November 2008 Archives

Blog Editor's Note: Much of the text you've been reading on this blog was pre-prepared by Dr. Magnus while she was still on Earth. But yesterday we received a special Magnus Dispatch from space. Sandra is aware of the traffic on this blog, and, now that she has a little free time, she wanted to give you some more details about the launch, getting used to weightlessness, and more. Have a good Thanksgiving break!

MAGNUS: Well, here I am back in space again. Before the launch I was wondering what it would be like to come back. Would my body remember how to operate here? How fast would I be able to adapt? It turns out that my body remembered quite a bit, but even so, there are some things that require some time to get used to. But first let me describe the launch. 

This time I was sitting on the mid-deck and therefore had no access to any windows. The only way that those of us on the mid-deck knew what was going on was from periodic calls from the commander telling us. When we entered the Orbiter, and I was the first one in on the mid-deck, it was light outside and the sun was shining. At some point during the process of getting all of us aboard it got dark. Eric described what the view looked like out the pilot's window with the moon and the lights lighting up the surrounding area. We listened to the launch count and once we got out of the nine minute hold we knew that we were going to actually go somewhere. We felt the engine gimbal check and waited for the main engines to light. There was a small vibration and our chairs started shaking then six seconds later, a large vibration and lots of noise and we received the "kick in the seat" that you hear so many of us talk about, and we leaped off of the launch pad. The only way those of us on the mid-deck knew we were moving was because of the announcement by Fergie that we had passed the tower. I just laid there calmly waiting to see what would happen. Once the solid rocket boosters separated it got quite a bit quieter and smoother. Listening to the abort boundary calls I tried to remember what I could see out the window at the same point during my last launch, trying to imagine where we were. Just before main engine cut off we went through a period where we felt 3 g's and it seemed to me that it felt much stronger on my chest this time as compared to last time, but I think that was probably due to the fact that I had already been lying on my back for 3.5 hours and had some sore spots, that with 3'g's acting on them, were very noticeable.  Main engine cut-off occurs right after feeling the 3'gs and it is a stark contrast. One minute you are struggling with all of this weight on your chest, the next you are floating free in your chair. 

If you want to be an astronaut, it's important to be in good physical condition...

What kind of exercises do you do in space?
-- Myra (Team Spirit)

MAGNUS: It is very important that we exercise regularly and they schedule us for 2 hours a day. Part of it is cardio, which we do on either a treadmill or a stationary bike, and part of the exercise is kind of like weight lifting (but we use resistive devices to simulate the "weight") so that we can load our bones and muscles. Without doing exercise, our bones and muscles, especially those in our lower body, start to atrophy and weaken and we cannot readapt to life in the gravity of Earth very well. Also, the exercise helps us maintain our bone density so our bones do not get brittle.

Blog Editor's Note: More than a billion miles after the first component was launched in 1998, the International Space Station has witnessed the consumption of about 19,000 meals, more than 700 hours of spacewalks and has received crew support from 16 countries. Like numbers? Get more here.

Or if you'd rather see it for yourself, go ahead.

Photo credit: NASA/KSC

Happy Friday! Today's question is from Ben:

Can you access things such as the Internet and cable TV from space?
-- Ben (Team Mercury)

MAGNUS: We cannot access TV, although the mission control center can send us electronic files of TV shows and movies. Also, there is an experiment on our mission to see how an Internet access would work. We can only get email, uplinks of electronic files and IP phone when we have a satellite connection with mission control. The internet experiment has one computer, completely stand alone and not connected to our on-board network, set up to go through the satellite and connect to the Internet via mission control. It is important that we keep our computer standalone so we do not import any viruses from the ground.

This question was also asked by Curious Joe and Fahim:

What is it like to sleep in zero gravity?
-- Team ISS question

MAGNUS: It is actually kind of tricky. You don't realize it but we are used to gravity when we fall asleep. It holds us down to the bed and holds our heads on the pillow. That was the first thing I noticed the first night I tried to sleep in zero gravity. I felt like I was falling and kept waiting to hit the floor. After time, I was able to strap myself securely into my sleeping bag and also got used to floating (and not feeling a hard surface under me, like a bed). One trick that I have learned is to put my sleeping bag under a couple of bungees and then have them more or less hold me to a surface. That is very comfortable. In any case, you get used to it after a short period of time and can sleep very well.

Today's question from Jacob was also submitted as a comment yesterday by Teresa:

What projects are being worked on during your trip to the ISS?
- Jacob (Team Apollo)

MAGNUS: We always have science experiments going on and that keep us busy, but during this stay on board the ISS we are also going to be installing the equipment needed to support a six person crew. We currently have a crew of three people on board, but next summer that will increase to six. We recently delivered an extra toilet, some crew quarters (bedrooms as it were), extra exercise equipment and most importantly the water regeneration system. This system allows us to process all waste water on board, including urine, and make potable water out of it. My fellow Expedition 18 crew mates and I are installing all of this equipment and getting it running. We need to get some testing done on it to make sure it is working properly prior to increasing the crew size.

