Fragile Oasis

Earth Photography: Harder Than It Looks

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:03:05 -0500

From my orbital perspective, I am sitting still and Earth is moving. I sit above the grandest of all globes spinning below my feet, and watch the world speed by at an amazing eight kilometers per second (288 miles per minute, or 17,300 miles per hour). This makes Earth photography complicated. Even with a shutter speed of 1/1000th of a second, eight meters (26 feet) of motion occurs during the exposure. Our 400-millimeter telephoto lens has a resolution of less than three meters on the ground. Simply pointing at a target and squeezing the shutter always yields a less-than-perfect image, and precise manual tracking must be done to capture truly sharp pictures. It usually takes a new space station crewmember a month of on-orbit practice to use the full capability of this telephoto lens.
The U.S. East Coast 09:28 GMT February 6, 2012 Another surprisingly difficult aspect of Earth photography is capturing a specific target. If I want to take a picture of Silverton, Oregon, my hometown, I have about 10 to 15 seconds of prime nadir (the point directly below us) viewing time to take the picture. If the image is taken off the nadir, a distorted, squashed projection is obtained. If I float up to the window and see my target, it’s too late to take a picture. If the camera has the wrong lens, the memory card is full, the battery depleted, or the camera is on some non-standard setting enabled by its myriad buttons and knobs, the opportunity will be over by the time the situation is corrected. And some targets like my hometown, sitting in the middle of farmland, are low-contrast and difficult to find. If more than a few seconds are needed to spot the target, again the moment is lost. All of us have missed the chance to take that “good one.” Fortunately, when in orbit, what goes around comes around, and in a few days there will be another chance.
The Manicouagan Impact Crater in Quebec 05:52 GMT on February 3, 2012 It takes 90 minutes to circle the Earth, with about 60 minutes in daylight and 30 minutes in darkness. The globe is equally divided into day and night by the shadow line, but being 400 kilometers up, we travel a significant distance over the nighttime earth while the station remains in full sunlight. During those times, as viewed from Earth, we are brightly lit against a dark sky. This is a special period that makes it possible for people on the ground to observe the space station pass overhead as a large, bright, moving point of light. This condition lasts for only about seven minutes; after that we are still overhead, but are unlit and so cannot be readily observed. Ironically, when earthlings can see us, we cannot see them. The glare from the full sun effectively turns our windows into mirrors that return our own ghostly reflection. This often plays out when friends want to flash space station from the ground as it travels overhead. They shine green lasers, xenon strobes, and halogen spotlights at us as we sprint across the sky. These well-wishers don’t know that we cannot see a thing during this time. The best time to try this is during a dark pass when orbital calculations show that we are passing overhead. This becomes complicated when highly collimated light from lasers are used, since the beam diameter at our orbital distance is about one kilometer, and this spot has to be tracking us while in the dark. And of course we have to be looking. As often happens, technical details complicate what seems like a simple observation. So far, all attempts at flashing the space station have failed.

One (Really Good) Reason Not To Clean Your Closet

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:30:31 -0500

On the International Space Station, we have a closet module called the Permanent Multipurpose Module. Its prosaic name is PMM, an acronym that has metamorphosed beyond the original assemblage of words to become a noun on its own, pronounced pee-em-em (only at NASA can we create new words without vowels). In a former life, it was an MPLM (another vowel-less word), a special transport container that flew up and down to the space station in the back of the Space Shuttle (Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules). Made in Italy for NASA, the PMM was formally christened Leonardo—obviously named after a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. On my STS-126 Shuttle flight, I had the pleasure of moving Leonardo from the Shuttle payload bay and berthing it to the nadir hatchway on the station’s Node 2, using the Canadian robotic arm. Operating the Canada arm is a bit like working with a fancy backhoe, and requires its own skills. Once the module was berthed, we opened the hatch and unloaded many tons of much-needed equipment and supplies over the next 12 days. For its return voyage, we loaded it up with garbage and trash. Included in the trash were bags of urine left over from human physiological experiments. These weren’t ordinary bags of urine; these were eight-month-old bags of urine. I did not need to read the label—my nose could identify the contents. We brought garbage-laden Leonardo home, but due to bad weather at the Cape, we landed at Edwards in California. It took another week before the Shuttle was transported home, and another week after that before Leonardo was removed from the payload bay and placed in its holding fixture. That was followed by the Christmas holiday. By the time folks got around to opening Leonardo, it had been sitting for well over a month, and some of the bags had leaked all over the inside of the module. I happened to be at the Cape the day after the technicians opened the hatch. It was not a pretty sight. I felt partly responsible, since I had been the one who did the orbital packing. I offered, but the technicians would not let me help clean up the mess. The Leonardo module is a special place for me. The PMM is cool, quiet, soothing—a good place to reflect and recharge. But like most closets on Earth, the PMM is a total mess. The crew is so busy maintaining and utilizing the space station that no one has time to properly arrange things, despite our good intentions. A typical clutter-creating scenario might go like this: Say you are in the middle of working on the station’s control system. Swapping out motherboards is a delicate task, akin to doing computer brain surgery. If you bend a pin while inserting a card, you can fry the whole works, and there are precious few spare parts. In the midst of this intensity, your stomach starts rumbling. So you dive into the PMM closet where the primary stocks are located, only to find that the pantry is down to vegetables and tofudibeast. You need meat and potatoes to keep going, so you dive back into the PMM and pull out a new “meats in pouches” package. Like everything else, the package has a nine-digit bar code. We are required to log these in our inventory management system, but sometimes the bar code readers don’t work. So you think, “I will do all this inventory paperwork later.” That’s how the PMM gets to be a mess. When spare moments present themselves, I will go into the PMM and straighten up the clutter. Floating among the bags undulating on their anchor chords, I have the sensation of scuba diving in a kelp bed thicket. Then I catch up on the inventory paperwork. With luck, I’m able to scribble down all those nine-digit bar code numbers correctly.

A Lab for Science, and for Thinking

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:31:06 -0500

The International Space Station was conceived and constructed through the cooperation of fifteen nations. Now, with it's construction complete, we can focus on how best to use it. We have built a laboratory located on the premier frontier of our era. Our Earth-honed intuition no longer applies in this orbital environment. On frontiers, things do not behave the way we think they should, and our preconceived notions are altered by observations. That makes it rich in potential for discovery. The answers are not in the back of the book, and sometimes even the questions themselves may not be known.
Getting ready to insert biological samples in the Minus Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI-1) in the Kibo lab. On the Station we can use reduced gravity as an experimental variable for long periods of time. We have access to high vacuum, at enormous pumping rates. (The rate at which space can suck away gas, hence its ability to provide a region devoid of molecules, far outpaces anything we can do on Earth.) We are beyond the majority of our atmosphere, which lets us touch the near-space environment where solar wind, cosmic rays, and atomic oxygen abound. Such cosmic detritus, unavailable for study within our atmosphere, holds some answers to the construction of our universe and how our small planet fits into the picture. The Station as a laboratory offers most of the features that Earth-borne laboratories have, including a good selection of experimental equipment, supplies, and a well-characterized environment (temperature, pressure, humidity, gas composition, etc.). There is generous electric power, high data-rate communications, significant crew work hours (the fraction of hours spent on science per crew day on Space Station is commensurate with the fraction for other science frontiers such as Antarctica and the deep ocean), and extended observational periods ranging from weeks to years. All this is conducted with a healthy blend of robots and humans, working together hand-in-end-effector, each contributing what each does best. Only on Earth is there a perceived friction between robots and humans. In this orbital laboratory, we can iterate experimental procedures. We can try something, fail, go back to our chalk board, think, (we now have the time for this luxury) and try it all over again. We can iterate on the iteration. We now have continuous human presence, and time to see the unexpected and act upon it in unplanned ways. Sometimes these odd observations become the basis for studies totally different from those originally planned; sometimes those studies prove to be more valuable. And on this frontier the questions and answers mold each other in Yin-Yang fashion until reaching a natural endpoint or the funding runs out, whichever comes first. This is science at its best, and now, for the first time, we have a laboratory in space that allows us to do research in a way comparable to how we do it on Earth. So what questions are ripe for study on the Station? What possible areas of research might bear fruit? We have a few ideas. One area is the study of life on Earth. Life has survived for billions of years, during which temperatures, pressures, chemical potentials, radiation, and other factors have varied widely. Life always adapts and (mostly) survives. Yet there is one parameter that has remained constant for billions of years, as if our planet was the most tender of incubators. Now for the first time in the evolution of life, we humans can systematically tweak the gravity knob and probe its effect on living creatures. And we can change the magnitude of gravity by a factor of one million. Try changing other life-giving parameters, perhaps temperature, by a factor of one million and see how long it takes a hapless life form to shrivel up and die! The fact that gravity can be changed by many orders of magnitude and life can continue is, in itself, an amazing discovery. So now we have a laboratory to probe in-depth the effects of microgravity on living organisms. The discovery of fire (or rather its harnessing) was a significant advance that allowed humans to transcend what we were to become what we are now. Well before Galileo and Newton dissected the basic formulations of gravity, humans intuitively understood that heat rises. We empirically learned how to fan the flames. But fire as we know it on Earth requires gravity. Without gravity-driven convection, it will consume its local supply of oxygen and snuff itself out as effectively as if smothered by a fire extinguisher. Questions about fire (up here we prefer the term “combustion”) are ripe for a place where we can tinker with the gravity knob. Another invention, the wheel, literally carried us into the Industrial Age. Ironically, that particular tool is rendered obsolete on a frontier where one can move the heaviest of burdens with a small push of the fingertips. In space the problem is not how to move an object, but how to make it stay put. Perhaps the invention of the bungee cord and Velcro will be the space-equivalent to the development of the wheel on Earth. Such shifts in thought and perspective, some seemingly minor, happen when you observe the commonplace in a new and unfamiliar setting. We are now told that we may only be seeing about 4 percent of the stuff that our universe is made of (which raises the question, what is the other 96 percent?). Some questions about fundamental physics can only be made outside our atmosphere or away from the effects of gravity. The International Space Station, contaminated with human-induced vibrations, may not be the ideal platform for these observations, but it is currently in orbit and is available to be used. Many of these experiments are like remora fish, latching onto an opportune shark for a sure ride instead of waiting for the ideal shark to swim by. And we pesky humans, even though we cause vibration, occasionally come in handy when some unexpected problem requires a tweak, a wrench, or simply a swift kick. Although we have preconceived ideas about how the International Space Station can be utilized, benefits of an unquantifiable nature will slowly emerge and probably will be recognized only in hindsight. The Station offers us perspective; it allows us to question how humans behave on this planet in ways that you can’t when you live there.

The World Through a Looking Glass

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:47:06 -0500

Looking through the cupola windows on the International Space Station, it’s only natural to reflect upon who we are and where we fit into the world below. Like something out of Alice in Wonderland, this orbital looking glass can be both a window through which to observe the jeweled sphere of Earth and a mirror that (sometimes, depending on your viewing angle) shows you a translucent reflection of yourself superimposed on the planet.
The Manicouagan Impact Crater near Quebec, Canada, January 8, 2012 From orbit, the more you know about our planet, the more you can see. You see all the geological features described in textbooks. You see fault zones, moraines, basins, ranges, impact craters, dikes, sills, braided channels, the strike and dip of layered rocks, folding, meanders, oxbow lakes, slumps, slides, mud flows, deltas, alluvial fans, glaciers, karst topography, cirques, tectonic plates, rifts zones, cinder cones, crater lakes, fossil sea shores, lava flows, volcanic plumes, fissures, eruptions, dry lakes, inverted topography, latteric soils, and many more.
The Himalayan Mountain ranges shelter Mount Everest in this photograph taken on December 20, 2011 You see clouds of every description and combination: nimbus, cumulus, stratus, nimbo-cumulus, nimbo-stratus, cirrus, thunderheads, and typhoons, sometimes with clockwise rotation, sometimes with counter-clockwise. You notice patterns: clouds over cold oceans look different than clouds over warm oceans. Sometimes the continents are all cloud-covered, so you have no recognizable landmass to help you gauge where you are. If you see a crisscross of jet contrails glistening in the sun above the clouds, you know you are over the United States.
Clouds over the Atlantic Ocean bisect this image of the New York City region and north to Canada taken from the International Space Station on December 11, 2011 Lightning storms flash like gigantic fireflies looking for mates half a continent away. You see patterns on the ocean surface, swirls and vortices on large scales, wave diffraction patterns around capes, solitary waves forming long lines out in the middle of nowhere, and rivers that look like they are spilling milk chocolate into turquoise oceans. You see light-scattering phenomena of all kinds—at sunrise, at sunset, across the terminator, 16 times a day. You see crepuscular rays, forward reddened lobes, off-axis blue lobes, and corona halos. With binoculars you can count six distinct layers in the atmosphere, with the outer one seemingly fading into fuzzy blackness. The aurora is nothing short of occipital ecstasy. It is always moving, always changing, and like snowflakes, no two displays are the same. The glowing red and green forms meander like celestial amoebas crawling across some great petri dish. One time our orbit took us through the center of an auroral display. It was as if we were in a glowing fog of red and green. Had we been shrunk down and inserted into the tube of a neon sign? It looked like it was just on the other side of the windowpane. I wanted to reach out and touch, but of course I couldn’t. Afterwards, I had to clean nose prints from the window.
Aurora over the Southern Ocean on January 3, 2012 You catch an occasional meteor while looking down at Earth. You see stars and planets in oblique views, next to Earth’s limb. And they do not twinkle. Perchance you might spot a ragged shadow from a total solar eclipse projected onto Earth. Amazing, it looks just like it does in the textbooks! You have a godlike view of the finer details of shadowy projections onto spherical bodies. You see space junk orbiting nearby. Sometimes it flickers due to an irregularity, catching light as it rotates. An overboard water dump produces a virtual blizzard in the surrounding vacuum. Like strangers passing in the night, you see other satellites flash brilliantly for a few seconds, then fade into oblivion.
A Perseid meteor bursts through Earth's atmosphere, photographed by Ron Garan on August 13, 2011 Jungles are the darkest land features you can observe in full sunlight. They are so dark that you need to open your camera lens to obtain a proper exposure. If there are clouds partly shrouding your view, you can be fooled into thinking you are over the ocean. Only when you notice rivers with braided channels and meandering loops of chocolate brown do you realize that it is jungle and not water. Farmland, rich with vibrant crops, is different. Farmland is bright, much brighter than the jungles. Here nature is giving us a clue as to the efficiency of light capture by plants. The impact of humanity on Earth is humbling from orbit. Our greatest cities appear to the bare eye as minor gray smudges on the edges of continents—they could be the fingerprints of Atlas, from the last time he handled the globe. They are hardly distinguishable from volcanic ash flow or other geologic features. If you didn’t know it was a city, it would be difficult to conclude it was the result of human design. Under the scrutiny of the telephoto lens, things appear different. Like ants moving crumbs of dirt, we are slowly changing our world. You realize that Earth will do just fine, with or without us. We are wedded to this planet, for better or for worse, until mass extinction do us part. Cities at night are different from their drab daytime counterparts. They present a most spectacular display that rivals a Broadway marquee. And cities around the world are different. Some show blue-green, while others show yellow-orange. Some have rectangular grids, while others look like a fractal-snapshot from Mandelbrot space.
On January 22, 2012, city lights from Belgium and the Netherlands at bottom center, the British Isles partially obscured by solar array panels at left, the North Sea at left center, and Scandinavia at right center. Patterns in the countryside are different in Europe, North America, and South America. In space, you can see political boundaries that show up only at night. As if a beacon for humanity, Las Vegas is truly the brightest spot on Earth. Cities at night may very well be the most beautiful unintentional consequence of human activity. This looking glass incites your mind to ponder the abstract. Through the window, you explore the world. In the mirror, you reflect upon your place within it and the reasons we explore. Is it fundamentally about finding new places to live and new resources to use? Or is it about expanding our knowledge of the universe? Either way, exploration seems fundamental to our survival as a species. After all, if the dinosaurs had explored space and colonized other planets, they would still be alive today.
Crewmate André Kuipers in the Cupola

Close Shave

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:22:47 -0500

I have never been able to shave with a safety razor without slicing my face, so I use a rotary electric razor instead. In weightlessness they work just as well, and the whiskers are captured inside the shaving head. But how does one clean out the whiskers in weightlessness?
In March 2001, Jim Voss, Expedition 2 flight engineer, shaves with an electric razor. On Earth, you simply open the head and shake them out. Doing that up here would be a disaster. So once a week, when vacuuming the accumulation of lint, dust, and detritus against the air inlet filters, I vacuum my razor. I hold the vacuum cleaner hose between my legs, and use both hands to carefully open the shaving head in front of the suction. A cloud of whiskers jumps out, appearing like a miniature asteroid field, then quickly disappears into a black hole, with no chance of escape.
Ten years later, In July 2011, Ron Garan, Expedition 28 flight engineer, trims Mike Fossum's hair with a vacuum attached to the clippers.

The Eye of Issyk Kul

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:12:30 -0500

Kyrgyzstan is wedged in the mountainous wrinkles between Kazakhstan and China, created long ago when the land mass we now call India, propelled by plate tectonics, slammed into the Asian plate. Living there are a proud people with a rich history, surrounded by natural, high-altitude beauty.
Click for a larger image of Issyk Kul Out of numerous Kyrgyz lakes, one in particular stands out—Lake Issyk Kul. When seen from orbit, Issyk Kul appears to be a giant eye, looking at us looking down at it. The snow-covered mountains become aged eyebrows. The lake itself, having a fairly high salt concentration, does not typically freeze over, thus reflecting wintertime light in such a way as to form a “pupil” that seems to track us as we orbit overhead.

The Sweet Smell of Molecules

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:14:10 -0500

A vacuum is a condition that is nearly devoid of molecules, and space is a molecular desert that makes the Empty Quarter of the Saudi Arabian peninsula seem like an oasis in comparison. But the space vacuum still has some molecules—residue from galactic processes, solar wind or atomic detritus spalled off from our atmosphere. And molecules, typically floating in the surrounding air, can be sensed via smell. To talk about the smell of space makes no sense at all. Even if we had space-adapted noses, there is no air to transport the trace molecules. However, space does have a definite smell, and we can smell it in a roundabout way. I have had the pleasure of operating our space station airlock for many crewmates while they went on spacewalks. Each time, when I repressurized the airlock, opened the hatch, and greeted my tired returning friends, a peculiar essence drifting about the newly repressurized chamber tickled my olfactory senses. I noticed that the smell was coming from the spacesuit fabric, the tools, and any other equipment that had been brought inside. It was more pronounced on fabrics than on metal or plastic surfaces. It most definitely did not come from the air lines that pressurized the chamber.
That’s me with John Herrington in the Quest Airlock during the STS-113 Endeavour mission to the International Space Station in 2002. At first I couldn’t quite place the smell. The best description I can come up with is that it’s rather pleasantly metallic. It brought me back to my college summers, when I used an arc welding torch to repair heavy equipment for a small logging outfit. It reminded me of sweet-smelling welding fumes. To me this is the smell of space. Reptiles have smell sensors located not within their nasal passage, but on the roof of their mouth. They smell by waving their moist tongue in the air, then pressing it against the roof of their mouth, thus indirectly transferring molecules from the air to the olfactory sensors. It occurred to me that I was smelling the essence of space through an indirect transfer, in a manner not unlike that of our lizard friends.

The Terminator

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:59:50 -0500

Twice a year, near the winter and summer solstices, the orbit of the International Space Station nearly parallels the terminator—the fuzzy line separating day from night on the surface below. For a period of about a week, we live in what seems like perpetual twilight, being in neither full daylight nor full night. Our orbit follows the terminator, so that space station is constantly sunlit. From this vantage I can see both day and night simply by swiveling my head from left to right. But the night is not really dark, and the day is lit by low-angle rays from the Sun. Geographic relief casts long shadows, and imparts stark contrast to features that are typically overlooked. Small ripples in sand dunes make high contrast striations across the bright desert landscape that look like Nature’s way of drawing with pen and ink. Geographic relief plays tricks on you. First you see the Grand Canyon as this deep scar. Blink your eyes and it is now a rippling bump. Thunderstorms cast shadows that look like they come from some new type of ray beam weapon. Airliners, their path defined by contrails, leave glimmering lines like snail trails in the morning dew. The gardens of Earth appear to have quite an infestation of snails. The Moon sets in a counterintuitive way. From this vantage it moves nearly parallel to the horizon. Once I saw it slowly set, only to reappear in a few minutes. The Moon was visible for nearly the whole orbit.

Grand Views of the Grand Canyon

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:22:13 -0500

The Grand Canyon of the Colorado River is simply amazing when viewed from an orbital perspective. You instinctively recognize it, even though you have never seen it from this vantage point before. Somehow, your brain can warp all those vacation memories from visiting the South Rim into something recognizable. But the amazement doesn’t stop there. Sometimes your brain can play little tricks. Under some lighting conditions the Grand Canyon does not look like a canyon at all. Instead, all you see are the arteries on a giant heart, as if someone were performing open heart surgery on Mother Earth. Push on the corners of your eyes one more time, wait for the flashes to disappear, and now you see something entirely different. Instead of looking out the window of a spacecraft, you are looking out the window of a deep-sea submersible at some mucky-bottom seascape. You now see worms lying on top of the benthic sediment, happily doing whatever worms do on the bottom of the ocean. So often, in the search for truth in nature, human perception masks how things really are.

Candid and the Camera

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:14:13 -0500

For my Soyuz launch, I had worn a standard Shuttle diaper with two inserts for extra absorption. (I have found it advantageous to add a little extra in certain places—in weightlessness, urine will creep around under the guise of capillary action and find your long underwear.) Still, we were in our spacesuits for over 12 hours, and that’s a long time. Even with the extra inserts, my diaper became completely overwhelmed. It leaked real bad; I could feel it happen, and was powerless to control the flood. When the time came to de-suit, I was more than ready to get out of that thing, but dreaded the impending mess. Fortunately, I was able to cover up my stained underwear with a pair of woolen bib overalls. On docking day, we put on our Sokol suits again and strapped in about six hours before arriving at Space Station. By the time we docked I was tired, dehydrated, hungry, had to use the bathroom, and was still wearing my yellow-stained long underwear. My sinuses were a bit congested, with the standard red puffy, chipmunk face. Our Soyuz cabin pressure was at 830 mm, but station is maintained at 740 mm. When we equalized the two, I got a splitting sinus headache.
Let your smile be your umbrella! When we opened the hatch we were immediately on camera, downlinked live to the world as we were greeted by the smiling faces of our space station crewmates. All I wanted to do was have a good “rest stop,” get something to drink, and hide in my sleep station (in that order). We were pulled into the Service Module, where we were once again on camera with Russian Mission Control and my family, all anxious to chat. They wanted to know what it was like. I felt like a red-faced, dehydrated, puffy sack of -- (fill in the blank). That is what it was really like. I was able to force a smile.
Feeling better!

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:05:13 -0500

The following is the text of an email that all NASA employees received from our administrator Charlie Bolden in recognition of the holiday honoring the birth of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I thought it was a really nice reminder of Dr. King's courage, and his message of hope, and how it ties to the ultimate goal of the work NASA is doing: making the world a better place for everyone. "This year, we celebrate the 83rd anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth. Dr. King had a vision for a brighter future for all of us, and we've made much progress in the years since he was with us. At NASA, we have a special perspective on our Earth and the ways we all share it. If everyone could see the unity of our planet from space, there might be less strife and division. As always, the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday is an opportunity to follow Dr. King's example and find ways to make the world a better place by service in our local communities. I encourage you to participate in the National Day of Service to honor Dr. King's work and lift spirits by bringing good into the world. I hope you will take some time not only to reflect on how you can make the world a better place, but also perhaps to take some sort of action in your sphere of influence to make a difference. Dr. King encouraged us to live with each other in peace, treat every human being with dignity, and work together for a better future. I believe that now, as in the 1960s, we have an opportunity to strive for a better world -- a world that is in reality as peaceful as it looks from space." -- Charlie B. (Maj. Gen. Charles F. Bolden, Jr., USMC Ret. NASA Administrator)

A Salute To All The Coasties Out There

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:00:00 -0500

We had just passed over Kamchatka, Russia where I took a picture of about 20 of the many dozens of the volcanoes there. The sun angle was low making the volcanoes practically jump out at me. Along the coast in the foreground you can see wisps of what looks like milk in the water. Those are ice flows that are starting to coalesce into massive sheets.
Volcanoes of Kamchatka We then headed out over the Aleutians, and as I floated in the cupola juggling three cameras I saw long streamlines of clouds flowing south across Bristol Bay. The clouds then ran into the Alaska Peninsula and there the streamlines met their match. Downwind of Shishaldin and Pavlof volcanoes, the streamlines became swirls that extended for a thousand miles or more into the north Pacific.
Von Karman Vortex Streets Those two trails of swirls are Von Karman vortex streets, named after the aerodynamicist who explained the phenomenon. In a nut shell, when airflow of the correct speed passes over a round body (like a volcano, for instance), vortices will be shed alternately from one side and then the other. It’s the same mechanism that can make power or phone lines “sing” in a gale. If you know the diameter of the wire and the pitch of the tone (or in this case the size of the volcano and the spacing of the swirls) you can calculate the wind speed. It’s classic aerodynamics, but on a thousands of miles scale. Putting the aerodynamics demonstration astern, Kodiak Island came into view and I couldn’t help but think of all those Coasties (members of the United States Coast Guard) down there on fisheries patrol or flying out the Aleutians on a SAR (search and rescue) case.
Moonrise over the Yukon and Kodiak, Alaska Just as I was thinking about that, the moon started to rise over the Yukon with Kodiak in the foreground. It was a magnificent sight. To all the Coasties in Alaska, and across the US and the world, I salute you. Our service is about saving property and lives on the seas. and you do it exquisitely well. Fair winds and following seas, Dan Burbank, Captain, USCG, Ret. International Space Station Commander NASA Astronaut

We Get to Carry Each Other

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:04:45 -0500

Watching a video of U2’s “One” featuring Mary J. Blige this weekend brought me back to the launchpad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan waiting for the countdown and my launch to space – and inspired me to write this post.
Just before entering the Soyuz on April 4, 2011 During the two and a half hours between the time Sasha Samokutyaev, Andrey Borisenko and I entered the Soyuz spacecraft and our launch, we had specific tasks to perform, but most of the action was taking place on the ground and in mission control. Music was piped into our capsule, including, “One.” I particularly like this song because the lyrics really capture the “Orbital Perspective,” and, I also listened to it quite frequently while in space. One love One blood One life You got to do what you should One life With each other Sisters Brothers One life But we're not the same We get to Carry each other Carry each other One...life One I think both U2 and Mary J. Blige demonstrate an unwillingness to accept the status quo. Through their efforts, most notably Bono’s ONE, the song's namesake, and MJB’s FFAWN . They demonstrate a commitment to leave the world a little better than they found it. Mary J. Blige (who, by the way, attended my alma mater Roosevelt HS in Yonkers, NY) co-founded FFAWN, The Mary J. Blige and Steve Stoute Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now, which is a non-profit organization whose mission is to inspire women to gain the confidence and skills they need to reach their individual potential through programs that foster education, career development, strong self-esteem, and personal growth.
Mary J. Blige and I went to the same high school, and briefly, "shared" this view of our beautiful fragile oasis as I photographed her CD from the International Space Station cupola. Bono co-founded ONE, which is a grassroots advocacy and campaigning organization that fights extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. The Irish band U2, including Bono (top photo) and The Edge, visited Johnson Space Center with their families ONE and FFAWN are just two examples of thousands of organizations around the world working to improve life on our fragile oasis. Our Collaboration Project is striving to connect humanity's changemakers to the challenges of our planet -- and to each other -- through a universal, open source platform that will help achieve common goals. Stay tuned for more.

A Beacon For The Holidays

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 08:17:55 -0500

Welcoming our new crewmates, Oleg Kononenko, Andre Kuipers and Don Pettit aboard the International Space Station on Friday was wonderful, made all the more so as it came just before Christmas. Anton Shkaplerov, Anatoly Ivanishin and I have been operating the ISS ourselves for over a month and are happy to have reinforcements, but also very glad to be able to spend the holidays with three good friends. After they docked to ISS, we helped them settle in and then gave them a tour of the station. It’s a magnificent, nearly million pound spaceship jointly built by 15 nations from across the globe. In addition to being a one of a kind, world class research laboratory and humanity’s outpost in space, it’s a great testament to our ability as human beings to do extraordinarily difficult things when we work together. Although Oleg, Don and Andre are all veteran ISS flyers, they, like we, were surprised by the view of earth from the Cupola, a 360 degree window on the world located in the Node 3 or Tranquility module. To call that view breathtaking is no overstatement. From there, we have a virtually uninterrupted view for thousands of miles in all directions. We see auroras, volcanoes, coral atolls, and sweeping expanses of mountain ranges, desert and ocean. With the exception of nighttime city lights, what we don’t see is much evidence of our planet’s seven billion inhabitants or of the struggles that many face to survive. Tranquility’s window provides a view of earth as peaceful as it is beautiful. On the day last week that our crewmates left planet Earth bound for the ISS, we were treated to another incredible sight -- just in time for the holidays. Comet Lovejoy, which unexpectedly survived a close encounter with the sun’s atmosphere, painted glowing swath of light millions of miles long across dense star fields of the southern night sky. During several of our daily 15 sunrises onboard ISS we’re able to see the comet in the predawn moments. We are certainly very fortunate to have the opportunity to fly in space and to see such splendid sights. We are also fortunate to represent space agencies and countries committed to mankind making a home in space and to applying what we learn here to make life better on earth. On behalf of the Expedition 30 crew, we wish everyone a happy, safe, and most of all peaceful holiday.

Gone for the Season

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:51:33 -0500

Being absent for the holidays is collateral damage for an explorer, whatever the location. In Antarctica, the short Antarctic summer is when most exploration happens, and this falls over the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year holidays. Maybe you can get home by Valentine’s Day; it is best to arrive bearing flowers, chocolate, and a smile. Family life can be tough on Antarctic explorers. Similarly, the timing of spaceflights depends on orbital mechanics as well as seasonal meteorological conditions at the launch and landing sites. Like sailors in the past shipping out with the tides, space explorers have no control over these factors and must warp their plans to fit the conditions of the Universe. I have had the good fortune to be on two missions to the space station and one to Antarctica. My collateral damage toll includes being on orbit for two Thanksgivings, Christmas, New Years, birthdays, anniversaries, a science fair, school plays, recitals, and Valentine’s Day (I was not there with flowers, chocolate, and a smile). While in Antarctica, I missed everything from November to February, but did make it home for Valentine’s Day (with flowers, chocolate, and a smile). Now, with this mission, my damage toll is rising. With our new internet capability on space station, I can at least send flowers. The essentials to bring with you into the wilderness of today are not flint, steel, and powder, but your credit card number and network login. Meaningful exploration typically requires months away from home. Ultimately, it is the explorer who misses out on the significant family events. One should never forget that your family life goes on, with or without you.

The Pieces Come Together

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 07:16:22 -0500

Four days ago our rocket was in pieces, scattered across the floor of the assembly building. Like anxious parents checking on their sleeping children, we took one last peek inside our Soyuz spacecraft. Everything was tucked in where it should be. Three days ago the pieces started to come together, like giant blocks from a Lego set. Two days ago all the pieces were assembled into the final form of our rocket. One day ago our rocket rolled out on a train car from the assembly building to the launch pad. This is the same pad that Yuri Gagarin launched from in 1961. This launch pad made history, and still does. Within half an hour, our rocket went from laying down to standing up. Today, the day before launch, last-minute touches are being made to our rocket in preparation for launch, and we crew members are doing the same. There are technical briefs, a conference with the upper management (back home we say “Big Cheese,” here they say “Big Pinecone”; in any language it’s the same), a press interview, and one last chance to be with our families. We share a movie. By tradition, we watch the classic Russian film “White Sun Of the Desert.” We share a meal. No one speaks of this as a last supper, but it is. One last hug, a good laugh, a good cry, and my family departs.
Our ride awaits! Tomorrow we walk to our rocket and climb the stairway that leads into space. The sky is not the limit, at least not anymore. What an adventure—and I have not even left the planet yet. Editor's note: Don, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 8:16 a.m. EST Wednesday (7:16 p.m. Baikonur time). NASA Television coverage of the launch begins at 7:30 a.m.

Six Months Turns to Ten

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 06:32:14 -0500

Space Station expeditions are planned for six months. Some may be a few weeks shorter, some longer. Malfunctions in your spacecraft can impact the mission duration either way by two months or more.
Oleg Kononenko (center), Andre Kuipers (right) and I taking a walk on the snowy - and cold - grounds of our crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan last week There is more to your mission than just the time in orbit, however. Launching on the Russian Soyuz rocket, the only current means to get to and from Station, requires crews to be in Russia two months before launch. And there is that last week of ESA training with our European colleagues that is tacked onto the beginning of the trip. Upon your return to the confines of earth’s gravity, there could be a rehabilitation period of up to a week, living in crew quarters under the watchful eye of the flight doctors. The length of door-to-door time away from home easily extends the mission to eight and a half months. Then, once you are home, the next month does not belong to you (or your family). Your body is subjected to post-flight medical experiments; all are necessary to complete the before, during, and after science that is extracted from your soul. So it’s more like 10 months before you are truly able to relax. Still, thanks to radio, video, and Internet, our ability to stay connected with our families and mission control while in space is unparalleled. We may no longer be on the planet, but we have not vanished from Earth. Compared to the historic exploration experience, we have it good. Expectations are important. Expedition 6 in 2002 was going to be one of the shortest missions to date, somewhere between 1½ and 2½ months. Because of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, which happened while we were on orbit, our mission was extended to nearly 6 months. As my commander told me before launch, “When going to space station, it is wise to be mentally prepared to be gone for a year.” It turns out he was half right.
Tradition: Signing the guest book in Yuri Gagarin's office at Baikonur, with crewmates Oleg and Andre, while our Expedition 30 backups (Aki Hoshide, Yuri Malenchenko and Suni Williams) look on.

The Most Beautiful Holiday Card

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 06:14:25 -0500

Our planet is so beautiful, peaceful and serene when you look at it from space - the most beautiful holiday card you could imagine. On behalf of my crewmates Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin, we wish everyone on planet Earth, a happy, safe and most of all, peaceful holiday season. Editor's note: Would you like to send your good wishes to the crew? Next week, Dan, Anton and Anatoly will be joined by Don Pettit, André Kuipers and Oleg Kononenko, who launch to the Space Station December 21st. They would all love to hear from you in their home away from home - and it's easy to do!

A One-Way Ticket

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 08:28:31 -0500

Unlike my previous trips, this time I arrived in Russia on a one-way ticket. My bridge has been burned. And now I’m in Kazakhstan, awaiting our December 21 launch. Scuttling your ship is a historically proven method (think Cortés) to close the door to the known and force yourself to face the unknown. Now there is no way home, at least by the usual route. Only up; into the frontier. Blasted into space or blasted into bits, in either case you are no longer on this planet. Are there Dark-matter Dragons and Sirens of Space, patiently waiting for another hapless crew to venture by? We keep our wits, we reason, we act, and we will prevail. I am thankful for all the pearls so tirelessly drilled into my brain by a whole array of instructors. Unlike on Earth, a naked human cannot survive long in space. We were never meant to be there. However, with a little techno-help, we can make machines that supply us with all the necessities of life. We can make vehicles capable of taking us there and bringing us back. The basics of food, clothing and shelter take on new meaning. If you want to survive in space, you must understand how these machines work and how to keep them operating, and that requires a strong understanding of math, science, and engineering. A little Yankee (and Russkie!) ingenuity helps. Students must master these hard subjects if they want to follow in my footsteps.
Doorway to space: Our Soyuz sits in an assembly stand, where we can go inside and check things out.

