Sunita Williams was in charge of the International Space Station for six months. On her last day in space, she made this 25-minute video — a much more in-depth tour of the ISS than I've personally ever seen before. This is the first time I've actually been able to get a sense of the whole interior layout of the ISS, rather than just seeing one place and then another with no understanding of how they connect. What's more, you really get a sense of the unearthly weirdness of moving through this space where walls are never just walls and "up" and "down" are essentially meaningless.

The video includes a detailed (but safe for work) demonstration of how to use the ISS bathroom; a behind-the-scenes peek of the pantry (with separate pantries for Russian and Japanese food); a visit to the Soyuz craft waiting to take Williams home; and the vertigo-inducing horror pod where all the really great pictures of Earth get taken.

Money quote: "I haven't sat down for 6 months now."

Also, for some reason, it bothers me that she refers to the "left" and "right" side of the Space Station, instead of port and starboard.

Space is full of radiation. It's impossible to escape. Imagine standing in the middle of a dust storm, with bits of gravel constantly swirling around you, whizzing by, pinging against your skin. That's what radiation is like in space. The problem is that, unlike a pebble or a speck of dirt, ionizing radiation doesn't bounce off human flesh. It goes right through, like a cannonball through the side of the building, leaving damage behind.

Last week, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center published a study that suggests long exposures to galactic cosmic radiation — like the kind astronauts might experience on a trip to Mars — could increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Reading stories about that paper made me curious. We've now been sending people into space for more than 50 years. We've been able to track a generation of astronauts as they aged and died and we're constantly monitoring the people who travel in space today. Research like what was done at the University of Rochester is conducted on lab animals, mice and rats. It's meant to help us prepare for the future. But what do we know about the past? How has radiation affected the people who have already been to space? How is it affecting the people who are there now?

There is one key difference between the astronauts of today and those of the future. That difference is the Earth, itself.

Galactic cosmic radiation — also called galactic cosmic rays — is the kind of radiation that researchers are most worried about. It's made up particles, bits and pieces of atoms that were probably flung off from the aftermath of supernovas. The majority of this radiation, roughly 90%, is made up protons ripped from atoms of hydrogen. These particles travel around the galaxy at almost the speed of light.

And then they hit the Earth. This planet has a couple of defense mechanisms that protect us here on the ground from the impact of galactic cosmic radiation. First, Earth's magnetic field both pushes away some of the particles and blocks others completely. Then, the particles that make it through that barrier start to encounter the atoms that make up our atmosphere.

If you drop a big tower made of Legos down the stairs it will break apart, losing more pieces every time it hits a new step. That's a lot like what happens to galactic cosmic radiation in our atmosphere. The particles collide with atoms and break apart, forming new particles. Those new particles hit something else and also break apart. At each step, the particles lose energy. They get a little slower, a little weaker. By the time they "come to a stop" at the ground, they aren't the galactic powerhouses they once were. It's still radiation. But it's much less dangerous radiation. Just like it would hurt a lot less to be hit with one Lego block, than with a whole tower of them.

All of the astronauts we've sent into space so far have, at least partially, benefited from Earth's protective barriers, Francis Cucinotta told me. He's the director of the NASA Space Radiobiology Program, the go-to guy for finding out how radiation hurts astronauts. He says, with the exception of Apollo flights to the Moon, the human presence in space has happened within the Earth's magnetic field. The International Space Station, for instance, is above the atmosphere, but still well inside the first line of defense. Our astronauts aren't exposed to the full force of galactic cosmic radiation.

They're also exposed to it for a relatively limited amount of time. The longest spaceflight ever lasted a little over a year. And that matters, because the damage from radiation is cumulative. You simply can't rack up as much risk on a six month jaunt to the ISS as you could, theoretically, on a multi-year excursion to Mars.

But what's interesting, and concerning, is that even with those protections we do see signs of radiation damage to astronauts, Cucinotta told me.

