Lunar Ponderings

A stunning anniversary just passed: 50 years since Apollo 11. We have 6 more Apollo lunar anniversaries to go, (7 overall in this program if one counts the non-lunar Apollo-Soyuz Test Project). For years, I've tracked statistics of Apollo missions and astronauts as they aged. And each time I have to update my records, the solemnity of the loss halts all activity in my brain.

On December 19, 1972, upon the splashdown return of Apollo 17, there were 12 men on planet Earth who knew what it was like to walk on the surface of our Moon. This fact remained true for true for 18 years and 7 months.

Then, in August 1991, James Irwin (Apollo 15) died of a heart attack at age 61.

In 1998, Alan Shepard (Apollo 14) died of leukemia at age 74.

In 1999, Pete Conrad (Apollo 12) was killed in a motorcycle crash at age 69.

In 2012, Neil Armstrong (Apollo 11) died of heart failure at age 82.

In 2016, Ed Mitchell (Apollo 14) died in his sleep at age 85.

In 2017, Gene Cernan (Apollo 10 and 17) died of long-term illness at age 82 and Dick Gordon (Apollo 12) died of cancer at age 88.

In 2018, John Young (Apollo 10 and 16) died of pneumonia at age 978, and Alan Bean (Apollo 12) died of sudden illness at age 86.

Today, as we approach more 50th anniversaries of lunar landings, there are just 4 men left who remember traveling to and working on the Moon.

• Buzz Aldrin turns 90 years old in January 2020.
• David Scott is 87. 
• Jack Schmitt and Charles Duke are both 84.

Among the other Apollo (orbiting or CSM pilot) astronauts, all are now octogenerians, with youngest Ken Mattingly reaching the age of 84.

Even if the youngest of them make it in to their 90s or to 100, will they see another Moon mission? Will they watch astronauts who are American or Chinese? Male or female?  Will it be just as inspiring to the world?

L to R: Charlie Duke (Apollo 16), Buzz Aldrin (11), Walter Cunningham (7), Alfred Worden (15), Rusty Schweickart (9), [Harrison] Jack Schmitt (17), Michael Collins (11), and Fred Haise (13).
PHOTO CREDIT: Felix Kunze/The Explorers Club

Some think we could pull off a Moon mission by 2024, though with how administrations roll (I've seriously been watching various plans and cancellations across my entire lifespan now), it will be more like 2027.

• At that point, Buzz Aldrin will be 97. 
• David Scott will be 94. 
• Jack Schmitt and Charles Duke will be 91. 
• Every living Apollo astronaut will be a nonagenarian. 

I wonder, will they make it? Statistically, the deaths in this tiny club are accelerating, and we can expect to lose a few more before we see a return to the lunar surface, given that even the best technological developments never seem to last past early stages. Anything could suffer cancellation again, in favor of Mars, Asteroids, or on the altar of war, economic depression, or unforseen disaster.

So, when we return to the Moon, if we return to the Moon, will anyone alive personally remember what it was like to visit the Moon?

Something to ponder.

Pillownaut Muse

After my follow-up DEXA Bone Scan last winter, and the nice article NASA's Human Research Program published about me and other past pillownauts in preparation for the new simulation protocols, I didn't expect much more to happen. It's been many years since my studies, and my blog is now only rarely updated.

I pondered perhaps "over-hauling" this site to be a #SciComm hub -- but honestly, I think there are so many great existing Science Communication sites, and I will work to amplify those. I figured I'd had my 15 minutes of fame, and decided to leave my old blog "as-is" as a historical record of how I lived through the unique experiences of Space Flight Simulations projects at NASA.

But. Every time I think I'll never hear about it again, another author or press outlet comes knocking. Last time it was Charles Wohlforth, and you should definitely still read his great book, "Beyond Earth: Our Path To a New Home in the Planet." My father was very impressed they devoted more space to me than to Neil Armstrong, so we may have to put that on my tombstone.

Along came Minute Number 16...

Muse Magazine asked to feature my studies and chose the same title, just spelled a bit differently! In "Beyawned Earth," writer Jen Mason compiled many of my past blog excerpts, a few older press turns, and many of my personal photographs from quarantine into an exceptional article designed to teach students about space flight and how it affects the "biological packages" that travel in spacecrafts.