What Makes an Explorer?

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:56:54 -0500

There is a type of social deviate who doesn’t fit in, and who naturally seeks the freedom of the wilderness. The American frontier was settled by that kind of spirit. Ironically, the wilderness of space requires a high degree of social conformity before you are allowed to enter, so today’s pre-selection of candidate explorers effectively requires a different personality type from those who historically ventured into the frontier. Exploration by individuals or small groups dates from the Stone Age, and is principally responsible for humanity’s infestation of the entire globe. It is undirected and seemingly random, and social progress is achieved more by accident than by design. This is exploration in its purest form—exploration to satisfy human curiosity, in a constant search for new places to live and resources to use. To partake in this kind of exploration is simple: You just go. Another type of exploration is more organized, and is done by countries and governments. Historically such explorations were made for exploitation: the taking of natural resources, the control of key geographic regions, and eventually, colonization. Exploration was a wealth-creating enterprise that, if consistently pursued over decades, returned orders of magnitude on the initial investment. This kind of exploration is no longer possible on Earth. Society-sponsored exploration has therefore shifted from exploitation to knowledge acquisition. We explore today for science, for new knowledge that will tickle our imaginations and enrich our minds. This exploration is well planned and conducted by professional explorers selected in part for their ability to conform. At the same time, exploration has shifted from a wealth-generating activity to a wealth-consuming activity. One aspect of this gentler age of exploration is the difficulty in maintaining a consistent level of effort over a period long enough to make progress. Meaningful exploration on today’s frontier requires about ten years, sometimes more, of consistently directed effort before significant scientific returns are seen. The shift from wealth generation (exploitation) to wealth consumption (knowledge) creates a constant battle for justification of the investment. As space technology advances, we will reach the point where we started in the Stone Age: Exploration with no more justification than individual curiosity. Such an eventuality will open the Petri dish of Earth and allow this infestation called humanity to contaminate our solar system.

The Road to Space - The Explorer's Dilemma

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:33:57 -0500

The road to space is a long and arduous path, a meandering trip that in many ways is more demanding than the Space Station mission itself. Training to fly into space is also the next best thing to actually flying into space. And flying into space is what my job is all about.
Me on the left, with Oleg Kononenko (center) and Andre Kuipers during training in Star City When I tell folks that I have been training for this Expedition 30/31 mission for two years, they often remark about the hardship, particularly the degree of international travel, which always equates to time away from your family. The International Space Station, which I like to simply call space station, was built by fifteen nations. Astronauts in training are the tip of the iceberg in the spaceflight business, and thus are in high demand to be seen in the international partner countries. So during this two-year (or sometimes two-and-a-half-year) period, crews in training accumulate a lot of frequent flyer miles as they travel around the world to these various training camps for astronauts. In this training period, you effectively put out an effort equivalent to achieving a graduate degree in engineering. Except in this case, your dissertation defense is conducted in space. And a mistake costs you more than minus ten points. I have had the good fortune to travel to Montreal, Canada (often in bitter-cold wintertime), Tsukuba, Japan (usually in muggy-hot summertime), Cologne, Germany (I missed Oktoberfest by one rainy week), Star City, Russia (all the seasons, from smoky-hot to biting-cold), and Baikonur, Kazakhstan (either hotter than Star City or colder than Star City, with little in between). These are places that are steeped in proud, rich culture, with long histories that make anything back home seem young in comparison. For a simple country boy from a small logging-farming town in Oregon, the opportunity to live in these places for an accumulated time of weeks and months over a period of two years is an education in itself. And of course there is Houston, Texas, my home with my family, in fully urbanized civilization. Houston is the center from which my strength flows.
Our launch site: The Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan At these training camps, we work hard. I typically start at 7:00 am (9:00 am when in Europe) and go until 6:00 to 8:00 pm. After every two-hour block of time, the subject abruptly switches. One block may be about the reaction control thrusters that control spacecraft attitude, which involve these delightful mathematical constructs called quaternions, while the next might be about installing a skullcap on your crewmate for recording an electroencephalogram. Then we might learn how to use a surgical staple gun to repair a gaping scalp wound, followed by shoving a urinary catheter up the orifice of a rubber model (for some reason we do not practice this on our crewmates). Then we get a break for lunch and continue until evening. International travel gives us no relief from the demands of our physical trainers. Experts in exercise physiology are assigned to follow a crew and hound us into a degree of athletic conditioning just shy of that for an Olympian. The purpose for this is more than just dangling a ribbon-clad piece of metal around your neck. We train to the bone literally to save our bones; we want to return from our mission and continue to live a normal life on this planet. I cannot think of a better motivation. There are a number of well known maladies that inflict havoc on human physiology when one ventures off into space for long periods of time. This is our modern equivalent to 18th-century seamen contracting scurvy on long ocean voyages. What was all a big mystery then is now 4th-grade level knowledge. Our current suite of space-born maladies are just as baffling to us now as scurvy was back then, and I venture to guess that in 200 years, a 4th grader will be able to tell you the reason why. For now, our most informed haven’t a clue. Such advances in human physiology are pried from the bodies and souls of those who explore. Our current thoughts for maintaining health center around a blend of strenuous cardiovascular and weight lifting exercises (we call it resistance exercise since “weightlifting” in a weightless environment just does not compute). Again, in 200 years, this will probably be viewed with the same disdain that we currently hold for the practice of bloodletting in past centuries. So I sweat and grunt in the gym wherever I happen to be in training, under the virtual eye of my trainer, who constantly nags me to put another plate on the bar, and not one of those wimpy 10-pounders. He will be on my direct on-orbit e-mail list, so there is no relief on or off this planet. My calling in this life is to be on the frontier. The effort required to get there — the studies, the mental work, the physical work — are not the difficult parts. I thrive on such activity, and it only makes me stronger. Whenever I leave the confines of civilization, a small but ever present spark in my heart grows into a flame, becoming a beacon that fills my soul with warmth. My spirit is freed by the very nakedness of the universe. But then another spark, always present but often ignored, pulls at the fabric of my being, reminding me of civilized life, at home with my family. Such is the Explorer’s Dilemma. Being thus plagued, my spirit is never at peace with where I am. This energy, if properly channeled, can be the source of great strength. The venues of exploration come and go with time, but the human story remains the same. If I were not assigned to this mission, I would be back in Houston, tasked as an astronaut to a technical engineering project supporting some aspect of space flight. Exciting of course; working on the human exploration of space is where I want to spend my life’s energy. However, in blunt astronaut vernacular, this work is called “flying a desk.” So when asked if I mind the long road to space, I think to myself, “During the past two years I could have been flying a desk or training to fly into space. Which would I prefer?” Then, after a small pause, I reply, “It’s a long road, but at the end I get to fly into space.”

Fact: My Son Has Never Known A Time Without Humans Living In Space

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:21:08 -0500

My nine-year-old son has never known a time without humans living in space. In fact, my son has never known a time when the benefits of space exploration haven’t had a direct impact on the quality of his life here on Earth. I think that’s a pretty awesome thing!! How cool is it that not a day has gone by in the past ten years when we couldn’t go outside and look up and know that human beings have been continuously living and working peacefully together on the International Space Station (ISS) as they circle our planet every ninety minutes? Maybe this seems like a simple thing to a lot of people; maybe it doesn’t seem so important to a lot of people; or maybe, and sadly, a lot of people don’t even know it.
Our view of the International Space Station and our beautiful Fragile Oasis from Space Shuttle Discovery after undocking on March 7, 2011. A common theme of mine is how amazing the International Space Station is. I’m not so short-sighted as to think that the ISS is the be-all end-all goal of space exploration. I am totally on board with the need (yes need), for us (yes us) to continue to explore beyond low Earth orbit. But I also think we need to remind ourselves more regularly of the magnificent spacecraft we have orbiting above us. We need to remind ourselves of the engineering and political challenges we have taken on -- and successfully overcome as a global community -- as we’ve built and occupied this beautiful spacecraft. We need to remind ourselves that the international crews onboard the ISS are working continuously and quietly everyday to improve our lives here on Earth, as well as helping us to learn more and more about how to live, work, and explore farther away from our home planet. My hope is that no child in the future will ever know a time when we aren’t living and working in space, and continuing to explore for the benefit of us all.

The Space Station Really Is For Every Generation

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:24:31 -0500

cross posted with open.NASA As a child, the space shuttle completely ignited my imagination about exploration. I watched every space movie I could find, and carried around a well-worn copy of the Space Shuttle Operators Manual in one hand and my astronaut doll in the other. My elementary school classes crowded around the television to watch each launch, and those brave orange-suited astronauts were the first to teach me about hard work, adventure, and courage.

I confess that somehow the space station has never quite captured my heart in the same way. I’ve never watched it launch; I’ve never touched its tiles or seen it fly. Long minutes on the front lawn, squinting at the sky, looking for streaks of light across the horizon – it’s hard to connect that to eleven years of continuous human presence in space. But here’s the thing I’m learning: my exploration dreams have to grow up. The lessons of the International Space Station are different than those of the shuttle – and vital in a whole new way. The station teaches me that it takes time to build a real future in space. We started talking about a space station in the early 80s, and launched the first node in the late 90s. More than ten years later, we still have a few modules to go. We’re in this thing for the long haul. The station teaches me that experience builds capacity. The more we live and work in space, the more skill and expertise we are gaining to enable us to accomplish our future – whether the Moon, Mars, or somewhere beyond. Living in space isn’t the same as visiting space. The station teaches me that science is really what changes things. Exploration is awesome and noble and romantic – and our chief goal must remain to explore the unknown. But the reality is that science enables us to make sense of what we find there – and put it to good use. The station teaches me that together, we can do anything. If we can surmount budget crises and bureaucracies and international relations to do something as amazing as this – in the harsh and unforgiving vacuum of space – then how could we not do the same thing on earth? I still frequently wear a sterling silver space shuttle around my neck; somehow I imagine that it will always be my first love. The shuttle taught me about humans going to space. The station teaches me about space coming to humans on earth – not just for a handful of crewmembers – but for all humanity. How do we tell that story? How do we get the public to connect to the space station the same way that millions flocked to watch shuttle launches? Most importantly, how do we engage the world in the kind of international collaboration that built the space station and makes the future possible?

People are creating amazing open source citizen science projects like the ISS globe and the ISS light. You can follow live station tracking and find sightings near you and interact with the station crew both #FromSpace and #FromEarth via Twitter, Google+… or even Reddit. You can explore the inside of the station and mission control on ISS Live! - and in the future you will be able to grab live station telemetry via API. You can watch (probably over and over, like I have) this amazing time-lapse view of the trip around the globe and back to Earth. And here’s what encourages me the most: there are so many who are telling this story. Our flight doctors – with incredible expertise in telemedicine to long-term remote, closed environments – took that experience to Chile to help rescue the trapped miners. We are using the lessons of long-duration spaceflight to make ultrasound technology available in places that need it most. The orbital perspective is inspiring humanitarian projects all over the world to help preserve our fragile oasis. Even kids are getting inspired to train like an astronaut - working together to get stronger and healthier – combating the global issue of childhood obesity. What inspires YOU about the space station? What kind of world will it make possible?

The Collaboration Project

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:00:16 -0500

This weekend, NASA, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, HP and the World Bank, through their Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK) initiative, will bring together thousands of people in over 31 locations around the globe to “hack for humanity”. Random Hacks of Kindness is a community of innovation that brings together subject matter experts with volunteer technologists to develop open technology solutions to global challenges. The technology challenge initiated by Fragile Oasis for RHoK is to engage and unify humanitarian organizations in collaborating to tackle problems facing our planet – starting with the current Fragile Oasis projects, but ready to reach far beyond. I will be attending the RHoK Austin event with an amazing team to help kick off The Collaboration Project. A video describing the challenge to the RHoK community is at the end of this post. What Drives The Collaboration Project? For almost all of human history, the vast majority of people in the world believed that it was impossible to fly to the Moon - simply because it had never been done before. Human ingenuity and the determination of the human spirit proved that it was possible. Today, many people believe that it is impossible to solve many of the problems of the world. It is widely believed that is impossible to lift the poor out of poverty. 'There have always been poor in the world and there always will be,' they say. If we can land on the Moon and return to Earth safely, if nations can join together and build an enormous research facility on orbit, then by working together we can solve many of the challenges facing our planet --including the alleviation of poverty. Nothing is impossible. The Orbital Perspective When we look at the Earth from space, we are faced with a sobering contradiction. On one hand, we can clearly see the indescribable beauty of the planet we have been given; on the other hand is the unfortunate reality of life for a significant number of our beautiful planet’s inhabitants. As we look down at any part of the Earth, we can feel empathy for the struggles that all people face. We look down and realize that we are all riding through the Universe together on this spaceship we call Earth, that we are all interconnected, that we are all in this together, that we are all family. This is what we call the “Orbital Perspective.”
Beneath smoke and clouds covering the Horn of Africa, drought and famine. The promise of rain from the clouds is not delivered. Instead, they drift further inland. And, its the high iron content in the desert region that gives the sand its red color. Taken from the International Space Station 10:42 GMT July 24, 2011 We live in a world where the possibilities are limited only by our imagination -- and our will to act. It is within our power to eliminate suffering and poverty. We have the resources and technology to overcome almost all of the challenges facing our planet, yet nearly a billion people do not have access to clean water, countless go to bed hungry every night, and many die from preventable and curable disease. Collaboration The good news is there are countless people and organizations all over the world working to improve life on our planet. The bad news is, for the most part, these organizations are not engaged in a unified, collaborative and coordinated effort. There are multiple organizations looking for effective ways to pair challenges with solutions, to collaborate and synergize. The goal for this weekend is to take crucial first steps developing the platform that will accomplish this. The ultimate goal is to reduce the sobering contradiction that we see when we look at the Earth, by helping those that are striving to improve life on Earth so that it is not only visibly beautiful, but where life is beautiful for all. To learn more, go to open.nasa.gov. To get involved with the Collaboration Project at RHoK, go to http://www.rhok.org/node/18701.

Coming Back Down To Our Fragile Oasis

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:01:09 -0500

Saying goodbye to our friends and our home on the International Space Station was bittersweet after nearly six months in space. Although Andrey Borisenko, Alexander Samokutyaev and I were eager to return to our beautiful Earth, we wanted to savor our last moments as we took a couple of laps around our Fragile Oasis before coming back down. Today, November 21, 2011, we look forward to welcoming our crewmates Mike Fossum, Sergei Volkov and Satoshi Furukawa as they come “Down to Earth” after their half year onboard the International Space Station. God Speed & Welcome Home Guys! Thank you Peter Gabriel for allowing your music to accompany all of us. Perfect! About This Video Time-lapse video like this one is about as close as we can come to show what astronauts see in space. Here’s how this came about. About six weeks before my return to Earth from the International Space Station, I received an Email from Katrina Willoughby, who is one of our photography instructors. She suggested giving time-lapse photography a try. I hadn’t tried time-lapse yet because I overestimated how hard it would be to capture great images, and the time-lapse photography I had seen to date didn’t seem as impressive as the still imagery we had been taking with some of the new equipment onboard. A day or two after receiving Katrina’s email, I set up a Nikon D3S camera in the cupola (our windowed observatory onboard the ISS). I took some practice shots, playing with the camera settings until things looked about right. I then set up the camera to take about 500 pictures at 3-second intervals (more details about the camera settings are below). When I saw the results, I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep! I quickly loaded the pictures on the computer in my crew quarters and stitched together a time-lapse video. As I was doing this, Peter Gabriel’s song “Down to Earth” popped into my head, and I threw the first part of the audio track on to the video. (Peter’s music was on my playlist). I posted the video to my blog on August 26th - "Sneak Peek From Space". It is this sequence - Europe to the Indian Ocean - that opens the time lapse part of the video embedded here at 1:06. The next morning, I gathered my crewmates together and played the time-lapse video while explaining how simple it was to stitch it all together. All of my crewmates experimented with this medium to capture the space experience, especially Mike Fossum, who has since elevated time-lapse photography from space to an art form. All the sequences for this video were shot by either Mike or me. Although the International Space Station travels at 17,500mph, orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes, time-lapse photography speeds up our apparent motion considerably. The flashes of light you see throughout the video is lightning captured by the individual frames of the photography. Yet, only a small percentage of the actual lightning is captured in the imagery. While the video is sped up, I think it still accurately captures the paparazzi-look of lightening storms as we see them from space. While still onboard the ISS, Peter Gabriel and I brainstormed some ideas for using this type of imagery to help tell the Fragile Oasis story. The possibilities are truly exciting, and I can’t wait to see where this leads. I hope it will help people follow our missions not as spectators, but as fellow crewmembers, inspired to help improve life on our planet. Camera Information Night sequences were shot exclusively using the Nikon D3s, usually with a wide angle lens. The camera was set up to take pictures, commonly at three second intervals, generally resulting in a fairly “smooth” video. Both focus and exposure were set manually. When the camera was allowed to expose automatically, it would change the exposure between shots, resulting in uneven lighting through the video. ISO would be set near 10000 or higher. Shutter speeds were as low as 1 second, but often longer. Aperture was wide open. For the 17-35mm lens this was f/2.8. Day sequences were shot with either the D3S or the D2XS. Wide-angle lenses were normally used. The Nikon 17-35mm lens was often used near the wide end, such as 17mm. This showed the curvature of the Earth. “Downside Up Down Under”
Mike Fossum took this picture of me preparing to take some time-lapse photography from the International Space Station cupola as we traveled over coastal Australia, giving new meaning to the Peter Garbriel song, "Downside Up". The instrumental version opens and closes this video. With sincere thanks: "Downside Up" Written by Peter Gabriel Performed by Peter Gabriel (feat: Melanie Gabriel) (P) 2011 Peter Gabriel Ltd Published by Real World Music Ltd. Courtesy of petergabriel.com “Down To Earth” Performed by Peter Gabriel Music by Peter Gabriel & Thomas Newman / Lyrics by Peter Gabriel Published by: Wonderland Music Company, Inc. (BMI)/Pixar Music (BMI) L.A. sessions Produced by Thomas Newman Produced by Peter Gabriel Recorded by Richard Chappell Mixed by Tchad Blake (P) 2008 Walt Disney Records/Pixar Courtesy of Walt Disney Records

A Tale of Two Homecomings - Part 2

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 17:19:01 -0400

Last week, Andrey Borisenko, Sasha Samokutyaev and I were given a wonderful welcome at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, just outside of Moscow. Our day began with an official debriefing of our mission to the International Space Station that began with a launch aboard a Soyuz spacecraft on April 4, 2011, followed by docking to the ISS two days later. The mission's accomplishments were discussed, and the heads of various departments gave an overview of the mission's events. Andrey, Sasha and I also had the opportunity to say a few words. After the debrief, the three of us were escorted outside the gates of the Training Center where we were greeted by several hundred people as we placed flowers at the base of the majestic statue of Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. We had come full circle - just prior to our mission, Andrey, Sasha and I paid our respects at Gagarin's tomb, and then a few weeks later, strapped ourselves into a rocket bearing his likeness and his name, honoring his pioneering flight fifty years earlier.
Andrey, Sasha and I sharing a quiet moment at the statue honoring Yuri Gagarin outside the Cosmonaut Training Center on a beautiful fall day in Star City Russia A marching band led us back inside the training complex for the public welcome ceremony - with hundreds of well wishers, Russian military officers and cosmonauts in formation, many of the instructors, technicians and support personnel who were directly involved in our mission, and who contributed to its success – all lining the route. At the public ceremony, the heads of many different organizations took the podium, recounted the successes of the mission and presented us with gifts and bouquets of flowers. Again each of us had the opportunity to say a few words. I thanked the Russian Space Agency, Star City instructors and the public for their great support during the mission, and praised the talent and professionalism of my Russian crewmates. One of the things I stressed was how impressed I was by the fact that from the moment we arrived in orbit, Andrey and Sasha performed as seasoned space veterans even though this was their first spaceflight. After the public ceremony, a reception was held in the facility where the cosmonauts live during their rehabilitation after space flight. Leaders of the Russian Space program, local dignitaries, family members of the crew, and veteran cosmonauts each took turns toasting the success of the mission. Words cannot describe how wonderful it was to hear all the heartfelt words of congratulations and support. What an amazing thing it is to be able to toast the accomplishments of the many nations of our international partnership. Many of those present commented on what a great example of cooperation our international space program has become. I agree, and hope that we use this example of cooperation to overcome the challenges facing the inhabitants of our beautiful planet. As the reception ended, it was time to say goodbye to the crewmates with whom I trained for two and a half years, then lived and worked with for nearly six months onboard the International Space Station. It was a bittersweet moment. This goodbye meant the official end to our mission. Andrey, Sasha and I and our families have become very close. We share a special bond forged from a unique experience - one which can’t help but to bring people closer together in common appreciation of the privilege we had to live and work in space, and the common appreciation of our wonderful planet Earth.

My Orbital Perspective

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:58:14 -0400

Fragile Oasis bloggernauts show us new and incredible views and insights of our planet from their vantage point 240 miles above the surface. Images from Ron Garan, Nicole Stott, Doug Wheelock and Don Pettit show amazing beauty. Two things are abundantly clear. First, you can’t easily see Earth’s geo-political borders from orbit (though a recent blog by Ron has shown us that some borders are visible from even 240 miles up). Second, we all share the same planet. Besides our orbiting outpost in low earth orbit, that planet is all we currently have to sustain life. Others on Earth could point out that you also can’t see the individual people that inhabit the planet in any of the astronaut imagery. Sure, you can certainly see evidence of the human race in our city lights, airplane contrails, ship wakes, and even some human-made structures. But you can’t see individuals, so maybe it would be easier for astronauts to gloss over the hardships people face on Earth and just look at the pretty jewel of a planet that is our Earth. Clearly, they do not. These thoughts are what inspire me to write this blog post. As the Lead Flight Director for Increment 28 (commonly known as Expedition 28), I was responsible for the overall safe and successful execution of the part of the International Space Station mission that spanned the period of May 23 - September 16, 2011. Just as the crews on the Space Station can look down and see indirect evidence that we’re on the planet, you and I can regularly step into our backyards or streets nearly anywhere on the planet and look up in the dusk or dawn sky and see a bright light steadily and swiftly moving overhead. We can’t see Earth’s representatives living and working in orbit 240 miles (389 km) above our heads, but we can see evidence they are there. (If you’ve never watched the Station fly over, you really ought to see it at least once - sighting opportunities are listed on http://www.nasa.gov.)
The International Space Station passes over Houston, Texas. The ISS is dimming as it heads towards the horizon, passing near the Big Dipper. Credit: Michael Grabois The crews on the Space Station may not see the individuals on our planet, but we who work to support that spacecraft can. As Flight Director, I regularly interact with people and cultures across the United States, in Canada, in Russia, across many European nations, and in Japan. I have friends and colleagues in those countries that I have never met but whom I know well, not because we speak the same language (we don’t), but because we share a joint sense of mission to further the exploration of humanity and our planet through the efforts of human spaceflight and the research being conducted on the International Space Station. The photos from our Bloggernauts are useful to show the people of our planet that we do live on an oasis hanging in the harsh darkness of space that we must care for and protect. In the same way, the realities of the international cooperation accomplished every day on Earth in support of the Space Station are useful to show the rest of the world that it is possible for many nations of very different cultures to not only work together, but to do so in a manner that furthers each nation’s peaceful pursuit of mutual goals.
Our beautiful planet photographed by Ron Garan from the International Space Station on April 21, 2011 It is because of my experiences as a flight controller and Flight Director in Mission Control that I know we human beings are capable of great things,existing peacefully and supportively with each other regardless of nationality. It is also because of my experiences in this international endeavor that I agree with Ron Garan when he says, “…each and every one of us on this planet has the responsibility to leave it a little better than we found it.” Regardless of nationality or culture, humans have always looked up and wondered at the heavens above our heads. That wonder now includes a platform that has housed at least two human beings non-stop since November 2000. Said differently, human beings have had a continuous off-Earth presence for almost eleven years now. The sense of wonder that draws us to look at the heavens draws nations together in common purpose. We embrace each other's cultures, and together see the advantages to including additional nations in an effort to explore our planet and its surroundings. This joint, mutual cooperation to peacefully explore may very well be one of the lasting legacies the International Space Station leaves humanity. We do live on a Fragile Oasis, and we do have a very long way to go to fully live peacefully on it. Forging the partnership that is the International Space Station was certainly not easy to develop, nor was it quick. But perseverance towards the goal of exploring the heavens and learning more about our planet made it a goal worth pursuing. As we celebrate fifty years of human spaceflight this year, I’m proud of all that this planet has accomplished in the human exploration of space. I look forward to the explorations that are to come, and I cannot wait to play my part in that in the years ahead.

A Tale of Two Homecomings - Part 1

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:07:10 -0400

I just arrived back in Star City Russia after two and a half weeks home in Houston. At the end of the trip from Kazakhstan to Houston, I was greeted by a wonderful welcome home from friends and neighbors in Nassau Bay, Texas. As we crossed into the city of Nassau Bay, a police car, police motorcycle and fire truck greeted us for a slow speed escort to my home, complete with lights and sirens. There was a great turnout, and the Garan house was decorated with welcome home banners and one hundred sixty four American flags - one for each day I spent in space on the mission. The heart-warming welcome was really wonderful after so much time away. It was great to be home! Return to Star City As I write this, I have flown back to Moscow, battled the Moscow traffic, and I'm now sitting in the cottage in Star City where I lived for about fifty percent of the time over the two and a half years of training for my mission to the International Space Station.
The NASA cottages in Star City during my training. Tomorrow I will start the debrief process with the instructors and administration here in Star City. On Friday Sasha, Andrey and I will participate in the Star City Welcome Home ceremonies that signify the successful completion of our mission. I am really looking forward to seeing all my friends, and the wonderful people here in Star City, and thanking them for all their support during our mission.

Plunging Over Niagara Falls In A Burning Barrel. And More.

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 07:43:21 -0400

About two weeks before my return to Earth, I had a videoconference from the International Space Station with astronaut Scott Kelly who told me about his experience plunging over Niagara Falls in a burning barrel six months before. He was actually describing what his own ride home from the ISS on a Soyuz spacecraft was like. Now that I’ve taken the same trip, I can tell you that it was as advertised, and more. Travel Day I spent undocking day completing a biological study and stowing it onboard the Soyuz for return to Earth, packing cargo, taking some last minute pictures of our beautiful planet from the space station Cupola, and Tweeting pictures I took on my last full day in space. Following a brief goodbye to Mike Fossum, Satoshi Furukawa and Sergei Volkov, who remain onboard the space station, Sasha, Andrey and I hurried into our Soyuz spacecraft, closed the hatch and started preparing for undocking.
Andrey, Sasha and I in the Soyuz just before hatch closing. Image credit: NASA Once the hatch was closed, I put on special garments worn under my spacesuit to help counteract the negative effects of the g-forces we would encounter upon re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. Sasha and Andrey also dressed in their spacesuits, and then we all strapped into the same seats we occupied when we launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 5, 2011. Andrey was on the left, Sasha in the middle, and I sat on the right. Undocking As the hooks securing our spacecraft released, springs pushed us slowly away from the space station. As we backed away, I took in my last views of the amazing orbital complex that we called home for five and a half months. I strained for a last glimpse of the outboard edge of the space station’s massive solar arrays through the window next to my seat. We made a lap and a half around the Earth before the spacecraft fishtailed to point backwards, just as the moon was setting west of South America. Then, moments before passing the southern tip of the continent, I watched an orbital sunrise one last time. We then fired the main engines for about four and a half minutes, enough to slow us down for re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. The next big event during our return to Earth was the separation of our Soyuz spacecraft into three separate parts: the orbital compartment, the propulsion compartment and the descent capsule, the only part that would survive the transition through the atmosphere. Separation occurred with a small explosion followed by debris flying everywhere out my window! G-forces Build G-forces started to build soon after separation. I could see the atmosphere change to pink outside my window. North Africa and Saudi Arabia flew by as we approached Earth at a steep angle, at just under 5 miles per second. Fountains of sparks flashed as the g-forces built to 4.5 times normal gravity. Then flames, as the window burned black and opaque. This is all entirely normal! The drogue parachute opened, sending the capsule – and the three of us – into a wild gyration as though we were on the end of a towel being vigorously waved in every direction. After about thirty seconds, things settled down. Then, the main chute opened and the wild gyrations started all over again. “It’s like a wild American amusement park ride,” shouted Andrey in Russian. I simply shouted “Yoo Hoo!” Seat Cocking To help absorb the shock of landing, explosive charges fired and instantly pushed our seats forward so that our faces were very close to the instrument panel. Window covers were jettisoned, removing the burnt opaque layer on the exterior of our windows, allowing light to flood into the cockpit, and providing an unobstructed view of the Kazakh steppes rushing up to meet us. We could hear the rescue helicopters calling our altitude, and instructing us to prepare for landing. I raised my right arm so that I could see the window in my wrist mirror, and watched as the ground rose up. I heard the “soft” landing rockets fire 6/10 of a second before impact. The actual impact with the ground was significantly harder than I anticipated. I remember thinking, “Wow that was hard, I’m glad that’s over.” Little did I know we had a few landings to go!
Braking rockets a fraction of a second before impact caused this cloud of dust. Image credit: NASA On Earth I knew that after landing we might have the sensation of tumbling because of changes to our vestibular system (balance) following a long mission in space. Debris being tossed around INSIDE the capsule was a solid sign we were really tumbling. The capsule finally came to rest on its side, with me on the bottom. The view from my window was dirt and grass. Earth.
The charred capsule illustrates how fast we returned through Earth's atmosphere. Image credit: NASA Sunshine Shortly after landing, Russian ground personnel opened the hatch, extracting Sasha from the capsule. I was next, followed by Andrey. The three of us were carried to reclining chairs, where we were able to speak to our families via satellite phone while the medical tent was being set up. It was wonderful to speak with my family in Houston while we were all on the same planet, and it was really great to feel the cool breeze and warm sun on my face for the first time in 164 days.
Talking to family. Image credit: NASA After moving to the medical tent, I changed from my spacesuit into a more comfortable flight suit, while being checked out by Dr. Steve Gilmore and our NASA medical personnel. After we were all checked out, Sasha, Andrey and I left the landing site in three separate helicopters for a ninety-minute ride to Karaganda airport. I took a nap. Tradition and Farewell We were welcomed at the airport by officials and young people, who presented each of us with flowers, chocolates, hand painted dolls and traditional Kazakh robes, which we wore during the press conference that followed. Then, after nearly three years of training together and sharing a mission during this milestone fiftieth year of human spaceflight, Sasha, Andrey and I said farewell, and then continued on our respective journeys home.
Image credit: NASA TV My journey home to Houston began when I boarded a NASA aircraft. The first stop was for refueling in Prestwick, Scotland. I was glued to the window on final approach as the lush green countryside passed below us. It was great to get out and walk around in the fresh Scottish air before continuing to Bangor, Maine in the United States. As we approached the airport in Maine, we were treated to a stunning sunset. I sat there contemplating the difference between this sunset and the countless orbital sunsets I watched during my stay on the ISS. Besides the realization that I would see only one sunset each day, instead of sixteen, I really noticed the differences in the colors and the thickness in the bands of sunset. As we waited for the aircraft to be refueled, I had the chance to speak with some Marine Corps V-22 pilots also waiting for fuel, and to let family know I was back in the U.S. Home I slept for almost the entire last leg of our flight, awakened by the sound of the flaps being lowered in preparation for landing at Ellington Field in Houston. The landing was smooth and uneventful. My wife and three sons boarded the plane. I was truly home.