The big thing is cataracts — changes in the lens of the eye that make it more opaque. With less light able to get into their eyes, people with cataracts lose some of their ability to see. In 2001, Cucinotta and his colleagues looked at data from the ongoing Longitudinal Study of Astronaut Health, and found that astronauts who had been exposed to higher doses of radiation (because they'd flown more missions in space, or because of the specifics of the missions they'd been on*) were more likely to develop cataracts than those who had been exposed to lower doses.

There's also probably an increased risk of cancer, though it's difficult to estimate how much, exactly. That's because we don't have human epidemiological data about the kind of radiation astronauts are exposed to. We know the rates of cancer for survivors of the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but that radiation isn't really comparable to the stuff in Galactic Cosmic Radiation. In particular, Cucinotta is concerned about particles known as HZE ions.

These particles are very heavy and very fast and we don't experience them here on the ground. They're the kind of things that get filtered out and broken down by Earth's defense systems. But HZE ions can cause more damage, and different kinds of damage, than the radiation scientists are really familiar with. We know this because scientists actually compare samples of astronauts' blood before and after a spaceflight.

Cucinotta calls this pre-flight calibration. Scientists take a blood sample from an astronaut before the launch. While the astronaut is in space, the scientists divide that blood sample up and expose it to various levels of gamma rays — the kind of damaging radiation we're used to dealing with on Earth. Then, when the astronaut comes back, they compare those gamma ray-affected samples to what has actually happened to the astronaut while in space. "You see about a two-to-three fold difference across the population of astronauts," Cucinotta told me.

One example of how HZE ions are different: They seem to be able to affect cells they don't even touch. In non-human trials, these non-targeted effects can happen in cells up to a millimeter away from the cells that have actually been irradiated and we don't really know what that means yet. But it definitely changes the way we think about radiation risks, which is a model based on the assumption of a direct, linear connection between dose and risk. With HZE ions, that might not be true.

All of this explains why studies like the one published last week are going on. It's not that we're seeing horrible effects in astronauts who've been to space in the last half-century. Instead, there are two things those astronauts have shown us. First, there are genetic changes and damage happening even within the relatively safe confines we've traveled thus far. Second, there is a hell of a lot we don't know about how radiation exposure and risk works in outer space. It's almost like we can smell gas in our house, but we don't yet know whether there's a serious leak, or we just left a stove burner on for a couple minutes.

If our future really does lie in the stars, then this is a mystery we're going to have to figure out.

FURTHER READING:
• The new paper on Galactic Cosmic Radiation and Alzheimer’s disease
• An introduction to the space radiation environment
• NASA primer on cosmic rays
• A 2006 essay in The Lancet, written by Francis Cucinotta, about cancer risk and Galactic Cosmic Rays
• Cucinotta's 2001 paper on cataracts in astronauts
• A 2004 NASA Science News piece that also explores cataracts in astronauts

"As I take man's last step from the surface, back home for some time to come (but we believe not too long into the future), I'd like to just say what I believe history will record: That America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow. And, as we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return: with peace and hope for all mankind."

His real last words uttered on the moon, just before hitting the button that would launch the "Challenger" Lunar Module carrying him and Harrison "Jack" Schmitt back to the orbiting Command Module "America" were more apt for a card-carrying member of the "Right Stuff Club".

"Okay, Jack, let's get this mutha outta here," said Cernan.

Cernan's autobiography "The Last Man on the Moon" is a great read. Among the things you might find surprising: Cernan crashed a Bell B-13 (M*A*S*H) helicopter into still water at Cape Canaveral in January of 1971 nearly killing himself.

He admits he was showboating for people on the beach. Chief Astronaut Deke Slayton covered for him, saying it was a mechanical malfunction. Had the real story come to the attention of Flight Director Chris Kraft, the last man on the moon might very well have been backup commander John Young.

Much to Cernan's chagrin, to this day he still holds that unique title. Why we have not returned is a long, complicated tale of politics and puny thinking.

Will we ever become a truly spacefaring nation? Hard to imagine as our "leaders" march us off the fiscal cliff. Maybe space is the answer. A cliff is meaningless in the absence of gravity.

My good friend Andrew Chaikin wrote the definitive historical account of the Apollo Missions, "A Man on the Moon". It is a must read for anyone interested in space.