Reading the finished product, I was definitely the happiest I've ever been with an interview. I've had TV and radio stations ask me exhaustingly inappropriate questions; sometimes even reputable outlets go for the sensationalist spin by giving the study clever little [incorrect] nicknames or dwelling on incidental details, like how we manage to shower during simulations, or that we cannot have sugar or caffeine or salt in quarantine. Sure, those things are challenging, but not life-threatening. They pale in the quest for good data.

However, MUSE Magazine hired a skilled and serious writer who truly nailed the science. After literally a decade of interviews in varied formats, and even being featured on the NASA website itself, this was really the first full-length article that revolved around MY OWN WORDS REGARDING MY OWN EXPERIENCES. This is the closest article to what I would have written myself. Maybe someday, some outlet will invite me to do so. Hope springs eternal.

I was gratified that this particular entity put the science in detailed and accurate terms, because it's directed at students and young adults potentially getting started in scholastic concentrations, and beginning to think about choosing majors.

Issue came out in March, and I was thrilled to receive copies by May, after I returned from my 6-week trek in Europe. You can order back issues of Muse Magazine yourself, or subscribe your teens, at Cricket Media.

My entire list of articles has been updated to include the last 2 years.

Star Talk Radio Live!

Star Talk Radio is on the road again! And this week, Bill Nye The Science Guy will be hosting Neil deGrasse Tyson's usual gig in Los Angeles and San Francisco!  Lucky, lucky audiences in California.

Okay, okay, don't say it... if it's Star Talk Radio LIVE and ONSTAGE, it's... not.. exactly RADIO. But who's quibbling with the best radio show and podcast around?

StarTalk, from Curved Light Productions, is the first (and still only) popular commercial radio broadcast devoted to space exploration, the search for life in the universe, astrophysics, and cosmology -- and they manage to make all these subjects accessible to listeners of all ages and backgrounds with facts, humor, celebrities, and occasional co-hosts.

If you are not a regular StarTalk listener... um, who are you and what are you doing on my blog?? No seriously, if you're new to the show, you can brush up on the format and fun by seeing their greatest hits: TOP TEN Most Listened To StarTalk Radio Shows in 2014.

There's one episode where NdT had a conversation with GOD. Make time.

I'm so very flattered to tell all my readers and followers that the StarTalk social media team invited me to "guest-host" their Twitter account during Bill Nye's show on Friday, January 23rd.

Engineer, comedian, Emmy-winning TV host, and owner of 150+ bow ties, Bill Nye is also the current CEO of The Planetary Society.  I happen to be a proud, card-carrying member. It will be my distinct pleasure to put all my Nye-rich knowledge into describing the show on Friday night at the historic Nourse Theatre in San Francisco.

If you're local to the Bay Area, you can purchase tickets to come live-tweet #StarTalkRadio with us, or follow along with all the great sciency comedy from home by following the social media hashtag #StarTalkLive.

The above video is from Nye's 2014 San Francisco StarTalk show, at the annual SF Sketchfest. Watch this if you want to get an idea of what's in store!

For all the news this week about #StarTalkLive, you can follow the major players on Twitter at @Pillownaut, @ScientificScott, @TheScienceGuy, @EugeneMirman, and of course the Big Guns: @StarTalkRadio.

NASA Langley Project SPLASH!

Awesome trip to Virginia! I often despaired that I might never get to see the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC), but I not only finally had the opportunity -- I was able to cross a major space site off my bucket list in the process. THE GANTRY!

This "Gantry" is 240 feet high, 400 feet long, 265 feet wide, and it's massive A-frame  won't fit in any photographs unless you take one from a helicopter!

Built in 1963, and operational by 1965, it was initially used to model the Moon's 1/6th gravity level with complex suspension systems. 

Originally called the Lunar Landing Research Facility (LLRF),  it was upon this sacred site where all 24 Apollo astronauts trained to land on the Moon with Lunar Excursion Model Simulators (LEMS). 

The suspension systems also allowed all the potential Moonwalkers to practice walking in low gravity in their life support suits-- as uncomfortably evidenced here by astronaut  Roger Chaffee in 1965.

Still actively used for testing, the area is now a National Historical Landmark, and has recently been re-named the Landing and Impact Research Facility (LandIR).

Can you remember all those acronyms? There will be a test later. 