The Story of the Birds and the Bees - Goodbye to Space

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 06:41:08 -0400

This post is about real birds and real bees (sort of). On St. Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2011, I left Houston for Star City, Russia via Frankfurt and Moscow, and the start of my journey to space. As I sat at the airport, I wrote the blog post, "IAH Gate E7: 1st Leg on the Journey to Space" “As I prepared to leave for final launch preparations, I experienced an interesting phenomenon. Realizing that leaving Houston starts me on a journey that will take me off the planet for six months, I started to take note of things that I will not experience for half a year. Whether it’s a flock of birds against the sunset or early morning mist on the water of Clear Lake, or a million other things that define the beauty of life on our planet, I experienced a profound appreciation for the gift of the beauty of our world. I will miss a great many experiences that I normally take for granted, but I also look forward to the new experiences that define the beauty of life off the planet.” So here I am about to return to Earth after five and a half months in space. I'm getting excited about again experiencing all those things that define life on Earth. At the same time, however, I’m realizing that I will leave behind all those things that define life in space. I’ve been told that when Sasha Samokutyaev, Andrey Borisenko and I land later today, we will have spent 164 days in space (162 on the International Space Station), made 2,624 orbits of the Earth, and will have flown 65,340,224 miles (but who’s counting?). After all this time in space, separated from the Earth, I have come to know a new existence up here. An existence that is without many of the sights, sounds, smells and feel of life on Earth, but an existence with its own share of special defining qualities. Among the things I will miss is the freedom of movement we have here inside the space station. Nothing is out of reach. If I want to go somewhere, I can be there with the push of a finger. If I need to work on something on the floor, I don’t need to bend down - I have the freedom to flip my body around and stand on the ceiling -- turning the floor into the ceiling. If my hands are full and I need to grab something, I can simply let go of what I’m holding, and it will stay right in front of me (for a little while, at least).
Not upside down! I will also truly miss looking out the windows.
The view from my window in the Space Station Cupola: the west coast of Africa I will miss looking at our beautiful planet and the grandeur of our universe from this vantage point. I will miss watching meteors streak across our atmosphere below us, the rapid fire paparazzi flashbulbs of lightening storms at night, and flying so close to dancing curtains of auroras that you feel like you could reach out and touch them.
Dancing lights near Tasmania 11:00am GMT September 14, 2011 I will miss gazing from space at places on Earth that have significance to me because of the memories of visits or their beauty. I will also miss seeing those places on the planet where life is being made better through the work of amazing people.
The Horn of Africa 1:45pm GMT September 14, 2011 I will miss watching the Earth transform from day into night and night into day sixteen times a day.
Sunrise from space, August 27, 2011, as we flew along a path between Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Buenos Aires, Argentina. I will miss watching thunderstorms casting long shadows across the Earth as the sun starts to set. I will miss watching the Earth change from blue, white and green to pink, red, and then black as the sun sets. I will miss watching the Earth come alive after the sun has set and the cities and towns light up the planet.
The California coast at daybreak April 17, 2011 I will miss seeing the line that separates day from night and contemplating the stark differences in the human experience on either side as it slowly moves across the surface of our Earth.
The man-made border between India and Pakistan, visible from space on August 17, 2011. I will miss a thousand other things that define life in space and I understand and appreciate that I have been given a special privilege to have these experiences. Because of this, I also feel a great responsibility to share these experiences, as best I can, with as many people as possible. I have tried very hard over these past months to do just that. I have found that sharing this experience with all of you has made the experience more meaningful and enjoyable. I thank you all for being with me on this journey. Above all else, what I will miss most about living and working in space is striving to use the orbital perspective to inspire people to make a positive difference and help improve life on Earth. The good news is that I don’t have to be in space (or ever have been in space) to have the orbital perspective. I don’t need to have ever been in space to realize that we have one planet that we are all riding on together through the universe, that we are all interconnected, that we are all family. I look forward to continuing the efforts of Fragile Oasis after I return to Earth. I look forward to continuing to share this experience with others as best I can. I took tens of thousands of pictures during my time on the International Space Station, and I look forward to continuing sharing those with you after my return to Earth. Thanks to everyone for being with me on this journey. Let’s continue it together. This my last blog post from space, but in my next post from Earth, I'll tell you what it was like to be human meteor as Sasha, Andrei and I return to Earth in our Soyuz capsule. I want to wish all the best to everyone on our good Earth, Ron Garan, Earthling

The Overview Effect: I Think It Works Both Ways

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 05:15:22 -0400

It’s been a long time since my last blog entry here on Fragile Oasis. Actually it’s been since March, which was right about the same time as my friend Ronnie Garan was getting ready to launch on his space station adventure to the ISS. In the past 5+ months that he has been up there he has shared some really wonderful things with us from his special vantage point in space. So I figured there really wasn’t much more I could add from my place here on the planet --- well, that is, until now. Today, my friends Ronnie and Sasha and Andre’ will be making their way home in their Soyuz capsule, so I wanted to share something I learned from their Expedition and from the things they’ve shown us. Sorry, this could be a long one.:) “The Overview Effect” “A term coined by space philosopher and writer Frank White, which refers to the experience of seeing firsthand the reality of the Earth in space, which is immediately understood to be a tiny, fragile ball of life, hanging in the void, shielded and nourished by a paper-thin atmosphere. From space, the astronauts tell us, national boundaries vanish, the conflicts that divide us become less important and the need to create a planetary society with the united will to protect this “pale blue dot” becomes both obvious and imperative.” “Orbiting Earth in the spaceship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. People, let us preserve and increase this beauty, not destroy it!” -- Yuri Gagarin This “effect” of spaceflight has been reported since the first human, Yuri Gagarin, left the planet over 50 years ago, and has continued until today. This is a response from astronauts/cosmonauts/taikonauts/angkasawan of all nations --- it doesn’t matter where you come from, this is a HUMAN response. "As we got further, Earth diminished in size. Finally, it shrank to the size of a marble, the most beautiful you can imagine. That warm, living object looked so fragile, so delicate, that if you touched it with a finger it would crumble. Seeing this has to change a man." -- James B. Irwin, Apollo 15 "The stark contrast between the beauty of our planet and unfortunate realities of life for many inhabitants reaffirmed the belief I share with so many. Each and every one of us has the responsibility to leave it a little better than we found it." -- Ron Garan, STS-124 & Soyuz TMA21 Shortly after arriving to space my first time, I used my NASA blog to reflect on my feelings about seeing our planet from that very special vantage point: “It’s still very surreal to me that I am living on the ISS and that I can see our planet from this 200 mile vantage point and circling it once every 90 minutes. And for me, like others before me, I am totally surprised and in awe of the overwhelming, glowing beauty of our planet. Our Earth glows like a colorful light bulb against the blackest black I’ve ever seen. Everyday up here I am blessed with the opportunity to spend some time looking out the windows towards home and seeing things I never would have expected. Moving around the planet every 90 minutes, with the orbit slightly shifting and taking us over someplace new, with the sun rising and setting gracefully across the horizon every 45 minutes, the moon brilliantly popping into view and then squishing as it sets into the thin glowing blue line of our atmosphere. I can’t help but look at the Earth and see anything other than this living, beautiful thing, that always seems to be sharing some changing emotion or different side of its personality with me – sometimes very calm and peaceful and other times very dynamic and aggressive, but always silently asking to be taken care of.” Ronnie has worked very hard during his time on station to use the orbital perspective to help inspire people to go out and make a difference; to help make life better for everyone sharing space on this fragile oasis called Earth. He very successfully managed to incorporate these sentiments into everything he did up there. So I, for one, just wanted to thank him for doing that for us. The ISS is a wonderful, spectacular orbiting laboratory and home. For the past 10+ years there have been people continuously living and working in space – orbiting above us for over a decade!! It is a testament to the success and positive impact that can be made when we challenge ourselves to do difficult things. And this is a challenge on a global scale. The largest and most complex international scientific project in human history! Everything about the space station has benefits to us both on and off the planet. It is certainly the perfect example of a project that is helping make life better here on Earth – life better for humanity. As I have watched over these past months, with my feet firmly planted on the ground, as my friends passed above me on this shiny point of light crossing the night sky, it occurred to me that this idea of an Overview Effect might just work both ways --- not only for those looking in amazement, appreciation and awe at our planet; but also for those looking up to the sky at the wonders orbiting us there. It seems that both perspectives remind us of the fragile nature of where we live – Earth with its thin blue atmosphere and ISS with its thin silver hull – both protecting their humans from the harsh vacuum of space; both reminding us that wherever humanity chooses to ‘reside’, we are obligated to take care of that place – our home. Godspeed and Safe Travels Home Ronnie, Sasha & Andre’! See you soon!!

Cupola Corner 6 - Conversation With Mike Fossum

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 07:09:46 -0400

Welcome to Cupola Corner Episode 6 - My conversation with Expedition 28 crewmate Mike Fossum, that actually began just about one hundred days ago when he arrived on the International Space Station looking for coffee. "Don't leave me Ron!..." -- Mike Fossum

Cupola Corner 5 - Conversation With Satoshi Furukawa

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 05:01:59 -0400

Welcome to Cupola Corner Episode 5 - A conversation with Expedition 28 and 29 crewmember Satoshi Furukawa about how we can use the view from the International Space Station to inspire people to make a difference, and to make life better on our planet. "When I first looked out the window of the ISS...I was moved by the the thin blue atmospheric layer...that protects Earth from the harsh environment of space..." -- Satoshi Furukawa

September 11, 2001 Remembered September 11, 2011

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 00:01:58 -0400

During this morning's flyover of New York City, the Expedition 28 crew of Commander Andrey Borisenko, Alexander Samokutyaev, Mike Fossum, Satoshi Furukawa, Sergei Volkov and myself, Ron Garan, stood in silent tribute to those who were lost on September 11, 2001.
New York City Under the Clouds Sunday, September 11, 2011 10:37am Eastern Time Mike Fossum and I reflect on September 11, 2001 in this video recorded a few days ago.

Cupola Corner 4 - Conversation With Sergei Volkov

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 14:38:21 -0400

Dobro Pozhalovat Cupola Corner Welcome to Cupola Corner Episode 4 - A conversation with Expedition 28 and 29 crewmember Sergei Volkov about how we can use the view from the International Space Station to inspire people to make a difference, and to make life better on our planet. "You can see how thin the atmosphere is that keeps life on earth..." -- Sergei Volkov

Cupola Corner 3 - Conversation With Andrey Borisenko

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 10:10:37 -0400

Dobro Pozhalovat Cupola Corner Welcome to Cupola Corner Episode 3 - A conversation with Space Station Commander Andrey Borisenko about how we can use the view from here to inspire people to make a difference and to make life better on our planet. "The more people who can observe our planet from orbit, more will understand how beautiful it is..." -- Andrey Borisenko

Cupola Corner 2 - Conversation With Alexander Samokutyaev

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 20:04:56 -0400

Dobro Pozhalovat Cupola Corner Welcome to Cupola Corner Episode 2 - A conversation with Soyuz Commander Sasha Samokutyaev about how we can use the view from here on the International Space Station to inspire people to make a difference and to make life better on our planet. "I wish all (could) fly to space and maybe they'll realize how fragile life is on earth and they will be able to cooperate better." -- Alexander Samokutyaev

Borders From Space

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:50:14 -0400

I have always said, “you can’t see any borders from space.” Apparently I was wrong. On the evening of August 17, 2011, I “flew” to the Cupola, the windowed observatory of the International Space Station, to shoot some photographs for a time-lapse photography project I have been working on for Fragile Oasis. Before beginning the sequence, I took some practice shots to verify camera settings. As I was about to delete them, something caught my eye. In one of the pictures, a very obvious illuminated line snaked across a large landmass for hundreds of miles. Initially, I wrote it off as a strange exposure from moonlight reflecting on a river. But, I was intrigued and did some investigating, only to learn this was not a natural reflection at all. Rather, it is a man-made border between India and Pakistan to control passage between the two countries.
This picture depicts the illuminated man made border between India and Pakistan, seen from the north from onboard the International Space Station on August 17, 2011. To the left New Delhi, and the cities of Jaipur and Jodpur. At the right edge: Karachi in Pakistan. The most striking feature is something that is frequently thought not to be visible from space - a border. Realizing what this picture depicted had a big impact on me. When viewed from space, Earth almost always looks beautiful and peaceful. However, this picture is an example of man-made changes to the landscape in response to a threat, clearly visible from space. This was a big surprise to me. Since the beginning of human spaceflight fifty years ago, astronauts have reflected on how peaceful, beautiful, and fragile the Earth looks from space. These reflections are not clichés that astronauts say because it feels good. It is truly moving to look at the Earth from space. The point is not that we can look down at the Earth and see a man-made border between India and Pakistan. The point is that we can look down at that same area and feel empathy for the struggles that all people face. We can look down and realize that we are all riding through the Universe together on this spaceship we call Earth, that we are all interconnected, that we are all in this together, that we are all family. When we look down at the Earth, we are faced with a sobering contradiction. On the one hand we can clearly see the indescribable beauty of the planet we have been given. On the other hand is the unfortunate reality of life on our beautiful planet for a significant portion of its inhabitants. It saddens me and compels me to action when I realize that we have the resources and technology to overcome almost all of the challenges facing our planet, yet nearly 2 billion people do not have access to clean water, countless go to bed hungry every night, and many die from preventable and curable diseases. I believe that we live in a world where the possibilities are limited only by our imagination and our will to act. It is within our power to eliminate the suffering and poverty that exist on our planet. The answer is quite simple - just do something. The challenges of the world are really about how each of us individually responds to them. In other words, to what extent does humanity, on a person-to-person basis, commit to making a positive difference, no matter how small, or how big? The vision for Fragile Oasis is to be a vehicle to effect real change. We want to provide a means for people and organizations to collaborate and develop synergy toward overcoming our planet’s challenges. We want to encourage people to make a difference, and we want to help organizations that are striving to make the world a better place reach their goals. In short, the goal of Fragile Oasis is to help reduce that sobering contradiction that we see when we look at the Earth. We want to assist those that are striving to improve life on Earth so that it is not only visibly beautiful, but life is beautiful for all.

The Fruits of Labor - From Earth to Space

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 11:37:34 -0400

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has submitted a project to the Fragile Oasis community. The vision for Fragile Oasis is for it to become a vehicle to effect real change. We want to provide a means for people and organizations to collaborate and develop synergy toward overcoming our planet’s challenges. We want to encourage people to make a difference, and to help organizations that are striving to make the world a better place reach their goals. I have been very impressed with the projects that have already been submitted. But, in this post, I'd like to highlight a project that I have been involved with personally. The members of the Johnson Space Center Chapter of Engineers Without Borders (JSC-EWB) have been volunteering their time for several years to develop a fruit dryer for the L‘Esperance Children's Aid Orphanage in Rwanda.
Several JSC-EWB members with dried fruit - (left to right) Angela Cason, Tom Bryan, Jake Garan, Matthew Fiedler, Tyler-Blair Sheppard, Lauren Cordova. Not pictured is Samantha Snabes. L'Esperance is near and dear to my heart. I visited the orphanage in 2006 during a trip to the area with the humanitarian organization Manna Energy Foundation. I founded Manna in 2005 outside of my work with NASA and it has no affiliation with my “day job.” The orphanage director, Victor Monroy, is committed to developing L'Esperance into a financially self-sufficient community that can also provide employment to the orphans when they reach adulthood. One of the ways they are doing this is to grow fruit on the orphanage grounds, and staffing the orchards with adult community members, who were orphaned in childhood themselves.
The orphanage plans to produce up to 18,000 kg per year of wet, cored peeled pineapple, 16000kg/year of guava, and 24,000 kg of wet, peeled, sliced mango. While some of the fruit feeds the children and staff of the orphanage, the goal is to dry most of the fruit to sell at market, producing a source of income from just under five metric tons of organically-grown, sustainably-dried premium snack food per year, and perhaps 50,000 jars of mango preserves. As I write this, members of the JSC-EWB are at the orphanage installing the first prototype solar fruit drying systems.

Besides the solar dryer, the team is investigating kitchen waste heat, dedicated wood stoves, and biogas as potential sustainable heat sources for the many months in Rwanda when sunlight is insufficient to dry the fruit. This trip will help to characterize the overall systems engineering of the project, and build expertise with fruit preparation, handling, and storage issues at the orphanage. As the team prepared to leave Houston for Rwanda, they ran their prototype solar fruit dryer through a test program which produced some great dried fruit. The team was kind enough to send me a sample of dried pineapple on the Progress Cargo ship which docked to the International Space Station in June. It’s great to have this tasty fruit up here as a reminder of this great project, and the hard work of all the team members to improve the lives of those at the orphanage. Keep submitting those great projects to Fragile Oasis!

Clean Water for 4,000,000 People in Kenya

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 05:15:55 -0400

by Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen Guest Bloggernaut As Ron Garan’s images show us with dramatic poignancy, water is our planet’s mother’s milk, vital to humans and indeed all life on Earth. With that understanding, my company has worked for many years with governments and other partners to ensure that people have access to safe water. This year we took our mission one step further by linking safe drinking water with reduction in the emission of carbon dioxide - a landmark commercial coupling of these two critical goals. We’re calling the ten-year project LifeStraw® Carbon for Water. The project kicked off in April in the Western Province of Kenya with the distribution of nearly 880,000 of our LifeStraw® Family water filters, enough for more than 4 million people - or 91 percent of the population. Each filter will purify at least 18,000 liters of water and last for at least three years. The carbon connection is this: prior to receiving the filters, many Kenyans boiled water to purify it for consumption, often using wood as fuel. Having the filter means that a family collects and burns less wood; this in turn means that less carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. The skeptical reader might ask “what’s in it for you?” As the donor of the filters, delivered free of charge, my company earns re-sellable carbon credits for the unreleased carbon dioxide. But before we make any money, data showing progress toward carbon emission reductions must be validated by an independent third party auditor. This model, along with the gratification of bringing cleaner water to Kenyans, makes for a solid and socially beneficial business proposition. Space enthusiasts like me will love that our data was collected via satellite, using GPS-enabled smartphone technology that catalogued household data and real-time imagery developed by Manna Energy Ltd., a social enterprise honored as one of ten transformational innovators by NASA’s LAUNCH:Water forum. Manna Energy created the smartphone application for collecting this GPS-indexed “census” data, which is itself quite valuable. We’re providing the data free of charge to the Kenyan government, which can then use it to more accurately plan public health and development projects that best meet Western Kenyans’ needs. This is one of the largest water projects ever implemented without public funding; but more significant than its size is the potential for long-term sustainability and health impacts for Kenyans. Success thus far has not been ours alone, but the result of a robust collaboration among partners including Manna Energy, the Kenyan government, and the people of Western Province. The campaign has been a game changer for our company and a life-saver for Western Kenyans. It is also the first of what we hope will be a new wave of projects to help reduce emissions of greenhouse gases harmful to the life-giving atmosphere that Ron Garan has had the privilege to traverse and the skill to capture so beautifully in words and pictures.
Photo by Georgina Goodwin / Vestergaard Frandsen

With Apologies to Guitar Players & Music Lovers Everywhere

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 05:42:41 -0400

Last weekend Sasha, Andrey and I received word that our return to Earth from the International Space Station would be delayed. It was possible that our scheduled September 8th landing would move to October 29th. The delay, regardless of length, was due to a failure during the launch of an unmanned Russian Progress cargo spaceship. Because the rocket that carries the Progress cargo ship to space is the same rocket that carries human crew on Soyuz spacecraft, the next Soyuz launch to the Space Station would be delayed until the cause of the failure was determined and resolved. Because of this situation, the three of us would need to stay onboard the ISS for a while longer. When I heard the news of the delay, I knew that this would delay not only my homecoming and post-mission plans, but it would also upset the schedule of many people on our ground control teams all over the world. Many hard earned vacations would need to be canceled, and many additional hours of work would be required to re-plan activities. These “extra innings” of the Expedition 28 mission rapidly became known as “Expedition 28.1.” I wanted to do something light-hearted to let everyone know that we are all in this together, so I enlisted Mike Fossum to help me make a video poking a little fun at the situation. Since we made the video, we learned that the delay in our return to Earth may be shorter, and as of now it is possible for a landing as early as mid-September. We also learned that if we are not able to launch the next Space Station crew in time, there is a possibility we may have to leave the ISS unmanned. This would have serious implications, and we all hope that it does not come to that. Despite the seriousness of the possibilities, and while we are all in this period of uncertainty, it doesn’t mean we can’t still have a little fun. With apologies to guitar players and music lovers everywhere, I hope you enjoy our little video (featuring, in order of appearance, the Expedition 28 crew of Mike Fossum, Satoshi Furukawa, Andrey Borisenko, Alexander Samokutyaev, Sergei Volkov and Ron Garan). (Editor's note: For additional information about the return to Earth of the Expedition 28 crew, please watch the August 29 video file of NASA's International Space Station Program Manager, Mike Suffredini. )

Sneak Peek From Space

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 03:38:24 -0400

A 52 second rough cut of what we are working on from Space for Fragile Oasis. What do you think? With our thanks to musician and pioneering advocate for human rights, Peter Gabriel "Did you think that your feet had been bound By what gravity brings to the ground? Did you feel you were tricked By the future you picked? Well, come on down ..."

The Moon Over Afghanistan

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 07:54:25 -0400

The thin blue line of Earth's atmosphere and a low sun painting the clouds red as the half moon sets over Afghanistan on August 22, 2011 – one of sixteen moonsets we see each day from the International Space Station.

Music From Your Space Station

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 06:01:34 -0400

Listening to beautiful music while orbiting our beautiful fragile oasis at 17,500 miles per hour is a wonderfully surreal experience.

Sunrise From Space

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 07:42:04 -0400

Editor's Note: On Saturday, August 27, 2011, Ron will point his camera out one of the six trapezoidal side windows of the Space Station Cupola to film one of the sixteen sunrises he sees each day. Which sunrise and which window is up to YOU.

San Francisco Stopover

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 03:08:44 -0400

Peter Frampton: Thanks to my dear friend and amazing guitar player, Davy Knowles, I was introduced to Astronaut Ron Garan presently on the International Space Station.

Turning the Page to the Next Chapter of Human Spaceflight - Part 5

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:10:46 -0400

As I was ready to leave Atlantis’ payload bay, I knew that it was the last time anyone would do this. Emotion hit as I thought about the thousands of people who have designed, built, maintained, managed and loved these amazing flying machines.

Turning the Page to the Next Chapter of Human Spaceflight - Part 4

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:15:18 -0400

I remember during my first mission looking down at the Earth and marveling at a beautiful spot, and wondering where we were. This time it seemed that every time I looked down I knew where we were.

Turning the Page to the Next Chapter of Human Spaceflight - Part 3

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 11:25:51 -0400

The International Space Station is an important part of the Space Shuttle program legacy. It is a shining example of international cooperation, and a stepping-stone to human exploration beyond low earth orbit. Significantly, it will help improve life on Earth through the research being conducted onboard.

Turning the Page to the Next Chapter of Human Spaceflight - Part 2

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 11:29:42 -0400

The end of the Space Shuttle program is a bittersweet moment in time. In its wake, a magnificent legacy, and hopefully the beginning of an era that will see humanity explore space beyond Earth orbit.

Turning the Page to the Next Chapter of Human Spaceflight - Part 1

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 07:38:04 -0400

Imagine a moving truck with 5 tons of supplies and equipment pulling up to your front door, then attaching itself to your house.

That's One Small Step for Fragile Oasis...

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 04:42:22 -0400

On July 20th 1969, at the age of seven, I attended my great-grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary celebration in a banquet hall in Yonkers, NY. My great-grandparents emigrated from Russia to America many years earlier. Late in the evening (late for a seven-year old boy), all the guests gathered around a black and white TV and watched as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made the first footprints on the Moon.

STS-135 Spacewalk Wrap-up

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 15:54:36 -0400

Mike Fossum and I were working outside the International Space Station on July 12; STS-135 Mission Specialist Rex Walheim choreographed our space-walk from the inside. We talked about the Spacewalk and our Fragile Oasis, the day before he and the rest of the STS-135 crew left the Space Station aboard Atlantis for one last ride home. When I climbed through the hatch to start the EVA, this is what I saw. Sandy Magnus took this picture from the Space Station Cupola. Beautiful Atlantis, with the southern tip of Florida under her tail, with Lake Okeechobee clearly in view. To the right, the Bahamas, with Grand Bahama (center) and Great Abaco (top right). Below them the Berry Islands, towards the bottom, Andros Island. Along the latter’s east coast the famous “Tongue of the Ocean,” a deep sea trench of that characteristic shape. At the upper end of the Tongue, New Providence Island with the Bahamas‘ capital Nassau. To the right, Eleuthera Island.

Cupola Corner 1 - Conversation With Chris Ferguson

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 15:41:24 -0400

Atlantis Commander Chris Ferguson joined me in the International Space Station cupola for some conversation about the space shuttle, and how we can communicate what we see from space in a way that will inspire people to make a difference.

The Stuff of Life - A TED Talk From Space

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 09:29:42 -0400

TED exclusive video: US astronaut Ron Garan is currently on board the International Space Station with five colleagues from the US, Russia and Europe. (This is Garan's second trip to the ISS.) For TEDGlobal, he recorded a talk sharing the perspective from space and describing the wide range of scientific experiments that are run on the station during missions, taking advantage of its unique situation -- and describing how these developments can then be applied on Earth.

I Salute You My Friends

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:08:24 -0400

Take care of each other, be kind and courageous, stand up when life's storms come, and reach out your hand to help others that have fallen.

In the Spirit of Yuri's Night - Thank you #FromSpace

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 08:00:00 -0400

I accept this (Spirit of Yuri's Night) award on behalf of everyone who is striving to use space exploration to contribute to the future of humanity on earth and in space, and the people involved with our efforts at Fragile Oasis to use the orbital perspective to help inspire people to make a positive difference on our planet.

What Kind of World Do You Want?

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 07:52:18 -0400

I'd like to thank my friends at NASA for taking the question "What Kind Of World Do You Want" to new heights, as well as creating the coolest Five for Fighting video to date!

Join The Fragile Oasis Community: Make A Difference

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 03:31:43 -0400

I want to encourage everyone to join the Fragile Oasis community of people and organizations that are improving our Fragile Oasis. By becoming part of the Fragile Oasis community, you are acknowledging that you desire to make a positive impact on our world and that you wish to leave it a little better than you found it.

A Hometown Hello from the International Space Station

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:53:23 -0400

Ron Garan and Mike Fossum enjoyed these back-to-back interviews with Good Day New York and KWTX-TV in Waco Texas where it is 100 degrees in the shade right now.

I've Always Had A Thing For Space

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 04:07:00 -0400

As a kid, I had the rare privilege of playing Star Trek on the main frame at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

How Overwhelming Transforms Into Possible

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 03:15:45 -0400

I found myself dreaming that if we could model the behavior of our planet’s inhabitants on the spirit that reigns aboard the International Space Station, our problems would disappear, or would be far fewer.

We're Getting The Band Back Together

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 21:12:05 -0400

"I launched in a Russian rocket, travelled a million miles, and you give me a bag of instant coffee?" -- Mike Fossum to Ron Garan

We Are Not Alone

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:02:18 -0400

Good morning from the International Space Station, where the day begins with Science.

Three Ships Pass In The Night - Part IV - My First Video Blog

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:36:36 -0400

After Endeavour undocked and fired its engines to pull away from the Space Station, the crews used flashlights to communicate in Morse Code.

Three Ships Pass In The Night - Part III

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 00:41:53 -0400

You really have a sense here as you look down at our planet hanging in the blackness of space that we all on this together; riding on this beautiful, fragile oasis through the universe.

Three Ships Pass In The Night - Part II

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 00:42:04 -0400

Things are back to normal after the departure of the Space Shuttle and the crew of STS-134, so I have a little time to tell the story of Endeavour’s visit in a series of recollections.

Three Ships Pass In The Night - Part I

Tue, 31 May 2011 18:39:28 -0400

I am enjoying some time off after an incredibly busy two weeks. Since my last post, the Space Shuttle Endeavour docked, and then undocked after a very successful sixteen-day mission.

Beginnings and Endings: Lots in Between

Sun, 15 May 2011 13:34:31 -0400

It is wonderful to be able to connect with projects and people that are making the world a better place, and being able to fly over these areas and see them from this incredible vantage point. All of us on our planet are connected through our shared humanity – even those of us living in space.

The 3rd Rock from the Sun is a Fragile Oasis

Fri, 06 May 2011 18:00:29 -0400

by Ron Garan The focus of Fragile Oasis is not on the problems of the world, but on how the problems of the world are being solved by amazing people. Fragile Oasis is dedicated to improving life on our planet, and highlighting those people and organizations making a difference. It is very difficult to look at our beautiful Earth from space without being moved in some way. My own experience is described on the Vision page:
“It was a very moving experience to see the absolute beauty of the planet we have been given. But as I looked down at this indescribably beautiful, fragile oasis -- this island that has been given to us, and has protected all life from the harshness of space -- I couldn’t help but think of the inequity that exists. I couldn’t help but think of the people who don’t have clean water to drink, enough food to eat, social injustice, conflicts, and poverty. It was an amazingly stark contrast between the beauty of our planet and the unfortunate realities of life for many of its inhabitants.” You may wonder why a “Space” website would be highlighting solutions to some of the problems facing the world. For me personally, it’s because those who fly in space have been given the unique perspective of living and working off the planet while still being close enough to our planet to see its beauty, vulnerability and to appreciate what an incredible gift it is. Just as this unique perspective continues to inspire those who experience it, the goal of Fragile Oasis is to share that unique orbital perspective, and hopefully to share the inspiration to protect our Fragile Oasis and its inhabitants. Fortunately, we live in a world where many problems faced by previous generations have been solved. Yet, vast numbers of people still do not benefit from those solutions. Children are the most vulnerable people on our planet. Adults have a responsibility to them not only because they rely on us, but because they are our future. Let’s take a moment to look at some sobering facts about the children of our world:

Despite the fact that diseases like malaria and tuberculosis are preventable and curable, The World Health Organization estimates that in 2006 there were over 1 million deaths as a result of malaria. In 2005, 1.6 million people died from tuberculosis worldwide. In both cases, most of these were children.

Despite our capacity to provide clean water to every person on this planet, 29,000 children die every day from problems associated with drinking contaminated water

Despite resources to feed every person on this planet, 16,000 children die daily from hunger-related causes

22 million infants are not protected from disease by routine immunizations

2 million children under the age of 15 are living with HIV

These are not just numbers on a chart. These are children. These facts represent just a fraction of the immense problems facing our planet. When faced with such insurmountable challenges, one can become overwhelmed and frustrated and be left feeling that the problems are too big for them to really make an impact. They ask themselves, What could I possibly do? Is it worth my effort to even try? Even those people who have made a commitment to improve the world eventually face periods of frustration. However, it is precisely those people who commit to making a positive change, and it is precisely at those moments when they feel discouraged, or when they don’t think they’ll be successful -- people who persevere through those obstacles and step outside of their comfort zone are the ones who achieve success in reaching their goals and dreams, and who affect real change in the world. I for one, do not want to look back in the twilight of my life and ask “What would have happened if I really gave it a try, if I really put everything I had into trying to make life better on our planet?” The first step to affect change is to believe that real change is possible. Here are some things that I believe are true:

That it is possible to live in a world without poverty

That it is possible to live in a world where no one dies from preventable and curable diseases

That it is possible to live in a world where everyone has access to clean water and no one goes to sleep hungry

That it is possible to live in a world that educates all its children

That we do live in a world where the possibilities are endless, and where we are limited only by our imagination and our will
Peaceful sleep in Rwanda We are challenged to make the part of the world we come in contact with a little better; simply because it came in contact with us. The goal of Fragile Oasis is to encourage people to look for opportunities to better their communities and the world, and to inspire people to go out and make a difference. Above all, our vision is to encourage everyone, in all that they do, to look for opportunities to make life better for those with whom they share this Fragile Oasis. Please stay tuned as this part of the website takes shape. As always we are open to your suggestions. Originally posted 18 August 2010

The View From Here

Fri, 06 May 2011 09:49:36 -0400

This is the real-time map we use on the International Space Station and at Mission Control.

TGIF!

Sun, 01 May 2011 10:36:42 -0400

Every day on the International Space Station brings a new and remarkable experience.

Happy Easter From the International Space Station

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 06:05:42 -0400

My Easter prayer is that all the inhabitants of our Fragile Oasis come to the realization that we are in this together; that we are all riding together through the universe on this spaceship we call Earth; that love and understanding can conquer all, and that nothing is impossible if we overcome our differences, and then work together to solve the problems facing our world.

Saturday Morning in Space

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 20:50:19 -0400

There something very inspiring about strapping yourself to the bench to do a set of bench press while right in front of you, in the big center window of the cupola, Australia is floating by.

Houston - Wind from the Gulf

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 07:20:38 -0400

Houston Wind From the Gulf

Greetings from the Commander of the ISS

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 07:03:43 -0400

On behalf of the crew of the International Space Station, I would like to congratulate you on the 50th anniversary of the first-ever manned space mission.

Our New Home

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 00:39:16 -0400

Arrival to the International Space Station was like something out of '2001 Space Odyssey!' On the day of our rendezvous with the Space Station, Alexander (Sasha), Andrey and I changed back into our spacesuits, took our respective places in our Soyuz Descent Module and closed the hatch to the Habitation compartment. The entire space station was pitched up 90 degrees and rotated 180 degrees so that the top of the space station was facing forward in relation to its path around the Earth. We started out in front of the space station and slowly allowed the distance to close. As we closed inside of about 50 meters I could see the periphery of the Space Station out the side windows of our Soyuz capsule. As we got very close, the large radiators of the space station were passing very close to my window. I found myself wondering just how much clearance there was between the radiators and our Soyuz solar arrays. In a scene that reminded me of pulling a car into a tight parking spot, we gently touched the docking port on the top of the space station as we watched the "Capture" light illuminate, signaling our arrival at our new home. After a few hours of checks and procedures, we were ready to equalize the pressure between the two vehicles, open the hatches, and go aboard. It was great to see the smiling faces of our waiting crewmates on the other side of the hatch! After a brief hello, we all floated down to the Japanese module where a live video feed was set up between Mission Control in Moscow and us. It was wonderful to hear the voices of family and friends who were gathered there. My first impression of the station was, "Wow, it seems much bigger than the last time I was here." This is because several modules have been added since my Space Shuttle flight in 2008. It is so big you could literally get lost. The highlight of my orientation to the ISS was definitely my first exposure to the Cupola. Cady Coleman showed me how to open the window shutters that protect the seven panel windows that make up the cupola. An extraordinary site greeted me as I opened the first shutter. We were on the dark side of the orbit, but off in the distance on the horizon was the blue band of orbital sunrise. In the middle of the blue band was a very bright crescent moon. It was breathtaking to see the curved blue band with a beautiful crescent moon in the middle of it -- with nothing but pitch-black darkness on either side. What a welcome to the incredible part of the space station known as the cupola. Since arriving, things have been very busy. I have been getting the "fire hose treatment." It will be awhile before I learn everything that I need to know to operate here efficiently. The International Space Station is the most amazing place I have ever been. Besides being enormous, it is a world class, fully functioning series of laboratories for conducting research about how humans can further explore our solar system, with direct application to improving life on Earth. It is a really interesting place to live. Last night after dinner, Sasha and I took turns playing the guitar (I was confined to the five chords I know), while Cady played the flute. Music is a really good way to maintain a connection to our life on Earth. I’ll close here for now as we start of our first full week of work on board the ISS.

My First Blog Post From Space

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:06:06 -0400

About 10 seconds before the planned liftoff we could hear and feel the engines start. When the clock hit zero, we could feel ourselves being propelled upward. In recognition of the 50th anniversary of the launch of the first human to space, Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev calmly said, "In the words of Yuri Gararin, Поехали." (We’re off.). I, on the other hand, let loose with a spontaneous “Woo Hoo!”

Last Blog Post On Earth - For A While

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 14:07:03 -0400

There is no doubt in my mind that the world is a safer and more peaceful place today than it would be otherwise if it we had not taken that first step into space. Even at the height of the Cold War, Russia and the U.S. still somehow found a way to cooperate during the Apollo-Soyuz program which accomplished the first docking of US and Russian spacecraft.

Reporting Live From The Baikonur Cosmodrome

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 17:05:32 -0400

We all have proven that by working together we can accomplish amazing things including constructing in orbit the most complex structure ever built, the International Space Station. If we can do that in space, imagine what we can do working together to solve the challenges facing our planet!

Love Our Planet!

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:16:03 -0400

Very simply, we have an obligation to take care of our planet, take care of each other.

Pre-Flight Traditions

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:50:12 -0400

Whenever we end up arriving in Baikonur, I’m really looking forward to being in that place, so close to the 50th anniversary of the first human space flight, and where so much space history was made.

Final Flight Readiness Examinations

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 23:34:51 -0500

I would like to start this post out with an apology. It has been almost a month since I last updated everyone here on Fragile Oasis. I will try harder to keep everyone updated more frequently as our launch draws closer and even after we are on orbit. These past few weeks have been very busy and have marked the completion of our crew’s Soyuz and Space Station training. Our training ended with full day final exams in the Space Station and Soyuz simulators. On the first day of exams, Alexander Samokutyaev, Andrey Borisenko, and I reported to “The Commission” in front of a sea of media. The Expedition 27/28 Crew speaks to reporters at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City Russia prior to the start of final qualification exams Photo Credit: CAM111.com After reporting to the commission, Andrey selected one envelope from a choice of five which contained the malfunctions we would experience during the simulation. Our 1st exam consisted of a “normal” day onboard the ISS with occasional malfunctions sprinkled in. After about 8 hours, the examination concluded with a simulated rapid depressurization inside our space station mockup. We systematically closed hatches in a pre-determined sequence to pinpoint the leaking compartment. After the examination was complete, we went before the “Commission” to receive our evaluation (in front of a packed room of people). All in all the simulation went very well and we were given good marks. While we were in the Space Station simulation our backup crew of Anton Shkaplerov, Anatoly Ivanishin and Dan Burbank did a great job with their final exam in the Soyuz simulator. The next day, the prime and back-up crews switched places. We started our all-day Soyuz exam by changing into our Sokol spacesuits and again reporting to the Commission. This time Soyuz Commander Alexander Samolkuaev picked the sealed envelope that contained the malfunctions we would face throughout the day. Of course we did not get to look inside the envelope. Inside the Soyuz sim we went through all the procedures for launch, rendezvous, docking with the ISS, and undocking. At the end of the day, just after we undocked, our capsule filled with smoke. We quickly accomplished the procedures for putting out the simulated fire which included venting all the air out of the capsule and then we began the procedures for our emergency descent back to Earth. As “luck” would have it, our computers failed and we went through all the procedures manually. We “survived” the simulation and the exam debrief and received great marks and congratulations from the Commission and from the many people in attendance. Photo Credit: Gene Dowell After the exams were all over we had a wonderful party at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center with the crews, cosmonauts, Russian Space Agency dignitaries, and our instructors. There was a great feeling of accomplishment. It was great to be able to share this celebration with those wonderful training professionals who make many sacrifices and work very hard to ensure that crews are ready for flight. It doesn’t matter what country you are in, the pride that people who work in the space program have in their chosen profession shines through in all that they do. It is really humbling to be a part of this special endeavor of humanity. As I write this post the Space Shuttle Discovery has just touched down at the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. I was able to watch Discovery’s return to Earth on NASA TV from my cottage here in Star City. Discovery’s landing was a bitter-sweet moment. It was rewarding because my friends are onboard and the landing marked the safe and successful end to a challenging mission. The landing also marked the retirement of NASA’s most experienced Space Shuttle, a vehicle that has spent a full year in space, deployed the Hubble Space Telescope, flew two return-to-flight missions, and had a major role in the construction of the ISS. Personally, I was absolutely amazed with how well Discovery performed during the 14 days I spent onboard her during STS-124. God Speed Discovery. Photo credit: RSA Tomorrow is another big day. Our day will begin with the prime and backup crews reporting to the State Commission for formal certification of flight readiness, followed by a press conference, a visit to the Cosmonaut Museum. Our day will end after a trip to Red Square where we will lay flowers at the tombs of Yuri Gagarin and Sergei Korolev to honor the first human in space and the Father of the Russian Space Program. Our launch is scheduled for the 30th of March from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (29th of March in the US). I see the light at the end of the tunnel (and it’s 32 liquid kerosene rocket engines)! Please spread the word that I will be sending out updates as often as I can -- both on this blog and at http://twitter.com/Astro_Ron. Stay tuned! Photo credits with thanks: CAM111.com Gene Dowell RSA

IAH Gate E7: 1st Leg on the Journey to Space

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 05:07:47 -0500

Here I sit in the airport in Houston getting ready to start my journey to space. First I will fly to Frankfurt for the rest of the week to finish my last training at the European Astronaut Center. I will have refresher training on the Columbus Laboratory, the Automated Transfer Vehicle and training on some of the European Space Agency experiments that we will conduct on board the ISS during our mission. On Saturday, Dan Burbank and I will fly to Moscow to finish the last Soyuz and Russian Segment Space Station training in Star City. The Complex Examinations before the State Commission that we must pass before we head down to Kazakhstan for the final launch preparations will be the culmination of training in Star City. Alexander Samokutyayev and Andrey Borisenko and I are presently scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft at 7:42pm CT on March 29th (00:42 GMT on March 30th, 4:42am Moscow time on March 30th, and 6:42am Baikonur time on March 30th which is 52 minutes before sunrise in Baikonur). This is less than 2 weeks prior to the 50th anniversary of the first human space flight. We will launch from the same launch pad where Yuri Gagarin began his historic flight that marked the beginning of the space age. What a great honor that will be! As I prepared to leave for final launch preparations, I experienced an interesting phenomenon. Realizing that leaving Houston starts me on a journey that will take me off the planet for 6 months, I started to take note of things that I will not experience for half a year. Whether it’s a flock of birds against the sunset or early morning mist on the water of Clear Lake, or a million other things that define the beauty of life on our planet, I experienced a profound appreciation for the gift of the beauty of our world. I will miss a great many experiences that I normally take for granted, but I also look forward to the new experiences that define the beauty of life off the planet. Please stay tuned as we improve FragileOasis.org and make it an even better tool for those of us living off the planet to share our experiences with those living on the planet.