Andy, who was there when Apollo 17 launched, has produced a nice video that offers a compelling argument for returning to the moon today. It makes me sad to watch it. But those of us who care about space exploration need to keep reminding the world why this is important.

Last week, an American and a Russian — Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko — were selected to spend a year living continuously in space, aboard the International Space Station. Only four other people have done this before. All them were Russian, so Scott Kelly is going to break the American record for time spent in space.

The mission won't start until 2015, and it's part of a much longer term goal — sending people to Mars. We know that spending time in space does take a toll on the human body. For instance, hanging out without gravity means you aren't using your muscles, even the ones that you'd use to support your own weight on Earth. Without use, muscles deteriorate over time. Bone density also drops. Basically, after a few months in space, astronauts return to Earth as weak as little kittens. Which is, to say the least, a less than ideal situation for any future Mars explorers.

Having Kelly and Kornienko stay up for a year will give scientists more data on what happens to the human body in space, give them a chance to test out preventative treatments that could keep astronauts stronger, and allows them to see how the amount of time spent in space affects the amount of time it takes to physically recover from the trip. As an extra research bonus, Kelly is the identical twin brother of Mark Kelly, the astronaut married to former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Which means that there will be a built-in control to compare Kelly to when he comes back from his mission.

In honor of that upcoming experiment, here's an old video that will give you an idea of what we knew (and didn't know) back at the dawn of the space age. Science in Action was a TV show produced by the California Academy of Sciences. In this 1956 episode, they explore the then-still-theoretical physiology of space travel ... with a special guest appearance by Chuck Yeager!

Wikipedia page on the effects of space travel on the human body

Science in Action: Aero Medicine — Part 1 and Part 2 at the Prelinger Archives.

Hurry, hurry, this is your chance to own the Toshiba Satellite Pro that President Bill Clinton used to email John Glenn in space on November 6, 1998. Apparently, the laptop belonged to a member of Clinton's medical staff who helped the president send the email to orbit. The laptop is listed at $125,000. Wonder how much RAM is in it. "Bill Clinton computer -Presidential email on it, to John Glenn in space!"]]> http://boingboing.net/2012/10/29/auction-of-laptop-used-by-clin.html/feed 11 http://boingboing.net/2012/09/06/astronauts-fix-the-space-stati.html http://boingboing.net/2012/09/06/astronauts-fix-the-space-stati.html#comments Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:28:01 +0000 Maggie Koerth-Baker http://boingboing.net/?p=179819

When NASA's Sunita Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide couldn't seem to get a bolt attached to the outside of the space station, ground crews came up with a clever solution: Fix the problem with a toothbrush. At Space.com, Denise Chow explains the details:

On Aug.

When NASA's Sunita Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide couldn't seem to get a bolt attached to the outside of the space station, ground crews came up with a clever solution: Fix the problem with a toothbrush. At Space.com, Denise Chow explains the details:

On Aug. 30, Williams and Hoshide completed a marathon spacewalk that lasted more than 8 hours, but the astronauts were thwarted by a stubborn bolt and were unable to finish connecting the so-called main bus switching unit (MBSU). The stuck bolt forced NASA to add [yesterday's] extra spacewalk.

But, following last week's unsuccessful attempt, flight controllers, engineers and veteran spacewalkers worked around the clock at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to devise a solution to the problem. Using only the supplies available on the space station, the teams came up with creative new tools for Williams and Hoshide to use to install the MBSU.

One was a modified toothbrush that was used to lubricate the inside of the bolt's housing after debris and metal shavings from inside had been removed. Another improvised instrument included a cleaning tool that had been made from wires that were bent back to form a brush, explained Kieth Johnson, lead spacewalk director at the Johnson Space Center.

Read the rest of the story at Space.com

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At the PBS Newshour website, a post by Miles O'Brien about one of his encounters with the late Dr. Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. He writes about the night of January 28, 2003, when Dr. Ride knocked on the door of his house in Atlanta. She was one of the guests of honor at his home that night to celebrate the opening of a new Challenger Learning Center. And at the time, Miles (then a reporter with CNN) had just closed a deal with NASA to become the first journalist in space, on a forthcoming shuttle mission. Snip:

I normally do not ask people for autographs or inscriptions, but on this night I made an exception. I handed her my copy of the book, and she wrote: "Hope you're the first journalist in space!"