Our host at the Gantry was Richard Boitnott, 7-year veteran of the Structural Dynamics Branch at NASA Langley, and he inspired the most laughter I've ever heard at a NASA presentation, as he treated us to fascinating films of Orion space capsule drop-testing at the LandIR. Oh, the hilarity.

Watch Richard narrate dry-lake bed landings, animal mishaps, NASCAR comparison crashes, airbag blowouts, sand & honeycomb decelerations, slow-motion impacts from different angles, water landings (the first in a toddler wading pool!), and finally, a time-lapsed video of the construction of the Hydro Impact Basin used for advanced capsule water landings.

The video is just short of 9 minutes, but undeniably one of the best ways to see how Orion is being prepared for space travel, and how it will return to Earth. And funny. So funny. Can you spot the dragonfly?

The capsule used in the final drops was the same one we saw later in the day at the Norfolk Naval Air Station, being pulled from the ocean into the USS Arlington, a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock. I'll upload those videos tomorrow!

If you enjoyed these films, you can see all the originals at the NASA Langley Hydro Impact Basin website, where the last 2 years of tests are archived.

For photographs of the entire day, see the NASA Langley album in my Pillownaut Picasa galleries!  Includes snaps around LaRC, Orion sea recovery, plus older pictures of Orion mockup crafts at the final Space Shuttle launch (STS-135) and the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility (SVMF) in Houston, Texas.

NASA Ames K10 Telerobotics Test from the ISS

This has been so exciting! I finally joined Instagram! Just kidding. Well, I did join Instagram, but that was the exciting part. I decided to try it out, and use it to publish all my pictures while visiting NASA Ames Research Center for the Rover tests by the Intelligent Robotics Group.

K10 Rover at NASA Ames Roverscape
Click to see album of pictures!

I also dusted off my YouTube channel and took some videos of the most amazing rover test I've ever seen up close!

With coordinated help and checklists from NASA Ames Multi-Mission Operations Center (MMOC), and NASA Marshall's ISS Payload Operations, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano remotely tested the K10 Telerobotics Lunar Rover from the International Space Station (ISS)!

Every time you see this little guy move, it was being controlled from an astronaut in orbit around the Earth! So very awesome. Listen for the Mission Control chatter at the end, as well as the amusing Pac-Man sound effects.  It did a funny R2-D2 impression as well, though I didn't happen to catch it on-camera.

Note the giant Wind Tunnel in the background of the NASA Ames Roverscape, the research facility used to design and test new (commercial and military) aircraft, as well as NASA space vehicles, including the Space Shuttle. At 80x120, it's the largest wind tunnel in the world!

After Luca Parmitano completed his remote Telerobotics tests, and a survey of the terrain that will hopefully someday be used on the Moon, we went out into the roverscape to see the K10 up close.  Close enough to touch, even. And, when it started moving again, to hear it hum and beep. Can't wait for one of these to explore the Lunar surface!

After the robot fun in the morning, we also saw the IRIS and LADEE mission control centers, the new exhibits at the Ames Visitor Center, and the Lunar Science Institute. Not a bad way to pass the time in sunny California!

To see the robotics tests video clips in larger frames, visit my Pillownaut YouTube Channel, and to see the rest of our day in pictures, please visit my Pillownaut Picasa photo albums.

A Festival of Flight Surgeons

Longtime reader  Lisleman of A Few Clowns Short asks:
"I was wondering about health issues. Would you say that astronauts are the most monitored humans around? Do they monitor them constantly while in the ISS? Lastly, have the doctors ever prevented some illness because they noticed a warning in the monitored levels of an astronaut?"

I had a wild guess that individuals in prison might be the "most monitored", but this is an interesting avenue, both medically and operationally. I had some inklings, but called upon some friends in Mission Control to point me in the right direction.

NASA physiologist Liz Warren @Spasmunkey (also featured in my Workers At NASA section) says:
Prior to an ISS flight, I'd have to agree astronauts are some of the most medically monitored people on the planet. Millions of dollars are invested in each astronaut during training, and we ensure they don't become ill and jeopardize the mission.

During flight, astronauts have weekly meetings with their flight surgeons and psychiatrists. In terms of medical monitoring IN-FLIGHT, there actually isn't much. Exercise is monitored via a heart rate monitor. There is a portable blood analyzer on-orbit for routine analysis. Blood and urine samples gathered for research are frozen and analyzed on the ground after the crewmember goes home.

