Alvin's Update

He’s Back!

alvinspace — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 20:13:05 +0000

YEAH! Landing was fantastic to see and just saw Alvin a few minutes ago before they whisked him off to medical testing. He looked great and the whole crew seemed in good spirits.

It was soooooo wonderful to see him, I am just bursting!

Patricia

8 March, 2011 08:29

alvinspace — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 14:29:50 +0000

Another packed day yesterday.

After a very emotional farewell ceremony on Sunday evening, we closed and sealed the hatches between the space station and the shuttle. First thing Monday morning we prepared to depart. In the night skies above Papua, New Guinea we released the hooks holding us to the station, and a large spring shoved us away. Our attitude control jets thundered as we drifted down the departure corridor, and the sun front lit the station in blazing orange. We did not remain clam – we oohed and ahh’d and took 10,000 photos as Eric backed away to 600 feet distance and flew a lap around the station before finally moving away. It gradually receded until it looked like only a bright star as the day went by.

Then it was six hours of inspecting the orbiter’s nose and wings for meteor damage. We use the same camera-on-a-stick that we took out on flight day 2. In the middle of all this we went right over a huge aurora, and there we all were again snapping away like tourists until the aurora (australis since we were in the southern hemisphere) finally gave way to a beautiful sunrise just west of Australia. Then it was back to work.

We finished just before bedtime. Eric and I put away Discovery’s robotically controlled mechanical arm for the very last time ever, got a quick late dinner and a sound night’s sleep. We take down our big satellite dish today, and with it goes our email connection. The next post will be from Earth.

MS1
NOTE: This is private/personal mail and not for release to media.

5 March, 2011 11:27

alvinspace — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 17:27:32 +0000

Unbelievable launch pictures at the following link. Most spectacular images I have ever seen of a launch, such detail.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts133/nasaremotes/index.html

Patricia

4 March, 2011 21:13

alvinspace — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 03:13:47 +0000

Our second spacewalk reminded me of flying school. Once you’ve been declared proficient, you are cleared to fly solo. Steve and I headed off in separate directions, right from the start – very different from our first walk. Like any repairs, nothing went exactly as planned – sticky bolts, knobs and bails – could have used a can of Break-Free or WD40! I also got to retrieve some thermal blankets. For anyone who remembers the Peanuts comic strip, Linus’ blanket was notorious for attacking unwary victims, and I have always referred to these thermal blankets as “Linus’ Blankets” for that very reason. The first one lived up to its reputation, but after little wrassling and hassling, I got that beast subdued. Things perked along smoothly after that until the cap carrying my lights and video cameras came off my helmet (still attached by a wire). That got everyone excited, and since we were done with all of our primary tasks, I got sent back to the airlock. I felt like I’d fouled out in overtime, but everyone else seemed happy with how things went.

Mission Control has asked us to stay aboard Space Station for two extra days so we can help the crew with some catching up. We didn’t complain. Yesterday, I helped out with resupply – delivering goods to the Space Station. We got to open up the new module we delivered and explore it. Finally we chatted with the President, who got on us for keeping the new robot locked up in a box. Today, Steve and I cleaned up our mess in the airlock, and worked on the new module, which we apparently delivered with some assembly required. The next two days should be more of the same.

MS1
NOTE: This is private/personal mail and not for release to media.

1 March, 2011 00:08

alvinspace — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 06:08:59 +0000

We spent all day yesterday getting our airlock and our suits ready for today’s spacewalk – lots and lots of long checklists. Usually very dry to do in training, but it takes on a special significance when you know you will be going out in to space the next day. Steve Bowen is an absolute master of this complex process. I felt like an apprentice (which I was). Finished the day “camping out” in the airlock. We have to purge nitrogen out of our bodies so we won’t get the bends in our space suits. So we breathe pure oxygen for hours on end and depressurize the airlock until it is the same pressure as 10,000 feet of altitude on earth. Since the rest of the space station is pressurized higher (same as sea level) we have to keep our hatch shut and… camp out.

WHAT A DAY TODAY! WOW! After putting our oxygen masks back on and breaking camp to clean up and use the bathroom, we had a quick breakfast and sealed the hatch again – this time with Mike Barratt and Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli. Paolo, a former paratrooper, suited me up today with the same meticulousness he’d use to pack his own parachute, and I sure appreciated it. Mike was our orchestrator , and an old master like Steve. Exiting the airlock into space was an experience I’ll never forget. The gleaming space station wrapped all around us, and a tropical jungle beneath. It was breathtaking. I had to remind myself that there was work to do. And work we did; I was pretty tired by the end (and hungry too), but very gratified that we got all our assigned tasks done. Back inside we got lots of high fives and a welcome meal. We start the whole thing again tomorrow.

MS1
NOTE: This is private/personal mail and not for release to media.

27 February, 2011 21:13

alvinspace — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 03:13:39 +0000

Hi folks, Patricia here. Just want to add to Alvin’s post about the launch. If you go to YouTube and search STS-133: Pilots Point of View you can see the whole launch from their view. (It takes a couple of minutes to get to the launch.). You can see the colors changing as Alvin describes.

27 February, 2011 16:17

alvinspace — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 22:17:04 +0000

Site to use for finding out when we are flying by your part of the planet. Make sure to wave! http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/

27 February, 2011 15:18

alvinspace — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 21:18:17 +0000

An awesome clip of the launch from an airplane.

27 February, 2011 11:31

alvinspace — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 17:31:22 +0000

Whew! Long day yesterday. The space station is HUGE, twice as big as it was last time I was here. We could see it from 40 miles away, and make out the larger details. The docking was… interesting, the shuttle and station docking ports took a little while to line up – we knew it could happen. Then we got to go inside the station (did I mention how big that place is?) It took about 30 minutes to tour all the new Japanese, European and Russian vehicles and modules. I’m calling the US section the Old Quarter now. The transfer and install of the equipment pallet (called ELC 4) went very cleanly and we got in a well deserved night’s rest.

MS1
NOTE: This is private/personal mail and not for release to media.

26 February, 2011 03:50

alvinspace — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 09:50:39 +0000

Had a very exciting launch on Thursday; we left the pad with just 3 seconds to spare in our launch window for the day. Unlike my last countdown for STS-118, where I napped for much of the countdown, my heart was racing when we resumed the clock this time, just from the suspense. The ride to orbit was spectacular, watching the sky go from light blue to dark blue to black in 8 minutes, and feeling like we were engulfed flame when the solid rockets blasted away. Then it was time to work. It takes a lot of reconfiguring to convert a rocket ship into an orbiting spacecraft. We were all very ready for bed last night.

Today Eric and I used the mechanical arm to survey the vulnerable parts of the shuttle, with an array of cameras, for any evidence of damage from the ride up (I didn’t notice any). Later Steve Bowen and I gave our space suits a thorough going-over. Finally Nicole and I got the docking system set up for tomorrow’s rendezvous with the space station. Another long and busy day for everyone, but we still took a few moments to look at the spectacular views of earth. The mountains of New Zealand, the stark desert in the Sahara and the western Amazon River stood out in memory for me today. Tomorrow we will spend most of our time looking up at our destination for the next week.

MS1
NOTE: This is private/personal mail and not for release to media.