Nice words from someone who knows what it means to be first.

While she was signing, and we were celebrating, the STS-107 crew was orbiting a few hundred miles over our head-- unaware of the fatal breach in the reinforced carbon heat shield on the leading edge of Columbia's wing.

In four days, everything would change for the people in my house that night. Columbia, of course, did not make it home. Sally Ride would soon be serving on her second commission investigating the loss of a space shuttle and its crew.

Read the rest: Ride, Sally Ride: My Dinner with the First American Woman in Space (PBS NewsHour)

Update: Here's a video segment from tonight's show, with Miles talking with Judy Woodruff about Dr. Ride's legacy. Alternate [YouTube Link].

Dr. Sally Ride, an American physicist and former NASA astronaut, has died of pancreatic cancer. She joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman to travel into space. From a statement on her website:

Sally Ride died peacefully on July 23rd, 2012 after a courageous 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Sally lived her life to the fullest, with boundless energy, curiosity, intelligence, passion, joy, and love. Her integrity was absolute; her spirit was immeasurable; her approach to life was fearless.

Sally was a physicist, the first American woman to fly in space, a science writer, and the president and CEO of Sally Ride Science. She had the rare ability to understand the essence of things and to inspire those around her to join her pursuits.

Sally’s historic flight into space captured the nation’s imagination and made her a household name. She became a symbol of the ability of women to break barriers and a hero to generations of adventurous young girls. After retiring from NASA, Sally used her high profile to champion a cause she believed in passionately—inspiring young people, especially girls, to stick with their interest in science, to become scientifically literate, and to consider pursuing careers in science and engineering.

In addition to Tam O’Shaughnessy, her partner of 27 years, Sally is survived by her mother, Joyce; her sister, Bear; her niece, Caitlin, and nephew, Whitney; her staff of 40 at Sally Ride Science; and many friends and colleagues around the country.

L-R: Shannon W. Lucid, Margaret Rhea Seddon, Kathryn D. Sullivan, Judith A. Resnik, Anna L. Fisher, and Sally K. Ride. NASA selected all six women as their first female astronaut candidates in January 1978, allowing them to enroll in a training program that they completed in August 1979.

From a post about Dr. Ride's legacy by Valerie Neal, space history curator of the National Air and Space Museum, published back in 2010:

Sally Ride made history as the first U.S. woman in space, but the feat is more nuanced. She and the other five women who were first selected to be shuttle astronauts each made history, through grit and determination and some dreaming, to be ready for the opportunity of spaceflight. They entered science and engineering in the 1960s as these fields began to open up to women. They came of age as the civil rights, equal rights, and women’s movements stimulated changes in American society and opened new career possibilities. They were poised to step through the door opened by NASA’s affirmative action policy and its aggressive recruitment of women and minorities for the astronaut corps.

Accomplished American women have flown in space since 1983, so it no longer seems newsworthy; it’s just natural. That is the history that flowed from Sally Ride’s shuttle mission.

Ride floats alongside Challenger's middeck airlock hatch. (Courtesy NASA)

From a post commemorating her life at NASA.gov:

In a space agency filled with trailblazers, Sally K. Ride was a pioneer of a different sort. The soft-spoken California physicist broke the gender barrier 29 years ago when she rode to orbit aboard space shuttle Challenger to become America’s first woman in space.

"Sally Ride broke barriers with grace and professionalism – and literally changed the face of America’s space program," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "The nation has lost one of its finest leaders, teachers and explorers. Our thoughts and prayers are with Sally's family and the many she inspired. She will be missed, but her star will always shine brightly."

“Sally was a personal and professional role model to me and thousands of women around the world,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver. “Her spirit and determination will continue to be an inspiration for women everywhere.”

