about spacebook
Welcome to spacebook, NASA astronaut and Missouri S&T graduate Sandra Magnus' blog from the International Space Station. Magnus is posting updates on this site during her stay aboard the space station. Magnus is a flight engineer and science officer on the crew of STS-126, NASA's latest launch to the ISS.
In July 2008, kids attending Aerospace Camp, a pre-college summer camp at Missouri University of Science and Technology, prepared a list of questions for Magnus to answer before her flight. The topics include space travel, life in zero gravity and the life of an astronaut. On this blog, Magnus will be answering those questions -- and some additional questions generated by you, her readers -- as she is orbiting Earth aboard the International Space Station.
About the mission
STS-126 is the shuttle mission to deliver Sandra Magnus to the International Space Station. The mission's main purpose is to get the ISS ready for a doubling of the occupants, from three astronauts to six, including Magnus.
The picture on the right shows the entire crew of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Sandra is on the far left. (Photo courtesy of NASA.)
While crew members conduct spacewalks outside the station, a lot will be going on inside the station, too. Magnus and her fellow space station occupants will spend a lot of time unpacking new crew quarters, a new toilet, a new kitchen, a new refrigerator and new exercise equipment, not to mention the science experiments.
Here's how Magnus explained her duties in this preflight interview about the mission:
In July 2008, kids attending Aerospace Camp, a pre-college summer camp at Missouri University of Science and Technology, prepared a list of questions for Magnus to answer before her flight. The topics include space travel, life in zero gravity and the life of an astronaut. On this blog, Magnus will be answering those questions -- and some additional questions generated by you, her readers -- as she is orbiting Earth aboard the International Space Station.
About the mission
STS-126 is the shuttle mission to deliver Sandra Magnus to the International Space Station. The mission's main purpose is to get the ISS ready for a doubling of the occupants, from three astronauts to six, including Magnus.The picture on the right shows the entire crew of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Sandra is on the far left. (Photo courtesy of NASA.)
While crew members conduct spacewalks outside the station, a lot will be going on inside the station, too. Magnus and her fellow space station occupants will spend a lot of time unpacking new crew quarters, a new toilet, a new kitchen, a new refrigerator and new exercise equipment, not to mention the science experiments.
Here's how Magnus explained her duties in this preflight interview about the mission:
Well, I have sort of a mixture of responsibilities which is really interesting because on ULF-2 [utilization and logistics flight 2; STS-126], when I arrive, we're bringing a lot of the habitation equipment that we need to prepare the station for six people -- extra toilet, water regeneration racks, exercise equipment, things like this -- so one of my responsibilities and goals is to equip the station for habitation by six people. I'll get to work on sort of assembling the station, as it were, as well as on [STS-]119 I'll be helping to install the S6 Truss with John Phillips, so I'll still be working on helping to equip the station. And as science officer I'm also going to play a big part in conducting the science experiments and taking care of some of our payloads, so I get to actually split my time between the assembly and the utilization parts of the station. I'm pretty excited about that.Follow along the STS-126 mission using NASA's interactive timeline. You can also view photos of the crew and the mission as the action unfolds. Be sure to check spacebook often for more news from Sandra Magnus and the International Space Station.
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