Spacewalk planned for Sept 20.Any more space walks planned? I keep tracking my app to see when you are over SoCal in the evenings.
Your brain accommodates pretty quickly. We treat the deck of the ISS as the floor similar to how we train on earth but it’s pretty easy to just flip orientation and treat the overhead as the floor. That said, things look differently when you are upside down. Even the overall lighting seems very different.How disorienting is having no sense of up or down while in space?
Depends. There are tracking stations for large objects (inches in size). For smaller stuff, not so much. We can change orbital altitude with a reboost to miss things if needed.How much do you worry about space junk and do you get adequate warning when they come close to colliding w/the space station et al.?
Um, no not really. Actually on ISS, we interface the vehicle through computer screen telemetry so no steam gauges or anything like that. We do get faulty sensors from time to time.Wondering about those many, many dials and gauges to read up there. Does it ever happen, I mean, does one dial, ever, say, show a puzzling or incorrect reading, and you just tap on it and then it works fine and reads normal? Mike
There have been several interesting experiments but the one I liked the best was growing lettuce. The best part was that we got to eat it.Hi Drew,
I am forwarding you a question from Ms. Connell’s 4th grade class at Warfield Elementary in Indiantown, Florida. They are currently studying Earth/Space Science and find it fascinating that you can answer their question all the way from space. Here it is: “What has been your favorite experiment while on the space station, and was that experiment successful?”
Thank you!
1. That floating ALL THE TIME is not as relaxing as it seems1. What is the most surprising thing you have experienced in space?
2. What has been your favorite science experiment?
3. Do you believe in the possibility of time travel?
I have never, in 18 years, met an individual who was not enthusiastic about space exploration. In the words of John Young, single planet species do not last. So if for no other reason, what we do is important for the simple reason of continued existence. Further than that, everything we do off the earth is for the earth. And at less than 0.5 % of the annual federal budget, NASA is really giving great return on tax payer investment.Hi Drew - when I was a kid, fascination with space was everywhere and as Americans we were hugely proud of our space exploits. Cars had fins with red tail lights made to look like exhaust plumes coming from rocket motors; news anchors talked about space missions on the nightly news; we assembled plastic rocket models and later launched cardboard model rockets into the air. I got into reading big time when my second grade teacher introduced me to science fiction. I also watched Star Trek on TV religiously.
From your perspective, do you feel there is a lot of enthusiasm for what you are doing?