Camilla Corona SDO - NASA Mission Mascot

Venus Transit - June 5/6 2012

2012-02-01T07:56:00.000-08:00

On June 5, 2012, you will see the planet Venus as it moves across the face of the early morning Sun. This astronomical oddity has played a very important role over the last few centuries in giving scientists a way to understand the size of the solar system.

There have been 53 transits of Venus across the Sun between 2000 B.C and 2004 A.D. History says that Jeremiah Horrocks was the first human to ever witness a transit by Venus in 1631, but could other more ancient people have also seen it too? We will review the history a little closer over the next couple of days.

The Transit of Venus is among the rarest astronomical phenomena and won't happen again until the year 2117.

Do you want to see this event and maybe participate in one of the organized events world-wide? Here you can either submit your event or find an event close-by.

A Brief History of the Transit of Venus; by Dr. Sten Odenwald (NASA GSFC)

As seen on the Sun, Venus is as big as a large sunspot. You could see it with the naked eye if you knew exactly when to look. But, because you cannot look directly at the sun except when it is close to the horizon, you would have only a very short time to be lucky to see it, and a reason for wanting to look at the sun on the horizon in this way at all!
The ancient Babylonians were the earliest sky observers who kept detailed records. Four transits occurred during the Babylonian Era on May 20, 1641 BC, November 20, 1520 BC, November 18, 1512 BC and May 23, 1406 BC. Could any of these be seen? Keep reading here!
Get Involved Venus Transit 2012
Prepare of the event and then be part of the event. There are many ways to be and get involved.
- Educators; here is a collection of lesson plans and "easy to do" activities. Everything from building an edible model of the Sun (and it tastes great) to learning how to make a real space weather broadcast!
- Public Outreach; you great museums, planetaria, youth clubs and amateur astronomers groups - take part in this "last in our life-time" event! Here are some Program Ideas.
- Amateur Astronomers; you are the backbone of night and day time sky observations. You have spent countless hours behind your telescope and cameras and you have helped spread the word like nobody else. So make sure you are part of Venus Transit 2012 too.
- Scientists; you Miss Lab Rat and you Mr. Data Cruncher can also get involved and provide various resources and help educate and inspire kids. You can visit classrooms and help teachers! Besides, you need to be out in the Sun once in a while!
Over the next few weeks I will continue to update you about this event. Keep checking back!

Introduction into Aurorae

2012-01-26T14:45:00.000-08:00

The beautiful and often eerie curtains of light in the night-time sky known as aurora have been enjoyed by people for millennia. Called the aurora borealis or “northern lights”, aurora also occur in the Southern Hemisphere and are called the aurora australis.

Picture Credit: Andy Keen, Inari Municipality, Northern Lapland, Finland. Taken on January 24, 2012

Many legends, myths and superstitions have revolved around the aurora throughout the history of mankind. The early dragon legends of China and Europe are said to have originated from the aurora. Some cultures have regarded the sighting of the aurora as a sign of royal birth; to others it suggests ghosts of the dead orthe precursor for war. The Eskimos of North America believed that if you whistled at the aurora it would sweep down and take you from the earth; by clapping your hands you could force it to retreat.

The origin of the aurora is 93 million miles (149 million km) from Earth at the Sun. Energetic particles from the Sun are carried out into space along with the ever-present hot solar wind. This wind sweeps supersonically toward Earth through interplanetary space at speeds ranging from 300 to over 1000 km per second, carrying with it the solar magnetic field. The solar wind distorts the Earth’s magnetic field to create the comet-shaped magnetosphere.

The terrestrial magnetic shield acts as a barrier, protecting the Earth from energetic particles and radiation in the hot solar wind. Most of these energetic particles are deflected around the Earth by the magnetosphere, but some get trapped. Electrons trapped in the Earth’s magnetic field are accelerated along the magnetic field toward the polar regions and then strike the atmosphere to form the aurora.

The particles, which stream down the magnetic field of the Earth, reach the neutral atmosphere in a rough circle called the auroral oval. This circle, or annulus, is centered over the magnetic pole and is around 3000 km in diameter during quiet times. The annulus grows larger when the magnetosphere is disturbed. The location of the auroral oval is generally found between 60 and 70 degrees north and south latitude.
Great education video about Aurorae
Auroral features come in many shapes and sizes. Tall arcs and rays start brightly 100 km above the Earth’s surface and extend upward along its magnetic field for hundreds of km. These arcs or curtains can be as thin as 100 meters while extending from horizon to horizon. Auroral arcs can nearly stand still and then, as though a hand has been run along a tall curtain, the aurora will begin to dance and turn. After midnight, the aurora can take on a patchy appearance and the patches often blink on and off once every 10 seconds or so until dawn.

Most of the auroral features are greenish yellow but sometimes the tall rays will turn red at their tops and along their lower edge. On rare occasions, sunlight will hit the top part of the auroral rays creating a faint blue color. On very rare occasions (once every 10 years or so) the aurora can be a deep blood red color from top to bottom. In addition to producing light, the energetic auroral particles deposit heat. The heat is dissipated by infrared radiation or transported away by strong winds in the upper atmosphere.
Image Credit: An all-red aurora captured in Independence, Mo., on October 24, 2011. Image Courtesy of Tobias Billings

The aurora is caused by the interaction of highenergy particles (usually electrons) with neutral atoms in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. These high energy particles can “excite” (by collisions) valence electrons that are bound to the neutral atom. The excited electrons can then return to their initial, lower energy state, and in the process release photons (light particles). This process is similar to the discharge in a neon lamp.

Any particular color of the aurora depends on a specific atmospheric gas and its electrical state, and on the energy of the particle that hits the atmospheric gas. Atomic oxygen is responsible for the two main colors of green (wavelength of 557.7 nm) and red (630.0 nm).

Credit: Andy Keen of Inari, Finland

STEM or STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art&Aeronautics, Math)

2012-01-05T09:23:00.000-08:00

My dearest friends! Can you believe it is already 2012? Happy New Year!

This year will be all about STEM or I like to call it STEAM. I really think Art and Aeronautics should be included too.

To start off I am going to collect some helpful links where parents and teachers can get good STEM activities for their kids. Check back because I will keep adding links as I come across them.

National Bird Day (Jan 5, 2012) - Many issues are affecting our birds. Teachers Pack available here.

GLOBE at Night - Student activities preparing students for star observations at night and talks about the issues surrounding light pollution. Teachers Pack available here.

I-STEM - Resource Network and Lessons Plans available here.

Tech Know Teaching - STEM Activities available here.

STEM Education Coalition - support STEM programs for teachers and students at the US Department of Education, NSF and other agencies. Website here.

STEM Activities and Resources for K-12 Teachers and Students - National Science Foundation GK-12 website here.

PBS Teacher - STEM Education Resource Center website here.

NASA Digital Learning Network - NASA DLN connects students and teachers with NASA Experts and education specialists using online communication technology. Website here.

iCreate to Educate - increases student understanding across all content areas with simple, intuitive technology. Website here.

Time Zones & Times - what it means for NASA SDO

2011-11-18T13:29:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder why we have Eastern (or Mountain, or Pacific) Standard Time? You can thank the railroads. On November 18, 1889 railroads in the United States began using the set of "Standard" timezones that we more or less use today.

Before the U.S. had time zones, how did people traveling across the country know what time it was? Until the invention of the railway, it took such a long time to get from one place to another, that local "sun" time could be used. When traveling to the east or to the west, a person would have to change his or her watch by one minute every 12 miles in order to always have the correct time.

When people began traveling hundreds of miles in a day by train, calculating the time became a problem. Railroad lines needed to create schedules for departures and arrivals, but every city had a different time!