I am not aware (due to medical privacy) of any medical intervention that prevented someone from getting sick on-orbit. However, one Russian mission was aborted prematurely due to a crewmember developing a medical issue in-flight.


Dr. Jennifer Law, Flight-Surgeon, says:
 I can think of intensive care unit patients that are more closely monitored with invasive blood pressure monitors, heart rate monitors, temperature probes, and so on. Astronauts don't get this kind of medical scrutiny when they're on orbit. Prisoners may be monitored all the time in terms of their location and activity, but I don't think anyone keeps track of their vital signs and other physiological parameters.

Modern astronauts aren't monitored all the time like astronauts in the early space days were, and don't wear electrodes 24/7. They get routine physicals and are monitored during activities like exercise, EVA, and certain experiments, but the rest of the time they are not monitored per se, though like Liz said they do chat with their crew surgeon regularly so that any budding issues are addressed early.

As for medical interventions that prevent astronauts from getting sick on-orbit, we tend to focus on what we call primary prevention, e.g., astronaut selection, health maintenance, crew quarantine prior to flight, and regular exams. The irony is that when we do our jobs right, none of the astronauts get sick and we have nothing to show for it! Though I do know arrhythmias have been noted in space.

 Flight Controller Mike Allyn @FTCMike says:
Jen brings up a good point as to context of the word "monitored". I jumped to medical because of the question about preventing illness, but I can speak to monitoring the crew on a non-medical basis. Through various means of telemetry monitoring, MCC can often extrapolate what the crew is up to. Power draw always increases in the Service module when the crew starts turning on lights. We can also tell if there are crewmembers awake from the control torques on the vehicle. Rate measurements are so accurate coming from the US Rate Gyro Assemblies (RGA's) and the Russian Givus that the commands to control the torque of the Control Moment Gyro's (CMG's) react slightly to the crew bouncing off the walls.

We protect the crew's sleep and off duty time as much as we can. Being able to tell when they are awake is useful for when we need to speak to them at the earliest convenience, but perhaps not worth waking them. Another way to tell if a crew member is up and moving is by smoke detector scatter measurements. Anytime there is a tiny bit of dust detected by the many smoke detectors, they register increased scatter. One way this increases is by crewmembers working and moving in close proximity to them, which increases airflow and kicks up dust.

So there you have it, Lisleman! Hope that answers all your questions -- and very special thanks to our friendly neighborhood NASA MCC heroes for their time and expertise!

NASA Beauty Pageants 1952-1973

Perhaps you thought the NASA bedrest studies were the goofiest thing you ever saw at the space agency, but did you know NASA once held beauty pageants?!

Click to see the original 2-page spread in the archives

This is one of those anomalous things I thought "everyone knew about," and I don't get the urge to research or write about in terms of historical accuracy -- until someone argues with me. You know who you are. And I won't rub it in or anything, but these definitely are not myth or legend. While the events are not exactly well-documented in the NASA archives, proof absolutely does exist.

Beginning at their Spring Dance in 1952, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California held annual "Miss Guided Missile" pageants. There's definitely a "misguided" joke sitting right smack in the middle of all this -- but heck, it was the 1950s, what can you do?!

Miss Guided Missile 1955, Alane Hine, employee of JPL Solid Rockets section

When I first heard of this, I thought perhaps it was an unofficial lark for fun at some kind of spring picnic... but no. Incredibly, managers of various departments sponsored coronation candidates, and developed actual campaigns to draw employee votes -- which included luncheons, and parades around the campus streets in decorated convertibles.

None other than rocket scientist and longest-serving director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Dr. Walter Pickering, crowned the ladies through the years, at events sponsored by the Employees Recreation Club (ERC).

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory was transferred to NASA in 1958, the same year the Zsa Zsa Gabor film "Queen of Outer Space" was released.  The following year, JPL's pageant was similarly (and one imagines humorously) re-named, also reflecting JPL's transition from missiles to spacecrafts.

JPL "Queen of Outer Space" in May, 1962

These perfectly-acceptable-then-but-seeming-travesties-now continued through the 1960s, only halting in 1970.  Apparently, that was around the time it was enough for the women to perform their math magic alongside men without wondering how anyone looked in an evening gown!