Happy New Year From the Home Stretch

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 20:37:55 -0500

Happy New Year, Everyone! The start of the New Year brings me into the home stretch of my 2 ½ year road to the launch pad. January will be my last full month in Houston before leaving for 1 week in Germany, 5 weeks in Russia, 2 weeks in Kazakhstan, and finally 2 days locked in a Soyuz spacecraft prior to arriving at the International Space Station and beginning a 6-month mission. My Soyuz crewmates, Sasha Samokutyayev and Andrey Borisenko will arrive in Houston next week. This last month in Houston will consist of space station systems training, a few days spent underwater in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab practicing for space walks, refresher training on some of the experiments we will be conducting, and emergency procedure training (practicing our actions in the case of a fire, air leak etc.). Hopefully we will also have a few joint training sessions with the STS-134 and STS-135 crews with whom we should have the opportunity to spend some time onboard the Station. In addition to all the training required to prepare for a flight, there’s a great deal of administrative things that must be done prior to leaving the planet for 6-months. Taxes, for instance...although I’m sure I qualify for being “out of the country”. Sasha, Andrey and I are presently scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft at 7:42pm CT on March 29th (00:42 GMT on March 30th, 4:42am Moscow time on March 30th, and 6:42am Baikonur time on March 30th which is 52 minutes before sunrise in Baikonur). This is less than 2 weeks prior to the 50th anniversary of the first human space flight. We will launch from the same launch pad where Yuri Gagarin began his historic flight that marked the beginning of the space age. I am really looking forward to being a part of such an historic anniversary, and I can’t think of a better place to observe the occasion than the International Space Station, where I will be living and working with crewmates from 4 different nations. When Sasha, Andrey and I arrive onboard the Space Station, we will be greeted by the other members of the Expedition 27 crew: ISS commander Dmitri Kondratyev, US astronaut Cady Coleman, and Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli. We will spend about 2 months sharing the incredible experience of living and working in space with those guys before they climb into the Soyuz spacecraft that they launched in and return to Earth. A few weeks later, a new Soyuz spacecraft will arrive with Russian Cosmonaut Sergey Volkov, US astronaut Mike Fossum, and Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa. We will then spend 4 months with them, before returning to Earth in our Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft in late September. I will do my best in this time leading up to heading to Baikonur, the pre-launch time in Baikonur and during the orbital mission to share the experience as much as I can through this blog, Twitter and by sending down as many pictures and videos as I can. Additionally, we have many interactive events planned that will hopefully allow people to not only follow the mission but be a part of it. Please stay tuned to Fragile Oasis as we put in place all the tools we need to share the mission with everyone.

Building Better Computers With Tears of Wine

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 01:49:08 -0500

Tears of wine form because alcohol has a lower surface tension than water.

Until We Meet Again

Thu, 25 Nov 2010 10:13:46 -0500

From the ISS Cupola reflecting on a life challenge I heard long ago – 'Be strong enough to know when you are weak... brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid... never substitute words for actions. Learn to stand up in the storm, but have compassion for those who fall. Always have a heart that is clean, a goal that is high... learn to laugh but never forget how to weep.' - Until we meet again…
Our Soyuz spacecraft 'Olympus' stands ready for flight... tonight we set sail for the blue planet. It has been nearly 6 months, and we are being called home. I hope to one day return to this place. Seems I’ve lived a hundred lifetimes... yet I blinked, and the time has slipped away. What will that first breath be like when the hatch opens on Earth? ...I can only imagine..

A Breath Of Fresh Air

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 15:24:34 -0500

A look inside of our ride home. This is the 'Descent Module' of our Soyuz spacecraft, 'Olympus'. Our Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin in the center seat, Shannon to his left and me to his right. Here we are getting ready for our departure and return to the Earth on Thursday evening. That shiny silver dome in front of Fyodor is the hatch. Not long now... that hatch will open and we’ll get our first breath of fresh air in nearly 6 months!

Leave A Light On For Us

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:44:00 -0500

Shannon, me, and Fyodor all suited up in our Sokol (Russian word for 'Falcon') pressure suits in the Russian MRM-1 module. We strapped into our Soyuz capsule 'Olympus' to conduct pressurization and leak checks on our suits. All systems 'go'... the countdown to landing has begun. Leave a light on for us... we’ll be home soon…

Childhood Dreams Of Flying A Spaceship

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 13:06:02 -0500

On this sacred night, when the aurora looked like rain, I reflected back on my childhood dreams of flying a spaceship through the infinite expanse of space... to be among the mosaic of billions of stars, and visit other worlds. Now as I look from space at our planet I realize that had I been born and spent my childhood here in space... how much greater and more vivid my dreams would have been to visit this blue planet.

The Earth at night, when viewed from space, is a beautiful mosaic of light that stirs the imagination. Landscape - water - climate - coastline - technology - accessibility, all defining the brilliant fingerprints and patchwork of lights that mark our presence on the planet. Here is a night image of Capetown, South Africa. An explosion of life and motion at the southern tip of the continent.

Seeing This Makes The Heart Soar And The Soul Sing

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 15:07:12 -0500

A clear starry night over the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. Ancient lands with thousands of years of history stretching from Athens, Greece all the way around the Med to Cairo, Egypt. Storied lands, fabled cities, and alluring islands... Athens - Crete - Rhodes - Izmir - Ankara - Cyprus - Damascus - Beirut - Haifa - Amman - Tel Aviv - Jerusalem - Cairo are beacons on this cool November night. Grace and Peace from the sanctity of space…

Europe on a cool autumn night. The Mediterranean Riviera and beautiful mosaic along the coastline from Valencia, Spain to Livorno, Italy and all the magical places in between. Can you see Monte Carlo? How about Pisa, Italy? Barcelona, Spain? Or, maybe you can find Andorra nestled in the Pyrenees mountains... or have memories of one of the islands…

'Earthshine'... The Space Station basking in blue Earthshine as the rising sun pierces our razor-thin atmosphere to cover the Space Station with blue light.
I’ll never forget this place…seeing this makes the heart soar and the soul sing.

The Smell of Earth's Goodness

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 14:13:42 -0500

In Node 1 (our dining and food pantry module) juggling our fresh fruit and enjoying the smell of the Earth’s goodness. I never realized how wonderful an unpeeled lemon and orange could smell. When we opened the hatch of the Progress cargo ship, we found the fruit and vegetables on top. It is like finding a treasure! These won’t last long…

They say our love won't pay the rent - A prelaunch blog.

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 03:19:57 -0400

Here in quarantine, it’s been a lot like that morning wakeup scene from the movie Groundhog Day. Today we all hit the alarm clock again to the tune of Sonny & Cher ringing in our ears.

The Sails Are Set. Our Course Is Sure. Our Destiny Awaits.

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 15:35:08 -0400

Madagascar is so beautiful and so unique.

Happy Columbus Day: A Day to Celebrate Explorers Past & Present-The Launch of Expedition 25

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 04:19:09 -0400

Photo by Victor Zelentsov, NASA Here I sit at the airport in Moscow reflecting on the amazing events of the last two weeks and excited that after two months on the road (Germany, Russia & Kazakhstan), I'm heading home! In a strange coincidence, I should land in Houston at the same time that the Expedition-25 crew docks to the International Space Station. While I wait for my plane I’m starting this post to document the experience of launch week at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The week was filled with activity and tradition. On the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2010, Expedition 25’s Soyuz TMA-01M spacecraft rolled from the assembly building to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It was an incredible sight to see this powerful rocket being pulled by rail against the back drop of the chilly Kazakh desert steppe at dawn. I estimate the trip from the assembly building to the launch pad took roughly an hour. After the spacecraft arrived at the launch pad, it was rotated to the vertical launch position. I was extremely impressed with the speed and efficiency of the entire operation. This was the first rollout of the new TMA-01M spacecraft. The TMA-01M is a modified Soyuz spacecraft that features upgraded avionics and a digital cockpit display. It provides big improvements in the crew’s interface with the spacecraft. Photos by Victor Zelentsov, NASA The last full day before launch was a busy one. The prime and backup crews went before the State Commission. After brief comments by senior leadership of both the Russian and American space programs, each crew member had an opportunity to say a few words. I tried to express my sincere feeling that it was a great honor to be a part of the backup crew for Expedition 25. Both the prime and backup crews are very experienced and capable and I learned a lot from them. After the State Commission we had a press conference with media from all over the world. We also got to meet (through the quarantine glass) the two Russian students who designed the mission patch for this launch. They were both beaming. After the press conference, we participated in one of the many Russian pre-launch traditions, watching the traditional pre-launch movie. With the crew watching from behind the quarantine glass, we all watched the Russian movie “White Sun of the Desert” (“Белое солнце пустыни”) This film, which was released in 1969 and set on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea (Turkmenistan today), has been watched before every launch in recent history. This film has nothing to do with space travel but is an entertaining blend of action, comedy, music and drama. I’m not exactly sure why or when this tradition started but one of the stories I heard is that this film was watched by the first crew to fly after a Soyuz spacecraft disaster which took the lives of a Soyuz crew during re-entry. Since there were no problems on the subsequent flight, there was a desire not to change anything (even the choice of the pre-flight movie). The crew started out Launch Day with breakfast at 8:00am and then had free/nap time until about 8:30pm. Prior to the pre-launch meal, Scott Kelly, Scott’s Flight Surgeon Steve Gilmore, and I took a stroll through the Cosmonaut Grove so that Scott could enjoy his last sunshine, fresh air and cool breeze for the next six months. Earlier in the week, Scott Kelly and Oleg Skripochka planted their trees in the Cosmonaut Grove following the tradition of every space traveler who has left Earth from Baikonur since Yuri Gagarin. Sometime during our stroll through the Cosmonaut Grove it dawned on me that it might be interesting for people to be able to follow all the pre-launch preparation by sending out pictures of the “play-by-play” via Twitter. So with Scott’s permission I started to document as much as I could. I didn’t want to pass up this rare opportunity to give everyone a behind the scenes look at our time immediately prior to launch from an astronaut perspective. After dinner, we met with senior leadership of the Russian and American space programs and prior to leaving the quarantine facility, each crewmember signed the door to his quarantine room and then received the traditional pre-flight blessing from a Russian Orthodox Priest. Before boarding the two cosmonaut busses (one for the prime crew and one for the backup crew - keeping with the you can’t put all your eggs in one basket mindset), we passed through lines of people who gathered to say their good-byes and wish the crew well. At 11:00pm, we began the 45-minute drive via police escorted convoy through the pitch-black desert to the launch complex. The atmosphere on the bus was serious and quiet. After arriving at the launch complex, the prime crew suited up in their Sokol spacesuits, conducted leak checks, and then had an opportunity to say a few words (through the glass) to space program management and to the crew’s launch guests. Shortly after 2:00am, the crews boarded their respective buses to the launch pad. In keeping with other pre-launch traditions, the busses stopped prior to the pad, then after a short delay, the backup crew was permitted to board the prime crew bus to say our goodbyes. The Soyuz rocket on the pad was an interesting sight. The normally grey colored rocket was now all white from ice that formed on the exterior of the rocket from its super-cooled load of fuel. Steam poured from the spacecraft as liquid oxygen boiled off and was vented. It was obvious that this rocket was ready to go somewhere very soon. After the prime crew was dropped off at the pad, the backup crew then switched buses, signifying that they were now prime for their assigned mission. After riding the elevator to the pointy end of the rocket, the crew climbed through the access hatch and down into the Soyuz descent capsule to strap in and begin the 3 hours of preflight checks. We then rode out to the viewing area located about a mile from the launch pad to wait for launch. Photo by Carla Cioffi, NASA The launch was spectacular. At 5:10:32am, the 32 rocket engines of the Soyuz first stage lit up the night sky as they roared to life. After what seemed like an eternity, the rocket lifted off the pad to the cheers of all the spectators who gathered in the cold desert morning to witness the send off. After approximately 8 ½ minutes, the crew was in orbit. It was an amazing experience to witness a Soyuz launch for the first time. In addition to the excitement and historical significance of watching a launch from the same pad as Yuri Gagarin, I couldn’t help but think that in just a few months I’ll be strapped to that rocket making the same trip. I truly realize how fortunate I am to have the opportunity to travel to space and will do my best to share that experience as best I can.

World Space Week

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 08:30:10 -0400

World Space Week, October 4-10 To celebrate each year at the international level the contributions of space science and technology to the betterment of the human condition" -- as declared by the United Nations General Assembly www.worldspaceweek.org Global recognition of the importance of space exploration and its benefits to life here on Earth. Last year during ISS Expedition 21, Bob Thirsk and I had the honor of kicking off the 2009 World Space Week.

Reporting from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the 53rd Anniversary of Sputnik, the 1st Object Launched into Space

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:17:00 -0400

Fifty three years ago today humanity was forever changed when our first few steps to extend human presence beyond our world were made. It is an incredible experience to be in that place where the first object Sputnik, and the first human Yuri Gagarin were launched into space. The Expedition 25 prime and backup crews have been in Kazakhstan for a little over a week in preparation for the October 8^th Soyuz launch (Oct 7^th in the US) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Our journey to Baikonur began on the 25^th of September. That day started out with a going away ceremony at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City Russia. After a series of toasts and wishes for a safe trip, the Expedition 25 Prime Crew had a brief press conference before we all boarded busses for our aircraft. In the “You can’t put all your eggs in one basket” mindset, the prime crew boarded one aircraft and the backup crew boarded another for the 3½ hour flight to the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Baikonur is the once top secret launch facility where, besides Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin, many others have begun the trip to the cosmos since 1957. Upon arrival in Baikonur, each crew reported to Russian Space Agency Dignitaries and then traveled to the quarantine facility via a police escorted convoy (Continuing the “Not all the eggs in one basket” mindset by using different busses for the prime and backup crews). In addition to people greeting us along the way, we were also welcomed by some of the local wildlife. Except for 2 trips to the Soyuz assembly facility and an excursion to space monuments and a space museum all of our pre-launch time has been spent in the cosmonaut quarantine facility. In the facility we attend pre-mission briefings, review classes, exercise, watch movies and participate in traditions and ceremonies. Participating in the traditions has been a great experience. Shortly after arriving in Baikonur, we had a Flag Raising Ceremony where the crews raised the flags of their native countries and the flag of Kazakhstan which signaled the start of the pre-launch countdown. The backup crew also had a tour of the city which included laying flowers on memorials to Yuri Gagarin and Sergey Korolev and visiting the spot where it was announced that Yuri Gagarin would be the first in space (and Gherman Titov would be his backup). On one of our two visits to the Soyuz assembly facility, to verify the cargo and equipment locations of the Soyuz spacecraft, we also were able to tour two small houses, not far from the launch pad, where Yuri Gagarin and Sergey Korolev stayed prior to the historic flight in 1961 and we were also able to see the Buran Spacecraft. In a few days, Alexander Kaleri, Oleg Skripochka, and Scott Kelly will launch from the same pad that Yuri Gagarin launched from in 1961. Six months from now, Alexander Samokutyayev, Andrei Borisenko and I will also launch from that same pad very close to the 50^th Anniversary of the 1st Human Spaceflight. That will be a great honor to say the least. It is a wonderful experience to be in a place that has so much history and it is humbling to realize that so many sacrificed so much to push humans beyond our Earth. I understand that I am very fortunate to be able to participate in this endeavor where today we continue the tradition of pushing the boundaries of exploration.

Starry Starry Night: Celestial Lights & The Ancient Moon

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 12:34:41 -0400

A breath-taking masterpiece being painted in the sky over the South Pole. 'The Southern Lights'...like brush strokes from the Master's hand… The sacred night makes me think of my favorite impressionist and one of my favorite songs...”Starry, starry night…Paint your palette blue and gray…Look out on a summer's day,... With eyes that know the darkness in my soul….”   “…Shadows on the hills... Sketch the trees and the daffodils…Catch the breeze and the winter chills…In colors on the snowy linen land…”

“Now I understand what you tried to say to me…How you suffered for your sanity…How you tried to set them free…They would not listen…they did not know how…Perhaps they'll listen now…”

“Don’t tell me that the sky is the limit, when there are footprints on the moon…” Sure looks beautiful setting behind our blue planet, maybe one day we’ll be daring enough to go back.

The gorgeous full moon from orbit, with the soft blue glow from my favorite planet! I hope our kids and grandkids are explorers, and go back one day...in peace.

The view from Earth orbit of the Lunar Eclipse during Saturday’s beautiful full moon…the eclipse in progress with the Earth’s shadow moving across the surface of the moon, simply breath-taking! The Master’s handiwork…

The dreams that we dare to dream really do come true. One day…one glorious day…we will return in peace for all mankind.

Pre-Flight Preparation & Tradition: On the Road to Baikonur

Fri, 24 Sep 2010 17:52:21 -0400

Last week was an interesting week to say the least. The week started off with final flight readiness exams for the primary and backup crews of Expedition 25. On the first day, the primary crew of Scott Kelly, Alexander Kaleri, and Oleg Skripochka had a full day-long exam in a training facility that mimics the Russian section of the Space Station while the backup crew of Sergei Volkov, Oleg Kononenko and myself had a day–long exam in the Soyuz simulator. The next day, both crews switched places and took the other exam. Each exam involved routine operations that we will have to perform while on-board the Soyuz and Space Station as well as malfunctions and emergencies that we could possibly face. The examinations themselves are steeped in tradition. After dressing in our Sokol spacesuits, we marched out in front of an army of press and media and reported to the commission. The commander of the mission then picked one of five envelopes. Each envelope contained a series of malfunctions that if picked, we would experience during the simulation. After the envelope is picked, each of the crewmembers then signs the outside of the envelope. Unfortunately, we’re not allowed to open the envelope and look inside. We would find out what was in there soon enough. After each exam, we faced a panel of specialists, managers, and senior cosmonauts to explain our actions and answer their questions. Both crews, on both exams, scored the highest grade and were recommended: “Ready for Flight”. After the exams were all over we had a wonderful party at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center with the crews, cosmonauts and our instructors. There was a great feeling of accomplishment. It was great to be able to share this celebration with those wonderful training professionals who make many sacrifices and work very hard to ensure that crews are ready for flight. It doesn't matter what country you are in, the pride that people who work in the space program have in their chosen profession shines through in all that they do. It is really humbling to be a part of this special endeavour of humanity. Later in the week, we went before the “State Commission”. The State Commission was headed by Sergey Krikalev. Sergey, besides being the Chief of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center has spent more time in space than anyone in history (803 days 9 hours and 39 minutes). At the commission, all our training for the mission was reviewed, each of us said a few words, and then we were certified “Ready for Flight”. Following the State Commission we conducted a press conference with Russian and European media (which was also covered by NASA TV). The period before leaving for the Baikonur Cosmodrome is filled with a great deal of wonderful traditions. On Friday, after the press conference we visited the Cosmonaut Museum here in Star City. Before touring through the great historical displays, each crew sat at Yuri Gagarin’s desk and signed the cosmonaut book. It was fun looking through the book and seeing the names and well wishes of the crews that went before us. It was also a great experience to see Sergei find one of his Dad’s entries. (Sergei is one of two current 2nd generation cosmonauts). From Star City we headed down to Red Square where we each took turns laying flowers at the tombs of Yuri Gagarin and Sergei Korolev. What a great honor to be able to show our respect to the first human in space and to the Father of the Russian Space Program. In addition to paying respect to those great champions of human spaceflight that have gone before us, we also had some time for "photo-op's" in front of the Tsar Bell and Tsar Cannon inside the Kremlin and of course in front of St. Basil's Cathedral. After spending some time touring around Red Square we headed back to Star City where we shared a great dinner with our NASA colleagues in Star City and the newest class of European Space Agency (ESA) astronauts. The newest class of ESA astronauts are a great group of very talented and personable people. They are: Samantha Cristoforetti from Italy, Alexander Gerst from Germany, Andreas Mogensen from Denmark, Timothy Peake from England, and Thomas Pesquet from France. Their sixth classmate, Luca Parmitano from Italy was not present because he is presently training in Houston. Tomorrow the plan was for the prime and backup crews to attend the traditional pre-departure breakfast then board aircraft for the flight to Baikonur. Unfortunately, a malfunction on-board the Space Station is delaying the depature and landing of the Soyuz 22S TMA-18 spacecraft in which Alexander Skvortsov, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko were scheduled to land this morning in Kazakhstan. Because that landing is delayed, our departure from Star City is most likely delayed too. Whenever we end up arriving in Baikonur, I’m really looking forward to seeing that place where so much space history was made and that continues to play a very important role in humanity’s exploration of space.

Honoring 50 Years of Human Space Flight: Introducing The Expedition 28 Mission Patch

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 21:02:09 -0400

It is great honor to introduce the newly approved Expedition 28 mission patch. Our patch has a very special significance to us because through the design we are able to celebrate 50 years of human spaceflight.

In the foreground of the patch, the International Space Station is prominently displayed to acknowledge the efforts of the entire International Space Station (ISS) team - both the crews who have assembled and operated it, and the team of scientists, engineers, and support personnel on Earth who have provided a foundation for each successful mission. Their efforts and accomplishments have demonstrated the Space Station’s capabilities as a technology test bed and a science laboratory, as well as a path to the human exploration of our solar system and beyond. This Expedition 28 patch represents the teamwork among the international partners – USA, Russia, Japan, Canada, and the ESA - and the ongoing commitment from each partner to build, improve, and utilize the ISS. Prominently displayed in the background is our home planet, Earth - the focus of much of our exploration and research on our outpost in space. Also prominently displayed in the background is the Moon. The Moon is included in the design to stress the importance of our planet’s closest neighbor to the future of our world. Expedition 28 is scheduled to occur during the timeframe of the 50^th anniversary of both the first human in space, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and the first American in space, astronaut, Alan Shepard. To acknowledge the significant milestone of 50 years of human spaceflight, the names “Гагарин” and “Shepard” as well as “50 Years” are included in the patch design.

Training & Tribute: Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, Star City, Russia

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 13:18:14 -0400

Well, the second week of training in Star City has ended and it has been a busy week. The prime and backup crews of Expedition 25 have completed all the required pre-launch training in both the Soyuz spacecraft and the Russian Segment of the International Space Station. Last week we had meetings at Mission Control, just outside of Moscow, with Soyuz and Space Station specialists. We were briefed on the status of the Space Station, the scheduled flight plan, and some of the experiments that will be conducted on board. Scott Kelly and I also traveled to the Rocket & Space Corporation (RSC) Energia in the Korolev area of Moscow. There we received training on the actual equipment that comprises the Russian docking systems and hatches. I was also trained on the video and photo equipment located in the Russian segment of the Space Station as well as the Russian tool kit. More pictures from our trip to Energia can be found at this link. Next week we will face the “Commission” in our final exams to determine our readiness for flight. We will have a day-long exam in the Soyuz simulator followed the next day by a day-long exam in the Space Station simulator. Later in the week, we will travel down to Moscow to go before the Commission, conduct media interviews and visit Red Square to lay flowers on the tomb of Yuri Gagarin. It should be an interesting week to say the least. Besides all the preparation and training last week I also was fitted for a devise called “Braslet.” Braslet was designed by the Russians to counteract the effects of fluid shift on orbit. As soon as the rocket engines shutdown and we arrive in a weightless environment, all the fluid in our bodies that is normally “weighed down” on Earth begins to migrate from our lower extremities to our upper body and head. Braslet is an ingeniously simply device designed to compress the upper thigh to slow the venous return of blood from the legs to the heart. Basically, I was wired up with all kinds of sensors and placed on a tilt table. Braslet devises which are really nothing more than tourniquets, were placed on my upper thigh and tightened. I was tilted head down for awhile and felt a marked decrease in pressure in my head when compared to the heads down position without the Braslets. After remaining in this position for awhile, the Braslets were abruptly released which allowed the blood to rush to my head which felt very much like the sensation right as the rocket engines shutdown. There is a collaborative research project with the Russian Space Agency and NASA to quantify the effects of the devise using on board ultrasound imaging. Besides the obvious benefit to future space flight, the study of the physiological responses to altered fluid distribution may lead to increased insight into the diagnosis and treatment of terrestrial conditions such as cardiovascular disease. I want to end this post with a tribute. We ended our week with a memorial for our NASA Star City Flight Surgeon, Greg Shaskan, who died suddenly and unexpectedly the week before last. The memorial was attended by the American and Russian members of the NASA Star City Office and all the astronauts currently training in Star City. Gathering with our colleagues to celebrate the life of a great and caring man was very moving. Greg was not only a selfless member of our nation’s space program, who endured long family separations from his wife an infant daughter to care for astronauts training for spaceflight, he also was making a big positive impact on our world. He was a member of Doctors Without Borders and traveled to places like Sri Lanka after the tsunami to provide medical care to those affected. Greg was not satisfied with the status quo on our planet. He was determined to make life better for those with whom he shared this fragile oasis. My thoughts and prayers are with Greg and his family during this difficult time.

Without Borders

Sat, 11 Sep 2010 13:48:32 -0400

Beautiful reflection of sunlight on the eastern Mediterranean Sea. No borders or conflict visible from space…just breath-taking beauty like this view of the island of Cyprus. Over the Sahara Desert approaching ancient lands and thousands of years of history. The Nile River flowing through Egypt past the pyramids of Giza up to Cairo in the delta; the Red Sea, Sinai Peninsula, Dead Sea; Jordan River; and the Sea of Galilee are visible, as are the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea and Greece coming over the horizon. Where the fertile river basin meets the desert…and where the modern meets the ancient…the pyramids and the Sphinx outside of Giza , Egypt The Isles of Greece during a clear night pass over Europe. Athens shining brightly along the Mediterranean Sea. A very surreal feeling to view the splendor of this ancient land from outer space. A peaceful view of the Holy Land, without any borders. Israel – Jordan – Lebanon – Syria – Palestine …all framing this shot of the port city of Haifa and east to the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River. In the center of the photo, the city of Nazareth. Every moment I get to look out the window at our beautiful planet, my soul just sings!!…”I see skies of blue…and clouds of white…the bright blessed day…” “…and the dark sacred night…and I think to myself…what a wonderful world…”

Hurricane Earl

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:55:34 -0400

The ‘Cupola’, attached to the nadir side of the Space Station, gives a panoramic view of our beautiful planet. Fyodor took this picture from the window of the Russian Docking Compartment (Airlock). Here I am in the Cupola preparing a camera for our late evening Hurricane Earl flyover…trying to capture the moment… Out over the central Atlantic, just before another spectacular sunset, with the spiral bands of Hurricane Earl visible in the setting sun. An interesting view of the life-giving energy of our sun. The solar arrays on the port side of the Space Station as well as Hurricane Earl…both gathering the last bit of energy before they fall into eclipse. Hurricane Earl is gathering some serious strength. It is incredible what a difference a day makes when you’re dealing with this force of nature. Please keep a watchful eye on this one...not sure if Earl will go quietly into the night like Danielle. Earl – “Go placidly amid the noise and haste…and remember what peace there may be in silence…” Approaching Hurricane Earl, a little after 5:00pm EDT on Thursday…in the gap between ISS structure you can clearly see the state of Florida, Lake Okeechobee, the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, and Cuba (behind the starboard solar arrays). Looks like a gorgeous summer day in south Florida…such a contrast to what lies just off shore… Just moments after the previous photo…caught this image of the eye of the storm as we flew over Hurricane Earl just to the east. It looks like magnificent chaos from up here on the Space Station…an incredibly breathtaking sight to see this storm. Many prayers from space going out to those in the path…please stay alert.

First Fragile Oasis Blog Post From Space

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:02:50 -0400

We’ve enjoyed the beauty of the Southern Lights over the past several weeks. Now with increased solar activity and as the Summer slowly wanes into Autumn, the Northern Lights are beginning to dance across the skies. The Earth just never ceases to amaze us. Color…Motion…Life…Blessed Days…Sacred Nights… With the pump module problem resolved ‘outside’, we were able to power on the laboratories and get back to the business of science ‘inside.’ This is the ‘Marangoni Bridge’ fluid physics experiment in the Japanese Lab. Promising discoveries await us in medicine, energy, and computing as we look at the transport of energy in a liquid bridge in micro-gravity. At the southern end of South America lies the jewel of Patagonia. The awe-inspiring beauty of rugged mountains, massive glaciers, fjords, and the open sea collide in a breathtaking display. I have dreams of this place and wonder what it would be like to breathe this air. Pure majesty! Hurricane Danielle – as we passed directly overhead this evening in the central Atlantic. I’m not a tropical storm expert by any means, but Danielle looks very well-organized with a very well-defined eye. The storm looks spectacularly peaceful from this vantage point…but, I can only imagine the tempest below those clouds. Many thoughts and prayers from space for a favorable path. “The City That Never Sleeps”… New York , New York on a clear summer night.

Anniversaries & Memories of My 1st Space Adventure

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:17:54 -0400

Saturday was the 1 year anniversary of the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery and her STS128 crew (and also, coincidentally, the 10 year anniversary of the day the class of 2000 astronauts arrived to Houston for astronaut training). This was the beginning of my first trip to space. I couldn’t have asked for better crew mates to share this adventure with: CJ, Kevin, Pat, Jose, Danny & Christer. Thanks guys! I was blessed with the opportunity to spend 91 days living and working in space on the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station (Expeditions 20 & 21). Again, the people I spent this time with on ISS (Mike, Gennady, Bob, Frank, Roman, Max, Jeff & Guy) and later returning to Earth with on the shuttle Atlantis STS129 (Charlie, Butch, Bobby, Leland, Mike & Randy), were amazing. We were busy with space walks, robotics, science, visiting spacecraft, and maintaining the ISS, and we had a great time! So thought I’d share a little walk I’m taking down memory lane with you. The following are a series of blogs I made prior to and during the mission.

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[#1] Time Flies When You’re Having Fun

2000

2009

Hi. My name is Nicole Passonno Stott. At 46 years old, I’m a mother, I’m a wife, and I’m a NASA astronaut who’s about to make her first space flight. I’m writing this blog to try and share some of my experiences preparing for the flight and then once on orbit I hope there will be some surprising things to share with you about living and working in space. Like so many things in life, this job has proven for me that time really does fly when you’re having fun. It was a “mere” 9 years ago that I received the exciting news that I had been selected as a member of the NASA Astronaut Class of 2000. I found myself very fortunately with 16 other people that would make up the 18^th group of NASA astronauts. Flying in space is most certainly the goal of any astronaut, but what you have to accept is that no matter how quickly you get assigned to your first space flight you are ultimately going to spend the majority of your time as an astronaut working here on the planet. Fortunately, the work and training is all very cool, and has been filled with challenges and opportunities to experience things that I’m pretty certain wouldn’t have been possible for me otherwise. The pictures above are my year 2000 and year 2009 astronaut portraits. I haven’t changed a bit….☺ The past 9 years have been fun and the time has flown by. Along the way my husband and I have been blessed with a beautiful son, I have visited places around the world that I never imagined I would ever have the chance to see, and we have made some lifelong friends. And now, to top it off, I’m going to have the amazing opportunity to fly in space --- launching this summer on the Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS-128, living and working for 4 months as a crewmember onboard the International Space Station (ISS), and then returning to Earth on the Space Shuttle Atlantis mission STS-129.
[#2] The Bugz -- It takes all kinds

The NASA Astronaut Class of 2000 "The Bugz" -- the 18^th class of NASA astronauts.