Navy Yard officials set a clock to the official time in Brooklyn, New York

CREDIT: “Taking the time, Brooklyn Navy Yard,” 1890-1901. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress. Reproduction Number LC-D4-21274 A.

At first the railroad managers tried to address the problem by establishing 100 different railroad time zones. With so many time zones, different railroad lines were sometimes on different time systems, and scheduling remained confusing and uncertain.

Finally, the railway managers agreed to use four time zones for the continental United States: Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific. Local times would no longer be used by the railroads. The U.S. Naval Observatory, responsible for establishing the official time in the United States, agreed to make the change. At 12 noon on November 18, 1883, the U.S. Naval Observatory began signaling the change.

As Greenwich Mean Time (the official time used by the U. S. Naval Observatory) was transmitted by telegraph, authorities in major cities and managers of the railroads reset their clocks. All over the United States and Canada, people changed their clocks and watches to match the time for the zone they lived in. Quickly, the confusion caused by the many different standards of time was resolved.

This 1892 train map shows the route of the Burlington &. Quincy Railroad and the new time zones

CREDIT: Rand McNally and Company. “Burlington Route,” 1892. Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress. Call Number G3701.P3 1892 .R3 RR 357.

The color blobs in this figure on the very top show the timezones used today around the world. Before standard time each community kept track of time. Some important times (such as noon) where announced by ringing bells or another signal. Imagine a train arriving in one town before it left the last one! Not everyone was happy and some towns continued to use local solar time until 1918.

Today we release SDO marked in Coordinated Universal Time (diplomatically called UTC) and International Atomic Time (similarly, TAI). TAI is the number of seconds since midnite January 1, 1958. A series of laboratories keep track of the march of time. UTC maps TAI to almost local solar time at the Greenwich Meridian in England (the line where longitude is 0). This means that UTC has leap seconds to keep up with the slowing down of the Earth's rotation. Right now we have added 34 leap seconds to UTC. We like TAI because it is easy to do differences in time by subtracting the TAI times. This is not true for UTC.

When you look an SDO timestamp it will say Z or UTC if the time is UTC; T or TAI when it is TAI.

Today's Sun in 304 angstrom - is shows the ~50,000 degrees C. Chromosphere

Sunspots

2011-11-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

This week we have been seeing the largest sunspot/active region in years. In fact, the entire group is larger than Jupiter. So let's take a look at the history of Sunspots and also see how big this sunspot group labeled AR1339 (for Active Region) really is.

This image is from November 7, 2011 and it shows the large active region 1339. On the lower right corner you have a size comparison between Earth, Jupiter and the AR 1339

This is AR1339 again on November 8, 2011. Look at this amazing image!

What were sunspots? Galileo had guessed they were clouds floating in the Sun's atmosphere, obscuring some of its light. Their true nature only emerged in 1908 when George Elery Hale, leader among US astronomers, showed that they were intensely magnetic. Their magnetic field was as strong as that of a small iron magnet, some 3000 times stronger than the field near the surface of the Earth--yet those fields often extended over areas larger than the entire surface of the Earth. Apparently the magnetic field somehow slowed down the flow of heat from the Sun's interior, causing the sunspots to be slightly darker than the rest of the Sun.

The evidence for sunspot magnetism was their emitted light. Glowing gases emit light in narrowly defined wavelengths (i.e. colors), a different set for each substance. In 1897, however, Pieter Zeeman found that when such light was emitted from the region of a strong magnetic field, the emission split into slightly different wavelengths, with a separation that increased with the strength of the field. The colors of the light emitted from sunspots were "split up" in just this way.

The method was later improved by Babcock and others, allowing astronomers to observe not only the magnetic field of sunspots but also the weak fields near the Sun's poles. It turned out that the Sun has a polar field somewhat like the Earth's, but that it reverses its polarity during each 11-year cycle.

Sunspots have also led us to a better understanding of the Earth's own magnetic field. The face of the Sun consists of ionized hot gas ("plasma"), hot enough to conduct electricity. Sunspot fields were evidently produced by electric currents, and it was well known that such currents could be generated by a "dynamo process," by the motion of an electric conductor (e.g. the flow of solar plasma) through a magnetic field.

In 1919 Sir Joseph Larmor proposed that the fields of sunspots were due to such dynamo currents. He suggested that a closed chain of cause-and-effect existed, in which the field created by these currents was also the field which made them possible, the field in which the plasma's motion generated the required currents. Many features of sunspots remain a mystery, but Larmor's idea opened an era of new understanding of magnetic processes in the Earth's core.

Sunspots are caused by the uneven rotation of the Sun, the equator rotating faster than the polar regions. That stretches out magnetic field lines, crowding them together and making their magnetic field stronger. Strong magnetic field (under the surface) pushes away the solar gas, which therefore gets less dense, so that regions of strong field tend to float up to the top, the way oil floats to the surface of water. Where it breaks the surface, sunspots occur.

The solar surface and interior rotation rate, where red regions represent areas of slightly faster than average rotation while areas in blue show slower rotational rates. Credit: NSO

But we still do not understand a lot--why exactly the Sun rotates unevenly, why the north-south magnetic polarity reverses every 11-year cycle, how sunspots slow down the flow of solar heat (which makes them dark).

Credit: NASA SDO / GSFC & NSO

The Simplicity of The Sun

2011-10-18T07:06:00.000-07:00

Last night I was at grocery store waiting in line to pay for my sweets. A little boy in front of me looked at me with big blue eyes and asked "Who are you?" - "I am Camilla. And I teach about the Sun", I replied. "Do you know what the Sun is made of?", I continued. He looked at his mom then at me and said "Fire!".
I love the simplicity kids have in their young age. Later on in life we introduce them to an increased complex world and sometimes even make it over-complex. I thought today I would talk a little bit about what the Sun looks like inside and if there really is a big fire in there.

I am going to keep it very simple.

1. Core
The Sun has a Core. That is the center layer of the Sun and it is where all the Sun's heat and light is made.

2. Radiative Zone
The heat and light move from the core into this next layer.

3. Convection Zone
In this layer the gases move pretty much like boiling water. This moves them from the inner parts of the Sun to the outer part of the Sun that we see.

4. Photosphere
This is actually the part of the Sun we can see. This layer gives off the heat and light from the Sun. Cooler parts of this layer make sunspots; those big dark areas.

5. Chromosphere
This is the fun layer - it shoots out hot gases.

6. Corona
This layer is like the far, far away uncle we only get to see on special occasions. The Corona can be seen during an eclipse and is the atmosphere around the Sun.

Can all of it be this simple? Unfortunately no. I'll give you a very complex example.

Sunlight is produced through nuclear reactions in the sun's core. Originally born as energetic gamma rays, after billions of collisions with matter, this radiation reaches the surface and escapes into space. How old is sunlight by the time it reaches the surface?

Most textbooks say that it takes light between 100,000 years and 50 million years to escape. You would be surprised to know that this simple, and very popular, question seems to be without a firm answer! The reason has a lot to do with the assumptions that textbook authors use in making the calculation. Most astronomers are also not particularly interested in a high-accuracy answer, so they tend not to bother doing the tedious calculation exactly. It is actually a very complex problem in physics!

Once a photon of light is born, it travels at a speed of 300,000 km/sec until it collides with a charged particle and is diverted in another direction. Because the density of the sun decreases by tens of thousands of times from its lead-dense core to its tenuous photosphere, the typical distance a photon can travel between charged particles changes from 0.01 cm at the core to 0.3 cm near the surface. As a comparison, most back-of-the-envelope estimates assume that the sun's interior has a constant density and that the 'free path' distance for the photon is about one centimeter. It is these estimates that find their way into many popular astronomy textbooks.