While I know some fellow feminists are probably gnashing their teeth reading this, it's worthwhile to note that pageants originated at JPL because they were among the first major governmental and aeronautic facilities to employ women!  JPL hired them throughout the 1940s and 1950s to compute satellite trajectories; the first female engineer was hired in 1961 to work on the Ranger and Mariner mission tracking teams.  So, in a weird way, the road to equality was paved with marginalizing... but then, when it is ever not?

Miss NASA 1971 with Apollo 8 at Lewis Research Center

While NASA never had an agency-wide pageant comprising women from all centers, and certainly never sponsored these events as a rule across any centers, the Lewis Center in Ohio crowned a "Miss NASA" each year between 1968 and 1973.

NASA Lewis Research Center was founded in 1958, and renamed NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field in 1999.  Today, we generally refer to it as "NASA Glenn". Same set of buildings.

Miss NASA 1973 Merri Fahnenbruck with Apollo Moon rock

The pictures, with precious few details, are easily found by keyword in the NASA Archives, just don't tell anyone you're searching for a tomato in a tiara, standing next to an RL-10 engine. You might get a bad reputation.

Click on any of the pictures above to see the entire collection of NASA beauty pageant photographs, or click this Pillownaut domain link.

Name That Kepler Planet

Such an exciting media briefing from NASA Ames!  Live from the Bay Area of California, Mission Manager Roger Hunter offered the Reader's Digest recap of how the Kepler Space Telescope determines orbital periods via transits, then Principal Investigator William Borucki wasted no time in tantalizing us with newly-found planets in the habitable zone of a red star!

They turned the stage over to Research Lead Lisa Kaltenegger, and BAER Institute scientist Thomas Barclay, who emphasized the amazing diversity of solar systems we are finding in our universe, a beautiful example being the newly detected Kepler-62 system.

Starlight on Kepler 62E and F

Two of the system's five planets, 62E and 62F, are the smallest exoplanets yet found, almost certainly rocky, with possible land masses and water. In fact 62E may be a "waterworld" of sorts, and 62F has polar caps. Surely with such alluring possibilities, we could come up with better names for these beauties?

 (Lively tangential conversations on Twitter during the media briefing were afire with naming possibilities instead of simply catalogue numbers. While I don't believe in "dumbing down" the science, that doesn't mean we can't make the discoveries more colloquially accessible.)

Nerds will be excited about possible "life signatures" on a faraway sphere, no matter what it's called. But will the general public embrace Kepler finds without nicknames? Of course, interest and coverage would explode a hundred-fold if we started naming them after Star Wars characters. Sad but true, so hopefully there can be a happy medium, when we see planets capable of sustaining life.

Awesome Animated Infographic from the New York Times.
Click to embiggen and mouse over each Orrery for details!

Barclay said it best: "This is no longer an academic or theoretical exercise."

True. We have actually FOUND habitable planets. That alone is mind-blowing! Add to that the idea that either world may not just be habitable, but absolutely HABITED! With every new possibility, we see less and less reason to consider ourselves a rarity.

Kepler consistently examines over 150,000 stars in the Cygnus / Lyra field of the Milky Way –- merely one small area of one small galaxy. In a few short years, thousands of candidates and hundreds of confirmed habitable planets have been detected. Imagine then, the implications of the overall numbers in the greater multiverse!

Another amazing implication of these observations and bodies of research is that we could potentially surmise the future of our own Earth, once we understand the lifespans of stars, and their effect on planets within their habitable zones.

Naturally, our excitement must be tempered with reasonable doubt. It's worth noting that if some faraway world is watching our solar system through a telescope, they would find both Earth and Mars in the "Galactic Habitable Zone" –- however, Mars gravity is unable to keep an atmosphere that would heat the planet surface. Just like us, they could only deduce possibilities, but at these distances, not know for sure.

However, each new project brings new data, each technological leap opens new possibilities, and as we add to our store of knowledge, our deductive powers of life signatures will only grow richer. The NASA TV session ended with press Q&A, and a novel opportunity to submit questions through social media, which I'm happy to see NASA centers embrace.

Many popular outlets such as New Scientist and Universe Today immediately covered the announcement with ample technical detail, and the original abstract for the Kepler-62 system can be found at the ScienceMag publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  

Now, let's think of some names!