Our class name is “the Bugz” (the name has several origins: the class before you gets to name you / year 2000 and the millennium bug / bugs actually fly / it’s better than maggots….) We all received the phone call on July 20, 2000 – the anniversary of the Apollo moon landing. This year we’ll celebrate two important anniversaries – 9 years since the Bugz became astronauts and 40 years since Neil and Buzz took those first historic steps on the moon. “AsCan” (short for Astronaut Candidate) is what you’re called when you’re first selected to the Astronaut Office and while you’re going through the initial training. Then one day, a year or so after you’re selected and when you’ve successfully completed the initial training, you earn the title Astronaut – which is way cool because it’s even before you actually fly in space. We have a great class that is made up of really interesting people from all different backgrounds – military test pilots and flight engineers, submariner, oceanographer, geophysicist, medical doctor, and aerospace engineers. The picture above was taken at the same time as our official class photo – this is the fun shot (that’s me in the front row, second from the left). It represents the beginning of an amazing adventure for the Bugz. When I look at this picture, it always brings a smile to my face because the look on everyone’s face is very telling of each and every personality. It has been such a pleasure getting to know all of these people. I’m convinced that it’s more than just your work and educational background that helps make you a good astronaut candidate (I’m thankful to the selection committee for recognizing this too). This is especially evident when you find out that aside from the diverse work backgrounds of all these people, it’s even more interesting to learn about the diverse and fun interests everyone has outside of work. Who would have known that great astronauts are also made up of an almost professional water skier, excellent dancers (one even does a good river dance), comedians, carpenters, private pilots and flight instructors, baseball coaches, Sunday school teachers, artists, big game hunter, marathon runners, seamstress, NASCAR fans, sailors, auto mechanics, gardeners, cooks, mountain climbers, musicians, golfers, photographers, astronomers….. So it seems it really does take all kinds. One of the main things that is reinforced through all of our AsCan training, and then continues through our mission specific training, is the importance of teamwork. Your crew is your team. Everyone has particular strengths and weaknesses, and you have to learn to take advantage of these in order to successfully complete your mission. Many times the interests that we have and the skills we’ve developed outside of work are the things that not only make us the people that we are, but also help us add the most value to our team.
[#3] The Little Things

Saving the turtle

We’re wrapping up our week of quarantine and looking forward to launch in a couple days. In preparation for our scheduled launch time of 1:35 in the morning, we have been sleep shifting -- with a pretty tough sleep shift going to bed at 7 am and getting up at 3 pm. Most of our time in quarantine is spent organizing our procedures and support materials for the flight, exercising, and thankfully having the chance to relax a little before launch. Today, as a crew, we had the opportunity to spend a couple hours at the beach that’s on the property near the space center. It was a beautiful day. A few of my crewmates were running on the beach and came across an amazing sight ---- about 50 baby turtles had just hatched and were making their way to the ocean. They stood back and watched as all of the little turtles made their way quickly down the beach and toward the water. On their way back they noticed one small turtle alone in the sand and on its back. The rest of us were just a short way down the beach, so they called us to come to down and see the turtle. Our time at the beach gave us a very special gift - finding a little turtle on the beach that we could help find its way to the water. We all were smiling big as we watched the little turtle swimming out and through the waves. It made me think about how there have already been a lot of little things in preparation for this flight that have meant a lot to me. Sometimes it’s the little things that mean the most (so I guess they really are the big things) - like getting back in touch with old friends, the last hug with my family before going into quarantine, and unexpected things like encounters with a little turtle on the beach.
[#4] Sense of Smell (August 28, 2009)

Discovery at the launch pad ready for our Friday night launch

Waking up today, again to launch morning, following a couple scrubs earlier this week. After about 2 weeks now in quarantine in crew quarters we have gotten used to the daily routine. We’ve even established some of our own daily events as a crew --- for example, every morning about an hour after breakfast we’ve been going for a crew run. Well, the rest of the crew runs and I ride the bike. My crew mates very kindly tolerate me pedaling along beside them. This has been a favorite part of my day. A wonderful opportunity to have some relaxed conversation with the crew, time to think about things, and to take in the great outdoors. As an ISS crewmember, I will be living and working on the space station for at least 3 months. So the chance to feel the sea breeze, to enjoy the sunshine, to watch and listen to the birds and the other wildlife around the space center, and most impressively this morning to smell the spicy smell of the freshly mown grass. Funny how these little things make such a big impression when you know you won’t be experiencing them for a while. I’m really looking forward to the new sights and sounds and smells of life on the ISS --- and I’m happy I’ll have the memories of today’s bike ride to keep in mind as well.
[#5] Launch. 2 Words: Woo Hoo!!!

Space shuttle Discovery and its seven-member STS-128 crew head toward Earth orbit and rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS). Credit: NASA

Woo Hoo!! These words were exclaimed by me (maybe multiple times) through the ginormous smile on my face as we left the pad. And oh by the way, you don’t just leave the pad. You get kicked off the pad! The engines light and you feel the rumble, 6 seconds later the solid rocket boosters light and you are literally kicked off the pad and you have no doubt that you are going someplace fast! I have this vivid memory of how deliberate that departure from the launch pad was – all I could think was ‘wow we were sitting snuggly in our seats on the pad and now we are definitely OFF the pad.’ ~2 ½ minutes later when the boosters burn out and fall away it gets much smoother and quieter, and then at ~8 minutes the engines have used all the fuel in the external tank and they stop too. Then you have arrived to zero gravity. Amusing to see your arms and legs start to float up --- and of course anything else that isn’t tied down is floating too. It was a most excellent start to this amazing adventure!
[#6] A Thank You to My EMU

Astronaut Nicole Stott, Expedition 20 flight engineer, participates in the STS-128 mission's first session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Hopefully this doesn’t sound too wacky, but I would like to say thanks to my EMU for treating me so well during my spacewalk. I still can’t believe I had the opportunity to step outside and spend 6 hours working outside of the comfortable protection of our space station. The vacuum of space is a harsh place and our bodies aren’t built to tolerate it. So, we have special equipment to protect us, to allow us to venture out and work on our space craft. The EMU (extravehicular maneuvering unit) is our special protection during our EVAs (extravehicular activities), i.e. our spacesuit for our space walks. The EMU is our personal spaceship while we’re outside. It supplies us with everything we need to survive in the vacuum of space. Pretty amazing that everything we need to maintain our body temperature and pressure, to breathe, and to stay hydrated is so neatly packed into this suit. Astronaut Nicole Stott, STS-128 mission specialist, poses for a photo with an Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit on the middeck of the Space Shuttle Discovery during flight day three activities. Credit: NASA And while I’m thanking my EMU, I would also like to thank my 128 crewmates for their amazing support before, during and after our EVA. Danny was an amazing partner and mentor to me, Christer helping us out as he prepared for his spacewalks, Kevin flying me so smoothly on the arm that it felt like the Earth and station and shuttle were the ones moving up to meet me instead of me to meet them, and Jose, Pat and CJ making sure everything was where it should be, providing us with the play-by-play choreography to complete all our tasks, and for safely helping us in and out of the hatch. These guys were all a pleasure to train and fly with!
[#7] Beautiful Spacecraft

Space Shuttle Discovery and its seven-member STS-128 crew head toward Earth orbit and rendezvous with the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

The International Space Station is seen from space shuttle Discovery as the two spacecraft begin their relative separation. Credit: NASA

We get to and from space in them, they deliver food and supplies to us, they dock to each other, they provide us with everything we need to live in the vacuum of space --- and they are amazingly beautiful. The space shuttle, the space station, the Soyuz, the HTV, and the Progress – these are all the spacecraft I’ve had the opportunity to see while I’ve been here in space. You can’t look at these vehicles without being impressed, sometimes overwhelmed by how impressive they are. And the impression is not just from the incredible engineering marvels that they all are or from their size, but it’s also very simply from how incredibly beautiful they each are. There is a shiny, spectacular independence to each of them when you see them hanging so naturally in space, like they were meant to be there with the forces of nature holding them in their place. And as they approach and come into view – starting out first as only a pinpoint of light against the very blackness of space or the backdrop of our glowing, colorful planet and then gradually/quickly transforming into the magnificent, shining, beautiful spacecraft that they are. Awesome!

The Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft approaches the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

The unpiloted Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) approaches the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

[#8] 1/2 Way

Viewed from the Banana River Viewing Site, Space shuttle Discovery and its seven-member STS-128 crew head toward Earth orbit and rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS). Liftoff was on time at 11:59 p.m. (EDT) on Aug. 28, 2009 from launch pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Credit: NASA

Backdropped by Earth's horizon and the blackness of space, the International Space Station is seen from Space Shuttle Discovery as the two spacecraft begin their relative separation. Credit: NASA

GMT290, Already 50 days in space! Hard for me to believe I’m already past the ½ way point. We have been busy up here. The highlights (an attempt to pick things since everything is so cool up here) for me have been launch, first sighting of the Earth and the space station through the space shuttle windows, crossing the hatch into the space station, the space walk, the arrival of HTV, the indescribably beautiful sights of our planet, and my crewmates. It’s amazing how quickly our bodies adapt to a new environment. There is of course time spent figuring out how to live up here --- finding time every day to talk with my family, eating, going to the bathroom, washing my hair, photography, the best way to float/fly to get around, communicating with mission control, etc, but it quickly becomes second nature and you even forget that walking is a “normal” thing. This is an awe-inspiring place.

The International Space Station's Canadarm2 grapples the unpiloted Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) as it approaches the station. Credit: NASA

The STS-128 and Expedition 20 crew members found a few moments to pose for some portraits on the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Crew members on the International Space Station pose for a group photo following a joint crew news conference in the Harmony node. Credit: NASA

[#9] The Artwork Out Our Windows

Expedition 20 photo from the International Space Station featuring West lagoon and coral heads of the Isla Los Roques, Venezuela, about 90 miles north of Caracas, Venezuela. Image: NASA

Expedition 20 photo from the International Space Station featuring clouds over Earth with sun glint. Image: NASA

You can’t (or at least I have never been able to) look at a picture of the Earth from space and not feel a sense of awe. Well let me just say that this is another case of the picture not doing the reality justice. The Earth, our planet, is indescribably beautiful. It glows like a colorful light bulb. It is placed perfectly against the blackest black I have ever seen. It simply cannot go unnoticed. It is calm and it is dynamic. Sunrise and sunset is witnessed every 45 minutes, with the light or the darkness moving quickly across the horizon in a very colorful way, and each time highlighting the thin line of our fragile atmosphere. Every time I look out one of our windows I am surprised by some new and beautiful discovery.

Expedition 20 photo from the International Space Station featuring “islands” in the northern part of the dry lake bed of Lake Mackay in Western Australia. Image: NASA

Expedition 20 photo from the International Space Station featuring the wavy ocean bottom seen along the edge of the Tongue of the Ocean in the Bahamas. Depth drops to about 6000 feet, or approximately 1.8 kilometers, in the Tongue. Image: NASA

Expedition 20 photo from the International Space Station featuring a plume from the Soufriere Hills volcano on Montserrat Island in the Lesser Antilles, Eastern Caribbean Sea. Image: NASA

[#10] Loss and Awareness – Our Place and Reason It’s one of the things you have to prepare yourself for and it’s sometimes not so easy, but life will go on without you back on the planet while you’re living and working in space. We are fortunate now to have several really good means of communication with our family and friends on Earth while we’re off the planet for an extended period of time. We have a “phone” so I can speak to my husband and son every day or make periodic calls to my mom and sisters and other special people; we have email; we have weekly video conferences with our family; and people can even catch a glimpse of us every now and then on the news or NASA TV. The reality check comes when something happens back home and you can’t physically participate in the way you would really want to help give support to the people you love. So you find the best way you can from the remote position you’re in to try and support. I’m on orbit and my family has lost a dear friend. It is not ideal, but I try to find a way to express the sadness I’m feeling and to take a lesson from the experience I’m having here on ISS. The following is what I sent to our friend’s family. I have always been impressed by the life lessons we can learn from the difficult things we are faced with – regardless of where we are.

Sunset

“This really makes me so sad and I’m at a total loss for words other than to tell you how sad this makes me and to let you know that I am thinking of you all and continuing to send my prayers to the whole Vargus/Sullivan family. I guess the longer we go through life the more we realize that we will have a select few people in our lives that are really and truly special --- these are the people that we consider to be more a part of our family than a lot of our own relatives. It goes without saying that Mrs. Vargus, Auntie Doris was this kind of person to our family. I have my own distinct memories of Auntie Doris that span every emotion from fear to joy. I have memories of the Boston accent – “get in the cah!” Memories of my mom and Mrs. Davis and Auntie Doris all smoking with their cups of coffee around the kitchen table --- of carpools in the cadillacs --- of the humorous exchanges between her and my dad --- of playing games like Scrabble --- of her total honesty and direct approach --- and most of all of her support and love for my mom and our family. On the ISS right now, over these few months, I have been blessed with the opportunity to see our planet from a totally different perspective. From every angle it is indescribably beautiful. At the same time it appears blue and calm and peaceful, you can look in a different direction and it is very dynamic and dark and even sad and unpredictable. It is a vantage point that can most certainly lead you to believe that we all might just be insignificant little specs in the grand, universal scheme of things. But having known someone like Auntie Doris and knowing the place she has had in our lives I know that this can’t be true. Instead I believe that what I’m seeing out the windows is this awesome Creation that has been put in the perfect place in the universe, in the perfect place in the solar system, at the perfect distance from the sun, giving us the perfect conditions to survive. And for some short period of time on this perfect planet we are blessed with the opportunity to have friends in our lives like Auntie Doris. I am very thankful to God for His creations and for His very special blessing of sharing Auntie Doris with our family. Please accept my sincerest and most heartfelt sympathy and my electronic hugs. With love -- Nicole”
[#11] It’s Only a Thin Blue Line

Sunset and a Solar Array

It’s still very surreal to me that I am living on the ISS and that I can see our planet from this 200 mile vantage point and circling it once every 90 minutes. And for me, like others before me, I am totally surprised and in awe of the overwhelming, glowing beauty of our planet. Our Earth glows like a colorful light bulb against the blackest black I’ve ever seen. Everyday up here I am blessed with the opportunity to spend some time looking out the windows towards home and seeing things I never would have expected. Moving around the planet every 90 minutes, with the orbit slightly shifting and taking us over someplace new, with the sun rising and setting gracefully across the horizon every 45 minutes, the moon brilliantly popping into view and then squishing as it sets into the thin glowing blue line of our atmosphere. I can’t help but look at the Earth and see anything other than this living, beautiful thing, that always seems to be sharing some changing emotion or different side of its personality with me – sometimes very calm and peaceful and other times very dynamic and aggressive, but always silently asking to be taken care of.
[#12] A Visit to the Barber Pull out the flo-bee and the scissors and start cutting. It’s funny how something as simple as a haircut becomes more fun when you’re in space. It’s also interesting to discover the hidden coiffing talents of your crewmates. Stay here long enough and you’re going to need a haircut -- well… unless you’re Gennady. ; )

Bob the barber

My crewmates with their fresh haircuts

Gennady

[#13] Boo!!!

Expedition 21 crew -- Halloween on ISS. Good times!

[#14] Hometown

Tampa Bay

I grew up in a beautiful, beach town on the west coast of Florida called Clearwater. One of the really fun things to do on orbit is to search for places on Earth that have meaning to you and take pictures of them. This is a picture of the Tampa Bay area of Florida, with Clearwater right there on the coast. The view from space gives you another opportunity to appreciate your hometown. Beautiful!!!
[#15] You Can’t Take Them With You I’ve had a little time to reflect on what I’m sure will stack up to be one of the most amazing experiences of my life – the chance to live and work with a crew as part of a long duration space mission. I had very high expectations of what this experience would be like, and I can honestly say that every expectation I had was exceeded. I can “almost” use the word perfect to describe it – with one big exception: you can’t take your family with you. I am blessed with a family that has always been supportive of the dream I have of working in space. I also know how much they would also love the space experience – floating, seeing our planet from that unique perspective, and working to help make life better back here on Earth. So…. as much as I will miss life in space on the ISS, I am thrilled to be back with my family here on Earth.

I suspect my airplane seat mate has not bathed in months + has likely never brushed his teeth!

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 19:35:34 -0400

My latest training trip to the European Astronaut Center near Cologne, Germany is over and I am presently back in Star City Russia. These past two weeks at the European Astronaut Center have been very productive. During the second week of training, I was joined by Scott Kelly on his last trip to Germany before launching to space on October 8^th. As we boarded the airplane from Germany to Russia, Scott sent out the following "Tweet" from his @StationCDRKelly Twitter account: "I suspect my airplane seat mate has not bathed in many months and has likely never brushed his teeth." No, he wasn't talking about me. The picture below should explain it. Scott and I were paired up for his last training because I am his back-up for the Expedition 25/26 mission to the International Space Station. The purpose of a back-up is to be ready to launch in case something happens to the prime crew which would prevent them from flying. I will mirror all of Scott’s training and activities between now and his launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will be very interesting to not only participate in all the final training preparations but also all the pre-launch traditions. We will be in Star City for the next 4 weeks and then we will head down to Baikonur and stay until launch. It will be surreal to be at the place where Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space when he launched on the Vostok spacecraft on April 12th, 1961. It will be even more surreal when I launch from the same place 6-months from now on almost the exact 50th anniversary of human spaceflight. I will be sure to document all the action with pictures and blog posts. I also promise to catch up on my posts describing the experiments we will be conducting while on board the International Space Station. It really is amazing seeing the potential for a great positive impact on the world that can come from the research being conducted on board.

U2 & NASA Collaboration Video

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 07:15:34 -0400

I am such a huge fan of using creative approaches to spreading the good word about NASA to audiences that might not otherwise take notice. Thanks go out to U2 for sharing their excitement for our space program. Also, it was really cool to get to talk with Bono & the Edge from the space station!

------------------------- Excerpt from the NASA Press Release -------------------------

U2 approached NASA in 2009 with an idea to include a dialogue between the band and the crew of the International Space Station during U2's world tour. The astronauts of Expedition 20, the crew then living aboard the space station, agreed to participate and spoke with U2 several times before recording a video segment the band incorporated into its concerts. "Working with U2 is atypical for NASA," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for Space Operations. "By combining their world tour with the space station's out-of-this-world mission, more people -- and different people than our normal target audiences -- learned about the International Space Station and the important work we are doing in orbit." Speaking onstage in Houston last year, Bono said, "These are the very best people in the world -- dedicated to figuring how our little planet exists in this cosmos we call home." U2.com created the video and presented it to NASA to document the collaboration between the band and the space agency.

Space Shuttle Tribute Posters

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 06:52:38 -0400

A collection of tribute posters to the Space Shuttle fleet. We should celebrate these magnificent space vehicles and their contribution to human space flight. For Columbia: This Tribute Display features Columbia, the “first of the fleet”, rising above earth at the dawn of the Space Shuttle Program. Crew-designed patches for each of Columbia’s missions lead from earth toward our remembrance of the STS-107 crew. In the background are images from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (launched aboard STS-93) representing Columbia’s contributions toward scientific discovery. Other significant accomplishments include the first space shuttle landing at White Sands with STS-3, first deployment of commercial satellites during STS-5, first four-member crew on STS-5, first Spacelab mission and first six-member crew on STS-9, first female mission commander (Eileen Collins) on STS-93, as well as multiple laboratory missions—many with international partnership.
For Challenger: This Tribute Display features Challenger, which blazed a trail for other vehicles with the first night landing (STS-8) and also the first landing at Kennedy Space Center (STS-41B). The spacewalker represents Challenger’s role in the first spacewalk during a space shuttle mission (STS-6) and the first untethered spacewalk (STS-41B). Crew-designed patches for each of Challenger’s missions lead from earth toward our remembrance of the STS-51L crew. Other significant accomplishments include the first night launch with STS-8; the first in-flight capture, repair, and redeployment of an orbiting satellite during STS-41C; the first American woman in space (Sally Ride on STS-7); the first African-American in space (Guion Bluford on STS-8); and the first American woman to walk in space (Kathryn Sullivan during STS-41G).
For Discovery: This Tribute Display features Discovery demonstrating the renowned Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver on approach to the International Space Station (ISS) during STS-114. Having accumulated the most space shuttle flights, Discovery’s 39 mission patches are shown encircling the vehicle. The background image was taken from the Hubble Space Telescope, which was launched aboard Discovery on STS-31 and serviced by Discovery on STS-82 and STS-103. The prominent American flag and eagle represent Discovery’s two “Return to Flight” missions, STS-26 and STS-114, and symbolize Discovery’s heroic role in returning American astronauts to spaceflight. Discovery’s significant accomplishments include the first female Shuttle pilot (Eileen Collins on STS-63), John Glenn’s legendary STS-95 mission, and the celebration of the 100th space shuttle mission with STS-92. In addition, Discovery supported numerous Department of Defense programs, satellite deploy/repair missions, and 13 flights for construction and operation of the ISS.
For Atlantis: This Tribute Display features Atlantis soaring above the earth. Atlantis flew seven missions to space station Mir. In addition to its many assembly, construction, and resupply missions to the International Space Station, Atlantis also flew the last Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission on STS-125. The planet Venus represents the Magellan probe deployed during STS-30, and the planet Jupiter represents the Galileo probe deployed during STS-34. Threaded through the design are the mission patches for each of Atlantis’ flights. The inset photos illustrate various aspects of space shuttle processing as well as significant achievements such as the “glass cockpit” and the first shuttle docking with Mir during STS-71. The inset photo in the upper left corner shows a rainbow over Atlantis on Pad A and Endeavour on Pad B. Endeavour was the assigned vehicle had Atlantis’ STS-125 mission needed rescue, and this was the last time both launch pads were occupied simultaneously. The stars in the background represent the many people who have worked with Atlantis and their contributions to the vehicle’s success.
For Endeavour: This Tribute Display features Endeavour soaring into orbit above the sailing vessel HMS Endeavour for which the orbiter was named. The Cupola, delivered to the International Space Station by Endeavour on STS-130, is shown framing various images of Endeavour. The images represent the phases of mission processing and execution for the Space Shuttle Program. The first ever use of a drag chute during orbiter landing (STS-49) is depicted in the top window and moving clockwise the images symbolize the following: Rollout to the Pad, Ferry Flight return to Kennedy Space Center, Orbiter Processing Facility Roll-in, Docking at the International Space Station, and Lifting Operations for Orbiter Mate in the Vehicle Assembly Building. The background image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and signifies the first servicing mission which was performed by the Endeavour crew on STS-61. Crew-designed patches from Endeavour’s maiden voyage through her final mission are shown ascending toward the stars.

`Dwelling` in Space

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 06:09:45 -0400

Thought I’d post an article and Q& A exchange I had with Bruce Sterling from Dwell Magazine while I was onboard ISS last year. Just a little insight to what it’s like “dwelling” on the space station. I really enjoyed the opportunity to share these things with a new audience. http://www.dwell.com/articles/space-living-astro-home.html http://www.dwell.com/articles/life-in-space-email-from-the-iss.html

Forecasting Volcanoes & Earthquakes and Making Better Mayonnaise

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 23:08:23 -0400

This is the 4th in a series of posts to highlight the scientific research being conducted on board the International Space Station. I spent the last week at the European Astronaut Center just outside the beautiful city of Cologne, Germany. I have one more week here before I head to Star City Russia for more training with the Russian Space Agency. This past week, I received training on the International Space Station’s European Laboratory known as "Columbus." In addition to learning about the systems and equipment of the Columbus Laboratory, I also received training on two of the laboratory's research facilities: The Fluid Science Laboratory and BioLab. Fluid Science Laboratory – As its name suggests, this facility studies the properties of fluids. One of the experiments called GeoFlow, will take advantage of the weightless environment to improve our understanding of how fluids behave. Why do we need to do this research in space, you ask? The weightless environment of the Space Station allows us to vastly simplify or eliminate the following processes that are involved in the study of fluids:

Convection is the process where heated fluids, due to their lower density, rise and cooled fluids fall. This process doesn’t take place in the absence of gravity.
Hydrostatic Pressure is the pressure exerted by a fluid due to its weight. An environment where objects are weightless= no hydrostatic pressure.
Sedimentation is the tendency for particles in suspension to settle out of a fluid. In a weightless environment this process is vastly simplified and particles are much more likely to remain suspended in the fluid.
Stratification, or the building up of layers is also greatly simplified in an environment where gravity does not cause changes in density.

All this simplification, afforded by a weightless environment, will allow us to build better mathematical models and improve our understanding of the geophysics of the inner core of the Earth. This could lead to better methods of forecasting volcanoes and earthquakes. Another experiment in the Fluid Science Laboratory is called FASES. This experiment will study the characteristics of emulations. An emulsion is a mixture of two or more unblendable liquids. Emulsions in foods like mayonnaise are mixtures of oil and water. These normally do not mix and will separate if left without an emulsifier. This research can lead to improvements in food production and storage, advanced cooling fluids and a better understanding of how fluids flow. BioLab - is a biological research facility designed to perform experiments on micro-organisms, cells, tissue cultures, small plants and small invertebrates. The major objective of these experiments is to identify the role that weightlessness plays at all levels of an organism, from single cells to complex organisms including humans. Some of the experiments we will be doing onboard will expand our understanding of how plants grow in harsh climates and poor soil conditions. This research can lead to more effective food production in areas of the world where it’s presently very challenging to farm. Other experiments in this facility should lead to a better understanding of the human immune system with the hope that this research will lead to better methods of boosting the immune systems. Another interesting experiment will research how our biological clocks are effected by gravity, digestion and light. Next week I will continue training on many more interesting experiments. It really is rewarding to be a part of an international science team whose research will make life better on Planet Earth.

A Message from Mercury

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 03:22:13 -0400

This is a picture taken by the MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) spacecraft, currently just inside the orbit of Mercury at less than 1/3 the distance of Earth from the Sun. It shows the Earth and Moon from 114 million miles away. The Earth and Moon are overexposed to get the star background, but here we are -- from far, far away. Pictures like this one always make me think again about our place in the grand scheme of things. The goal of the MESSENGER spacecraft is to learn more about the planet Mercury, but one of the neatest things about this kind of mission is that we always end up learning something more about our own home planet. Exploration is a wonderful thing – whether it’s in low Earth orbit on the ISS or many millions of miles away, we are learning amazing things to help us improve life here on Earth. Mercury is the first rock from the Sun and we know less about it than any of the other planets in our solar system. Like Earth, Mercury is a rocky, terrestrial planet (there are 2 others: Venus and Mars). Closest to our Sun, Mercury has the shortest year and endures more solar radiation than any planet, and its battered surface is perhaps one of the oldest in the solar system. It experiences the largest daily range in temperatures (from daytime hottest at 840 degrees F – hot enough to melt lead, to nights dipping to -350 degrees F – cold enough to turn oxygen from a gas to liquid). Also, discovering how Mercury has sustained a magnetic field while larger bodies either lost theirs (as Mars did) or show no sign of ever having one (like Venus) will help us understand how our own planet generates its protective magnetic field. The picture taken of Earth from the MESSENGER spacecraft is beautiful, but it doesn’t really even hint at how beautifully and perfectly placed our planet Earth is in the solar system to take care of us. When MESSENGER looks at Mercury and discovers new and exciting things about that planet, it will be especially interesting to discover more new and exciting things about our own.

On the Road Again

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 00:25:02 -0400

Okay, here I sit in the Houston airport in what has become an all too familiar part of Space Station training (life on the road). This trip should be very interesting. I’ll first spend 2 weeks in Cologne Germany at the European Astronaut Center (EAC) where I will train on the systems and scientific experiments of the European Laboratory on the ISS known as “Columbus”. From Germany, I’ll fly to Russia for 5 weeks of training and final exams. At the end of this period, my Expedition-25 back-up crew mates and I will face the Certification Boards of the Russian Space Agency to determine if we’re fully certified to fly on the Soyuz spacecraft and operate the Russian segment of the Space Station. This part of the trip will also include a great deal of tradition including visiting the tomb of Yuri Gagarin in Red Square prior to our departure from Moscow. The Expedition-25 back-up crew: Sergei Volkov, Oleg Kononenko and myself will then travel down to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (if everything goes well with the exams) with the prime crew for the Expedition 25 launch (Oleg Skripochka, Alexander Kaleri and Scott Kelly). We are there in case any issues or problems arise with the prime crew. No one wants to take anyone’s place on a spaceflight but it’s important to have back-up plans and procedures in place in order to react to unforeseen contingencies. I will do my best to document this experience as best I can (hopefully with some pictures and videos). I also want to take a moment to thank everyone for their comments on this blog and especially for all the song suggestions. I really appreciate it! My plan is to send out the “Top 200 Songs in the World” playlist when it’s completed (it’s not too late to get suggestions in). I want to bring all the suggestions (that I can find) in my iTunes library but not all will make the top songs playlist (I’m pretty sure that “Macarena” by Alvin & the Chipmunks is not going to make the playlist – sorry). Next blog entry will be from Germany. Tschüß, Ron

Virtual Reality

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 07:15:10 -0400

Preparing for a space walk involves a mix of really cool training. The place where most of the training for a space walk is done is called the Neutral Buoyancy Lab or NBL, aka a really big pool with a mockup of the space station and the space shuttle payload bay. The space walkers are suited up in real space suits and work in the pool with real tools on the mockups – really and truly the closest thing you can get to working on the real space hardware on orbit. Today we were training in the Virtual Reality (VR) lab – one of the other pretty amazing training facilities we have. Virtual reality --- I’ve always found the name amusing. Though when you think about it I guess it makes sense. One of the other funny phrases we say a lot in training is “ok, when you do that in real life….” Like it’s not real life during the training we’re doing or that what we’re doing isn’t “real”… really it’s more that the way we’re doing something in training may be “faked/simulated” from the way we’re actually going to do it on orbit and so we seem to find it necessary to comment on how it will “really” be in space (aka, in “real life”). The VR lab, however, feels anything but fake. We put on the goggles and the gloves and are then transported to the outside of the space shuttle or space station. We can "move around" the hardware handrail by handrail and really get a spatial feel for what it will be like to be hanging off the space craft as you’re orbiting above the Earth at 17,500 miles per hour. You can use the VR training to figure out how you’ll work with your space walking partner, how you will work with different tools, how you will get on and off the end of the robotic arm (and what it will feel like to “fly” across space on the end of the arm), and you can even see what it would be like to use the jet pack on your back to fly back to structure in case you became untethered (but don’t ever do that because that’s on the list of something you never want to really need to do). The technology applied to the training we do is pretty impressive. There are some really talented people developing all these tools and it’s great to see how much they love what they’re doing. It’s a real pleasure to work with people who can develop such impressive training tools and have fun with it too.

Did You Know You Could Burn Water?

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 21:19:17 -0400

One of the main objectives of this blog is to highlight the scientific research being conducted on board the International Space Station (ISS). Specifically, I like to highlight how the research can improve life on Earth. This past week, I had quite a bit of training on some of the experiments I will be participating in while I’m on board the ISS. This is the 3rd in a series of blog posts to explain the ISS experiments. Device for the study of Critical Liquids and Crystallization(DECLIC): In a strange flashback to high school chemistry I vaguely remember that there’s a specific temperature, pressure and density where a liquid and its vapor become identical. When these conditions all exist, the substance is at a state known as the critical point. A supercritical fluid is any substance at a temperature and pressure above its critical point. The International Space Station, DECLIC experiment hopes to lead to a vast improvement in the understanding of how fluids behave near the critical point and further understand fluid compressibility. Water close to its critical point (around 374°C), exhibits a unique behavior that is scientifically very interesting to investigate in absence of gravity. This study will look at the transfer of heat and mass in near-critical water and measure its physical properties. A very informative (but a little goofy) video explaining how the critical point relates to DECLIC (in very easy to understand terms) is here. In the new environmental technology of supercritical water oxidation (the burning of water) the temperature and pressure are typically above the critical point and it is important to be able to predict the behavior of various dissolved materials. This research could enable the development of supercritical water reactors to treat waste (household waste; nuclear waste; and oil fuels) in an environmentally safe manner. This research could lead to advancements in the field of clean technologies for producing energy and treating waste. For more information about the DECLIC experiment please see the CNES website at: http://smsc.cnes.fr/DECLIC/index.htm

Docking is Cooperation

Sat, 07 Aug 2010 21:50:36 -0400

Yesterday our STS-133 crew had a rendezvous and docking class in the simulator. My memories of docking with the space station on STS-128 stand out for me because of the first beautiful view you get of the ISS as you approach and how it changes from this tiny pinpoint of light to this incredible, shining spacecraft filling up the shuttle windows. Of course the training we had was filled with all kinds of malfunctions to work through that you hope you’ll never have to work on the real day. It’s good to put the hardware and the flight and ground teams through this together – to develop the teamwork it will take for a successful rendezvous and docking. Going through the simulation I was reminded of a t-shirt I have from the Shuttle-Mir program that says in Russian “Docking is Cooperation.” It’s not just that the hardware has to “cooperate”, but the same goes for the whole team. Our team for the space shuttle and space station programs isn’t just the flight crew on orbit and the flight controllers on the ground. As a bigger picture it is all of the international partners associated with the program. The ISS is an international success and should be highlighted as one. US, Russian, European and Japanese modules and engineering; Canadian, Japanese and Russian robotic arms; science and research activities completed and in progress from universities, private researchers, and commercial companies all over the world; and astronauts from all partner countries that have been living and working together off our planet for the last 10 years. Aside from all of the amazing developments for science and space exploration that have resulted from the ISS, we should be extremely proud of the way we have cooperated with our international partners to make this complex project happen and of the greater global good that has come from its success. Docking is cooperation!

My Fragile Oasis Debut Blog --- Thanks Ron!

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 11:26:04 -0400

This is my first blog entry on the Fragile Oasis site. My thanks to Ron Garan for inviting me to participate. I’m really happy to be a part of Fragile Oasis and hoping it will be another exciting way to spread the word about the very positive work that’s going on in space and how that work is helping to improve life for all of us both on and off our planet. I was blessed with the opportunity last year to spend 91 days living and working on the International Space Station (ISS) as a member of the Expedition 20 and 21 crews --- an awesome and enlightening adventure. Since my return from station I have been training to fly again as a crewmember on STS-133, the last planned flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery later this year. I’m really looking forward to visiting the ISS again, to watching our planet from that wonderful vantage point, and to leaving the space station and her crew with the things they need to continue working into the future. Through Fragile Oasis, I also look forward to sharing with you some of my memories of life on board the space station, some highlights of training for both long and short duration spaceflights, and try to provide some insight to the cool stuff happening on our space station.

The 200 Best Songs in the World

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 00:31:30 -0400

I am presently building an iTunes playlist to take with me for my 6-month tour on board the International Space Station. I’m calling the playlist “The Best 200 Songs in the World”. Presently I have 68 (listed below in alphabetical order). I would really appreciate your suggestions and I'm open to any genre. Please just add your suggestions in the comment section of this post.

Improving the Planet's Ability to feed all Inhabitants

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:44:41 -0400

Part II of how scientific research being conducted on board the International Space Station can improve life on Earth. Another great experiment that we will participate in while on board the International Space Station is the ISS Agricultural Camera (ISSAC) experiment. ISSAC is a multi-spectral camera that will be installed in a special dark “closet” that is attached to the Earth-facing window of the US lab. This “closet” is called the Window Observational Research Facility (WORF). ISSAC will take frequent images, in visible and infrared light, of vegetated areas on the Earth, principally of growing crops, rangeland, grasslands, forests, and wetlands in the northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountain regions of the United States. Images will be delivered within 2 days directly to requesting farmers, ranchers, foresters, natural resource managers and tribal officials to support land management and precision agriculture. The rapid responsiveness of ISSAC imagery may also aid in disaster management applications such as flood monitoring and wildland fire mapping. Images will also be shared with educators for classroom use. ISSAC was built and will be operated primarily by students and faculty at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND. Farmers will be able to delineate management zones as the crop vegetation changes during the growing season; this can result in more effective use of fertilizer and other chemical inputs and reduce negative environmental effects. This obviously has great potential to be used anywhere in the world that would benefit from improved crop yields. Great research to help feed the world’s population! For more information see: http://www.umac.org/

JAXA astronaut Naoko Yamazaki in WORF

InSpace-3 (I get to use the words: `Colloidal Emulsions`)

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 06:49:15 -0400

One of the main objectives of this blog is to highlight the scientific research being conducted on board the International Space Station. Specifically, I like to highlight how the research can improve life on Earth. This past week, I had quite a bit of training on some of the experiments I will be participating in while I’m on board the ISS. I will try to explain all of them in a series of blog posts (One even involves burning water – Did you know you could burn water?) The first experiment that I want to describe is an ISS experiment called InSPACE-3 or Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions-3 (that’s a mouthful so from now on let’s just call it InSpace-3). This experiment investigates a new class of “smart materials” referred to as MR fluids. These normally stable fluids undergo a dynamic transition to a solid within milliseconds after applying an external magnetic field. Chain-like microstructures formed by the particles in these fluids give them this unique property. MR fluids have been incorporated in actively-damped shock absorbers in automotive suspension systems to improve the safety and performance of their vehicles by providing the ability to change a car’s suspension system in response to changing road conditions. The Dongting Lake bridge in China actually utilizes MR fluids in its cable dampers to counteract gusts of wind. Engineers are also exploring the potential use of MR fluids in seismic dampers to protect buildings during violent earthquakes. The results of the InSPACE-3 experiment should lead to a vastly improved understanding of the mechanical behavior of these amazing fluids. For more information on InSPACE-3, click here.