Light escapes the sun's core through a series of random steps as it is absorbed and emitted by atoms along the way
(Courtesy - Richard Pogge Ohio State U.)

Once you know, or assume, a typical distance between collisions, you also have to figure out how many steps the photon has to take to travel from the core to the surface. This is called the Random Walk Problem. The answer is that, if you take a sequence of N random steps, each for example of one meter length, the distance you travel from the starting point will be the square-root of N. After 100 random steps you will travel about 10 meters, but it will take 10,000 steps to travel 100 meters, and one million steps to travel about one kilometer, and so on. Because the density of the sun changes from the core to the surface, it is common to represent the interior of the sun as a collection of nested shells of matter, each with a typical average density. You then calculate how many steps it takes for a photon to travel through each shell. During each step, the photon travels at the speed of light so you can calculate the time required for each step. By multiplying this by the number of steps taken, you can calculate how long it takes the photon to traverse each shell, and then add up all the times for the other shells.

When this random walk process is applied to the interior of the sun, and an accurate model of the solar interior is used, most answers for the age of sunlight come out to be between 10,000 and 170,000 years. Rarely do you get answers greater than a million years unless you have made a serious error! Why do you still see these erroneous estimates of '10 million years' still being used? Because textbook authors and editors do not bother to actually make the correct calculation themselves, and rely on older published answers from similar textbooks.

So, sometimes a simple question can have many inaccurate textbook answers because it is not considered a very important question to scientists, and no one bothers to take the time to really work out the answer to their best ability! As another example, in 1971, the physicists Alfred Goldhaber and Michael Nieto at the Los Alamos Laboratory estimated the maximum mass of the hypothetical graviton particle - the carrier of the force of gravity. Their answer of 10-62 grams seemed incredibly insignificant. Over a decade later they published an improved version of his original paper. They noted that they had originally made an error in their 1971 paper, so that the calculated mass was actually over a billion times larger. In all that time, no one had ever caught the published error!

What did THEY think?

2011-09-19T14:13:00.000-07:00

It's the day after the 1st joint ESA and DLR Tweetup in Cologne. Many of the 60 invited tweeps are already home or on their way home. Same is true for me. After visiting the Dom of Cologne and making my way the 500+ steps up, I am about to head back to the United States. I must be in Long Beach, CA for Space2011 / AIAA Education Alley next week. (keep your eyes open for some interesting stuff - the STS-135 crew will come and visit and I will be having a presentation about our BTS-1 flight, the Sun and Space Weather).

Anyway, before I go on even more... It is time to reflect back. I want to share some of the blogs and pictures that have already been posted by others. There is really only one thing that I can say right now:

Dear ESA & DLR Team Members - you put together a very fun, interactive and impressive event. Everybody there was helpful and welcoming. It was fantastic to meet people from so many different countries, with many different languages and dialects, different views, ideas and opinions. But we all shared a common interest and love: Space & Space Exploration. There is a lot of work that goes into the preparations and execution of such an event. Thank you for doing all that, for opening up your world to us. Thanks for making us part of the team, sharing your passion, excitement and work. Thanks for letting us peak behind the curtains and see what is happening there in Cologne. And thank you for introducing your European Bluesuits to us Americans (and everybody else).

Dear Tweetup Attendees - thank you for being such cool peeps! Not only did so many of you pose with me, hold me, or tape me to a stick, but you have been sharing your stories, excitement and inspiration of ESA, DLR and many missions.

But I must also ask you to not stop there! You now have gotten an inside look of the wonderful things that are being done, the science that comes out of it and the impact it has today and in the future. Now you must take this knowledge, excitement and interest to the next level and share it with others in your circles. You have an opportunity to spread the understanding of "Why are we wanting to explore what's out there?". You have the ability to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, and explorers. It's easy to do, really. Continue to follow ESA, DLR, NASA, the Canadian, UK, Australian Space Agencies, ROSCOSMOS etc. and their missions. Learn what they all do, the missions they have, the science that comes out from them, and then share your knowledge with others.

Believe me, together we have the power and ability to make a big impact. W can demonstrate that science is not intimidating, that it is fun, interesting and necessary.

Zum Schluss moechte ich mich wirklich ganz herzlich bei Euch allen bedanken. Es kommt nicht oft vor, dass ein Gummihuhn so viele tolle Leute trifft und mit so vielen lustigen Erinnerung nach Hause kommen darf. Ganz vielen lieben Dank.

So here are some blogs and pictures from some people. I'll try to collect more.

AWESOME!

Till soon!
Yours truly,

Camilla Corona SDO

ESA SpaceTweetup Blog
SpaceTweetup

Space Tweetup Wiki
18 September 2011 Space Tweetup, Cologne, Germany by DLR and ESA

Beth Beck
SpaceTweetup Awesome

Austrian Space Forum
First European #spacetweup in Cologne

SpaceWebLog
An incredibly #awesome #SpaceTweetup

SciLogs
In der Forschung tweepts wohl

Nachrichten aus Absurdistan (which is pretty much where I live!)
Spacetweetup - when dreams come true

Space Quotes / Souvenirs d'Espace
Interview with Astronaut Alexander Gerst (ESA)

Skyweek two point Zero
Live blog form the first Euro-Space Tweetup

Birgitte Bailleul
Observer La Terre Depuis Lespace

Virginie Courbin
When in Cologne...

Camilla Corona SDO's Blog
ESA & DLR German Aerospace Day

ESA Best of Pics
SpaceTweetup2011's Pics
SimSullen's Pics
MF72's Pics
Craftlass' Pics
Stefan M.'s Pics
Zebramaedchen's Pics
Timmermansr's Pics
Daniel Ziegenberg's Pics
Famille Sebile's Pics
Anne Grudzien's Pics
Hell yea, it's rocket science's Pics
Anatomiz's Pics
Official Group Photo

In the NEWS
XtraNews - Spacetweetup; Wie Twitter das Marketing Revolutioniert

SciLogs KosmoLogs - Impressionen vom Tag der Luf- und Raumfahrt

Raumfahrer.net - SpaceTweetup; Was machen die Space Tweeps? (Podcast)

ZDF - Hyperland Darueber Spricht das Web - Tweets im Weltall

Rhein-Zeitung - Wie twittert man im All?

More from Today's Outing to the top of the Cologne Cathedral

ESA & DLR German Aerospace Day - September 18, 2011

2011-09-18T01:08:00.000-07:00

And here we are at the European Space Agency's Astronaut Center in Cologne. They have a fantastic tent for all the Tweetup SpaceTweeps, including tables, power outlets and WiFi. And everybody is extremely welcoming.

Throughout the day I will be updating this blog here. So check back for more pictures and information. I will just add them to the bottom each time I make an update. This way I keep some sort of "time-line".

Let's get started.

Had to get up early and take the train. Morning gang!

Then it was time to take the cool bus! I am always on the cool bus.

The European Astronaut Center (EAC) was established in 1990 and is located here in Cologne. After its foundation in 1990, three ESA astronauts were based at EAC. They were selected in 1978 for the first Spacelab mission on the Space Shuttle in 1983. ESA Astronaut Ulf Merbold (Germany) flew on that mission. Wubbo Ockels (Netherlands) flew on Spacelab D1 mission 1985. Claude Nicollier (Switzerland) completed his first mission on Space Shuttle STS-46 in 1992. Nicollier participated in three further Shuttle missions in 1993 (STS-61), 1996 (STS-75) and in 1999 (STS-103). He also become the first European to perform an Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA - or spacewalk) during a Shuttle mission.