Venus on Mars

Another year, another orbit around the sun! And one of my favorite annual events is honoring Yuri's first orbit around the Earth. I had the pleasure of spending Yuri's Night at the Chabot Space and Science Center in the Joaquin Park hills, and was further treated to an all-female panel of professionals who each drew upon their particular life expertise to discuss human fascination with planet Mars.

The draw of the evening was MBA Sharon Wright, mother of Bobak "Mohawk Guy" Ferdowsi. Yeah, remember that dude from NASA JPL? The one who became an internet sensation, but was too busy landing a rover on Mars to notice.

Very pleased to meet Mohawk Guy's Mom

Overall, the theme was kinda... MARS NEEDS WOMEN! Excuse the devolution into meme, but of course, listening to each speaker, it was difficult not to feel the reality of how "under-represented" women are in STEM fields. We are quite nearly non-existent in Mars analog experiments, efforts to explore Mars, and even in science fiction about Mars over the past few centuries.

Happily, SF State professor Jan Millsapps, who hosted the proceedings, opened with a history of Mars in literature (both observational and creative), and seeks to rectify the lack of XX-Chromosomes with her new novel. "Venus on Mars" follows the Martian discoveries of Wrexie Louise Leonard, real-life secretary to astronomer Percival Lowell in the Victorian era, at a time when women weren't even allowed to look through telescopes.

Venus on Mars

NASA Ames Planetary Scientist Carol Stoker covered the technical challenges to reaching Mars, detailing her long-term work with red planet landers and rovers, and the parameters of our hopes and dreams in extra-terrestrial astrobiology.  In terms of seek life as we know it, or more probably "life as we don't know it", she uttered perhaps my favorite quotable quip of the evening -- that she is "convinced robots or rovers won't find life. We need the hardware between brains and eyes for that."

Filmmaker-Producer Susan Bell and I tweeted Carol's quips, and many other gems from the event (with hashtag #ChabotMars) as part of Susan's Prezi presentation and promotion of NASA Socials, popular space agency events that have covered MSL Curiosity's construction, launch and landing.

@Tweetsoutloud

Nadia Drake, WIRED Magazine science reporter, then ran a slideshow about modern Mars exploration, including the fundraising efforts of MarsOne, and the philanthropic Inspiration Mars. Female volunteers for the one-way trip? Send in your audition tape! Married couple for Mars flyby?  Well, commercial companies are determined to reach these milestones with the help of both genders, even if government space agencies are not.

Sharon Wright was last to discuss our fascination with Mars, both as a scientific curiosity and a destination.  Per her arrangements, her son, Bobak Ferdowsi (one of the flight directors of the Curiosity Mars Rover) surprised us briefly via video feed, and provided the finale to the presentations before Q&A.

Q&A with Sharon Wright & Carol Stoker (NASA Ames)

All in all, a rare and wonderful night for female Mars enthusiasts, and I was gratified to see parents with daughters in tow.  We wrapped the evening by visiting the rooftop telescopes to view three of the four Galilean Moons of the Jovian system, and a beautiful nebula! The perfect ending to Yuri's Night!

To see group photos and slide show highlights of the evening, as well as various space exhibits at Chabot, click on any picture above to visit the Pillownaut Picasa Gallery on Google!

International Space Station FACTS

Sixteen nations are involved in building and supporting the International Space Station: Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Click to embiggen, and read labels!

Construction began on the ISS in 1998 with the robotic Proton launch of the Russian module Zarya. Two weeks later, US module UNITY was launched aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-88) and attached to Zarya via multiple EVAs. All 159 subsequent modules, arrays, truss segments and other various components were delivered by Space Shuttles up through June 2011, and connected by various astronauts and cosmonauts over a whopping 1,020 hours of spacewalks!

The International Space Station is maintained at an orbital altitude of between 330 to 435 kilometers (or, 205-270 miles high)

The ISS has over 8 miles of wiring onboard, 52 computers, and an acre of solar arrays to provide power.

With the installation of the final solar arrays, the ISS is now about equal to the length of a football field (including both end zones).

Call sign for the ISS is "Space Station Alpha"

Space Station Alpha now weighs 435,592 kilograms (slightly less than one million pounds).

October 30, 2000 was the very last day all humans were on Earth. As of the Soyuz rocket launch the following morning, which put the first crew on the ISS, at least two individuals have always been orbiting the planet in space!