From Dr. Ride's website:

In lieu of flowers, you may wish to make a gift in memory of Sally to the Sally Ride Pancreatic Cancer Initiative (Fund 4191) at UCSD.

More on the memorial here.

(Thanks, Isabel Lara and Miles O'Brien)]]> http://boingboing.net/2012/07/23/sally-ride-first-american-wom.html/feed 21 http://boingboing.net/2012/07/17/religion-space-and-the-power.html http://boingboing.net/2012/07/17/religion-space-and-the-power.html#comments Tue, 17 Jul 2012 17:52:15 +0000 Maggie Koerth-Baker http://boingboing.net/?p=171657

That's a picture of an Orthodox Christian priest, blessing the launch of a Soyuz spacecraft.

It seems like a weird and outdated pairing: Religion and space exploration. But they're actually a lot more intertwined than you might think, writes Rebecca Rosen at the Atlantic.

That's a picture of an Orthodox Christian priest, blessing the launch of a Soyuz spacecraft.

It seems like a weird and outdated pairing: Religion and space exploration. But they're actually a lot more intertwined than you might think, writes Rebecca Rosen at the Atlantic. A lot of astronauts are religious. A lot of astronauts that aren't really religious seem to have an urge to carry the cultural traditions of religion into space. And religion returns the favor. For instance, The Book of Common Prayer now includes an astronaut option in its prayer for travelers: "For those who travel on land, on water, or in the air [or through outer space], let us pray to the Lord."

I'm sorry. I'm an atheist and that just kind of gave me the shivvers. Basically, being out in space, so far from your fellow humans and in such an alien environment, makes for a really good example of the way religion (and ritual) can serve as a tie binding us to the rest of humanity. For some people, it's a connection to a bigger sense of history. And when they look the future (and/or the vast emptiness of space) full in the face, they need that connection to humanity. It doesn't work for everybody. But the relationship between religion and space travel is a good place to start when you want to have a conversation about the fact that there really don't have to be conflicts between religion and science. (Really, people. For serious.)

Here's the scene: It's Christmas Eve, 1968. The spaceship with three men on board had hurtled toward the moon for three days, and they have now finally entered the moon's orbit, a move requiring a maneuver so dicey that just a tiny mistake could have sent the men off into an unwieldy elliptical orbit or crashing to the moon's surface. But all went smoothly, and they are orbiting the moon. On their fourth pass (of 10), astronaut William Anders snaps the famous Earthrise shot that will appear in Life magazine. On their ninth orbit, they begin a broadcast down to Earth. Astronaut Frank Borman introduces the men of the mission, and, then, this:

"And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and God said, 'Let there be light," Borman read.

Read the rest of the article at The Atlantic

I can't remember who sent this story to me. If it's you, let me know, and I will credit you here!

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But here's where the "swell guy" part comes in. Walheim liked your questions as much as I did, so he set aside a half hour for us last week, to answer some of the queries we couldn't get to during the first interview.

There's some really great stuff in here. Want to know what songs to listen to in space? Curious about what the ISS smells like? Perhaps you'd like to know why Rex Walheim thinks politicians should have to spend some time orbiting the Earth? Read on for a candid look inside the life of an astronaut.

Rex Walheim: [The idea of being an astronaut] was something I liked as a kid but I didn’t take it seriously until later. By the time I went into the Air Force, though, that was my intention. I wanted to be a test pilot and astronaut and that went well through ROTC. Then I went on to pilot training and did a physical for that where they found a heart murmur. That knocked me out being a pilot. I had to re-evaluate what I wanted to do. I could still be a backseater, a flight test engineer. So I did that for a while. But I did try again for test pilot school and got accepted on the second try. That time, they didn’t see the heart murmur at all, and that opened the door to astronaut. But it was not the path I had expected to take. For quite a while, I thought being an astronaut was impossible for me.

RW: No, I love flying. But it turns out that I’m a better engineer than I am a pilot. To be an astronaut, I’d have had to be one of the best of the best as a pilot. And I'm not. But I am a really good engineer. So I could climb that ladder.