My friends from @ESA, @DLR_de and @DLR_en

The one and only Stephanie Schierholz with NASA HQ

And my new friend from @HollandSpaceCen

And this is another new friend @nhaima from Rome.

Totally excited to see Erin Smith from NASA Ames

Here is Little SOFIA

One of SOFIA's pilots Manny Antimisiaris.

There she is! Hello SOFIA - first time outside of California for us! SOFIA is a world-class airborne observatory that complements the Hubble, Spitzer, Herschel and the James Webb space telescope. It features a German-built 100 inch diameter far-infrared telescope in the rear fuselage of a highly modified Boeing 747SP aircraft.

Please meet @cpamoa from Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines

Is this really our first picture together, @herrea?

Inside of SOFIA now. You can see the telescope back there.

I even got to pose with my buddy @rocketman528 again!

And another new friend Carlo @cazurro. He is from Granada in Spain.

Now I am inside the huge Airbus A380.

More new friends! @wicho and @digitalmeteo with Polloparty! I think they are all from Spain.

Don't get too close to those engines!

Ok, we are heading back to the Tweetup Tent. I am leading the way... I hope there are no lightning strikes happening right now!

This is Peter from the Netherlands @pclissold

Time for some presentations. First up SOFIA's Aloise Himmes, the Principal Investigator for the DLR part of the SOFIA mission.

I see familiar faces... @rocketman528, @craftlass, @herrea

US Astronaut Cady Coleman and ESA Astronaut Paolo Nespoli

Cady and I always make faces together. It's our thing!

I met Paolo for the first time in Baltimore in August. Good guy!

The @researcheurope representative

Virginie from France and Olivia.

This is Olivia with the Austrian Space Forum. So toll!

Maria and Olivia - they gave me the Oesterreichisches Weltraum Forum pin. Thank you!

My Spanish friends with Little SDO solar viewing glasses. @cazurro, @wichoy

@digitalmeteo and @polloparty

Oh, finally! My good friend Katrin from Germany!

Time for some group pictures. Can you spot me?

Right here - they are all pointing at me!

And here is the large and official version of "Where is Camilla?"

Look at this group plus the STS-134 crew!

Spanky (Astronaut Fincke) meeting my friend Eico.

Craftlass, Jen, Chris and Cady

STS-134 Mission Specialist "Spanky" Michael Finke

STS-134 Pilot Gregory Johnson and Andreea from Belgium.

STS-134 Mission Specialist 4 Gregory Chamitoff and Rin from Germany

STS-134 Mission Specialist Andrew J. Feustel

Hello Remco - nice to finally meet you!

The truly admirable Beth Beck (sitting), Astro_Cady, Jeff and @researcheurope

ESA Astronaut & Head of the Astronaut Division at ESA, Michel Tognini (Mir-1 and STS-93 deploy emend of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory)

Hello Brigitte from France!

ESA Astronaut Samantha Cristoforet - she is an Italian Air Force Officer.

A photograph of Earth

The truly wonderful people at ESA & ESAoperations; Erica and Daniel

ESA Astronaut (also Italian) Luca Parmitano - training for ISS Exp 36.

Kate and Astro_Luca inside the Columbia module.

More great people! Katharina from Germany and @ESA_Italia

Me floating in the Cupola - brought to the ISS by the awesome STS-130 crew! Go Flyboy!

Visit to ESA & DLR - My Day in the City of Cologne

2011-09-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the City of Cologne

Today is Saturday, September 17, 2011 and I am in the fourth largest city of Germany; Cologne. It is such a picturesque city with so much history. Just talking through the streets of Cologne is captivating. You see the cute houses, the stores and almost around every corner you see the big Dom, the Cathedral. What a huge building.

It is even more impressive to think that the Dom was pretty much the only building left standing during World War II. The rest of the city was flattened. Don't get me wrong - the Dom did sustain some damage but it continued to stand proud.

The construction of the Dom began in 1248 and took, with interruptions, until 1880 to complete. It is 144.5 meters (474 feet) long, 86.5m (284 ft) wide and its towers are approx. 157 m (515 ft) tall. Amazing! From 1880 to 1884 it was the tallest structure in the world - until the completion of the Washington Monument. It has the second-tallest church spires, only surprised by the single spire of Ulm Minster (also in Germany) completed 10 years later in 1890. Because of its enormous twin spires, it also presents the largest facade of any church in the world.

The city of Cologne dates back to the Roman Empire. Considerable Roman remains can be found in present-day Cologne, especially near the wharf area, where a notable discovery of a 1900 year old Roman boat was made.

From 260 to 271 Cologne was the capital of the Gallic Empire under Postumus, Marius and Victornius. In 310 under Constantine a bridge was built over the Rhine at Cologne. The imperial governors of Rome resided in the city and it became one of the most important trade and production centers in Roman Empire north of the Alps. Maternus, who was elected as bishop in 313 was the first known bishop of Cologne. The city was the capital of a Roman province until occupied by the Franks in 459.

The river Rhine passes by Cologne. At almost 800 miles it is one of the longest and certainly most important rivers in Europe. Last year I visited where the Rhine begins. There it really is just a small little thing, barely big enough to put my feet in. Here in Cologne it is big and wide with long bridges over it and large boats going up and down. In Reichenau (in the state of Grison in Switzerland) come the two rivers together; Vorderrhein (Anterior Rhine) and Hinterrhein (Posterior Rhine) - from there on it is der Rhein or the Rhine. This river has been a vital and navigable waterway carrying trade and goods deep inland. It has also served as a defensive feature and has been the basis for regional and international borders. The many castles and prehistoric fortifications along the Rhine testify to its importance as a waterway. River traffic could be stopped at these locations, usually for the purpose of collecting tolls, by the state that controlled that portion of the river.

To be here with many of my friends form America is truly an honor. And to make new friends over here is very exciting. I mentioned it yesterday inspiration, education and working together does not know boundaries. We must meet each other, shake hands, work together, share ideas, learn from each other and at the end of the day, hug each other. This is the only way we can solve current and future problems. Sure we will have differences and they can all be overcome by mutual respect and understanding.

That being said, I am proud to be here. I am proud to be representing Team SDO, sharing my knowledge of the Sun and the Sun-Earth connection with my new friends. I am proud to learn from them, see how they go about their lives and enjoy some of the wonderful customs Cologne and Germany has to offer. Oh, it is dinner time now! I must be going...

Ok, before going to bed, wanted to share a couple more pictures from today (and from dinner). I had the pleasure of going to dinner with a new friend. Her name is Ariel and she brought a little Koala bear with her so I wouldn't feel all left out.

One more thing... in case you did not see it yesterday. Discovery News wrote an article about Atmospheric Drag and they quoted Yours Truly! It's about this satellite which will be re-entring Earth's orbit next week. Sooner than expected due to increased solar activity.

One last thing. Watch SOFIA's landing today in Cologne. It is SOFIA's first time here in Cologne and I am so excited to be seeing her tomorrow again. I am already wearing both my SOFIA pins on my flight suit. You can follow tomorrow's activities live.

SOFIA and I at NASA Dryden

Visit to ESA & DLR for German Aerospace Day - Amsterdam to Cologne

2011-09-16T18:24:00.000-07:00

The European Space Agency and the DLR German Aerospace Center are holding a first joint European Space Tweetup in Cologne. The wonderful people from ESA and DLR invited me to attend this event. And since educating about the Sun and Space Weather goes across borders and I have so many friends over in Europe, I made the trip across the Atlantic. Not only that - see, space exploration and education does not and should not recognize boundaries. Math is the same here in Europe as it is in America. Physics works the same way in Australia as it does in Asia. And inspiration is needed in Africa, South America, the United States and everywhere else.