Since that first crew in November of 2000, there have been 35 long-duration Expeditions to the International Space Station, and the next 9 (through 2015) are already planned.

New milestones in the modern era!

In April 2010, a record was set when four women were on the ISS together as STS-131 mission specialists. Left to Right above: Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Stephanie Wilson (NASA), and Naoko Yamazaki (JAXA).

It takes about 90 minutes for it to make a trip around Earth, and each solar day, the International Space Station travels a distance equal to that of a trip to the Moon and back.

There are 52 computers control systems on the ISS. 44 of those are in the American modules. More than 3.3 million lines of software code on the ground support 1.8 million lines of flight software code.

NASA's Dr. Duane Graveline

I'd like to extend a vast and hearty thank you to everyone who tuned into The Space Show this past Friday, when the esteemed Dr. Livingston invited me to co-host a broadcast where we interviewed the equally-esteemed former NASA astronaut, Dr. Duane Graveline.

NASA Group #4: "The Scientists" (Duane in top center)

And what a treat! We jumped right in with questions about his first interest in bedrest as an Air Force intern at the famed Walter Reed Army Hospital, where he first seized upon going beyond regular medical corps duties to become a flight surgeon in the mid-1950s, when concerns about "zero-gravity" on future space travelers had just begun.

The good doctor remembered clearly how he selected 10 young men in 1957, and arranged for them to have nothing to do for two weeks but lay in bed at Randolph Air Force Base Hospital. Sounds easy, right? The Air Force guys initially thought that was the world on a platter!  Dr. G conducted baseline tests, including tilt table tests & stress tests, and took measurements of muscle function and blood volume. Amazingly, as I know from my own experiences, these are still staples of all weightlessness simulation programs, 56 years later! They evolved to use different techniques in many cases, but the examination of these measures before and after spaceflight will always be crucial physiological markers.

But then, the troubles began, said Duane with a laugh, and his healthy sense of humor shines through. The subjects wanted to read in bed, they wanted to shave, they wanted to feed themselves... ah, the nerve! LOL!  Turns out, bedrest isn't so simple -- allowances do need to be made in terms of documentting the de-conditioning of space flight, but still ensuring your testers do not grow bored or stir crazy.  What's a space scientist to do?

Astronaut Hall of Fame, Florida

Determined to find something better, Graveline began water immersion experiments in the AeroMed Lab at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, or as he termed it, a "heaven" for any research-oriented person.  His demands were simple: 9x9x8 rooms full of water with viewing ports, with water maintained at a constant 95 degree temperature. Not too much to ask, right?  He designed a suit for use in the tank and then -- as a former test volunteer, I love this part -- he underwent a solid week of water immersion himself!

If you tune into the Space Show recoding in the archives for no other reason, listen for his experiences in the tank -- how he survived on liquids, and the testing protocols used.  An explosion of interest followed, landing him on the "Today" show, and led to his being given whole series of tests where he worked with both mice and humans in different micro-gravity simulations.

The most detailed of the sims involved specially designed pressure helmets and more complex underwater garments.  And unlike bedrest where immobility is crucial, so as not to bias the data with any influence of gravity, the aquanauts were freer to read books, play games and enjoy their unique environment while Dr. Graveline conducted electrocardiograms or recorded brain waves.

LIFE Magazine Centerfold, 1959

See that dude in the picture above? Imagine floating that way for 7 days straight! That's Dr. G to the right, looking into the custom water tank. It would many years before NASA had their own similar facilities, but both water immersion and bedrest techniques would continue to be developed over the coming decades, yielding valuable data about counter-measures in space... and also vital information as to how astronauts are best rehabilitated physically when they finally return to Earth's gravity. As a result, we are able to keep our space workers living in space for longer periods of time -- but without the potential lifelong risks that many suffered in the days of the Mir space station.

I think my favorite part was where LIFE Magazine called BioAstronautics a "bizarre new science".  Well, I guess now it's a bizarre middle-aged science.

To listen to the archived broadcast, please see Dr. David Livingston's web site for THE SPACE SHOW.

The Bed Pilot Pioneer

The ultimate "unsung hero" to us modern pillownauts... so we're going to do some singing!