Маленький шаг для Хрупкого Оазиса

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 06:50:46 -0400

20 июля 1969 года в возрасте 7 лет я присутствовал на праздновании пятидесятилетней годовщины свадьбы моих прабабушки и прадедушки, которое проходило в банкетном зале в городе Йонкерс, штат Нью Йорк. Задолго до этого мои прабабушка и прадедушка иммигрировали в Америку из России. Поздно вечером (для 7 летнего мальчика) все гости собрались у чёрно-белого телевизора и наблюдали, как Нил Армстронг и Базз Олдрин сделали первые шаги на луне. Этот исторический момент был одним из самых ярких воспоминаний моего детства. В тот вечер этот семилетний мальчик точно знал, что хочет стать астронавтом, когда вырастет. 20 июля 2000 года, ровно 31 год спустя, этот мальчик наряду с другими 16 членами астронавтского набора 2000 года разговаривал по телефону с начальником отряда астронавтов Чарли Прекуртом, который сообщил им об их отборе в астронавты НАСА. Учитывая, что 20 июня – это настолько многозначительный день, он заслуживает по мнению команды Хрупкий Оазис быть началом такого важного, полезного и образовательного вебсайта. Я считаю, он станет именно таковым. Целью этого сайта является: • Распространенить информацию о глобальной пользе Международной Космической Станции. • Призвать студентов и школьников к хорошей учёбе. • Привлечь всеобщее внимание к научным достижениям, происходящим на Международной Космической Станции. • Предоставить каждому желающему шанс узнать о жизни и работе в космосе с помощью членов экипажа, находящихся на станции в данный момент. • Использовать уникальный жизненный опыт, приобретённый на орбите, для того, чтобы улучшить жизнь на нашей планете. Этот блог является всего лишь первым шагом. В настоящее время я использую его, чтобы рассказывать всем о «Моём пути на стартовую площадку». После запуска на МКС я буду делиться впечатлениями от жизни и работы в космосе. Хрупкий Оазис отличается от других «космических» сайтов тем, что нашим главным фокусом является жизнь на земле. У нас также есть интерактивная карта 3D, на которой указаны отдельные участники сообщества Хрупкий Оазис, группы участников и студенческие группы, которые усердно работают, для того, чтобы улучшить жизнь на нашей планете посредством гуманитарных проектов и научных исследований. Я с большим интересом буду наблюдать за тем, как идеи команды Хрупкий Оазис будут превращаться в реальность и надеюсь, что это сайт поможет мне поддерживать контакт со всеми вами во время моей экспедиции на Международную Космическую Станцию. Так что оставайтесь на связи... Я хотел бы призвать вас присоединиться к другим людям, которые ищут возможность улучшить общество и мир, и в результате улучшить жизнь для себя и для всех тех, кто живёт на этом хрупком оазисе.

Japan in July

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:32:15 -0400

Another successful training trip is over. Just returned from a quick week trip to Japan. Scott Kelly and I spent a week with the Japanese Space Agency in Tsukuba Japan (about 2 hours NE of Tokyo). During the week we trained on the systems of the Japanese “Kibo” Laboratory (Kibo means Hope in Japanese), the systems, rendezvous and robotic docking procedures of the Japanese cargo ship called the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) and spent the majority of the time learning about the various scientific experiments we will be conducting onboard on behalf of the Japanese Space Agency. Several of the experiments involve Protein Crystallization Research. Protein crystals are grown in order to establish models that can be used to develop things like new medicines. On Earth these crystals are limited in their size and shape by the presence of gravity. These same experiments in space, in an environment of weightlessness, produce crystals that are much more useful for researchers. It is the hope that a direct result of this research will be the development of more effective medicines to combat illness on Earth. Another experiment called Hydro-Tropi seeks to determine the effective of gravity and moisture on the growth behavior of plant roots. Hopefully, this research will lead to designing crops that require less water. This is an area that is I am very interested in due to the severe lack of clean water in many parts of the world. I consider Spiral Top an experiment where science and art meet. “The spiral phenomena that exists in space (e.g. galaxies), on Earth (e.g. typhoons, growth of plants, etc.), and in the human body (e.g. DNA) have a mysteriousness that charms many people. We assume that a new world of beauty will be created by modeling 3-dimensional luminous spiral movements that humans have never seen before"…JAXA For more information: http://iss.jaxa.jp/utiliz/pdf/epo_pamphlet_e.pdf All in all it was a very productive trip. I’m back in Houston for a few weeks of training at JSC before heading out to Germany, Russia, then on to Kazakhstan for Scott Kelly’s launch for Expedition 25 (I’m his backup).

June 2010 Star City Training Trip Winding Down

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:50:54 -0400

Well my training trip to Star City is coming to an end and the last week has been very eventful. Starting with last Friday night, I attended a docking party hosted by Expedition 24 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin’s, wife Larisa. It was fun celebrating a successful launch and docking with all the cosmonauts, astronauts, families, managers, and trainers here at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) (I even slugged through a toast in Russian). On Saturday, I received a special invitation by my fellow Expedition 27/28 crewmate (and Soyuz 26 Commander), Alexander (Sasha) Samokutayev to attend a party held in honor of fellow cosmonaut Roman Romanenko who recently received the Hero of the Russian Federation Award (Герой Российской Федерации) which is the highest honorary title that can be bestowed on a citizen by the Russian Federation. The party was also a reunion for Roman’s and Sasha’s military pilot training class. It was a very special time to be able to spend a beautiful afternoon with guys who share that special bond found among all pilots (and especially among military pilots). It was really surreal to be hanging out and enjoying a beautiful day with guys that for most of my professional military career I had prepared to fight. At one point in the evening, I made a toast and as best as I could, talked about how wonderful it is that former enemies are now working so closely together to overcome the common enemy of the unknowns of space for the benefit of all of humanity. During the evening, I also had the opportunity to meet Sasha’s wife, Oksana. I immediately knew after meeting her that she and my wife Carmel are going to get along wonderfully when they spend time together during our launch and landing (and hopefully before the mission during our training). Sunday was spent preparing for the week’s many training events which included two Soyuz simulator training periods with my Expedition 25 crewmates, Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko. In one of the sims (on Monday) we started in the ISS simulator facility where we had to deal with the emergency situation of a fire onboard the space station. After donning real gas masks and an unsuccessfull attempt to put out the fire (complete with smoke in the mockup) we “abandoned” the space station by walking to another building here at GCTC (while still wearing our gas masks), got dressed in our Soyuz Sokol Space Suits, and climbed into the Soyuz simulator for an emergency descent and return to Earth. After training on Monday, I rushed back to the cottages (where we live while here in Star City), because we had a video conference scheduled with the ISS crew. It was fun to see and talk to Shannon Walker & Doug Wheelock (who just launched from Kazakhstan a few days earlier) and Tracy Caldwell-Dyson who has already been onboard a few months. It was great to hear their stories of the launch and rendezvous with the ISS, how life has been onboard, and to share a few laughs. What also made it very interesting is that in addition to fellow astronauts Don Pettit and Chris Hadfield, we were also joined by TJ Creamer and Soichi Noguchi who just landed a week before after spending 6 months onboard the ISS. They had to answer allot of questions about the location of various things onboard from the new “tenants”. On Tuesday, Sergei, Oleg and I traveled to an Air Force base not far from Star City for ISS depressurization training. We practiced dealing with leaks in the space station in a full size mockup of the ISS’s Russian Service Module & Soyuz Spacecraft which is inside a giant vacuum chamber. Basically, once we’re sealed inside the mockup the pressure is dropped inside the vacuum chamber and leaks are introduced to various portions of the space station mockup that we were located in. It was very effective and realistic training to actually feel the leak (popping of your ears) and go through all the steps of isolating the leak by closing various hatches until you are on the side of the hatch that’s not leaking. Of course, the first step is to ensure that your escape vehicle (the Soyuz) is not the source of the leak. On Wednesday, I headed to the Звезда facility in Moscow. It’s always great to head down there and meet the people who have been designing and building spacesuits since the first human spaceflight. On this trip, I climbed into the actual spacesuit that I’ll be wearing this coming March when I fly onboard the Soyuz to the ISS. After I was in the suit, I was led to a small vacuum chamber. In the middle of the chamber was the actual seat that I’ll fly in. I got strapped into the seat, the door was closed and then all the air was sucked out leaving me and my spacesuit in a vacuum. During the mission the spacesuit is only needed if there is a depressurization of the spacecraft but if that were to happen, I may have to remain in the space suit for about 2 hours before we can return to Earth. Because of this possibility, I remained in the chamber at vacuum for 2 hours so that I could evaluate the fit of the suit and technicians could evaluate the suit’s performance. @SnippetPhysTher asked me on Twitter what I thought about for those 2 hours. I don’t really remember what I thought about but I do remember what I tried to not think about. I tried not to think about the fact that the only thing separating me from instant death was a paper thin layer of material. If my visor cracked, a glove seal popped, or anywhere else on the suit failed it would not have been a good day. In reality, I never doubted the performance of my suit and it did great. The highlight of Thursday was definitely attending the Expedition 23 crew return ceremony for Oleg Kotov, TJ Creamer and Soichi Noguchi. Representatives from the Russian, American and Japanese space agencies, as well as the crew had some very inspiring things to say to the Star City community. At the beginning and end of the ceremony the national anthems of all 3 countries were played which I think is a fitting tribute to the international cooperation that has become an integral part of space exploration. As I write this I am waiting to find out how a mix-up in my travel plans has been resolved. Apparently my return flight which was supposed to be booked for Saturday was booked for tomorrow (Friday). Since I have a full day of training tomorrow and there are no flights available this weekend, we’re in a little bit of a bind. I will either fly home tomorrow as booked or delay probably until Monday. Oh the joys of constantly being on the road!

Star City: June 2010 Let the Sims Begin!

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:46:09 -0400

I started training this week with my Expedition 25/26 backup crewmembers Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko (2 Russian Cosmonauts that I spent time with on the ISS during STS-124 - Together we are the back-up crew for the Soyuz that will launch this October). Tomorrow is the 2^nd of 3 Soyuz simulator training sessions. Today we practiced rendezvous and docking with the Space Station and also an emergency re-entry to Earth. Tomorrow we will climb into the Soyuz simulator in our full Sokol spacesuits and practice all the pre-launch and launch procedures. I’m sure the training team will also input allot of malfunctions for us to deal with. I’m ½ through my 3^rd of 5 weeks of training this trip to Star City. It has been a very busy trip this time but I’m coming up to speed fast on all the Soyuz systems and the Russian Segment of the ISS. When I return home to Houston in a week and a half I’ll have a week there before heading out to Japan for more ISS training.

Why This Blog

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:38:26 -0400

I began this blog simply to help others share in the wonderful experience of living and working in space.

Propane

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 18:29:49 -0500

Classic wisdom says that propane stoves do not work well in cold climes. The propane bottle will get so cold that the liquefied gas would rather stay in the tank than come out to play. Snow-bound expeditions use the old classic white gas stove. Like a medieval dragon, these white gas stoves belch black smoke and frequently squirt billows of yellow flames nearly to the tent roof. Singed eyebrows are a norm. Ironically, tent fires are probably a greater risk than frost bite. And the white gas stove always seems to run out just when you need it the most, requiring a trip out in -40 blowing snow with numb bare fingers fumbling with cold metal gas cans that greet damp flesh the same as sticking your tongue on a frozen playground jungle gym. We decided to avoid all this fun and use propane stoves. We chose a two burner model with PZT igniter, a small bit of modern technology that allows one to live in the wilderness without the need for any matches. We ran these stoves directly from a standard 20 pound propane tank which is the key to its success. At -20°C, the vaporization rate for propane is rather small, and in the process of doing this, the tank becomes even colder. A small propane bottle, such as what a backpacker might use, has such a small liquid surface area that it can not keep up with the gaseous propane demands of a stove when at freezing temperatures. Our large tanks have significant liquid propane surface area from which vaporization can take place and had no trouble keeping up with our stoves. We kept the propane tank near the door between our Scott tent walls, which added some degree of warmth from outside conditions. And best of all, we had easy, push button start, clean flames that did not belch smoke and blacken the bottoms of our greasy pans. A propane tank would last about six days, thus freeing us from the middle of the night refueling ritual. For an expedition with 8000 kilograms of supplies pulled by eight snow mobiles on Nansen sledges, the mass and volume of these propane tanks were not an issue. Propane stoves do come with their own set of nuances. Every so often, the jets that meter the propane into the stove plug up. Sacrificing a few milliliters of single malt scotch from a team member’s stash will provide the necessary solvent to soak out any residue. Another discovery we made is the consequences of leaving the tank valve open when the stove is off. Normally, this is not an issue; simply turn the stove off with the burner’s individual control valves. There is no need to shut off the propane at the tank. Or so we thought. Our tents get cold, especially when the stove is not lit. If this condition lasts for hours, like overnight or between breakfast and dinner, the liquid propane in the tank, like the proverbial camel sticking its nose in the tent, will vaporize and re-condense as a liquid wherever it happens to be coldest, which in this case, is in the stove’s pressure regulator. The pressure regulator reduces the pressure of gaseous tank propane to a much lower value for use in the burners. The regulator is not meant to be filled with liquid propane and as such, will fail when you light the stove. Returning back from a full day's gathering of meteorites, we naively lit the stove with the now liquid filled propane regulator. We scrambled to keep our socks and other clothes hanging in the chimney from catching fire. One look at the regulator showed it caked in ice. Obviously, liquid propane was evaporating in the regulator, extracting the latent heat of vaporization from the surroundings. We now recommend closing the tank valve if there is to be a long period of inactivity. It seems wherever there is fire, there are lurking dragons anxious to spray flames. Even the convenience of a self-lighting propane stove that runs a week between fueling does not compensate for the painful ritual of making water from snow. With no source of liquid water, we have to make all our needs by melting snow. Snow has a miserably low density, somewhere around 10 to 20 percent that of water. To make a pot full of water takes five pots of snow. And like any pot, it needs to be watched. The slowest step in melting snow is the heat transfer from the pan bottom into this low density mass. It takes a painfully long period of time. Glacier ice is different. With densities about 80 percent of water (due to it being loaded with millimeter sized bubbles) it takes a shorter time to convert these cold shards into a pot full of liquid. If given the choice, we prefer to make our water from glacier ice. In either case, making water takes a big chunk of your off duty time. It is humbling to think that this blue glacier ice we are camped on is tens of thousands of years old. The ice shards in your pot have been around longer than human civilization. You see little gas bubbles being liberated from the ice, floating to the surface and popping. Perhaps they contain the last breath from a mastodon. We are melting this using petroleum-derived propane, in part formed during the age of the dinosaurs, and all this simply to make macaroni and cheese for dinner.

Featureless Humans Are Still Human

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 18:28:37 -0500

All 8 of our expedition members work closely together on a daily basis. Each morning we gather at 9:00 (New Zealand time) and go off in search of meteorites. By 18:00 we are usually back in camp after spending the day in temperatures of -20ºC with wind chill of -40. Shortly there after, we all disappear into our respective tents. Every square inch of our body is typically covered as protection from the 20 plus kilometer per hour winds. Faces sport balaclavas and ski goggles with an integral hard faceplate, giving one the appearance of a cold Darth Vader. Even your voice, muffled and windblown, becomes as abstract as that from an android. All the normal features associated with being an individual human are thus removed. We can go for days, or sometimes weeks, without seeing the pinky human faces of your colleagues. The exception is your tentmate, whom you might consider that you get an eye full of their pinky flesh all too often. In spite of these seemingly de-humanizing circumstances, your mind has the uncanny ability to visually dissect these featureless creatures and assign rich and distinctive human traits. One can pick up an individual, not from the parka-puffy potato sack body, or the Darth Vader garb, but from subtle dynamics in how the body moves. There are accents in motion that are as individualist as intonation in speech. And like a blind person who enhances auditory cues, your searching mind quickly fixes on details that usually go unnoticed. And we all seem to be able to once again add the human individual back into our little masked microcosm.

Perpetual Sun

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:32:36 -0500

In Antarctica, the summertime sun never sets. It is perpetual day. Instead of a ducking beneath the horizon, the sun circumscribes the sky every 24 hours. Due to our latitude near south 86 degrees, the sun never gets real high or real low. At local noon, the sun elevation is about 27 degrees. At local midnight, the sun elevation is about 19 degrees. This gives a day with perpetual sunset lighting, free from the stark lighting of harsh noon. This is perfect lighting for landscape photography, where contrary to the actual conditions; everything has this nice warm glow. In spite of perpetual sun, the day does go through warming and chilling cycles. It is colder in the early morning and warmest in the afternoon. Sometimes, in the afternoon you can see a thin film of liquid water on the surface of the glacier ice. Even though the air temperature might be -20°C, the local temperature next to the glacier could be much warmer. It becomes notably slipperier to walk on. Solar noon occurs at about local 13:00 (we are on New Zealand time). At this time the sun is approximately due north. This is a handy fact to know since your standard compass does not work well at all. For people who were raised in the northern hemisphere, one instinctively orients your directions based on the sun moving through the southern sky. Here the mid-day sun moves through the northern sky and constantly confuses one's ability to define compass directions. A compass requires that the magnetic field lines be parallel to Earth's surface, a condition that happens everywhere except at high latitudes. The magnetic field lines for Earth converge at the poles and point into the ground. The compass needle thus has a significant downward magnetic force which confuses the needle. Like Captain Sperry's compass in "Pirates of the Caribbean," at high latitudes, the compass needle points in any direction you want. If you hold a compass so that it is perpendicular to Earth, the needle will point into the ground. The intensity of the sunlight is measured as watts per square meter and sometimes referred to as solar flux. Before the sunlight penetrates our atmosphere, the solar flux is about 1300 watts per square meter. After traveling perpendicular through Earth's atmosphere the solar flux is about 800 watts per square meter. Due to the oblique nature of sunlight at high latitudes, the rays pass through a much greater path in the atmosphere, thus the summertime solar flux is closer to 400 watts per square meter. For converting sunlight into electrical power, this is the best you have to work with. The grand irony is that where you need solar power the most, the intensity is the least. Living in constant daylight affects a number of human habits. Inside your tent, it is always light. In McMurdo, we were sleeping six to a windowless room in dormitory style. It was handy to have a small flashlight to see things without waking up sleeping bunkies. Out in the field, a flashlight is not needed. Your tent becomes a live-in solar clock. From inside, the sun projects a diffuse spot on the fabric which fills the role of a clock's hour hand that moves in a great circle around the tent every 24 hours. When the diffuse spot is aligned with the east facing tent pole, it is time to go to work. When the spot is aligned with the door, it is time for lunch. And when this hour hand is in the middle of the far tent wall, it is time to go to bed. Not only is a flashlight not needed, but neither is a tent clock. Sleeping in constant daylight can be troublesome. What works well for me is to turn my pile earflap sleeping hat around backwards. These pile hats, built like a stocking cap with earflaps and chin strap, are the fabric equivalent to the old motorcycle skull caps. If worn backwards, the once rearward but now forward section of the hat comes down to just below eye level, tastefully masking out most of the light while allowing one to still peek around. Come morning, all one has to do is rotate your hat 180 degrees and you are ready to tackle the world. Like hunger being the best spice, perhaps the most important factor in daylight sleeping is that after a full day's work in -40°C wind chill, one is tired and ready for a good sleep. On Space Station, you orbit the Earth 16 times every day. This means you see 16 sunrises and sunsets, doled out every 90 minutes. On earth, when the sun sets, it takes about 2 minutes for the solar disk to slip below the horizon. In orbit, it takes 7½ seconds. And being above the atmosphere, when the sun sets (or rises) the change is immediate. There is no twilight. In Antarctica, the perpetual daylight is a non-intuitive change. You rely on other clues for the passage of the work day and when it is time to sleep. We can control our environment on Space Station to a higher degree than in an Antarctic tent. On Space Station, we place a shutter over the windows when it is time to make things dark. At first this seems mad, to intentionally mask out such beauty. And Earth from space is this blue jewel of Nature that beckons your call. However, a higher calling of Nature trumps any occipital pleasure and like a little boy who only reluctantly acknowledges bed time, one is forced to close the shutter, turning your back on sheer beauty, and sleep in the process.

Concentrated by Wind

Tue, 26 Dec 2006 14:17:37 -0500

Another proposed mechanism to concentrate meteorites is by wind. Blown about by wind, geologists have theorized that the wind can aide in their concentration. Before I saw the wind affects first hand, I discounted this theory as nonsense. The Katabatic winds are second to none. We as humans living in our houses in cities have never seen the likes of wind like this. The wintertime katabatics have hurricane force winds that average 80 kilometers per hour with gusts up to 200 and last for weeks at a time. We occasionally see the effects of such winds when a hurricane blows through the Texas Gulf, turning everything upside down after only a few hours. It is beyond our normal human intuition to experience the effects these winds can have on the surroundings, especially when they persist for weeks to months without end. So when Antarctic explorers propose wind blown rocks as a major mechanism for sculpting the countryside, those who have never been here tend to scoff and discount such theories as nonsense. I scoffed at such ideas of flying rocks but now I am true believer. On glacier ice, these winds move rocks, not just inches but kilometers. For multi-kilometers on the down wind side of a nanatak, there are rocks scattered all over the blue ice surface. Not just little tiny pebbles, but fist-sized to basket ball-sized parcels, and occasionally even larger, all neatly sorted by size as a function of distance from the source as if they were books on a shelf and a planetary librarian was in charge of putting them in order. The larger rocks will have a sizable ablation pocket carved around the up-wind side, probably the result of both wind (the stagnation point) and solar heating. Like a mother rock tending to its brood, these pockets fill with a collection of neatly sorted baby rocks. Looking in these rock nests is a good place to find meteorites. One time we found six meteorites in such an ablation pocket. We first described this as an Easter egg basket; however we made this discovery on Christmas day so we decided it was best to describe this as a cosmic cornucopia. The wind is a major source of upheaval on the blue ice. The most complete theory for the concentration of meteorites in the blue ice regions of the Antarctic interior should contain elements of the "conveyor belt model," the "stranded ice model," and the "wind blown model." For the current state of knowledge, this seems to be the best we can do for arriving at a plausible explanation. We welcome any one to add to or subtract from these ideas in route to a better theory. A field of rocks scattered from wind blown processes. Ablation pockets often form on the up wind side of large rocks (center rock is about 1.5 meters in diameter) that collect smaller wind blown rocks. A series of wind deposited rock dunes on top of a thin layer of firm snow.

Stranded Ice

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 14:20:01 -0500

As a mechanism for meteorite concentration, the lateral movement of glaciers from zones of accumulation to ablation is refereed to as "the conveyor belt model." But this simple concept alone does not explain many occurrences in areas where meteorites are found. There are areas of glacier ice, blue glacier ice, that seem to be cut off from lateral movement. In these stranded zones, there is no input of new ice to replace that which ablated away. A conveyor belt model does not fit in these circumstances. Like boiling down tree sap into maple syrup, what appears to be happening in these stranded zones is the concentration of glacier ice goodies simply by the bulk of the ice wasting away. If one looks at simple vertical compaction of snow into ice, the snow with density of about 200 kilograms per cubic meter compacts into glacier ice with density around 850 kilograms per cubic meter. Just from the conversion of snow into ice concentrates things by about a factor of four. The surface of these blue ice ablation zones have been observed to waste away by sublimation at about 10 centimeters per year [ref 1]. Surprisingly, much of this yearly ablation seems to happen in just the few summertime days when the air temperatures warm up to near the freezing point. If this rate can be extrapolated over long time periods, then each ten years removes one meter of glacier ice, and each thousand years removes 100 meters. So each thousand years of stranded ablation distills down 100 vertical meters of ice and leaves any goodies initially within the glacier spread over the surface. This rock-strewn surface can take on the look of a paved rock garden and is called a lag deposit. The age of these meteorites is measured in billions of years, near the age of our solar system. However, the time they have spent on Earth is estimated to be in the tens of thousands of years. For a rock that lands on a stranded ice sheet for a few tens of thousands of years, this mechanism could concentrate the meteorites on the surface simply from ablation-driven vertical compaction.The stranded ice and the conveyor belt models are good for a first order explanation of meteorite finds. What is actually taking place is probably more complicated and combines these and phenomena yet to be discovered. 1. Harvey, R.P., “The Origin and Significance of Antarctic Meteorites”, Chemie der Erde, vol. 63 (2), 93-147 (2003). Aerial view of the Larkman Nanatak area showing the location of camp and the location of the panoramic view point in the next image looking in the direction of camp. The general glacier ice flow is from lower right to upper left. The Larkman Nanatak is obviously sculptured by this ice flow creating a series of stranded ice sheets on the lee-side. The boundaries between the moving and stranded ice sheets are delineated by 100 meter high ridges of ice. A series of moraines are left in the central region of the stranded ice. Panoramic view from top of Larkman Nanatak looking towards camp. Hundred meter high blue ice ridges (upper right) show the transition between the moving and stagnant ice. The patterned moraines in the central area probably resulted from earlier glacier movement when the ice flowed over the top of the nanatak and has since been concentrated due to ablation. A blue ice ridge dwarfs a team member and his snowmobile.

Conveyor Belt

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 14:18:53 -0500

There are a number of theories why meteorites are concentrated on the Antarctic ice sheets by about a factor of 1000 over the intrinsic fall rate [ref 1]. No matter the theory, they all hinge around the fact that the ice sheets are in a balance between growing and shrinking with areas of motion and areas of stagnation. Somehow these processes concentrate the meteorites. The conveyor belt theory relies on the observation that glaciers slowly flow downhill and upon reaching the end of their line, the rock loading, like so many passengers, are dumped in a pile called a moraine. Thousands of years’ accumulation of meteorites are thus heaped among the normal rocks. The conveyor belt theory uses the basic observations that glaciers have accumulation zones, areas where there is significant snow fall that compacts into ice and adds to the mass of the glacier and ablation zones, places where the glacier shrinks in size usually due to the ice breaking off and falling into the sea. This obviously happens if the glacier terminates at the ocean. For glaciers that do not reach the ocean, those deep in the Antarctic interior, other ablation processes take place. For ablation zones found in the interior, sublimation is the dominant process. Sublimation is the process of ice evaporating without going through a liquid phase. Ice can turn into gas (water vapor) directly from the solid ice state without first melting into liquid water. We can see the results of sublimation in the freezer section of our refrigerator. We all have a bin of ice there and when this bin has been sitting for a spell, the ice cubes seemingly shrink in size, like a collection of shrunken heads, becoming this distorted figure that is recognizable as once being an ice cube but somehow taking on a diminutive size. This is sublimation at work and is the same process that can cause glaciers, deep in the Antarctic interior to waste away without having temperatures above freezing. So in the ice balance of an interior glacier, new snow falls and turns into ice in the accumulation zones, thus forcing a slow movement of ice from the accumulation zone to the ablation zone. This slow movement, perhaps a few meters per year, also transports anything else like meteorites that happen to be buried in the ice. If there is an ablation zone where the dominant process is sublimation, then the goodies carried within the ice end up accumulating in a heap on the surface, thus creating a moraine. The result of this icy conveyor belt concentrates thousands of years of falling meteorites into a rather small jumbled zone of rocks. So the meteorites, along with any other rocks, are found simply laying on the surface of the glacier ice, seemingly waiting to be harvested like some kind of exotic crop. As with any construct of the human mind, this theory has its limitations and does not explain every instance of where meteorites are found. We will expand upon this in another chronicle. 1. Harvey, R.P., “The Origin and Significance of Antarctic Meteorites”, Chemie der Erde, vol. 63 (2), 93-147 (2003).

Keeping Electronic Gadgets Happy

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 13:43:04 -0500

EEven in the wilderness, humans can not seem to do without their electronic devices. We bring crucial mission electronics such as Iridium satellite phones, radios, GPS receivers, and laptop computers. We also bring electronic condiments, items such as cameras, iPods, and DVD players. With a few exceptions, most of these items are consumer grade electronics, and as such are optimized to run around normal room temperatures and at elevations not too much greater than a few thousand feet. When you compound cold temperatures with high altitude, keeping these electronics happy becomes a bit of a chore. Many will flat out die as frozen lumps of silicon chips, their battery not able to produce any sparks and their LCD displays, like in the eyes of a corps, fixed in an icy blank stare. To keep these electronics happy, they need to be kept warm. The definition of warm is a relative measure in Antarctica. Warm is anything around -5 to 0°C. Most gadgets will work if kept within this range. To accomplish this requires a place in an inside jacket pocket, a sleeping bag (when you are in it), or hanging in the tent chimney with the stove lit. Cold electronics also act like a glass containing a frozen drink on a humid day. A thin layer of icy frost forms in a matter of seconds. If the gadget is ruggedized (like a GPS receiver), this is not a big deal and the ice will simply go away as it warms up. A gloved finger works well for scrapping the ice off the LCD display. I do not recommend this technique for a camera or a computer. Ice condensate is bad news for these items. A small plastic bag is helpful in keeping the condensing moisture away from the sensitive surfaces until it can be warmed above the frost point. Like a fussy child, a laptop computer is a high maintenance item. Not only is it a power hog, but it has to be treated with kit gloves to keep it happy. A laptop draws about 50 watts of power, a fair amount if living in a tent in the middle of nowhere. Typical portable solar panels are rated at 30 watts, significantly less than what is required. And that 30 watts is for noon summertime Arizona desert solar fluxes (about 800 watts per square meter). Summertime Antarctic solar flux is about half that, so the maximum power from a 30 watt panel is more like 15 watts. Integrating this over a day (assuming you do not have the time to continuously rotate the solar panel so that it faces the sun) brings the daily power rate down to a paltry 7 to 8 watts. Any continuous draw over that amount will result in a brownout. The solution is to have a buffer battery that can store solar power and give it back at a higher rate (for a shorter periods of time). Such batteries are massive and typically sized for what is possible to carry for a particular expedition. It might be a small Nickel-metal hydride 12 volt battery pack rated at a few amp-hours, a motorcycle gel cell, or a full sized lead acid car battery (at -20°C, Nickel-metal hydride and gel cell (lead-acid) batteries work well, but at a reduced capacity). The bottom line to keep a laptop fed requires a fair amount of voluminous and heavy solar equipment and can only run the laptop for a few hours a day before the consumption rate causes a brownout. Laptop computers hate to be cold. Any gadget with a mechanical hard drive will have troubles at -20°C temperatures. The oil in the hard drive bearings becomes thick, slowing the disk speed below that which will allow consistent operation. High altitude also causes problems with read-write errors for hard drives. Compound the two and you have the recipe for turning a laptop into a something in which to pound in tent stakes. Having said all this, we do have a laptop computer that we use for logging our meteorite data. However, like a little kid who gets grumpy from a change in routine, a consistent ritual must be followed to keep it operational. First, the 30 watt solar panel-battery unit is allowed to charge the gel cell buffer battery all day (if the 60 amp-hour 12 volt gel cell battery is completely discharged, it takes 3 days with no current draw to fully charge). No parasites are allowed to suck off any juice. The laptop is stored in the tent and is typically -15 to -20°C at the day's end. It is placed in the tent chimney or tent pocket near the stove during dinner prep and after a couple of hours, is above the magic temperature of 0°C. Then and only then can it be booted up and successfully run for a few hours before the pending brownout. If the capability of a full blown laptop is not needed, a Personal Digital Assistant or PDA is the way to go. Equipped with a wireless keyboard, these palm-sized computers can be operated in the cold with minimum fuss and allow notes and data input via a reduced but full-sized keyboard. There are slots available for downloading data from other electronics including a number of common memory cards used in digital cameras. Free from hard drives with rotating parts, they will work consistently at cold temperatures. They will readily slide into an inner pocket and after about ten minutes, will be above the freezing point and happy to operate for hours on a single charge. A 5 watt flexible solar panel is sufficient to keep several PDAs and Iridium phones charged and running. If your data needs are not excessive, a palm computer with small solar panel and buffer battery is the way to go. Digital cameras are other items that need some advanced thought for their successful use. There are a wide variety of high quality point and shoot digital cameras available on the market today and these work remarkably well for recording expedition images. Most of these use rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that do not do well in the cold (see discussion below). A few are powered by AA batteries, which is the way to go for use in the Antarctic field. Lithium primary batteries (non-rechargeable, also discussed below) are available in AA size that happily operate down to -40°C and thus will power these cameras with no fuss and no need for chargers and solar panels. I recommend going with a camera that takes AA batteries, thus alleviating the head aches of battery charging, even if you have the charging equipment available for other camp-based electronic devises. Full-sized digital single lens reflex cameras can be used if one is willing to cater to their needs. We have a Canon EOS 5D along and it will work down to -25°C if the lithium-ion battery pack is removed and stored in some place warm. The camera itself is too large to fit inside of any pocket so it is left hanging on a strap exposed to what ever the elements can dish out. When an image is required, the battery is extracted from its warm spot and inserted into the cold-soaked camera and pictures are taken. As soon as the shooting is finished, the battery goes back inside the pocket. This worked but proved to be a bit of a pain since one's gloves need to be removed and your parka unzipped every time the battery is extracted from the inner pile pocket. A better way to go is to have the Canon attachment that allows 6 lithium AA (non-rechargeable) batteries to be used in place of the rechargeable lithium-ion battery, thus providing power down to -40°C. We found that even at -25°C the Canon functioned without any issues, including the autofocus lens (16 to 35 mm zoom) and the color LCD display. Use of the color LCD display was limited to conserve battery life. Warm places are required to keep these electronics happy. To investigate this further, I attached liquid crystal thermometer strips to our cameras and PDAs so that their surface temperatures could be measured as a function of where they happened to be. These temperature strips were made for freezer compartments and cover the range from -30 to +30°C in 5 degree steps. I also used our NASA hot box, a high tech “cooler” turned into a “warmer” for storing and charging electronics. Sitting on the floor of our Scott tents, cameras and PDAs would constantly be at -20°C. If up off the floor, perhaps in the tent pocket or on a wooden box near the stove, they would be around -5 to -10°C. If placed in a hanging net bag suspended in the chimney, they would be around +15°C as long as the stove was lit. Tent relative humidity typically runs near 90% so any cold camera or PDA immediately condenses a layer of water that quickly turns into a layer of ice. A small plastic bag helps keep things dry until they are warmed above the dew point. When outside for a full days worth of meteorite gathering, the ambient temperatures typically ran at about -20°C with wind chill from -35 to -40°C at 50% relative humidity. An unprotected pocket-sized camera would quickly cool down to -20°C. If kept in an outside bellows-style parka pocket, it would stay at -15 to -20°C. If kept in the mid-layer pile jacket pocket (first layer under the parka and bib wind pants), the temperatures would run around -5 to +5°C. If placed in bib-wind pants outer pocket but covered by the bottom parka skirt, temperatures would run around -10 to -15°C. It was a struggle to routinely remove a camera from the mid-layer pile pocket in -40 wind chill (having had to first remove mittens or gloves and partially unzip your parka) so the camera was kept in the bib-wind pants pocket and operated at -15°C. The camera was inserted into the bib pocket with the lanyard left hanging outside so that it could be extracted without removing your mittens by simply tugging on the string. The Canon EOS 5D was too big for a pocket and simply hung by its strap on the outside of the parka and stayed a frozen block at -25°C. One quickly optimizes which pocket to keep things by taking into account the frequency and duration of the intended use. There are two basic kinds of lithium batteries; primary (non-rechargeable) cells that are single use only, and rechargeable cells. Both are based off of different lithium-based chemistries. For primary cells, the lithium chemistry not only has higher energy densities than alkaline batteries, but will operate at temperatures of -40°C, a regime where most batteries simply die for lack of any sparks. The standard half-cell reaction for lithium produces 3.045 volts. Batteries based on this chemistry are rated at 3 volts and its multiples. Consumer electronics using AA or AAA 1.5 volt batteries are not compatible with the standard 3 volt lithium cell. There is a lithium chemistry based on iron sulfide that produces 1.5 volts and is made in AA and AAA sizes that make them ideal for replacement batteries common to most consumer electronics. So any consumer AA or AAA electronics powered by these lithium primary cells will at least have good power at low temperatures. There may be other complications due to inoperable LCD displays or thick grease in mechanical parts, but at least the electrical power will not be a factor. Once these primary lithium cells are expended, they are replaced with new ones, thus a sufficient supply of spare batteries are needed. Aside from their rather hefty cost, their performance is unparalleled. For expeditions to Antarctica, one simply shells out the dollars and buys the best. The rechargeable lithium cells are called lithium-ion batteries. These operate at 3.7 volts or its multiples and are specifically designed into the particular electronic device, thus primary cells may not be directly used as a replacement. Lithium-ion batteries have a remarkable charge capacity based off of a lithium-cobalt complex, can be recharged hundreds of times, and are cheaper and more convenient than feeding your device with a constant stream of primary cells. Lithium-ion technology has taken over consumer electronics to the point where it can now be difficult to find a devise that operates off of standard AA or AAA batteries. The problem with lithium-ion batteries is that they do not operate below 0°C. If you have cold soaked batteries and electronics, they simply will not run with lithium-ion chemistry. If one looks at the discharge curves for lithium-ion batteries, they will grudgingly squeak out some power with a significant decrease in capacity at temperatures as low as -10°C (for brief periods of time), however, they can not be charged unless the battery temperature is above 0°C. This is why the manufacturers give the lowest operating temperature of 0°C even though it is possible to use them in discharge mode below this point. If one understands these boundaries, they can be used in discharge mode to -10°C so long as they are charged above zero. Lithium-ion batteries are fussy to charge and thus typically come with "smart chargers" and sometimes even have "smart chips" built directly into the battery pack. These "smarts" monitor and regulate current and voltage while keeping an eye on the temperature. If anything is out of limits, they shut down the charging, and sometimes, permanently shut down the battery pack. Gone are the simple days of hooking a battery up to some generous supply of voltage and walking away. For lithium-ion batteries, the charger will not charge if the temperature is hovering around 0°C (these chargers either directly measure the battery temperature or measure the air temperature). For use in Antarctica, this feature can be annoying. It is heart breaking to have your discharged batteries hooked up to the charger for hours, only to find that they were just sitting there waiting to warm up. This typically happens during the field work day when your spare set of batteries are left in the (-20°C) tent to charge. Another feature of these smart battery packs is if the lithium-ion battery voltage falls significantly below its normal operating range, the smart chip built into the battery can permanently disconnect the output terminals and the battery pack becomes useless. This can serendipitously happen if the battery pack is kept warm, discharged to the low end of its limit, and then allowed to get really cold. A battery pack in this state is useless and most likely, not recoverable while in the field. Understanding these technical details is essential to keep your electronic operable. Like understanding how to tweak the governor on a go cart to make it go faster, it is possible to warp the charge/discharge cycles to extract extra cold weather performance at the expense of battery lifetime. With a little bit of electronic doctoring, the temperature sensing circuit on the charger can be disconnected. This allows the batteries to be recharged when the temperatures are dancing around zero, a condition that often happens in your tent. If you find yourself with a once working battery pack that suffered a sudden death, it may be time to perform some miracle healing which in the long run will lead to ruin, but in the short term will breath new life into the carcass. We had a nominal 8 volt lithium-ion battery pack for an HDTV video camera that simply would not charge. We did a little electrical surgery in the field, bi-passing it's built in voltage safeguards, and directly charged it with 12 volts. According to all the technical specifications, this is a real no no. We ultimately destroyed this battery; however, we were able to shoot another 60 minutes of video. Considering our location and the value of the video, the trade was worth it. As is often the case, if you understand the rules, you can selectively break them, particularly if you are willing to live with the consequences. For keeping electronics powered under Antarctic field conditions, it is best to bring devices that use AA or AAA batteries and feed them lithium primary cells. If this can not be, then one must cater to the temperature demands of rechargeable lithium-ion technology, along with having solar panels, buffer battery packs, and chargers to keep them energized. Intrinsic human behavior ultimately impacts how these devices are used in the wilderness. Even though we would be submerged in awe-inspiring beauty, natural displays of wonder so foreign to your city-honed intuition that it would make you forget your place in space and time, the intrinsic laziness of human beings would still prevail. If your camera was not readily available, if you had to remove gloves, unzip layers, thus extracting and or assembling your apparatus, the required effort to take a picture was often times simply too much. The moment would forever be lost. Only if your camera was readily available from a simple lanyard tug would every possible moment be preserved. Such is the nature of human behavior when surrounded by harsh beauty. Sanyo temperature data for their single cell 3.4 volt lithium-ion rechargeable battery. Energizer L91 primary lithium cell temperature data showing operation at -20°C.