So I arrived in Amsterdam and met up with Zebramaedchen - she is also a Tweetup attendee and offered to help me navigate through the Netherlands and Germany.

From Amsterdam we drove straight to the University of Leiden. I was really looking forward to visiting this beautiful campus.

Christiaan Huygens studied law and mathematics at the University of Leiden and the College of Orange in Breda. After a sting as a diplomat, Huygens turned to science. His work included early telescopic studies elucidating the nature of the rings of Saturn and the discovery of its moon Titan, the invention of the pendulum clock and other investigations in timekeeping, and studies of both optics and the centrifugal force.

We continued our drive to the city of Aachen. King of the Frank, Charlemagne, once was the ruler who led Europe out of the Dark Ages. He was born sometime between 741 and 748. It's also states that Aachen could have been the place he was born. He died in January of 814 in Aachen and was buried in the Cathedral. Charlemagne's success as a king can be traced to his admiration for learning and the support of scholarship, literature, art and architecture. He, himself, did not learn how to read and write and when he tried to learn it, it was too late for him. But he made sure that his kids and grandkids were very well educated.

From Aachen it was straight to Cologne where we were meeting other ESA/DLR Tweetup attendees. Some I had already known, others I met the first time. There were some familiar faces from the US, the dear Craftlas, FlyingJenny and Chris! And some familiar European faces too, like Claudia and Eico. We met right next to the Dom at the Gaffel Am Dom, a very cute restaurant with a drink called Koelsch. It is a local beer and I only tried on sip - since I am in spaceflight training I have to be serious. Plus, I don't drink adult beverages anyway.

Now it is time to go to bed. I have to get up soon again to enjoy this beautiful town and learn more about Cologne and its history. And then on Sunday I will be spending all day at the ESA/DLR Tweetup. You can follow live this Space Tweetup in Cologne event!

Atmospheric Drag

2011-09-16T15:43:00.000-07:00

Last month I talked about Solar Drag and and how it impacts the International Space Station.

Well, while here in Cologne, Germany (I am here to visit the European Space Agency), I was informed that due to increased solar activity, the UARS Satellite (it's the NASA Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite) is excepted to fall back on Earth even sooner than anticipated. It currently is expected to come down between September 22 and 24, 2011.

Now why is that? As solar activity increases, extreme ultraviolet radiation (also called EUV) heats Earth's gaseous envelope, causing it to "swell" and reach father into space than normal. The puffed-up atmosphere causes the slow-down of orbiting spacecrafts because of this additional "drag".

During solar minimum the gas temperature in the thermosphere is approx. 700 degrees C. That is hot but not as hot as during the solar max. It can reach approx. 1,500 degrees C. So that thermosphere has more than doubled in temperature due to the solar EUV and that increased solar heating makes the thermosphere puff out as denser layers from lower altitudes expanding upward. It can become more dense by a factor of 50 during solar max, which totally increases the atmospheric drag on satellites and the ISS.

From September 5 to 8th the "badboy" Sunspot 1283 produced several big solar flares and coronal mass ejections; Two X-class flares (the biggest category) and two M-class flares (the middle category, but still plenty powerful). The last two days we have seen over 25 C-class flares. Watch some of those flares below:

September 6, 2011 - M5-class solar flare

September 6, 2011 - X2-class solar flare

September 7, 2011 - X1-class solar flare

So that is enough to cause the "swelling" of the atmosphere and cause the slow-down of this bus-sized satellite. Most of it will burn up during re-entry. But there is a chance some pieces will survive. Where will they land? There is no way of telling until the satellite is pretty much going through the atmosphere. So, stay tuned.

Oh, and this is as good of a time to put on your fashionable tin-foil hats. Make a statement!

NASA IT Summit 2011

2011-08-15T13:46:00.000-07:00

Dear Blog!
I am so very sorry for not having updated you more frequently the last 6 weeks. But my travels have kept me so busy. The trip from San Diego to the Space Coast for STS-135 was epic. My visits to NASA Stennis and Glenn were productive. My participation at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference and the NASA Helio Education and Public Outreach retreat was educational. And now I am at the NASA IT Summit in San Francisco "Making IT Stellar at NASA". Why am I here?

It is not just about IT. This is about exchanging ideas, sharing best practices, learning what's new and cutting edge around IT, social media and education.

This morning's keynote address by Lynn Tilton (CEO of Patriarch Partners LLC) was very inspirational. "Dream the dream, have one foot in reality and the other one in the future!"

Then there was a social media session "Becoming a Social Organization; Taking a Strategic Approach to Social Media by Anthony Bradley with Gartner. Lots of great information how social media works. It's not just about mass, it is about community and engagement, about outreach and sharing, about social feedback and listening.

While broadcasting some of the interesting facts, I was asked what my thoughts were on the following statement:

"I don't see how education can happen with 140 characters!"

My first initial thought was a statement Anthony Bradley made a couple hours earlier "If you don't think social media works, then you are doing it wrong!". But it really takes a few characters to capture somebody's interest or to inspire somebody to learn more by following a link, looking up information, picking up a book etc. It's not so much about actually educating right there, but building the foundation to build on.

So I decided to ask the Twitterverse what they think. Keep in mind, I do not have a huge following on Twitter. It's not about the mass. But the people who do follow me, they are engaged, they are interested and they want to learn, share and feel part of the team.

What happened after I asked my followers for their thoughts on that statement truly shows the power of one social media platform alone. In this case Twitter; 140 characters or less. It started a round of discussions, people sharing their thoughts, experiences, ideas and tips. By simply asking "What do you think about the statement that you cannot educate in 140 characters" an educational round of discussions started.

Below are some of the responses. Would you like to participate remotely? You can! The NASA IT Summit 2011 wants you to be part of it. To chat during the session, please go to the session on the IT Summit Remote Engagement Site: http://open.nasa.gov/itsummit/

Use hashtag #NASAIT on Twitter.

@craigfifer: My first reaction is "Sounds like that person is a great candidate for education."

@craigfifer: 2nd reaction is, regardless of your beliefs, consider the 10 Commandments. Each 1 is ~140 chars, & they educated a society.

@ocaptmycapt: Education is awareness, it's opening dialogue, it's accessibility - that's 140 characters; they were dead wrong.

@craftlass: Sometimes brevity is the key to understanding. Less chance to get mired in details, more to see the big picture #NASAIT

@craftlass: Also, education is best when conversational. In 140 no party gets to run on, conversation improves dramatically #NASAIT

@tigergirl528: GrrrOWL! www.mathplayground.com What can't we do in 140 characters? The pen is mightier than the sword!

@tigergirl528: #140WordsorLESS www.sesamestreet.org/games are cool = 92

@tigergirl528: #140WordsorLESS nga.gov/kids/kids.htm = 107 left

@nasa_edge: Definitely not quality, but I believe you can receive some form of education. Engagement possibly.

@catherineq: Perhaps not in a "traditional" sense but *inspiration* happens and that is vital for successful education.

@marimikel: Brevity doesn't preclude information. Educating people in 140 characters is completely possible!

@mswz: " This morning during #NASAIT - thoughts? "I don't see how any education can happen in 140 characters" " Out of the loop.

@jaymay: Doesn't happen in 140 chars. Happens over course of many tweets, time. Twitter's not about one-time hit, but 'relationship'

@stubek: If a person says education cannot happen in 140 characters, they are narrow minded and against innovation PERIOD #FB #NASAIT

@stubek: Education in 140 characters is as simple as a quick fact or a headline with a URL and more details #NASAIT

@harbingeralpha: "I don't see how kids can talk to one another over text." "I don't see how video games are anything but play." "I don't see..."