RW: Yes that happens. It is very rare, and it is unfortunate. It keeps you up at night. I was an astronaut for five and a half years before my first flight. For a while, you spend a day in space for every year on earth as astronaut. But I decided that if I love the job supporting space flight program, I was in the right place. I already knew what disappointment was like from being rejected as a pilot. So even if I'd never flown, I’d still have enjoyed being in the space program. In fact, I might not get the chance to fly again. But I'm still busy. There are lots of different jobs on the ground. You can work in mission control, talking to crew, and developing procedures for the space station. I'm working on the Orion vehicle and some advanced space suit stuff now.

RW:Absolutely. I think it’s the next generation and a step we need to take. We need to develop that capability to send people into space and I think these companies have good ways of getting there. It frees up NASA for deep space trips. We have the technology and it warms my heart to see commercial crews trying hard to do what we need to do. And there are partnerships happening on this. Astronauts and former astronauts are working for these companies. Even those without an astronaut, if they’re working closely enough with NASA we can help them out and answer questions. That's not something I'm heavily involved in, though, so I don't know specifically what we've helped them on.

RW: That’s a good one. I think you feel smaller. It’s such an incredible expanse that you can see. It’s an overwhelming experience when you have time to look out, especially on your first flight. Space is more than just dark, it’s a void. You really get the sense of Earth hanging in the void. It’s amazing. I can see why it might make you feel large, but for the most part being so far up and moving so fast makes you feel small.

RW: There’s a lot of songs that I like. The wake-up call I chose was"More" by Matthew West. He's a Christian artist and he talks about looking at the mountains and oceans and deserts and seeing how big and awesome they are, and seeing God there. I also like to listen to Tom Petty "Free Fallin'". We had some great wake-up calls on the last mission. Paul McCartney did "Good Day Sunshine" for us. Elton John played "Rocket Man". It’s neat to listen to music, and it's sometimes hard to sleep in space. I’d often wake up before the wake-up call and couldn’t get back to sleep. So I’d put my iPod on and listen and it was the only time I could really unwind. It gave me a chance to relax. Other than that, it’s go go go. [What are wake-up calls?] The sleep schedule for the crew is pre-determined. You get 8 hours. So you know when wake up is supposed to happen. But mission control plays music for us at that time. It comes over the air-to-ground channel, so it can be a little grainy. But it's meaningful. It might be a song your family has picked out for you.

RW: I think it would do government officials tremendous benefit. Not just in the United States, but all over the world. The experience reinforced and made it obvious how interconnected we all are. You look down at conflict prone areas and you don’t see borders. You can only kind of see cities. You realize there’s no borders and we’re all in this together. You can see a good portion of the planet and you realize we really are a spaceship. I know it’s trite to say, but you really do get that feeling. You see how fragile the environment is as well. You can see this little thin band that’s our atmosphere and it looks so tenuous like it could just blow off in a stiff wind. The other thing you get from working in the ISS is this experience with a multinational crew. We have Japanese, Russians, Americans. We all work together and we’re one big team. You can really get good teamwork and understand people better that way. The more people get that God's-eye perspective, yes I think the better the ability to work together."

RW: I’d say that you have to have some kind of sci-tech background, but then what you do with it is also important. There's a variety of fields, but one key thing we look for is whether they’ve shown an interest in space program. Is this something they just decided on recently or have they been pursuing it for a long time. You have to excel at what you do, too. So you have to have had a significant enough carreer, but we also look at did you work for a commercial space company, or for NASA, and that helps too. Even you don’t have aeronotical engineering background having exposure to the space program makes for a stronger application. I saw that someone asked whether it feels like a "closed circle" in space and the answer is absolutely not. Even within a field you have completely different experiences and sub-specialties. Pilots are very operations oriented. Engineers more technology oriented. Both may have an aeronautical engineering background. And there's people with completely different experiences, too. Kate Rubins has been doing infectious disease research in Africa.

RW: I think it’s personal. It’s one of those things where people more relate that one-on-one with people. You are a little worried of offending your audience or NASA. And I think it’s just a piece of your whole experience. It does change you. But I don't think it changes your whole outlook. For me, as a Christian, it reinforces the beauty of the Creation. It’s just awesome. But it’s personal and people are reluctant to talk about it in a big venue.