P.S. Keep watching the blog for more answers to questions like...What's it like to sleep in space?

OK. Here's the one you've been waiting for...

How do you go to the bathroom in space?
-- Luke (Team Space Shuttle)

MAGNUS: Actually this is a very interesting engineering problem when you think about it. What happens on Earth when you go to the bathroom? Well, gravity turns out to be very helpful since it makes everything fall away from you into the toilet bowl. Imagine what would happen if there was no gravity assist! So when the engineers had to think of how to build a toilet for space, they needed some other way to move the urine and feces away and into storage tanks. It turns out the airflow does a good job as a transport method, so they designed a toilet that kind of works like a vacuum cleaner. When you go to the toilet in space, whether on the shuttle or the ISS, one of the first things you do is turn on a fan that starts up an airflow through the hose that you will urinate in. The airflow moves the urine "away" and through the processing facilities and into the storage tank. For defecation it is the same thing. You start a fan, make a good seal with your butt, and the air flow helps send things to where they need to go for storage. It works really well!

Here are some links to stories circulating back on Earth:

Operating the robotic arm

We docked with the ISS yesterday (Sunday). This will be my new home for the coming months. Things are very busy up here, but we've got time for a Q&A session about space food:

Is there anything you cannot eat in space?
-- Corey (Team Apollo)

MAGNUS: We don't have refrigerators on the ISS so we typically do not have fresh food for long periods of time, nothing that needs to be stored cold. Most of the food we have has either been dehydrated and we add water before we heat it up. Some of the food is kind of like the "meals ready to eat" that the military use. When shuttles or Russian cargo vehicles arrive, they bring fresh food but we have to eat it within a few days since we have nowhere to store it. We just brought up a small fridge, but it is only for cooling down drinks. (There is no cold water for drinks on ISS, only warm and hot!)

What does the food taste like? What kind of food is it?
-- Team ISS question

MAGNUS: Some of the food is good and some is not so good. The biggest problem you run into when you stay for a long time on the space station is variety. We have a menu that repeats every 10-16 days or so. It is a combination of Russian and American food. You can imagine that after a few months it might get a bit boring. We are allowed to take extra food that we pick out (it cannot need to be refrigerated) to help supplement the set menus. The type of food on the menu ranges from various kinds of meats with vegetables, to spaghetti, beef fajitas, mashed potatoes, dried fruit, cobbler, various kinds of vegetables. In general, it is pretty normal food. The Japanese space agency has also started providing some dishes and I am very excited about that. My favorite U.S. food is the creamed spinach, the Tofu with hot mustard sauce, the beef fajitas, and the blueberry cobbler. The Russian mashed potatoes with mushroom are also very good.

Blog Editor's Note: Endeavor successfully launched tonight under a November moon from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. We wish Sandra and the six other crew members a good weekend, and we look forward to hearing from Sandra next week.

Photo credit: NASA/KSC

Blog Editor's Note: We're only hours away from the scheduled launch of Endeavour (at 6:55 p.m. Central). Let's hope the weather cooperates. We might have an update over the weekend. Regardless, if all goes as planned, Sandra will be coming to you from the International Space Station next week. Here's a quick Q&A for launch day:

How fast will the shuttle travel?
-- Karl (Team Mercury)

MAGNUS: To stay in orbit, the shuttle must travel 17,500 miles per hour.

P.S. Scroll down a few posts to read about what the launch itself feels like.

Blog Editor's Note: Here at spacebook mission control in Rolla, we are serving as the moderator between you and Dr. Magnus. We have been receiving all of your comments and questions. But, obviously, we need to give Sandra time to get ready for the launch. Once she's settled at the space station, we should be able to get some of your new questions answered. In the meantime, we're going to continue to post Sandra's answers to questions presented to her last summer by kids attending S&T's Aerospace Camp. Thanks for interacting with this blog! Keep the comments coming. P.S. Remember that Friday's launch is scheduled for 6:55 p.m. Central.

How long does it take to get out of the earth's atmosphere?
-- Jax (Team Explorer)

MAGNUS: The shuttle reaches orbit in 8.5 minutes, but we are well out of the Earth's atmosphere after only a few moments of flight. Our atmosphere blankets our planet as a very thin sphere and this is very obvious when you look out of the window and see the horizon. You can understand this intellectually when you think about the circumference of the Earth - on the order of 25,000 miles. You are out of the life supporting part of our atmosphere well after 50 miles up. Think of how thin a layer of air that is in comparison to the size of our planet!

We're scheduled to depart from the Kennedy Space Center at 7:55 p.m. this Friday (6:55 p.m. Central). Today's Q&A is about what it feels like to blast off.