@harbingeralpha: my 11 year old brother can see the value, perhaps the speaker needs a chat with him and many others.

@harbingeralpha: my less political answer = "Haters gonna hate."

@tim846: Twitter is a GREAT way to connect & empower. Check out our SXSW panel: yur.is/SXSWi2012

@rocketman528: Quite a lot of education takes place in 140 characters! Almost every major science result/news article is tweeted:-D #NASAIT

@sluggernova: beyond 1st engmt/link, learning outcomes can be w/in social space. E.g. new ideas, crowdsourced knowledge. Mass collab. #NASAIT

Solar Cycle Drag is a Real Drag!

2011-06-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

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One of the headlines from today's FRR (Flight Readiness Review, the board which meets prior to a Space Shuttle launch to review the status of the vehicles, preparedness of the teams and then sets the official launch date) was an interesting one I wanted to discuss a little further:

"Space Station altitude plan was discussed in the Flight Readiness Review. The station's altitude will be raised because of peak solar cycle drag, but not too high because higher altitudes increase the risk of orbital debris and radiation."

Let's take a look at this solar cycle drag issue.

So a couple of months ago I was at Lake Tahoe for our LWS/SDO (Living with a Star / Solar Dynamics Observatory) Science Workshop. One evening we decided to go outside and enjoy the camp fire. Somebody had the glamorous idea of making s'mores. (I don't think I have to tell you who just happened to have crackers, chocolate, marshmallow and a big stick in her survival backpack).

Anyway, I held my marshmallow over the the hot camp fire and it puffed up. In fact, my camp fire cooking skills are such, that my well-roasted marshmallow grew twice its original size. Yes, it did grow too big for my little mouth, but nothing a Swiss army knife cannot cut into more manageable pieces. But I digress...

The heat expanded that little sweet cube of delicious sugar into a much larger cube of euphoria. Something similar happens to Earth's atmosphere every 11 years when the Sun nears its solar maximum. As solar activity increases, extreme ultraviolet radiation (also called EUV) heats Earth's gaseous envelope, causing it to "swell" and reach farther into space than normal. While that sweet piece of grown marshmallow can give us a sugar high and give us extra kick, the puffed-up atmosphere causes the exact opposite; it slows down orbiting spacecrafts because of this additional "drag".

You might remember my discussions about the various layers of our atmosphere during our BTS-1 mission. Let's review this again. The troposhere is the first layer above the Earth's surface and it contains 1/2 of the Earth's atmosphere. The weather we are experiencing occurs in this first layers. Airplanes fly above the troposphere because it is more stable. That layers is called stratosphere and that's also where the ozone layer is. Now let's go a little higher, to above 50 km. That is the mesosphere and meteors burn up in that layer. One of my favorite layer comes next, above 100 km; the layer that holds the beautiful Northern Lights; the lower thermosphere. And around 300+ km above ground is where the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station orbit. And that is the thermosphere.

During solar minimum the gas temperature in the thermosphere is approx. 700 degrees C. That is hot but not as hot as during the solar max. It can reach approx. 1,500 degrees C. So that thermosphere has more than doubled in temperature due to the solar EUV and that increased solar heating makes the thermosphere puff out as denser layers from lower altitudes expanding upward. It can become more dense by a factor of 50 during solar max, which totally increases the atmospheric drag on satellites and the ISS.

The ISS can loose about 100 m per day in altitude due to this problem. So, what can be done? You got it, the ISS needs to move or be moved into a higher orbiter. There are several ways. Like the Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATV) which are attached to the station for some period of time, can give the ISS a boost outward. And just very recently the ATV Johannes Kepler maneuvered the ISS about 35 km higher up.

But you also don't want to go too high up. While it is more efficient for the ISS to be higher up, it also means that other vehicles traveling to the ISS will need more fuel to reach it. Furthermore, there is more space debris in the higher altitudes and less protection from radiation.

So, just like making your very own s'mores. You need to find that right spot above the flames to make it the most perfect one!

BTS-1 The Recovery

2011-05-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

Here is what Skye, Fuzz and I had decided. We had one cupcake left but instead of eating it, we decided to just eat a little bit off the top, which is the best part anyways and then leave the rest. Why? Well, so when our rescue team found us, they knew that we left the capsule not because of hunger, but because we were bored. Plus that's what our note we left behind said too...

In other words, we decided to find a way to Port Arthur, TX. We head heard that the Janis Joplin museum was there.

While all of this was happening, the Fish and Wildlife team decided to use the BTS-1 Inspiration rescue operation as part of their annual training. So on Thursday they flew over the swamp around the last coordinates our ground team had provided and they actually spotted our red parachute. In fact, that's not the only thing they spotted...

Then on Friday early morning a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Rescue team assembled at the Sabine Wildlife station. The wonderful Pat Reiff from Rice University and Discovery Dome assisted the team. She got up early, drove all the way out there and was a big help to the crew. The team assembled all the needed equipment and pretty much hit the road.

Well, once they arrived at a location they could get the airboats into the swamp, it really happened quick. Except when the airboats had to "fly" over grass. That slowed them down. Amazing how these boats work.

So they arrived at our site and they retrieved our Inspiration capsule, the parachute and the left over pieces from the balloon.

So because of the note we left at the landing site, the rescue team knew to come to Port Author and find us there. And they did track us well. We visited the museum and signed our names in their guestbook and then we went across the street to get some cupcakes. It sure was a great way.

And being found now also meant that we could finally start telling our BTS-1 story. And a press/media conference was scheduled for Saturday, May 14, 2011.

Question 1: Rick McLastnom Yay! Welcome back! I'd like to know what the dosimeter showed.

Thank you Rick. You truly deserved to win the capsule naming contest. Inspiration was perfect and she flew as designed. To answer your question. We had a dosimiter on board? I must refer to MS1 for this!

Question 2 from Emmanuel Kool Azubuike, which turns out not to be a question after all "No question dude!"

These are the easy ones to process!

Question 3: Lourdes Quintana Couceiro Mauriceasked when the crew is coming back to DC (at least that's what we believe the question is/was?)

The entire BTS-1 crew will be in Washington DC on June 18, 2011 for the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution "Become a Pilot Day". We will be displaying our BTS-1 "Inspiration Capsule", meet kids, pose for pictures and check out other airplanes. We also hope to do a few additional tours around DC while there.

Question 4: Siria Gardi-Montebugnoli wants to know "What are the lessons learnt from this mission and what changes will be applied accordingly to BTS-2? Thank you."

Siria! What a great question. Many lessons were learned on this mission. Most importantly, what you can't predict, you can't prevent. So planning is very important. There will be some amazing changes to BTS-2. We can't give you too much information at this time, but think of BTS-1 being an Apollo style mission with a capsule and a parachute. Now think about Shuttle style for BTS-2.

Question 5: Duane Hyland: Fuzz, do you feel that your mission and your survival in the swamp are a product of your solid Johnstown toughness? And, a follow-up - what message do you have for the people Johnstown, who are currently going through some hard times. Thank you. Welcome back!

I believe my Johnstown origins played a part in my survival, but my training and a great crew were the biggest aspect. I would tell the people of Johnstown to stay strong, and that anyone can make a difference

Question 6: Virma Johannsen "Can you please tell us if and when we can expect to see BTS-2. Additionally, will the original team have the "big bang orbs" to do it again after their ordeal in the swamps? And finally, what happened to Trigger MMS, was there "horse-play" involved which resulted in the swamp landing?