Dr. Duane Graveline was the first scientist to conduct a space flight simulation study to analyze the effects of weightlessness on the human body. He entered the USAF Medical Service in 1955 to study aviation medicine, and was granted the rating of "Flight Surgeon" in February 1957.

Graveline went to Brooks AFB Aerospace Medical Laboratory in 1960, where his specialized research involved bed rest and water immersion to study biological changes in extended micro-gravity.


In June 1965, Dr. Graveline was selected with NASA's fourth group of scientist astronauts for jet pilot training, supporting the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo eras as a flight controller. This man who laid the groundwork for astronaut biodata (from Enos the Chimp to Alan Shepard!) also developed the lower body negative pressure device for zero-G tolerance testing – used in Skylab, Mir, Shuttles and the ISS.

Now 81, Graveline is the author of medical books, science fiction, and a fantastic website of collected medical research adn articles conducted by practicing or retired doctors who have no influence by or affiliation with any pharmaceutical companies. Anyone applying for the current studies should definitely read his essays in the Space Medicine section, particularly:

• Astronaut Post-Flight Syncope
• Body Fluid Changes in Space
• Bone Demineralization
• Musculoskeletal Deconditioning
• Retinal Flashes and the Moon
• Stress Exercise Dangers
• Tilt Table Testing (You have to do this if you join a NASA study!)
• Weightlessness

Key excerpt: "...assigned to Bruno, one of Von Braun's rigid German scientists. We were to study bed rest de-conditioning, aka couch potato assessment under the old adage: don't use it, you lose it. We would go from a two-week bed rest study to one of freely floating in a tank of water for one week. Now we have proof from MIR and the ISS of Mother Earth's gravitational demands that even with two hours of aggressive exercise daily, we are barely are able to stand on return..."

Graveline also wrote a fascinating book about his time as an Aerospace Medical Analyst for the USAF Foreign Technology Team in the late 1950s.  The Soviets were far ahead of the USA at the time, and his unique, super-secret affiliation with their BioAstronautics program gave him some very different insights about space travel compared to other astronauts training in that early era.

He was part of a small crowd of medical scientists who reviewed preparations and steps for Laika the Dog for her ride on Sputnik2; contrary to many urban legends and conspiracy theories, he personally confirms Laika's electrocardiograms in November of 1957, and that she survived at least the first two days in orbit.  He would also get to later review the biotelemetry of cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Gherman Titov. Check out "From Laika With Love" on Amazon!

The 10 Most Bizarre Space Experiments

My first appearance in a textbook! After numerous turns on the internet, radio and television, I'm truly proud that I've been able to contribute to an educational resource for children. Hopefully it will serve to initiate a fascination with space research for some young minds.

Rubicon Publishing has recently released "The 10 Most Bizarre Space Experiments", a fun and fascinating look into various space projects around the world... and off the world!

TheCanadian company who writes "The 10" series of books contacted me with a request for personal photographs insights into my personal experience with bedrest studies. These programs are used to simulate spaceflight so scientists and doctors can study changes in human bodies in prolonged weightlessness.

It was refreshing to talk about the details of the studies again, since of course it's been quite awhile now since I did extended quarantine with spaceflight protocols. Happily, however, these studies are still going strong, and many new studies are also developed each year for new participants.  Johnson Space Center is still seeking healthy paid volunteers for studies like the one I shared here with Rubicon, and new programs involving the newest space station treadmill.

Ah, memories... but, I was not the star of the tiny tome by any means. A complete list of all the featured stories include:

1. LEGO on ISS
2. Six-legged Astronauts
3. Newts in Space
4. Cola Wars
5. Mars500
6. The Bedrest Experiment
7. Balloon Jump From Space
8. Moon Bricks
9. Space Underwear
10. Telepathy From Space

One of my favorite simulations, performed as a joint project by the European and Russian space agencies, is the Mars500. I followed all three of their missions for years! My feature ends on page 5, and the Mars500 feature begins on page 6! What an absolute honor to be in the same pages of a book with them. Of course, perhaps they would also consider it an honor to be included with a book of long-term space experiments and yeeeeeeears of comparable NASA studies.

I sure wish I could give a link to where the book can be purchased that would work for everyone! However, the target audience is Canadian educators, so it won't be made widely available.  However, if anyone has connections to any of the experiments and would like a look at the particular pages, please let me know!