Can you describe the launch into space?
-- Nate (Team Space Shuttle)

MAGNUS: It only takes about 8.5 minutes to get into our initial orbit, but it is an exciting 8.5 minutes. We get out to the launch pad several hours early so that there is time to get us in strapped down in our seats, and all of the final launch checks are completed. We basically lay there for about an hour to an hour and a half and time seems to move very slowly. Then, with 10 minutes to go before liftoff, things start moving very fast. We take control of the on-board systems and the shuttle computer starts the countdown to launch. At 6 seconds before liftoff, the shuttle's main engines light. When the main engines activate, you can feel the shuttle sway slightly on the pad (remember it is still bolted down at this point) and you feel some faint vibration and hear some white noise. At liftoff (T=0), the solid rocket boosters light, and at that exact moment some pyrotechnics blow the bolts holding the orbiter to the launch pad in half and the shuttle slowly lifts off of the launch pad. When the solid rocket boosters light you hear very loud noises and there is lots of vibration and you feel kind of a "kick in your seat" as the shuttle jolts off of the launch pad. It is a slow acceleration, not a quick one, and you can feel the increasing g-force through your chest as you lay there shaking and rattling in your seat. It is challenging to keep track of the small numbers on the computer screen while everything is bouncing around due to the vibration. In two minutes, we have used up the solid rocket boosters (6 million pounds of thrust) and with another loud bang of pyrotechnics going off, accompanied by a flash of light, you can see in the shuttle windows, the boosters separate from the vehicle and fall away. At this moment, the orbiter becomes relatively quiet and the vibrations are noticeably less. Finally, there is time to look out the windows and see the horizon drop away. But about a minute or so before main engine cut off, we go through a time period where we feel 3g's through our chests. This is the maximum g-force that we experience. It seems to last forever and it is hard to talk; you feel like there is a 200 lb gorilla sitting on your chest. The greatest thing is that right after you feel this very strong force holding you down in your seat, the main engines cut off and you are in orbit and immediately start floating in your seat, only held down by your seat belt. It is quite a contrast!

Thanks to everyone who is joining us at spacebook. Feel free to submit your own questions or make comments. Today's questions and answers have to do with space suits.

How long does it take to get into your space suit?
-- Alex (Team MIR)

It does not take that long to put on the orange launch and entry suits and we have help doing it -- probably just a few minutes if you go through it quickly. To put on the space suit is a bit longer and more complicated and also you need help doing it. It takes more like an hour or so. In the case of both suits, you have to spend some time doing leak checks to make sure they can hold pressure.

How much does all the gear weigh?
-- Brandon (Team Spirit)

MAGNUS: The orange suit that we wear for launch and entry weighs somewhere around 50-60 pounds with all of the stuff in it (including the parachute). We do not wear that in orbit though. The white space suit that we use to do spacewalks weighs on the order of 300 pounds. Remember, though, the weight is not issue when we are wearing it in zero gravity. The mass is the problem. You have to think about how you move because your center of mass is different with that suit all around you. It is important to move slowly so you can control all of that extra mass. Think of it as a big inertia problem and bring it up in your physics class when you start discussing Newton's Laws.

Well, we're headed to Cape Canaveral for the big launch that will take me to the International Space Station. Below are some more pre-prepared answers to questions from kids who attended Aerospace Camp last summer at Missouri S&T.

How long did you have to train to become an astronaut?
-- Robert (Team Sputnik)

MAGNUS: I went to college for 4 years, worked at McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis for 4.5 years and did my master's degree at night school. Then I went to graduate school for my doctorate for another 4.5 years. Once I got into the astronaut office, I did basic training for about 1.5 years. So there was a lot to do to get here, but it was all very interesting and I learned a lot. I am still learning a lot as I go through my space station training.

What kind of training do you have to do before going into space?
-- Alex (Team Spirit)

MAGNUS: For a shuttle mission, you train for about a year. During that time you concentrate on training for the exact tasks that you will be doing in orbit. For example, for my first flight I was the robotics officer so I did tons of training on robotics, but since I was not going to do a spacewalk, I did no training on that topic. For a space station mission, the training takes about three or so years and you have to train in many different countries (it is an International station!). We train on everything and generate a certain skill level, kind of like a "jack of all trades" type of skill set. We also spend time learning about the science experiments that we will be doing. Other general things we get trained on include photography, Earth science, first responder medical techniques, emergency situations that could happen on ISS (fire, depressurization, for example), Russian language, spacewalk and robotics techniques to name a few. There is always something new to learn.

While preparing for the launch of STS-126, I answered questions from students who attended last summer's Aerospace Camp at Missouri S&T. Here's today's Q&A:

What is the process of becoming an astronaut?
-- Brandi (Team Apollo)

MAGNUS: First and foremost, you need to study hard and do well in school. Typically, any kind of science or engineering degree is OK. A medical degree is also acceptable. It is important to find something you enjoy studying because you will excel at it. It is recommended to get an advanced degree. You can go to the NASA website and read about the requirements for being an astronaut. When you are ready to apply, you can go online and apply. If you have any questions, you can call the astronaut selection office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. They are more than happy to help.

What made you interested in the space program?
-- Sydney (Team Space Shuttle)

MAGNUS: I have always been interested in finding out why and how things work, and something about being on the edge of technology and pushing the boundaries of what we can do as humans seemed exciting to me. Also, I always dreamed of seeing our planet from space!