Blue Ice

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 14:21:15 -0500

Feasting one's eyes on the robin egg hue of blue ice presents a natural beauty that rivals a rainbow. If Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, had a sister, she would surely be the goddess of blue ice. Considering the total extent of the East Antarctic ice sheet, these blue ice regions are rather small, extending for only a few kilometers, and sometimes, tens of kilometers in any direction. However, compared to the length scale of a human, these areas seem to swallow up your being in surrounded chromatic awe. The color of blue ice is the result of two complimentary processes. First, the color of water molecules in either liquid or solid form is intrinsically blue due to an absorption process called Beer’s law. Water has an absorbance in the near infrared part of the spectrum, the part that is adjacent to the red but that we can not see. The tail of this infrared absorption extends into the visible region, preferentially absorbing the red end of the spectrum. If the path length is sufficiently long, the transmitted light through both water and ice becomes blue. The problem arises in that this absorbance is so weak, it takes multi-meters of path length in either pure water or ice to impart a noticeable blue hue. Also, since only the transmitted light is blue, to see this effect the observer would have to be buried below the ice looking up towards the source of light. The second process that aides in blue ice is light scattering. Light, if traveling through a pure medium, moves forward with no obstructions. If there are particles, if there is junk suspended in the medium, then a fraction of the light is scattered and thus redirected into angles other than the forward direction. We see this in theaters with the projected spot light. In clean air, the beam is not seen, but when the stage smoke is added, the beam becomes visible due to the scattering of light. Glacier ice is like a theater set after the stage smoke has been released. It is filled with small bubbles and other particulate debris that provide sites for light scattering. Thus when sunlight falls onto glacier ice, a fraction is scattered in other directions outside of the forward path. This light may be scattered many times, like a pinball bouncing off bumpers but instead of racking up points, this process effectively increases the path length traveled by the ray. This process, for lack of a better name, is known as multiple scattering. Of the light that penetrates the glacier ice, some, after multiple scatterings, exits out in directions that we can see. Since these rays of light have traveled long distances within the ice due to multiple scattering, the weak absorbance of water results in this redirected light appearing blue. Where it might take multi-meters of ice with the observers having to be below looking up to see blue, multiple light scattering effectively collapses the equivalent path length to less than a meter of ice and redirects the light backwards so that it can be seen while standing on the surface. So the blue nature of ice coupled with multiple scattering allows an observer on the glacier surface to be treated with robin egg blue. Blue ice regions are a natural part of the glacier anatomy. Glaciers have two distinct regions: a region where snow accumulates and eventually becomes compacted into ice, and an ablation region, where the ice wastes away by melting, breaking off into the sea, or sublimation. The ablation region is typically down hill from the accumulation region, and under the affects of gravity, the ice moves slowly, perhaps a few meters per year, from the accumulation to ablation regions. The ablation regions are typically near the continental edge by the ocean. This slow icy movement causes the glacier to calve off icebergs, which then become entities of their own. It is not unusual to see blue ice in these fringe regions near the continental edge. This blue ice though, is often times covered with a layer of snow white, masking the true color and intrinsic beauty. Blue ice deep in the continental interior is different. Here we are in the heart of the accumulation zone yet these blue ice regions somehow represent small pockets of wasting, of ablation, of anti-growth. Like some diseased tissue found among the healthy, these interior blue ice regions represent a process that is opposite of the growing force. The blue ice is typically wedged up alongside of a nanatak or other mountainous obstacle. Perhaps these obstacles impede the downward flow of the ice and then these stagnate regions begin to waste away, to ablate, and become blue ice. No matter the reason, small areas of blue ice are found among the healthy growing ice tissue in the continental interior. These blue ice regions then can be fed new ice as in the "Conveyor Belt Model," or become isolated regions and simply waste away as in the "Stranded Ice Model." And both are affected by the katabatic winds. These interior blue ice regions concentrate any rocks that are contained within, including meteorites. Hence, the attraction to these remote regions by scientists in search of extraordinary bits of rubble left over as construction debris from when our solar system was built. Blue light of high purity seen from a 2 inch diameter borehole about 3 feet deep into the glacier ice. This is an example of multiple scattering in ice where the red end of the spectrum is absorbed, leaving the remaining light blue. The bore hole blue is of high purity meaning most of the light is blue (other wave lengths have been removed). When observing blue ice by surveying a glacier from normal eye level, there is often times much reflected white light mixed in with the blue, diluting its purity and making it look a pale whitish-blue. Blue ice with thin layer of firn snow and a few scatted wind-blown rocks. Blue ice sculptures. A vista of blue ice overlooking a moraine field.

Living in a Freezer

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 13:44:28 -0500

One unique aspect about Antarctica is living submerged in constant cold. While these temperatures seem extreme from the perspective of your living room back home, with the proper clothing, they become quite acceptable. Humans are remarkably adaptable and soon take to these temperatures as if they were the norm. I decided to measure the temperatures around camp and came prepared with a number of thermometers. I had four mechanical dial thermometers with six inch stems. They had a temperature range optimized for the cold: -40 to +70°C (-40 to 157°F) in one degree C increments. Calibration was done by rotating the dial bezel and then locking it in place while in a freezer back home by comparing it with a laboratory grade thermometer sensitive to 0.1 degree near -25°C. I also had a number of liquid crystal based thermometer strips depicting temperatures in five degree increments from -30 to +30°C. The segment at your temperature would be green while all the others would be dark. These strips had adhesive backing so they were great to measure the surface temperature of an object. Our team also had an electronic hand held weather instrument, a Kestrel 4000, that we recorded metrological data of temperature, barometric pressure, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind chill. Bathed in perpetual daylight, the outside air temperatures varied little throughout any 24 hour period. Out of habit, we would still refer to things as day and night even though it was daylight all the time. Habits honed by a lifetime of living are not easily broken. The air temperatures hovered at or near -20 Centigrade (-5 Fahrenheit). The glacier ice temperature, that which we had our tent set up on, remained at a constant -28°C (-19°F). This was measure at several depths down to 45 centimeters by chipping a pit in the ice. I instrumented our tent with four thermometers so that various temperatures could be simultaneously recorded depending on the sorts of activities taking place. There would be two main activities; the stove lit and the stove unlit. If we were not in the tent or if we were sleeping, the stove was not lit (for fuel conservation and fire safety). If we were in the tent and awake, the stove was lit. Day and night and independent of the stove, the floor level of our tent stayed at a constant -20 degrees Centigrade (-5 Fahrenheit). Anything set on the floor would soon be at this temperature. We have two foam mats and an air mattress rolled out over the floor that we sit and sleep on that gives us relief from thermal conduction. Your body would quickly make a small warm zone on your air mattress. At chest height, the air temperatures varied depending on whether the stove is lit. Without the stove, the air temperature hangs around -10°C (13°F), when the stove is lit, the air temperature is right near 0°C (32°F). In the chimney area of our tent without the stove lit, the air temperature is also at -10°C, however with the stove lit, it can reach a balmy +20°C (67°F). This is where we hang our damp clothes and sweaty boots to dry. Sitting on our mats while wearing two to three pairs of high-tech long johns made our tent seem nice and cozy, especially after having worked outside collecting meteorites in -40°C wind chill for the previous 6 to 8 hours. Even though the air feels very dry, the tent relative humidity stays near 85%. We experience this level of humidity all the time back home in Houston, however, the temperature being 33°C (90°F) versus -10°C makes a world of difference. I might say that I prefer -10°C and 85% to 33°C and 85%. I guess being here in Antarctica is the right place for me. When one lives in a virtual freezer, a number of silly little trials arise when going about your normal daily business of living. You wake up in the morning and everything is of course frozen. You know that your kettle of water will house a miniature glacier, which the day before was an actual glacier. But there are many little niceties of life that one does not expect to be complicated. You want to brush your teeth, only to find rock hard toothpaste, and like some worm creature that does not want to come out in the cold, it will not inch onto your waiting bristles. You run your toothbrush across a bar of soap and brush away. Toothpaste, after all, is nothing but fancy soap. What you eventually learn to do is thaw your toothpaste the night before, perhaps tucking it in the nook of a folded leg while playing Scrabble with your tentmate. Then in its semi-compliant state, you load up your toothbrush with a big worm and put it away for morning. Now you are ready to brush anytime of day. What we found was one loading of toothpaste will get you through the whole day. I will not mention what I do with my toothpaste after finishing up brushing. Most any sort of goop in a tube ends up freezing and being of little use. Sunscreen, hand lotion, and antibiotic creams are not good items to bring along. Instead, bring sunscreen stick, a jar of petroleum jelly or lanolin based hand ointment such as "Bag Balm". Antibiotic ointment, with sufficient pressure, can be coaxed out of its tube. On to cooking breakfast, one finds all the liquid condiments performing their glacier imitation. Ketchup, mustard (Grey Poupon), Tabasco, and your favorite jar of salsa, are all rock hard. They can be used of course, but only after warming. We found these could be placed near the stove, like a ring of Boy Scouts sitting around the campfire, and after a couple of hours, would be warm enough to use. For quick response, we would warm these in a pan of hot water. Warming water takes a fair amount of work to make from glacier ice. You do not really want to toss out the water used to warm jars. You ignore the swimming labels and other unidentified floaters that spall off and press ahead making tea or coffee. With a heaping spoon of freeze-dried, you will not even notice the hint of label glue. Block cheese freezes rock hard at these temperatures. We found that manageable chunks could be split off with our ice axe. We had a couple bags of pre-grated cheese. Grated cheese is the way to go in the cold. For cooking or for eating straight from the bag, next time I would go with all pre-grated. We had hamburger patties pre-packed in quantities to feed 18 people. In the field, this presented itself as one frozen lump. A brief experimental period with our snow shovel proved that this monolith could be fractured into serving sizes suitable for two hungry explorers (about 3 to 4 patties each). Tuna fish packed in a pouch is great; it is canned fish without the can. If you insist on the packed in water kind, it freezes rock hard. There are two approaches here. One is to be healthy, stay with the packed in water version and simply peel back the pouch and eat it like a tuna flavored Popsicle. The other approach is to insist on the packed in oil version and enjoy tuna at any temperature. We could of course thaw the tuna by setting it in the stove-circle of condiments, if we had sufficient foresight to do this before we wanted to chow down. Butter is manageable at -10°C. It cuts sort of like cheese when at normal room temperature. If it becomes too much colder though, it become a bit more difficult to deal with but can be sufficiently warmed if set near the stove. Our jar of virgin olive oil as if caught by a glimpse from Medusa, turned into white stone. Do not bother to bring mayonnaise. It freezes rock hard and when thawed, turns into something like a slime-creature from a B-grade sci-fi movie. Canned sweetened condensed milk remains a spoonable paste at these temperatures and works great for adding to coffee or tea. We found a version that comes in a tube and this could always be squeezed out on demand. We started to carry a tube with us in the field and would squirt some in our mouths for a quick pick-me-up. For snacks, all of the "energy bars" turn into un-edible rocks. One could easily break a tooth trying to masticate one of these. This is most unfortunate since their composition with a balance of protein, fat, and carbohydrates is perfect for some one burning calories by the bushel when surrounded by pseudo-cryogenic temperatures. They are much better for you than eating any of the standard candy bars (which also turn rock hard). We did make an interesting observation. Candy/energy bars turns rock hard and as such can not be readily eaten. However, solid chocolate bars are typically made in pre-scored sections which can be easily broken off, yielding bite-sized morsels that once popped in your mouth are thus warmed and eaten. It occurred to me that if the "energy bars" were formed in pre-scored sections like chocolate bars, one could eat them with all their food value benefit in these cold conditions. Other snacks that work well are fig bars, any of the dried fruits or fruit leather, and nuts. Dried whole dates, which I refer to as beetle bodies, are one of my favorites. The key here is to have something that comes in a bite-sized chunk and can thus be popped into your month in one piece. What we found that works well at these temperatures is peanut butter. There is nothing like attacking a jar of superchunk with a spoon. When the jar is half empty, you warm up a honey bear and mix in a good dose. This concoction will remain pliable and ready to eat down to about -15°C. Below that it turns into a glacier and moves out of the jar at about the same speed. We invented a new energy snack that works well in the cold and gives us the needed energy pick-up. We took about half a pound of butter and mixed in an equal volume of brown sugar. It makes a tasty treat that reminds any little kid of licking the mix-master beaters left in the aftermath of making cookie dough. Flour tortillas are a great form of breadstuff. Stored at tent-temperatures, they never sprout those nasty pock-marks of penicillin. Once split from the package, they warm up rather quickly and can be used as a vehicle for transporting gobs of peanut butter from the jar into your stomach. We routinely make these for lunch on the glacier when taking a necessary nourishment break from the gathering of meteorites. One time, my tentmate had his peanut butter and raspberry jelly burrito frozen too hard to eat (well below -15°C) and needed to warm it up. The most likely place to accomplish this task in the field is to slide it down your bib-overalls right near the ever steamy belly button. We started finding meteorites and in the excitement, he forgot about the burrito and where it happened to be until we returned to camp at the end of the day. During our dress down into sleeping long johns, he rediscovered the superchunk peanut butter and raspberry jelly burrito. His abdomen looked like it had been ripped apart in sticky blood and gore. One should carefully consider what sort of food items you warm within the inner sanctions of your bib-overalls. My tentmate was not to be outdone in making a big mess. Some weeks later I was in a hurry to thaw out a can of chicken. Packed in water in something that resembled a jumbo tuna can, I placed it close to the blue flames of our stove. I watched it closely, rotating the can every few minutes. The thawing progress was going way too slow so I placed just the tiniest part of a can-edge in the blue flame. I knew this could lead to catastrophe, but I was too smart to let anything happen. If you know the rules, you can break the rules. Just about that time I started to find micrometeorites in our pot of glacier melt water. I had been searching for these tiny cosmic grains for several weeks with no success and was now in the middle of a real eureka. I was peering through our portable microscope at this lovely cosmic spherule, a small extra-terrestrial speck, when I heard a muffled "woomfp". Without looking up I immediately knew my mistake. I could feel warm stands of something hanging on my cheeks. Had my face been cut to shreds from flying pieces of can? No, it was chunks of chicken. There was chicken everywhere; on my face, down my neck (and now working its way inside of my long johns), on my glasses (which I was not even wearing at the time), on the tent wall, and in my sleeping bag. Even my lab notebook was sprinkled with chicken. My first response to this explosion was very predictable. I reached for my pencil and wrote in my lab notebook, carefully scribbling around the blobs of chicken sticking to the page, "found our first cosmic spherule, about 50 micrometers diameter, Wow!; and don’t put a can of frozen chicken on the stove". I spent the next two hours cleaning up the mess. The cold clime in the Antarctic interior challenges one's temperate climate intuition in many delightful ways, and drives you into making new discoveries about your surroundings and yourself.

The Katabatic

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 18:38:01 -0500

The interior of Antarctic is cold. It is the coldest place on Earth if you discount regions in the upper atmosphere at 80 kilometer altitudes. The interior is at high altitude, varying from 8000 to 10000 feet. However, near the Antarctic coast, the temperatures are moderated by the ocean and although cold by human standards, are considerably warmer. This situation creates cold dense air up hill from warmer less dense air. Cold air, rolling down hill under the affects of gravity, creates the Katabatic Winds. In the Antarctic winter, these winds have been clocked at an 80 kilometers per hour (50 miles per hour) for weeks at a time, with gusts over 200 kilometers per hour (124 miles per hour). These are velocities approaching the take off speed for airplanes. These winds, blowing continuously at hurricane strength, tear at the Antarctic countryside like a tide without the sea. The summertime katabatic winds are gentle by comparison, hovering between 30 to 60 kilometers per hour (20 to 37 miles per hour). There is always the gusty exception. They are an ever present companion, blowing for better or worse, 24 hours a day. Perhaps one day every three weeks there would be a few hours of calm. Our Scott tents, patterned from Robert Scott's double walled tent from his 1910 era Antarctic expeditions, are said to be able to withstand 200 kilometer per hour winds. Like the big bad wolf, the Katabatics howl at your door, continuously shaking your tent. You pray that your house is not made of straw. High wind enhances the rate of heat loss due to convection, and is enhanced for humans with exposed skin due to both convection and evaporation. This increase in heat loss is equated to an equivalent lower temperature (without wind) and is referred to as wind chill. For our summertime camp, the temperatures were hovering around -20 degrees Centigrade (-5 Fahrenheit). However, with the ever present katabatic winds, we experience a wind chill or heat rate loss equivalent to no-wind temperatures of -38 to -44 degrees. At these temperatures, it does not matter what scale you use. Minus 40 degrees holds a special significance in that it is the same point on the temperature scale of both Centigrade and Fahrenheit. Bare skin does not like to be exposed to these low of temperatures. If left exposed, your cheeks will sting at least for a few minutes until such sensations stop. You have to determine if they warmed up and are now happy or continued to chill and are now numb. Either case feels the same. If they are numb, you are only minutes away from frostbite. Vigilance is needed on a minute by minute basis, paying attention to hands, feet, and face to prevent tissue from being frozen. The Katabatics are like Medusa; a brief glance will turn bare skin into white stone. A barchan dune made of about 20 millimeter diameter rocks blown by the katabatic winds. These cresent shaped rock dunes consisted of size-sorted rocks and were often good places to find meteorites. Near white-out condition in camp driven by the Katabatic wind.

Concentrated Meteorites

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 14:11:49 -0500

For some reason, meteorites are found lying on the top of Antarctic ice fields in amazing numbers, much more so than what one would find in other areas of the world. The reason for this is generally understood [ref 1], however, like so many human spawned ideas into how nature works, there are a number of details that seem to escape our explanations. And of course, like any explanation that involves the passage of time on a geologic scale, they will for the most part, remain theories. In 1969, a Japanese expedition to Antarctica discovered that meteorites are found on the ice in significantly greater abundance than what one would expect from just the normal fall rate. They proposed a number of natural mechanisms to explain this fact and scientists have been refining these theories for the last 30 years. No matter the explanation, meteorites somehow become concentrated on the glacier ice fields in Antarctica and there is great scientific utility in gathering them for study. No one really knows what Earth’s intrinsic meteorite fall rate is. Reasonable estimates based on observation can be made. It is estimated that 1000 to 10,000 tons of meteors enter Earth's atmosphere every day. Most of those burn up and never make it to the surface as a recoverable chunk of rock which we call a meteorite. A study [ref 1] in 2001 estimated the intrinsic fall rate of recoverable meteorites from a world wide network of cameras integrated over several decades. A recoverable meteorite is a chunk that survives the atmospheric entry. This study is perhaps the best estimate that can be made with real observables at this point in time. Their meteorite fall rate was one meteorite per million square kilometers per year (1/ 10⁶ km² yr) or one meteorite per 360,000 square miles per year (1/ 3.6⁵ mi² yr). This work also found that meteorites fall isotropically on Earth, a fancy way of saying that it does not matter where you are on Earth, the rate at which meteorites fall is the same. So meteorites fall in Antarctica at the same rate as any place else, there just happens to be special conditions here that not only preserves but concentrates them well above the natural abundance. We can estimate this concentration factor. Since the inception of the ANSMET meteorite gathering expeditions (starting in 1976), they have searched in detail about 2000 square kilometers and have collected 12,500 meteorites (about 2600 kilograms or 5720 pounds) as of 2003 [ref 1]. This equates to about 6.3 meteorites per square kilometer (2.3 meteorites per square mile). The age of these meteorites is measured in billions of years, however their Earth-age, the time they have been on our planet, is much younger. It is estimated that their Earth-age is somewhere around 10,000 years. If we assume that once on the glacier ice these meteorites are preserved and thus accumulated over time, then one per million square kilometers per year intrinsic fall rate yields about one per hundred square kilometers after 10,000 years. Since we find them at about 10 meteorites per square kilometer, they are somehow concentrated by about another factor of 1000. It is inferred that some mechanism is operating in the Antarctic glacier ice to concentrate the meteorites by about a factor of 1000 over the intrinsic fall rate to Earth. This concentrating mechanism, coupled with an environment that tends to preserve them, allows teams such as ANSMET to gather perhaps 800 plus meteorites in a single expedition. 1. Harvey, R.P., “The Origin and Significance of Antarctic Meteorites”, Chemie der Erde, vol. 63 (2), 93-147 (2003).

First Meteorite

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 13:41:40 -0500

We search, once again, using our mechanized sledge-dog equivalents. Forming a classic search line at the base of a blue ice region, we slowly drive across with our snow mobiles, looking for any black spot. If you see a black spot, it is a rock. If you find a rock, there is a good chance it is a meteorite. There are many theories for why this is so, mainly designed to satisfy the techno-mind of man. The bottom line is that meteorites are somehow concentrated and preserved in these blue ice regions. We are here to harvest these bits of extra-terrestrial rocks, each in its own way a small piece of the cosmic puzzle we find ourselves inserted within. Propped up on our knees to improve our visibility, we advance over the irregular surface of robin egg blue with our search line of snowmobiles. The snow mobiles take a real pounding and in turn, pass it on to us. The wind in the Antarctic interior has a special name; the Katabatics. Driven by masses of cold dense air, they blow everywhere northwards towards the coast where it is (relatively speaking) warmer. These winds in the summertime blow at 30 to 60 kilometers per hour and decrease the effective temperature for us from a reasonable -20°C to well below -40 (at -40, it does not matter what temperature scale you use), something that will frost bite bare skin in a matter of minutes. Relatively speaking, -20 seems warm. Man and women alike, as if Nature's version of affirmative action, grow beards of fuzzy ice around our balaclavas, turning everyone into a personified version of old man frost. Even though we are chilled, the realization of where we are and what we are doing drives us on, warming at least the soul and the spirit. One hundred meters away, one of our team mates is waving hands over head, the signal for "Come to Me". It means that person has found some bit of interesting rock, perhaps a meteorite, and needs a second opinion. We all converge to the spot and after a detailed look by our experts, is proclaimed "Its a Rock". We resume our search. Sometime later, another hand signal is seen. Again, another standard rock is found. This is not to be confused with crying wolf; this is all a valid part of searching. We leave no rock unturned. Another waving hand is seen, but this time there was a certain fever, a certain energy, that said this is something different. It happened to be from one of our teammates who is a meteorite expert. We all converge to the spot and there in the ice is a small button of black rock. This rock looked different than just a rock; it had a special character that said it was not of Earth. Glazed with black patina, there were crazed marks as if it had been fired in a kiln at the wrong temperature. It had an odd shape, sculpted by a fiery entry into Earth's atmosphere and naturally shaped into something similar to what rocket engineers design for the heat shields on spacecraft. Yes, this bit of rock is definitely not of Earth. With our first meteorite, we forgot about the cold while faces lit up with the smiling excitement of a child. Now it is time to get to work. The process of collection is as rigorous as we can make considering the location and working conditions. We record its location via GPS, take a photograph as it is found with sample number and length scale visible in the image. We write a description in the log book. Only then do we pick it up with sterilized tongs, and place it in a Teflon bag. A metal stamped sample number goes into the bag, folded in a separate compartment. The bag is sealed with freezer tape (normal tape does not work at this temperature) and placed in a backpack. All meteorites are kept frozen so as not to have contact with liquid water (this is easy to do while in the field). They are stored in freezer boxes in camp (just in case it might warm up above freezing) and ultimately shipped back to NASA Johnson Space Center in freezer storage. They are not allowed to thaw until they are placed within what was the original Lunar Receiving Laboratory under conditions fitting for extra-terrestrial material. This treatment may seem excessive, however these precious bits of rock can tell us stories about our solar system and we do not want to alter the possible outcome by careless contamination from human contact. It takes four people working with numb fingers a few minutes for the whole process of collection. Then we return to our snow mobiles and onwards in search of another galactic Easter egg. This day, our first day of searching, we found four meteorites in an area about two square kilometers, an amazing number considering the rather small area of search and the intrinsic fall rate. We drive back to camp cold and tired. We are ready for a hot meal and a cold sleeping bag that will not be warm until after you have been inside for a few minutes. But first we have to feed our mechanized sledge dogs. We pumped gas, tightening bolts shaken loose in the undercarriage, and put them to bed with the same care that an explorer 100 year ago might have done with his sledge dog team. We realize independent of the technology of the time that our very existence depends on our ability to travel. As a last touch, we tuck them away with snow covers, protection from the Katabatic winds, which can pack everything from the air intakes to the cylinder cooling fins with snow that sets up seemingly as hard as cement. Only after our mechano-dogs are put to bed do we do the same with ourselves. The howling wind shaking our Scott tent becomes our ever present lullaby.

The Flag of Exploration

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 17:14:44 -0500

This flag, pressed into service for a humble yet important duty, provides notification of occupancy when raised over the latrine tent.

Moving Camp

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 13:40:23 -0500

We broke camp this morning, loaded up our Nansen sledges, and formed a snow mobile convoy in the middle of Antarctica, with eight machines, occasionally blowing smoke in protest of the load. We drove from the Otway Massif to Mauger Nunatak, a section of blue ice glacier that has never been looked at before (for meteorites). The traverse was about 35 kilometers. During the traverse, a number of boxes fell off of sledges, apparently not tied on sufficiently secure. Since I tend to drive slow, I was literally picking up the rear, finding boxes of supplies that had somehow managed to wiggle loose from the constant pounding of the sastrugi structures, beautiful sculptures carved out of wind blown ice. We set up camp near an area of blue glacier ice. This field of blue ice gave off a robin egg hue in the low angle Antarctic summer sun. Even though it was summer time, the ambient temperature was -20°C. We wasted no time erecting our tents, putting the snow mobiles to bed, and firing up the stoves to make dinner for hungry travelers. One part of up camp set up was to erect the Latrine tent, complete with our improvised cardboard toilet seat. During this process, an excited voice announced the finding of our real toilet seat! Apparently, we did not forget it; it was simply hiding among the 8000 kilograms of supplies. This was welcome news. However, often times the euphoria of good news is countered by new information. Apparently, my lagging sledge had not gathered all the lost boxes of gear. At least one had escaped and was somewhere left behind. As if from O'Henry's "Gift of the Magi," the lost box contained our expedition's supply of toilet paper (Note: we managed in a rather short time to recover this lost box). Sno-mo ready to pull a double Nansen sledge for our 35 km traverse from the Otway Massif to the Mauger Nanatak. A collection of sno-mos with sledges stopping during the traverse to tie on boxes that had fallen off. Murphy's law on ice; there were a number of times when we tried to see how the sledges worked if up-side-down or sideways.

Deployment

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 13:21:53 -0500

We deployed to the Grosvenor Mountain region in the Trans-Antarctic Mountains. The actual landing area is a natural stretch of ice and snow near the Otway Massif. Apparently there is a sufficiently long enough stretch of icy snow to land the rather largish C-130 cargo plane. We loaded up from McMurdo and departed from William Field, referred to by the locals as Willie. This field is located on the more permanent McMurdo ice shelf and does not melt each summer like the sea ice runway located a stone’s throw away from McMurdo. The departure was uneventful, just like you want them to be. En-route to the Otway Massif, a trip to the flight deck was on the must do list. The pilot and navigator were looking at the approach plate for the Otway Massif, which I found surprising that there was even one in existence. An approach plate is a sort of a localized map that tells a pilot important things about the place they are about to land. It has information like the direction of the runway, the length, the width, the altitude, the descent altitude profile so that you do not run into obstacles, and more. Their approach plate was this nearly blank piece of paper with a little line drawn showing the runway heading. The length was listed as "unknown." So was the width. About the only number shown was the altitude. This map looked like it came from Lewis Carol's "Hunting of the Snark" where the Captain, (in search of a Snark) was guided by a completely blank map. We made a low pass to give things a quick look-see before we went in for real. The landing was smooth and uneventful, just like you want them to be. Those C-130 boys from the New York Airguard know what they are doing. After landing the first thing was to unload the palletized gear. Like some giant mechanized dog giving birth to a litter of puppies, the back ramp was lowered while still taxiing and out popped three pallets of gear, neatly spaced about 50 meters apart in the blowing snow. Like storm troopers, our party came to life by jumping out and ran after the newborn litter of puppies. The C-130 was obligated to stay until we had at least one tent set up, one stove burning, and radio contact with McMurdo. They did not turn off their engines. We gave them the thumbs up and they taxied away. Their departure was labored; taking an unknown distance down the unknown runway to get up to take off speed. Just when it looked like they were not gaining any more speed, rockets fixed to each side of the fuselage, fired and the C-130 lumbered into the air leaving us standing in a huge cloud of blowing snow and acrid rocket fumes. Ah, that smell is perfume to my nose. Euphoria filled my being. There was a tinge of relief for now we knew the expedition was going to happen. I think this is a fear of any explorer, for reasons outside your control; your mission might be terminated before it begins. The acrid snow-mixed fumes were our seal of approval, the stamp that we were here and the exploration for meteorites can now begin. I have had this feeling before. The departure of a drop off vehicle signals that there is no going back. This was the feeling when the Space Shuttle Endeavor pulled away from the International Space Station, leaving Expedition 6 to carry on. For missions of six weeks, or six months, the feelings are the same. Left standing in the middle of -20 degree nowhere, I was elated. After this reflective pause, perhaps a duration of 30 seconds, I went to work setting up camp with my team mates before we froze. Next came the opposite flail of packing. As if attempting to reverse the ebbing tides of entropy and put all our gear back in the form from whence it came, we struggled with metal banding straps, and tie down winches with brittle wind chilled fingers. One of the first items to literally roll off the pallets was the snow mobiles. These things are like half mechanized dog half mechanized mule (especially when it comes time to start them). But once they stop blowing smoke, they are happy to do mountains of hard labor for you. We loaded up our Nansen sledges, wooden sledges that differ little from what folks had during the turn of last century. We set up a base camp for eight. All this time our snow mobiles were pulling back-breaking loads much what dogs would have done a century ago. We set up a special tent reserved for the latrine. A tent, protecting one from the wind, is a nice feature to have considering the magnitude of the wind chill. Even the best laid plans sometimes turn up with small oversights, and such was the case for us. Within all the 8000 kilograms of gear, we could not find our toilet seat. Sitting on the cold rim of a 5 gallon bucket was not our idea of a comfy private spell. My tent mate, a very crafty member of our team, came to the rescue. He fabricated a replacement seat from a piece of thick cardboard. As Jonathan Swift pointed out, necessity is the mother of invention.