RW: There are noises. What you hear are the fans mostly. The space shuttle almost sounds like an airplane, it's about as loud. I sleep with ear plugs. It's fairly noisy, but you get used to it and you stop noticing. Then, when you change out the lithium hydroxide canisters that clean our air, you turn off the fans for a minute and it gets so quiet and that's when you notice how loud they really were.

The ISS does have a distinctive smell. But it's not bad. I think it’s the hygiene products we use. They make it smell like home and that makes you comfortable. The Russian segment smells more like the Russian training modules in Russia. As for the smell of space, I think there is one. When we bring people back in from a space walk there’s a smell on the suit, like a burnt smell.

There's not much of a smell inside the EVA suit. You're breathing pure oxygen for 8-9 hours, though, so you notice the smell of space station much more after you come back inside. What you hear in the EVA is the fan. I had a little electrical problem on the mission before last and when I switched power sources the fan wasn’t on. That silence is a bad sounds in the EVA. The fan is comforting then.

RW: The biggest benefit, to me, is that you're giving everybody a chance to experience being in space, even if for just a short period of time. It's a transformative experience. That’s the first step, suborbital flights. And then hopefully that will bring the cost of orbital down. That’s also one of the benefits. And hopefully we'll get some benefits to passenger jet design and that will help as well. As for the consequences, well, it will be tough to do. I wish them all the best. I hope they’re taking all the precautions they can. It’s very possible they could have an accident and then it's all about how they regroup after that and become safer and safer. Going to space is not risk free.

RW: I think it is a little hard for some people. I mean, what do you do to top it? Going to space really is addicting to some people. At first you’re so worn out when you come back that you can’t think about doing it again. But after a few months you want to go back. It’s an absolutely incredible experience and hard to duplicate. And it's not just the trip itself. You've got a whole year of being assigned and trained and then going, and all of that is an incredible experience.

A lot of people stay on with NASA, which works out great. Some go to the aerospace community. Some go on to med school and start a whole new career. And, of course, there’s a risk to going to space, too. So there is a part of you that breathes a sigh of relief, and thinks, "I survived my flying career."

How do I feel about it? I would love the chance to fly again. I’m happy with what I had, but there are parts of me ... you think about the view and what you’d like to do and it does have a tug on you. But you have to make the best decision and deal with the cards you’re dealt.

*********************

Rex Walheim is a veteran of three shuttle missions, including the last flight of the space shuttle program in July, 2011. You can read our previous interview with him—Five Questions With Astronaut Rex Walheim. All the reader questions in this interview, and that previous one, were gleaned from an earlier post—Ask Astronaut Rex Walheim a Question.

This is the space suit worn by Apollo 17 commander Eugene Cernan, the last human being to set foot on the Moon.

Side note: I knew these suits were heavy. I had not realized how heavy. With 26 layers of material in the suit, a portable life-support system strapped on, and other mechanical systems attached, the whole thing weighed in at 185 pounds on Earth.

After watching NASA's astronaut recruitment video (which managed to make going to space sort of feel like applying for a lower-level management position at Wal-Mart), Gavin St. Ours made his own version.

Now THIS is what an astronaut recruitment video ought to be: Inspirational, a little tear-jerky ... it even acknowledges the current state of the American manned space program and makes that sound like an opportunity, rather than a crisis. Great work, Gavin!

Video Link

Thank you, Tim Lloyd. This made my day.

It looks like Boeing will be the main competitor for Space X in the race to see what U.S. company will provide the commercial space flight services that NASA eventually plans to rely on.

Space X has its Dragon capsule, and Boeing is developing a new capsule system, called the CST-100. That capsule would ride into space under the power of an Atlas V rocket, an engineering descendant of the Atlas rockets that carried the first four American astronauts to space half a century ago.

Everybody say, "Hello," to Russian cosmonaut Yury Malenchenko. Hi, Yury!

I like this photo because he kind of reminds me of one of those Japanese lucky cats.