Thank you Virma for following us. We can't release too much information on BTS-2 just yet. But this will be something that has never been done before. Think of it as a Space Shuttle style balloon mission. There will be some big challenges to be overcome. But we can do it.

The time in the swamp was fun. It was like a camping trip. We trained well for this. What happened to Trigger? Trigger is so fast, he travels the speed of light. Once we blew the hatch open, he was out.

Question 7: Beth Hatch Maschmeier Did the crew have survival training and was it useful ? Did they get many mosquito bites while in the swamps? Will the crew have an R&R period before returning to the job?

We had extensive survival training for many possible scenarios. We will take a few days to relax and review the mission data. We were well protected from the mosquitoes in the swamp (fortunately!)

Question 8: Our dear friend Patti Barrett wants to know "How bumpy was the ride?"

Patti - the flight was pretty smooth. The launch was amazingly nice. There were some patches it was a little more rough. At some point I looked at the instrument panel and saw we were doing over 130 mph. Fuzz was a great pilot and kept us in pretty good shape. Sometimes it's difficult to judge if you are upside down or not inside that capsule. The footage will show how rough or not it really was. Can't wait to see the footage and then share it with you.

Question 9: Allan Dimmel: Welcome back . I'm glad you made it safe from your mission Also.I would like to take this time to apologize to Mission Specialist SkyeBleu for misspelling your name . My question: What was your highest altitude and how long was Inspiration flying before your landing in the Sabine National Wildlife refuge ?

Thank you, Allan. I'm sure Skye understands that her name can sometimes be tricky to spell. Our highest recorded altitude was about 78,000 feet, but we lost telemetry for about 15 minutes. We will review the data and see if we possibly got a higher altitude. Our flight time was about 3 hours.

Question 10 from Gladys Georgina Santos "How come "E.T." was able to phone home but none of the BTS-1 crew had a cell phone on them or bothered to ask to use a phone while they were at the museum, the bakery, so they could contact the rescue team. Q2: I also share V's interest in wanting to know what happened to horsey Trigger MMS. Did he "bail" out on the mission?"

Gladys, we would have to watch the movie E.T. again. Maybe we could do that tonight. I don't remember the exact specifics but I don't think ET was in a swamp and they had tons of equipment to built some sort of phone. Speaking of E.T. you know that our BTS-1 mission poster, designed byDennis Bonilla was inspired by the E.T. movie? Why we didn't contact anyone? Well, we left a note at the landing site and we decided to go and find some food and enjoy the museum. We knew they would catch up with us. We don't walk all that fast.

In regards to Trigger MMS - we still have to look for him and get his debrief.

Question 11: Bari Demers How do you feel?

We are very tired from our days in the swamp, but we are very excited about the success of our mission. We all would like to thank you for your amazing support from the beginning

Question 12: Patti Barrett "'all cleaned up nicely. You look awesome after spending all that time in the swamp. What an ordeal."

We were a little dirty and stinky. But nothing that cannot be cleaned. I think Skye looks the best!

Twitter Question: Baby_Beau_Bear Was there ever a time that you gave up hope on being rescued?

We knew that our team is great and did their best to prepare us for the mission. It was stressful, but we were patient and knew we would find a way out.

BTS-1 While the Crew is MIA (Missing in Action)

2011-05-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

You know what is so amazing? While Fuzz, Skye and I had so much fun inside the Louisiana swamp, our ground team put together a BTS Guestbook. And people left some of the most amazing messages of support for us! Just so heartwarming. Thank you all. If you want to read them all, here is the link to the Bears On Patrol BTS-1 Guestbook.

Here are just a few of the messages I wanted to share with you and some images from the Wildlife Refuge.

Name: Ed Van Cise (Carbon Flight)
From: Houston, Texas
To the crew of BTS-1:
From the folks at the Christopher C. Kraft Mission Control Center in Houston, we wish you the very best and are hopeful for a safe and speedy recovery. After experiencing the pins and needles of waiting to hear from the Expedition 6 crew after they performed a ballistic entry in their Soyuz, I can tell you that we understand what the BTS community is going through and cannot wait to hear of your safe recovery and to hear your tales of these past few days.
To your recovery team - we wish you success and safety in your work. Also, your recovery updates do a tremendous job explaining the preparations this crew has undergone for this type of contingency and how those are similar to the training undergone by astronauts and cosmonauts around the world. Thank you for sharing this with people. All the best to the steely-eyed crew of BTS-1; hope to see you at Boon's soon!

Name: @esaoperations
From: Darmstadt, Germany
To the brave crew of #BTS-1!
Camilla, Skye, Fuzz: You dudes rock!
Regardless of all that survival training you astros get, we know it's gonna come down to a simple question of strength of will vs. Mother Nature (aka LA swampland). Since, in fact, you three are stuffed/rubber, we're pretty sure finding rations won't be an issue - so HANG in there! And best wishes to the Recovery Team from all of us here at ESA Operations!

Name: Suzanne
From: Arlington, VA
We're all wishing all of you well - the crew of BTS-1 and the support and rescue crews. We're quite certain that Camilla is chicken scratching all of her tweets on the inside of the Inspiration capsule, so that a complete record of the mission is kept (and the screenplay will be ready for the BTS-1 movie!) Godspeed, all!

From here on the ground team could only travel by boat.
Gators in the water.

Name: Rachel Howe
From: Sheffield, England
Best wishes for a safe return! This is turning out to be more of an adventure than anyone expected, but I hope you'll be home -- and telling us all about it -- soon.

Name: Robyn Villavecchia
From: Petaluma, CA

Camilla is my inspiration, who keeps me young and stokes the fires of knowledge and science.
Be safe, my friend.

Name: Tim and Moby
From: Internetland

Hoping you guys make it home soon. We appreciate your efforts to sacrifice yourselves in the name of science! Moby says, "Beep."

Name: Leanne D (Launchchasersis)
From: Flooded Manitoba Canada

Camilla, Fuzz and Skye. I know your training has kicked in and the cupcake supply is running low. But you will be OK, cuz I need to see you at STS 135. Keep the faith, as your handlers dedication to you and your mission is truly an "Inspiration"

Name: Anthony Coiner
From: Boise, ID

I wish you all the best in finding our friends. They've become such great icons for everyone they've come in contact with and the work they've done so far is fantastic. I'm sure you're doing your level best to find them. Best of luck in doing so.

About to go "on land" the first time.

Name: Jeanette Dunphy
From: Kilcoy, Queensland, Australia

I love you guys, looking forward to hearing about your big adventure.
Hope you're staying safe.
xox

Name: Eico
From: Frankfurt, Germany

To all of the BTS-1 Team: Keep up the spirit!
This is an awesome mission and like Romeo said: In everything that goes wrong in the first place lies knowledge for the second try!
You all rule!

Name: Aaron Herridge
From: Houston, TX

BTS-1 Crew,
I am one of the students at University of Houston - Downtown who assisted with your launch. I would like to say that it was my honor to be a part of your "Inspiration" mission, and I can attest to the fact that you have certainly inspired thousands with your courage and dedication to the promotion of science.
I, along with your other thousands of supporters, wait in anxious anticipation for word of your recovery from the swamps of Sabine Lake in Southwestern Louisiana.
I hope that you will consider me an eager volunteer to assist with any future launches you have, and I hope the Greater Houston Area will be considered for future missions.
Most Sincerely,
Aaron D. Herridge

Not easy to move. Add the mosquitos, the smell and the gator nests to the mix,
and you have yourself an adventure.

