholm, Sweden. Her real name was Greta Lovisa Gustafsson and she was the youngest of three. Her alluring look made her famous and she became a Hollywood legend in the 1920.

When she was 14 years of age her father died and she had to go out to work.

Garbo worked in a few low paid jobs in Stockholm. The saying is that when she was 16, Garbo had to turn down her first offer staring in a feature film. The reason, she wasn't allowed time off from the department where she was selling hats.

Her first film appearance was in 1922 in a film called Peter the Tramp and she played a bathing beauty.

Then she enrolled for two years at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. She met a director Mauritz Stiller who taught her how to act in front of the camera. In 1924 Garbo appeared in the film 'The story of Goesta Berlings'.

After that Stiller and Garbo went to Hollywood and were signed up by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925. She appeared in 27 films. The most memorable ones are 'The Torrent' in 1926, 'Love' in 1927, 'Anna Christie' in 1930 her first talkie, 'Queen Christina' in 1933, 'Anna Karenina' in 1935 and 'Camille' in 1936.

GRETA GARBO WITH HER MOTHER IN 1939

After Garbo became more and more famous, it put a strain on her and Stiller. Stiller was sacked and went back to Stockholm. He died three years later.

After very bad critics for the film in 'Two-faced Woman' in 1941 Garbo decided to retire and she was only 36 yeas old. From thereon she lived as a reclusive and refused any interviews.

Garbo tried to keep away from fame but was voted 'The Best Silent Actress of the Century' in 1950.

Greta Garbo died at the age of 84 in 15 April 1990 and she was cremated. After a long legal battle her ashes were sent to Stockholm and buried there. She was very wealthy because of wise investments along Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and left her $20 million to her nice Gray Reisfield.

GRETA GARBO'S GRAVE

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FIRST COMMERCIAL ROCKET

On 22 May 2012 the first commercial rocket had been blasted off to carry supplies to the International Space Station. The SpaceX Falcon9 took off from Cape Canaveral and took over the service from the cancelled Space Shuttles.

The billionaire founder Elon Musk of paypal sent a highly delighted message on Twitter that Falcon9 flew perfectly. It was the first time the mission was financed by a private firm.

Falcon 9 its 178ft long unmanned rocket carrying a capsule Dragon which ejected. The 14.5ft capsule opened its solar panels and unpacked its navigation equipment. Dragon is programmed to carry out a series of manoeuvres. This will happen 1.6miles away from ISS to prove its perfection.

NASA decided to deliver 1000lbs of clothes, food and other supplies to the six astronauts and Russian cosmonauts there at the moment. On completion the capsule Dragon will be filled with rubbish and return to earth.

So far there were no successful Falcon9 missions. Last year the Shuttles program was cancelled and the US relied on Russian Soyuz craft. Chief science adviser John Holdren stated that the launch started a new era in American Space-flight.

The ashes of the actor James Doohan, who played the chief engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott in the original Star Trek TV series, were on board of the Falcon9. The lipstick-sized capsule was launched from the rocket when it was nine minutes into its flight. There were also 307 further capsules of fellow space fans.  Doohan died of pneumonia in 2005 aged 85.

An US-company Celestis organises these Earth orbiting space memorial which cost £1,900. Relatives are attending the launch and memorial service.