Ready to Deploy

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 13:38:40 -0500

Tomorrow, December 8th, we deploy to the ice fields in the Grosvenor Mountains via a C-130 military cargo plane. If you consider that we are living across the International Date Line, thus being one day ahead of the States, we will deploy about the same time as the first launch attempt for STS-116 to the International Space Station. I have friends and classmates aboard and want to follow along, but alas, we will be busy with our own mission work (and out of range from the NASA TV coverage). Perhaps after the set-up-the-camp struggle, we can make a quick call via satellite phone to Mission Control and find out the launch status. Apparently, at the Grosvenor area there is a sufficiently long and flat section of natural ice for the rather largish C-130 to use as an improvised runway. Originally, I thought that we would first fly to the South Pole via C-130 which has a prepared runway and then fly to the Grosvenor Mountain area via Twin Otter, a much smaller plane that does not consume runways like the heavy transport airplanes. By flying directly to our search area in a C-130, we can get everything deployed in two trips, a real savings over the number of loads if delivered by the diminutive Twin Otter. Our total mass of gear is over 8000 kilograms (18000 pounds) for our party of eight. This is well within the load limit of one C-130 trip, however, they wanted a light first load to familiarize themselves with the natural ice-flat runway so it was decided to make two trips for safety reasons. If your pound of flesh is aboard this flying cargo machine, it is difficult to object to such reasoning. The weather forecast is iffy. High winds and possible low ceilings are forecast, not a good thing if you are landing 400 kilometer (240 miles) from the South Pole to land on an uncertain natural stretch of ice. We may be drinking coffee in the McMurdo cafeteria until this front blows through. I am constantly reminded of the similarities between Antarctic and space explorations. There are the hectic pre-mission days where preparations seem to suck the hours into some cosmic black hole, leaving everyone to ponder where the time went. Then there is the never ending issue with stowage of gear. When humans go off into a harsh frontier, a place where we were not intrinsically meant to be, the only way you can survive is to bring equipment that provides you with the necessities of life. You must stow all this gear way in your vehicle, and know where everything is packed so you can find it. Seemingly simple tasks that in practice are always more difficult than theory, and always seem to gobble time by the hour. And then there is the ever present weather, whether for going into space or goings on Earth that forces one to sit back and sip coffee. Perhaps this is a gift from Nature, an imposed rest break for us humans driven by self-imposed schedules.

Training Camp

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 13:37:20 -0500

Before one is dropped off in the middle of this continent for six weeks of living in a Scott tent, it is wise to make certain your team knows how to deal with the necessities of camping.

McMurdo Station

Sun, 03 Dec 2006 13:35:41 -0500

McMurdo is part frontier town and part science lab. A delightful place that somehow attracts explorers, scientists, and misfits that need some form of temporary escape from the inherent organization of our civilized places back home. My first impression is something from a B-grade western set in some obscure mining town, where life centers around one main street paved with ankle deep mud and rimmed by board sidewalks. Life in McMurdo also centers around the main street, filled with a mix of pedestrians, mud-caked dump trucks, loaders, various cleated tractor conveyances, and Mongo trucks with tires that truly look like a jolly fat Michelin Man. These trucks look like they are fed a mixture of gasoline and steroids. The streets in McMurdo are paved with mud, a coarse mixture derived from volcanic sediments, which remain frozen hard in the shade and slush in the sun. If you do not watch your step, you can easily sink in over the tops of your hiking shoes. Yes, this place is like a B-grade western except there are no board sidewalks. Six fat tires on a Mongo truck with one flat tire. The streets of McMurdo; filled with half slush and half mud in the middle of a hot summer afternoon.

Confusion in the Southern Hemisphere

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 14:12:40 -0500

People who grew up in the northern hemisphere often times find it a bit confusing when they first travel southward to New Zealand.

The Grosvenor Mountains

Sat, 25 Nov 2006 13:31:28 -0500

This year's ANSMET search area for meteorites is in the Grosvenor (pronounced 'Grovnor') Mountains, a section in the Trans-Antarctic Mountain range. This mountain range goes from McMurdo Station near the coast and travels northwest into the interior (west of the geographic South Pole). At first I found the idea of an eastward and westward direction a bit confusing when every direction you travel from the south pole is north. However the cartographers have logically worked this all out by defining that when looking at a map of Antarctica with the 0 degree longitude line "up," everything to the right of this longitude is east and everything to the left is west. This makes sense since this corresponds with the normal labels of east and west longitude. So our search area, the Grosvenor Mountains, are located at about 86 degrees south latitude and 175 degrees east longitude which places our base camp about 400 kilometers (240 miles) from the south pole. To get to our base camp is not as straight forward as say, flying from Los Angeles to Houston. We first fly to McMurdo Station from Christchurch via C-17 military transport, about an eight hour flight and 3900 kilometers (2400 miles). From McMurdo, we receive a few days worth of glacier training and then fly via C-130 to our base camp. At least this is our planned routing at this time. Let us see how these travels really unfold.

Thanksgiving Late but not Late

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 22:18:29 -0500

Our team has found our way to Christchurch, New Zealand where we are making our preparations for deployment to the ice. The United States Antarctic Program is located at the Christchurch airport where scientists are issued their heavy Antarctic clothing, pack all their scientific gear, and load up on one of several military transport planes (either a C-17 or the tried and true C-130) that fly to the main US base in Antarctica, McMurdo Station. This whole process takes a couple of days to get ready for deployment. Consumed in the business of preparations, we suddenly realized that we had forgotten all about the Thanksgiving holiday! Sometimes Americans forget that holidays sacred to us pass by in other countries without note. We discovered this minor lapse in memory on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. However, a reasonable compromise soon came to mind. Since New Zealand is across the International Date Line from the US, we are a day head of everyone back home. It being Friday here is actually Thursday back in the States. So the solution to this problem became apparent. We celebrated our Thanksgiving on Friday evening in New Zealand which just happened to be the same time that all our families back home were also celebrating.

Leaving for New Zealand

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:35:38 -0500

All the USA operations in Antarctica stage from Christchurch New Zealand, a delightful place in a country filled with equally delightful people.

Chronicles on Ice

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 15:03:55 -0500

The Antarctic Search for Meteorites or ANSMET is a yearly expedition to gather meteorites that naturally concentrate on the Antarctic glaciers.

Splash Up + 1 Day

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 03:56:42 -0400

Our first full day back on the surface of the Earth was spent debriefing the mission, preparing for our return to Houston, conducting media interviews, and reflecting on the mission. We conducted science debriefs with the Center for Minimal Access Surgery and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, and mission debriefs with the National Undersea Research Center. We also conducted interviews to support documentaries being produced about the mission for television stations in Germany and Canada. Looking back on the mission I am filled with an extreme sense of gratitude for having been given this incredible blessing and an extreme sense of awe of the experience itself. I am filled with a sense of contentment for how we as the crew of NEEMO 9 conducted the mission, the accomplishments of the mission and for what this mission will mean for our space program and health care providers. I am very thankful for being able to be a part of this important mission and I am thankful for the interest and prayers that all of you have given to my crewmates and me.

Splashup +1 day

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 00:04:21 -0400

More debriefs and interviews today, and then we were set free. Felt a little weird to be wrapping it all up after the time it took to finally get here. I would like to close my journal by thanking my fellow crew members. We had a great team, we still love each other, and I think it’s nice to be able to look at our successful mission as a reflection of a crew that believes in the exploration objectives we were focused on and most of all that really enjoyed working together. You guys are the greatest!!

Splash Up (Splash Down +17 Days/Mission Day 18)

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 03:53:49 -0400

Everyone was out of their bunks early today in order to ensure everything was ready for splashup. We finished our final packing while ensuring that the habitat was cleaned and configured for us to depart and leave Aquarius untended. At about 8:30 am, shortly after reaching sea level pressure we initiated blowdown. At this point most of the nitrogen that was absorbed by our bodies due to the increased pressure was released and the threat of decompression sickness was reduced to a safe level. In blowdown the pressure of the habitat was rapidly brought from the sea level pressure achieved during decompression to two and a half times sea level pressure in order to equalize the pressure inside and outside of the habitat. Once the pressure equalized with the ambient conditions the hatch that was sealed prior to decompression was opened and all six of us proceeded to the wet porch where we were greeted by the safety divers who escorted us to the surface. After 18 days of wearing heavy cumbersome equipment it was very nice to simply put on a scuba mask, fins and a hold a small bottle of air in our hand as we departed the wet porch into the ocean. As we slowly ascended up the line that stretched from Aquarius to the boat that would take us back to Key Largo, I found my self looking back at Aquarius and saying goodbye to the incredible place that we had called home for the past 18 days. I also found myself looking up to the surface and reflecting on how wonderful it would be to arrive back on land and start the process of reuniting with my family. Nicole led us up the line followed by Tim, myself, Dave, Ross and Jim. It was a wonderful feeling when my head popped out of the water. The two things I remember most about that moment were the smell and the Moon. As soon as I took my first breath on the surface I thought to myself, “What's that smell” but then I immediately remembered that the smell was the smell of fresh air. Also in those first moments after surfacing I saw a bright half moon directly over head. I thought that it was wonderful to see the moon first after surfacing because we had just spent the last 18 days simulating that we were on the Moon and it is my hope that the accomplishments of the mission will help humanity return to the Moon. After climbing onboard the Research Vessel Legacy and shaking hands with those on the boat I saw another boat about 100 yards away with some of the family members, friends and colleagues that arrived to celebrate the end of the mission. Some of them were on the boat while others were in the water snorkeling and watching us ascend from Aquarius. It was great seeing so many smile faces including my Godson Roman (Nicole and Chris' son). We were blessed with an incredibly beautiful day for splashup. The Sun was shinning the temperature was perfect and the sea was calm. We took a wonderfully enjoyable ride back into port and during the trip I had some time to reflect on the mission and the realization that it will take a very long time before I will be able to fully mentally process the experience. When we arrived back at NURC base there were more family members, friends, and colleagues waiting for us at the dock. It was great to see everyone and to witness touching family reunions. As I write this I am 36,000' above the Gulf Coast, about 1 hour away from landing in Houston. I am very much looking forward to reuniting with my family. The rest day of Thursday was spent unpacking, doing wash, medical evaluations and phone calls to report our safe return to the surface of the Earth. Thursday evening we had a wonderful party at an ocean front home of friends of the NEEMO team. Many people flew in from all around the US and Canada to celebrate the success of the mission. Speeches were made and tokens of thanksgiving awarded by the crew to key people who helped the mission. One of the speeches was from Scott Carpenter. I had a very nice talk with him during the evening. We share an interest in renewable energy and it was very interesting to hear his view on where energy production should be headed. It was an absolutely beautiful night with a star filled sky. We were even blessed with a fly by of the International Space Station during the party. All in all it was a wonderful way to end an incredible mission.

Splashup!

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 00:53:40 -0400

Today at approximately 0845 we made our way to the surface, aka splashup. Tim was right -- bittersweet is a good word to use for how the quiet 2 minute swim to the surface felt. We moved away from Aquarius and the boat waiting above us seemed to appear too quickly, but at the same time seeing my family waiting for me on the surface couldn't come quickly enough. Otter, Roger, and Doug were our escort divers. We followed Roger up the line --- I was first, followed closely by Tim, Ron, Dave, Ross and Jim. We came out of the water at the ladder to the boat, and were greeted by fresh warm air, calm seas, a beautiful blue sky with moon in view, and Otto ready to help us up. Especially nice for me was seeing the other boat waiting across the water from us -- my son Roman, and my mom and sister Noelle and baby Chase were there smiling and waving to us. It was really special to have them there (even though I couldn't give the munchkin big hugs yet). I'm very thankful to Tammy and Dr. Anvari for including my family on their welcoming boat. Our boat ride back was filled with smiling and photo ops and sharing stories with our topside support friends who were there with us. It was nice to share the ride back with them after all they had helped us with during the mission. As we rode off, the Sabina (another one of the NURC boats) stayed behind with James and Otter and the other divers that would spend the day doing all of the final post-mission securing of Aquarius. These guys work hard out here to make this all happen for us! Back at the dock there were more friendly faces waiting for us -- most notably were Dave's family. Very nice to watch Olivia and Evan welcoming their daddy back. I know how happy Dave was to see them and Kathy, and it was nice for us to have Kathy there to grab a hug from too. I think it's important that our families have as much opportunity as possible to share in the things we get to do. We all grabbed a quick shower and a quick lunch (well...not exactly, think we all took the chance to enjoy a nice long shower), before the day got busy again with a medical exam and some debriefs. We wrapped up the day with a great party. The whole team was there, along with our families and some other special guests. It was very nice to have Lee Morin and Kevin Ford join us from Houston. Scott Carpenter was also there, and we all had the chance to talk with him a little bit about his space and undersea adventures and to thank him for the phone call. Topping it off was a beautiful view of the ISS flying across the clear sky overhead (thanks to Kevin for pointing it out to us). Number one guest for me though was my husband Chris who was able to make it to town in time for the party!

Splash Down + 16 Days

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 03:51:49 -0400

Today is our last full day on Aquarius. As the mission draws to a close I find myself contending with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I am very much looking forward to reuniting with my family back in Houston but on the other hand, I am going to miss being a resident of Conch Reef. Dave, Tim, Nicole and I conducted our last excursion this morning. We all headed South East just after 8:00am to retrieve cargo from a simulated lunar cargo ship that landed in the vicinity of the habitat the night before. Based on a rough idea of the landing coordinates from Mission Control we devised a search plan and succeeded in finding the cargo ship in the vicinity of the Kamper fill station shortly after starting the search. We retrieved the cargo (peanut butter cookies) and then proceeded back to the sand patch that is home to Aquarius to dismantle Waterlab (not before Ross took a picture of our successful aquanaut construction team). After we accomplished all our dive objectives we had about a half an hour left to simply enjoy the ocean and say goodbye to our neighbors. As the dive was ending and we approached the wet porch, we all realized that this was the last time for this mission that we would be able to fully enjoy our undersea world. After the dive we all packed up our remaining equipment and belongings as Jim and Ross started initial preparation for decompression. I can't possibly give enough praise to describe the outstanding and professional job that Jim Buckley and Ross Hein did on this mission. The success of this mission is due in large part to their incredible talent and dedication. In addition to the all the help they gave us during the mission we also owe them a great debt of gratitude for the 18 day marine biology tutorial they provided us. Both Jim and Ross possess a wealth of knowledge of the undersea world. Beside the knowledge they passed on to us they also greatly enhanced our overall experience on Aquarius. We also had the opportunity to talk to Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter who came to NURC to congratulate us on a successful mission. Besides being one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts he also was instrumental in the SeaLab undersea research program and was the first person to become both an astronaut and aquanaut. It was great speaking with him. About 4:00 pm we started the process of slowly bring the pressure of the habitat down to sea level pressure. For the last 17 hours of the mission our crew increased to 7 with the arrival of James Talacek. James was responsible for monitoring the Aquarius systems during the initial decompression and monitoring the crew for signs of decompression sickness and oxygen toxicity. Before starting the venting of the habitat atmosphere, the heavy steel hatch that separates the wet porch from the entry lock was closed, sealing the crew of seven inside Aquarius. As we started the decompression the six NEEMO 9 crew members climbed into our bunks and started a series of 20 minutes breathing 100% oxygen 5 minutes off oxygen. We continued this series for 3 cycles to help flush nitrogen from our bodies. For the next 17 hours as the pressure inside Aquarius slowly dropped toward sea level pressure we spent most of the time watching movies on a portable DVD player that we set up just below the view port in the bunk room. After such a busy mission it was very nice to be able to relax during the last part of the mission. As night fell it was a very interesting experience to watch movies while just above the monitor playing the movie the busyness of the undersea world continued in plain view. Schools of fish were highlighted in the spotlight off the bow of Aquarius, 300 pound Groupers (Stella & Lucy) lumbered past the view port continuously while the sudden disappearance of the schools of fish signaled the arrival of Barracudas. To be able to enjoy a movie while simultaneously enjoying our last look at the sea life was a very relaxing and rewarding experience. We fell asleep in our bunks as Jim, Ross, and James took turns monitoring the decompression through the night.

Splashdown +16 days

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 00:45:20 -0400

It was a little strange waking up this morning and knowing that tonight will be the last night we spend on board Aquarius. I'm really pleased with how quickly Aquarius became such a comfortable place to live and work. It gives me hope that someday if I'm privileged to spend an extended time on board the ISS, that it will also be as welcoming and comfortable. I look forward to comparing the beauty that surrounds them both. We suited up early this morning for our final dive excursion outside the habitat. Our first task was to search for the cargo vehicle (which had been relocated from where we found it yesterday --- that would have been too easy). So Tim attached a cave reel at the 75 meter point on the Kamper excursion line, unreeled about 50 ft , we all picked a spot on the line about 10 feet apart, and proceeded to swim together with the line making an arc to search for the cargo vehicle. After swimming on the arc for no more than 20 degrees we had the vehicle in sight. Dave retrieved it (aka, red plastic coffee container); we reeled in the line, and returned to the habitat. We then continued our dive with the disassembly of waterlab -- came down pretty quickly with 5 people (Ross joined us for a little while too). Kind of sad to see it back in pieces again on the sea floor. We still had about 30 minutes left in the dive, so we took advantage of the time by swimming leisurely around the habitat together. It was very nice to have the time to take another close look at our home of the last 17 days. I don't know how better to describe it than very simply as an amazingly beautiful place. From a distance it has kind of rusty colored look to it, but as you get closer the details are impressive. The hull of Aquarius, especially the bottom, is like a beautiful, dynamic garden of multicolored soft and hard corals, sponges, tube worms, sea fans and other little sea creatures that have made it their home. We've been especially blessed with the opportunity to share their home with them. This afternoon we started cleaning up the place in preparation for our decompression ("deco") of the habitat that will take place over the next 18 hours and for our departure to the surface tomorrow. James Talicek, one of our topside support divers, will be joining us shortly to ride out the deco with us. (Rumor has it he'll be bringing some yummy ribs and chicken to eat!) During this time we had a phone call from Scott Carpenter. He was calling to congratulate us on a successful mission and to remind us that we should never forget how special and important our undersea experience is. Having a Mercury 7 astronaut and Sea Lab aquanaut sharing his experience with us and telling us how important he thinks the things we're doing are -- How cool is that?! Deco will start when we close the door to the wet porch and begin decompressing the habitat volume by venting to the surface over a 16 hour period. At the start, we'll all be in our bunks on oxygen masks for 70 minutes. The goal of this whole process will be to bring us slowly back to surface pressure of 1 atmosphere, and to eliminate the nitrogen from our bodies in the most efficient way. After our O2 session we will be free to move about the cabin again. Our plan is to watch some dvd's and catch up on photo management and our journals. Throughout the night Jim, Ross, and James will be taking shifts to manage the decompression. At about 0830 tomorrow morning we will hold pressure at 1 atm until we get the "go" from topside to quickly repressurize to 45 feet of sea water. As soon as that repressurization is complete we will open the wet porch hatch and be greeted by our escort divers. We'll have on our bathing suits, mask, fins and a pony bottle of air and will make our way together on a 2 minute ascent to the surface. I have to imagine that we'll all be holding on to the line looking back at Aquarius beneath us and thinking about what a fantastic mission this has been. I'm thankful to have been given the opportunity to participate in this mission with such a great crew. We accomplished all our tasks successfully and I know we learned a lot of lessons to pass on for both future NEEMO missions and for the future exploration of space. In the words of my crewmate Tim Broderick, leaving Aquarius and our NEEMO 9 family is bittersweet --- as sad as we are to leave this amazing place we are equally excited to be reunited with our family and friends on the surface.

Splash Down + 15 Days

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 03:50:46 -0400

Today was our last full day of science. The day started out with all of us conducting live radio and television interviews. The interviews were consecutive 10 minute segments with WLW Radio (Cincinnati), CTV Morning Show (Toronto), CH 13 Fox TV (Tampa), CH 26 Fox TV (Houston), and CH 19 Fox TV (Cincinnati). There really seemed to be a lot of interest in the mission. Immediately after the interviews Dave and hustled into our sea walk gear and conducted a two hour evaluation of our CobraTac navigation system while Nicole and Tim supported the evaluation from inside the habitat. After the excursion Dave and I had just enough time to come inside get something quick to eat before all four of us went back outside on another two hour scuba dive. We finished the construction of Waterlab and hoisted a Pirate flag on top of the 25' structure to recognize this significant accomplishment. Then Tim and Nicole, conducted an evaluation of a search mission and diver tracking system directed by Mission Control in Houston while Dave and I finished securing waterlab and photo documenting the condition of Aquarius. Immediately after the excursion we conducted another round of consecutive live media interviews. The afternoon interviews were with: CH 3 ABC (Wilmington NC), Associated Press TV (Washington DC), ARD/NDR German Television, and Greener Magazine (Internet). We also conducted a videoconference to discuss the highlights of our science activities with the US Army's Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center. After the videoconference I took the opportunity to go outside on a system called Hookah. Hookah uses a light weight umbilical to connect to the habitat's air supply. After almost a month of wearing heavy cumbersome gear it was very liberating to go outside exploring with what felt like nothing more than a small scuba mask. I left the habitat solo just before dark and simply swam around and under the habitat and visited our neighbors. I had time while I was out there to reflect on the mission in silence as the undersea world grew dark. This was the first time since arriving at Aquarius that I was able to go outside by myself, without the constant crackle of our communication gear and "pinging" of our diver tracking system. It was a very peaceful and rewarding experience. There is a tremendous diversity of sea life that resides near Aquarius. The fish are so used to us being here that they come right up to us. Some are very curious. After my dive we finished our paperwork and chores and called it a night. This has been a very full and rewarding day.

Splash Down + 14 Days

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 03:49:31 -0400

After a wonderful Easter and a much needed day of rest we stepped right back into our fast pace. This morning Tim and Nicole conducted a Superlite sea walk to compare the effectiveness of a grid search using the ROV vs. a human search party. Dave supported their sea walk as their IV while I conducted three media interviews and two education outreach events. I discussed the significance of our mission's science objectives and how they support the vision for space exploration with the Houston Chronicle, a radio station in Asheville NC, and space.com in NY. During the education outreach I talked to students across the US and Canada about our mission. In the afternoon Dave and I conducted a sea walk to finish construction of Waterlab with some help from our ROV we affectionately named Skuttle. In the evening we participated in a creativity study, uploaded tomorrow's missions (sent to us from Mission Control) into our Cobra Tac navigation system, and evaluated the ROV's ability to illuminate objects and operate at night. Tomorrow is our last full day of science before we start gearing up for splash-up. I really feel that the mission is starting to draw to a close. I know that I am going to treasure this experience and will miss living and working in this beautiful undersea world.

Splash Down + 13 Days

Mon, 17 Apr 2006 03:47:42 -0400

What a unique place to wake up on Easter morning. Last night during our dive I had time to reflect on the incredible blessing we all have been given to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord while marveling at God's undersea creation. Dave brought some STS-107 pins with us on the mission. We decided that Easter was a perfect day to honor our friends who perished in the Columbia tragedy by laying an STS-107 pin on the reef off the bow of Aquarius. Dave went outside on a system called hookah which consist of an umbilical attached to an air source in Aquarius. He proceeded to the bow of Aquarius and placed the pin in a secure place on the reef. We filmed and photographed him from within Aquarius while he photographed the pin directly. Today we also had cargo deliveries from the NURC topside divers. One of the big objectives was to take most of our scientific hardware back to the surface. The willingness to work on Easter is a perfect example of the dedication and selflessness of the topside team. Among the goods that arrived was an Easter basket and cards for each of us from the team. Another highlight of the day was our family videoconferences. It was great to see Carmel and the boys. While I was on the video conference we patched in to Italy with Msgr. Sable who is close friend of my family that lives and works at the Vatican. He led my family and the entire crew in an Easter prayer service, blessed our mission and said a special blessing for the laying of the STS-107 pin in the reef. It was an incredible experience to share such as special Easter service, led by a very good friend on the other side of the ocean, with my family, while on the bottom of the ocean. This is without a doubt the most unique Easter I have ever experienced. I think it will take a very long time before I will be able to fully reflect on the tremendous opportunity and blessing that I have been given. We spent the rest of the day operating the ROV and I could be mistaken but at one point I thought I saw a bunny riding on the top. I think someone thought it was a good idea to bungee an Easter Bunny to the ROV. We achieved all our test objectives. The mission is drawing to a close and I definitely have mixed feelings. I am very much looking forward to reuniting with my family but I know I'm going to miss Aquarius. Happy Easter 2006!

Splashdown +13 days

Mon, 17 Apr 2006 01:33:38 -0400

Easter Sunday on Aquarius. We woke up without an alarm and basically had the day off. We had a special celebration of Easter at the end of Ron's family conference. Ron called his friend Monsignor Sable in Rome and he shared some short Easter readings and prayers with us, blessed Aquarius and its crews, and said a blessing for an STS 107 pin we were going to place out on the reef later in the day. And later in the day Dave did just that and placed the pin in a beautiful piece of reef just off the bow of Aquarius. The rest of the day we spent catching up on crew photos, talking with our families, and helping Jim and Ross get some of the equipment we won't need any more for the mission ready to be sent topside. We also had a little time to take the ROV out for a run. The Easter bunny, aka Scuttle Bunny down here on Aquarius, was somewhere out on the reef and needed a ride home. We were happy to provide assistance! Thanks to our topside team for the relaxing timeline for our Easter Sunday and for the yummy chocolates and very funny cards they sent to us. They know how to take care of us!

Splash Down + 12 Days

Sun, 16 Apr 2006 03:46:46 -0400

Again today we had computer problems that threatened to bring our planned science activities to a halt. We had to replan on the fly. We substituted the University of Nebraska mini surgical robot in for the EEG experiment and Tim and Nicole went outside to work on Waterlab. Later in the day Dave and I conducted an evaluation of the utility of using the ROV to conduct a detailed grid search. The ROV in conjunction with the diver tracking system allowed us to ensure that we covered the intended search pattern but the ROV umbilical presented us with a big challenge to avoid becoming fouled on the reef. At dusk Dave, Tim, Nicole, and I departed Aquarius on a night dive. It is very interesting that at some point in the mission, leaving the habitat no longer felt like going on a scuba dive. It now simply feels like we are going outside. The four of us proceeded East from Aquarius just as the undersea world was getting dark. We traversed far enough away from Aquarius to escape the glow of the habitat lights. Nicole and I proceeded down one sand finger off the reef and Dave and Tim proceeded down another about 10 yards away. We all settled down into our sand patch observation spots 70 feet below the surface, turned out our lights and watched in total amazement as the undersea world came to life. It was probably the most awe inspiring sight I have ever seen. With a full Moon overhead the lights of bioluminescent plankton started to shine all around us. It was as if we were surrounded by thousands of blue stars. Anything we moved through the water created swirls of blue lights as we displaced the plankton. It was incredible to watch each other as each kick of a fin or each move of a hand created an incredible light show. It was a very surrealistic experience. I saw many new creatures that I have not seen in the daytime. There were different species of fish and the life on the reef became more animated. All in all we spent 2 hours on the reef. As we traversed back to the habitat the view reminded me of flying at high altitude toward a city at night. At first the horizon started to glow from the lights of our "undersea city", as we got closer we started to see more and more detail and then we were able to make out individual lights. We spent some time exploring the night time world around our habitat and visiting with some of our neighbors. The four of us also popped up to the main lock view port and Ross took a picture of us outside. After returning inside the habitat and getting out of our gear we all sat down around the galley table and shared our impressions of the experience over a round of hot chocolates. We did not get back into the main lock until after 11:00pm. It has been a long but memorable day. I am looking forward to my first Easter on the bottom of the ocean.

Splashdown +12 days

Sun, 16 Apr 2006 02:22:32 -0400

This morning we woke up to start another day filled with the CMAS1 EEG task. Unfortunately we had some equipment issues that prevented us from performing the tasks. Tim and Dave did a lot of troubleshooting that hopefully will help the principal investigators determine the cause of the problem. So we had to replan the day. Tim and I went out on the SCUBA rigs and did a 2 and 1/2 hour dive working on Waterlab. We almost finished the construction. Really enjoyed the work again on Waterlab, and it was a different experience this time working it on SCUBA rather than the Superlites. We both got a little chilly on the dive and were thankful to Ross for the nice cup of hot chocolate when we staged in. After we warmed up, I got to work the University of Nebraska In Vivo Robot experiment. This involves testing small robots that would be used inside a patient to provide a surgeon with better views. The tasks were performed with the surgical instruments inserted through a metal box to simulate the patient, with the little robots inside. The tasks were timed and involved passing a rope, stretching and cutting pieces of rubber bands, and a simulated removal of an appendix. We topped things off with our crew night dive. We spent 2 hours out on the reef and around the habitat. It was an amazing dive. Very quiet and very dark when we had our lights off. The coolest thing was the bioluminescence. We were presented with a beautiful show of what appeared to be a blanket of little blue stars all around us. We sat on the bottom and watched the show around us. We "made" stars by blowing bubbles, waving our arms through the water, and watching them come off the ends of each others fins moving ahead of one another. It's really impressive how a simple chemical reaction inside some tiny little creatures can create such an incredibly beautiful display of nature.

Splash Down + 11 Days

Sat, 15 Apr 2006 03:31:15 -0400

Today started out with Dave and Nicole continuing the construction of WaterLab with me working as their IV. The IV is the crewmember who choreographs the extravehicular activity (EVA). It was an exciting time backing up Dave and Nicole on their construction, while simultaneously controlling the dive, setting up the ROV to be controlled from Houston, monitoring ROV operation, while Ross and Jim worked through communication problems. Dave and Nicole did a great job on the construction and we incorporated the ROV into the construction tasks. Mission Control used the ROV to provide appropriate camera views and retrieve and handoff tools and construction parts. It was a very successful excursion. Dave and Nicole's families in Houston were able to go to Mission Control and view the dive. At one point Nicole and Chris' 3 year old son Roman (Roman is also Carmel and my Godson) came on the loops and said, "Mommy do you see any sharks down there - OVER". I thought the "Over" part was especially cute. Later in the day Tim and I went out and conducted an evaluation of the CobraTac navigation system. With our SuperLite helmets on Tim and I evaluated the effectiveness of using the CobraTac navigation system to accomplish a detailed grid search. The system worked well. While I was walking on the bottom and concentrating on the navigation system, Tim informed me that there was a rather large Atlantic Stingray buried in the sand about three steps ahead. I could tell by the look in the two eyes that were popping out of the sand the Ray was thinking, "go ahead take another step and make my day" One of the big lessons that we learned was that real time electronic tracking (via the LinkQuest diver tracking system) significantly increased the effectiveness of a grid search and ensured that we covered the intended search area. Before we left Houston I initiated the development of a Surface Exploration Lessons Learned database. We have been able to enter the key points that we have learned directly into the data base during this mission. It is very important to be able to capture and document what we're learning so the architects of our Nation's Vision for Space Exploration can use the data when developing lunar exploration missions. I continue to notice more and more of the undersea world that we have become residents of. The behavior of the sea life is very fascinating. This morning I was looking out the main view port at a school of about 100 Blue Chromis and they appeared to be moving in unison. It did not appear as a leader moved and the rest followed. It appeared that they all moved simultaneously in unison. Later a nurse shark was patrolling around our main view port. It's also fascinating to watch hunting parties of large Permit form up and begin patrol.

Splashdown +11 days

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 23:50:53 -0400

Started the day with another SL17 dive. Dave and I went out this morning and both donned the lunar backpack config for the cg study and continued work on waterlab. I'm really enjoying the waterlab construction task, and also enjoyed participating in the cg study. On the way out as I was climbing down the habitat column to the sea floor I caught a glimpse of "our" 4 large spotted eagle rays swimming in tight formation directly towards the habitat viewport -- called the sighting into the guys in the habitat, but unfortunately nobody could get to the viewport in time to see them. While we were working, the ROV joined us under the control of ExPOC in Houston to provide a little surveillance coverage of our activity. We were later joined by some of our topside friends and Dave worked with them to manipulate the ROV to assist with our construction task. Nicest though was a surprise when we discovered our families were visiting ExPOC to watch our dive --- and was even nicer to be able say a quick hello to them over the comm. (From my munchkin, "Mommy, are there any sharks out there? Over.") When we got in from the dive, we all had a quick lunch and then got busy getting ready for the rest of the days activities. I set up for an educational outreach event with some schools in Canada, Ron and Tim got geared up in the SL17's and went out on a dive to assess some more of the CobraTac navigation tool and Linkquest diver tracking systems capabilities, Dave was the IV for Tim and Ron, and Jim and Ross continued to work hard at making sure everything was working for us to be able to successfully work our tasks. Jim and Ross are the greatest --- these guys know all the ins and outs of Aquarius, and they definitely are the main reason why we are able to operate efficiently down here! We're sitting at the galley table writing our journals and as usual we're distracted by the beauty out the view port. There is always something new to see, and as time goes on there is more and more that's familiar to us too. The new thing today is our first shark sighting -- a nurse shark. Not resting on the bottom, but coming right up to the habitat just below our view port. Hard to tell its motivation, it just swam around out there for a little while and then went quietly back to the bottom. Maybe Roman knew something I didn’t…. Pretty cool.

Splash Down + 10 Days

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 03:29:53 -0400

This morning started out with Dave and I suiting up into our simulated lunar exploration suits (Superlite 17 Dive helmet with a simulated Primary Life Support System (PLSS)). This PLSS in conjunction with the weights that we were wearing allowed us to experience the same gravity as the Moon. We heading out from Aquarius to our undersea construction site. We continued the construction on the "Waterlab" structure that Nicole started a few days ago. This is the structure that simulates a lunar communication relay station. The Skuttle remotely controlled vehicle was also involved in our project. Today we mainly used the vehicle to provide camera views to Mission Control but we are planning on incorporating the ROV in collaborative constructive activities later in the mission. Carmel and the boys were able to go over to Mission Control and watch our Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA). They were able to hear us and see views from our helmet cameras, the ROV camera and other cameras in the area. It was great to be able to say hi to them while standing on the bottom of the ocean 1000 miles away. Rumor has it that there was even some under-aged ROV operation going on. After our dive we received word that a cargo ship had landed in the area of our habitat. Tim and Nicole deployed the ROV and started a search. Tim flew the ROV to the vicinity of the reported landing coordinates we were given and then started a grid search with the ROV. Nicole took over the search and found the cargo ship in the vicinity of small coral reef about 300’ from the habitat. During the grid search Tim and Nicole drove the ROV along the bottom for specified distances and then would thrust up to an altitude that permitted a good view of the immediate vicinity in all directions, descend back down, land and continue on. The ROV did not have enough thrust to carry the payload back to the habitat. But fortunately the entire search was tracked via our LinkQuest tracking system. We have the bearing and range of the payload along with good pictures of the landing site. We will send out an EVA crewmember to recover the payload as soon as the schedule allows. The rest of the day was spent accomplishing more medical experiments. Each of us took turns being mentored through ultrasound imaging of the structure of the knee (each of us also took turns as the "patient"). After the ultrasound, each of us was mentored though a simulated arthroscopy procedure. During the procedure we removed torn meniscus. It is really amazing what a person without formal medical training can accomplish with a good mentor.

Splashdown +10 days

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 00:38:59 -0400

Waterlab was the focus of our morning today. Ron and Dave went out on the SL17 rigs and Lunar space suit back pack simulators, and Tim and I provided the ROV setup and IV support. With direction from us inside the habitat and from the crew, the ExPOC operated the ROV in a surveillance mode for the operation. We now have both the left and right substructures built. Tomorrow morning Tim and I go out to continue work on the remaining sections while Ron and Dave support us from inside Aquarius. The next ROV activity of the day was a search for our cargo vehicle. This was an exploration activity to simulate that following our landing on the moon our cargo supply vehicle has landed somewhere off course and we're using the ROV to perform the initial search for it. Tim and I were the ones flying the ROV at the start of the search, and because we're so good ; ), we found it on the second leg of the search! Later in the day we had some more telemedicine activities --- today was ultrasound of the knee and arthroscopy. Tim and I paired up and performed the ultrasound on each other and then we each performed an arthroscopy procedure on an artificial knee. Both of these activities were done with telementoring by our experts in Canada. These were both very effective tasks for demonstrating the benefit of telementoring. Everyday I'm here I find some new and beautiful sea life to admire. Today there was a little school of 4 scrawled filefish. (Didn't even know the name of them until today--- thank you Ross). These fish have an elongated body and a long, broom-like tail. Their body is a very pale white, almost opal-like color with these beautiful vibrant blue squigly spots and little random black spots covering them from head to tail. I watched them through the large wet porch view port, they moved together very gracefully around the view port and across to the tank farm before I lost sight of them.