Name: Shelley Cherkowski
From: Vancouver BC

Hope the cupcakes have held out. This is only one mission. We need you all to continue your important work highlighting science, space, and peace. You are the best ambassadors. Hang in there.
If desire alone could lift you out of that swamp then the power of your recovery team and your fans would have you propelled high enough to be having coffee with Astro_Ron right now.

Name: Shannon (@ageekmom) & Family
From: San Antonio, TX

As a lifelong supporter and fan of spaceflight and exploration, I have learned to accept that with great achievements also come occasionally great disappointments and losses. Whatever the fate of the BTS-1 crew, Camilla, Fuzz & Skye, the mission and spirit of these explorers will live on to inspire current and future generations. The future doesn't belong to the faint-hearted, it belongs to the brave!
We continue to hope we will hear Camilla's SQUACK again, hug Fuzz's soft fur (once he's had a couple decontaminating showers), and meet Skye. If not, we feel the loss keenly but will strive to keep their memory alive.

Name: Happpiii
From: Norway!

Please hurry home! The cupcakes we bought for the recovery celebration are getting stale!

Name: Katrina (Astro_yyz)
From: Toronto

Challenges are inherent in spaceflight and balloon flights. Through trials, adventures, errors and sleepless nights comes knowledge. From bug infested swamps comes fortitude, and from this adventure you will find strength and bravery you never knew you had with your friends.
Stay strong, help each other and we will see you soon.

Name: Tim Bailey
From: Washington, DC (a mostly dry part of planet Earth)

Thanks to the Recovery Team for all of your hard work and dedication to locating and rescuing the BTS-1 crew! No matter what, we know you did your best.
To the BTS-1 crew, wherever you are: Thank you for making science so much fun and engaging so many of us around the world. We appreciate your hard work and sacrifice. We are still rooting for you!

Name: @QuarkSpin
From: Alabama (The Beautiful)

A big shout out to the Recovery Team for working so hard to locate the BTS-1 crew. Sometimes it's hard to stay focused when the whole social media universe is watching you.
To Camilla and the rest of the BTS-1 crew: thank you for engaging the public and drawing them back to science and exploration. My best hope is that you'll be rescued and can add this chapter to your ongoing adventures.

On to the next location.

Name: Karen Pierson
From: New Jersey

Your mission is truly an "Inspiration"! Thank you for all that you are doing to raise awareness on the importance of space exploration. I hope that the crew can be found soon so that they can go on to the next mission (after a well deserved vacation, of course). I love what you are doing and it makes me want to get involved! I'm thinking of sending my teddy, Baby Beau, to space camp : )Come home BTS1!

Name: Robert
From: Louisiana

Look forward to hearing the outcome and hope they find ya'll. Love the idea behind your mission and hope it isn't the last of it's kind.

Name: Joel Glickman
From: Troy, NY, USA, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way

We are all inspired by this incredible journey. We also knew that Inspiration would be located due to the Recovery Team's tireless efforts. Your mission has touched the hearts and minds of many a space enthusiast and touched the imagination of many children. Hats off to the very dedicated team behind this mission. The added drama will only serve to fuel the movie script.
JFK once said: "We do not do these things because they are easy, but because they are hard."

Name: Gene Mikulka
From: Morris County, New Jersey

Congrats to the BTS-1 Crew for boldly going where no program mascots have gone before. Camila, Fuzz Aldrin and Skye Bleu gave well deserved attention to the programs that they represented. Mission Accomplished!

Name: Dennis Bonilla
From: Washington, DC

Wonderful news about the recovery of the capsule. Can't wait to hear how the data is analyzed and join in future science efforts. Bravo team!

One of the ground rescue workers - mosquito marks clearly visible.

BTS-1 Space Camp in the Swamp

2011-05-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

"Last time on BTS-1: the three member crew, Commander Camilla SDO, Pilot Fuzz Aldrin and Mission Specialist Skye Bleu launched in their balloon propelled capsule to the Edge of Space. The capsule, named 'Inspiration' had three cameras mounted to capture the view of the balloon and Earth beneath it. At 60,000 feet a personal message from the ISS was received. At 78,000 feet communications and tracking was lost. The situation became dire. After long 15 minutes of no com, the ground tracking picked up the BTS-1 signal again. The crew was descending fast, flying over Lake Sabine, crossing into Louisiana. Commander Camilla SDO had time for one last twitter update "Gdetjb voiygb Bd biydv" before they landed. And landed they did - right inside a wildlife refuge. An area filled with alligators and mosquitos. The ground rescue team just could not reach them..."

The Mission Team just released real-time Launch and Flight Communication from the BTS-1 mission. I thought I would share a few screen shots with you before telling you about our adventures inside the swampy Wildlife Refuge area!

Exerts from the BTS-1 Launch & Flight Communication Log (LFCL)

As mentioned in my previous post, right after the crash landing we checked and made sure we all were fine and we got ready for some time in the wilderness.

The question we get all the time "What did you do all day long inside the swamp?". Well, believe us when we say, we had plenty of things to do. We spread the red parachute out so our rescue team could spot is a little easier. Then we prepared a little camp, told each other stories, sang camping songs, did some star gazing at night and made friends with some of the habitants at our "vacationing paradise". Last thing we wanted is for them to think we did not come in peace...

The time went by pretty fast. On Day 3 (Tuesday) we did hear a something that sounded like a boat or an airboat. But it was so windy that day it was hard to tell from what direction it was coming. Only later did we learn that the Fish & Wildlife team tried to find us but had to turn around approx. 1/2 mile away because of the weather.

So that night we decided to have a good dinner. Yes, we did have real rations with us. And before you look at me (well, your screen funny), yes, this crew eats everything. So don't give me a hard time for liking my Sweet & Sour Chicken (keep in mind, I am a rubber chicken, which is a completely different species from the laetus pullus! If you have followed my blog, then you know that I am very fascinated by Space Food. There goes a lot of thought into the items our astronauts eat in Space.

Shrimp Fried Rice, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Grilled Pork Chop, Cranapple Desert, Cinnamon Scone
and plenty of dehydrated water and coffee!

And of course we cannot forget the cupcake Pilot Fuzzy got on board! Which I believe made us a little heavy during our ascent. But hey, how happy were we later!?!

So while we were stuck and waiting, our recovery teams put together some "press-conference style" updates about our BTS-1 flight and the rescue operation. Of course we didn't see these until after our rescue. We didn't have a TV or internet there. And even if we did, our fuel cells were already depleted.

In my next update I will tell you about the heroic recovery efforts from the Sabine Wildlife people! And this was almost out of a James Bond movie! Really, it was that cool. Except, we weren't there...

BTS-1 Crash Landing into the Louisiana Swamp

2011-05-22T16:21:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to my review of the BTS-1 mission, part 3. "What did I miss?" you might ask? Well, this Launch Trailer sums it up!

Or then you can read my Launch Blog and my Inflight experience write-up.

Ok, now that you are all up-to-BTS1; So after we sent our last communication back, we landed in the swampy grass/water of the Sabine Wildlife Refuge. The landing wasn't as hard as expected but the chute dragged us a few feet. Skye Blue was going "Wheee Wheee Wheee". We did a quick crew check and we were all fine. Then it was time to check our hardware and "Inspiration" really held up well. Just at that time the last of the three cameras stopped taking images. The two video cameras had run out of battery power even before the balloon popped.

So, here we were. Somewhere inside this wildlife refuge, much further away from where the predicted landing site for the day would be. We had no idea how close or far away the rescue team was. Luckily Fuzz brought some extra astronaut food and so we just started to get comfy and hunkered down.

We were not worried about our situation, despite the fact that we didn't really know where we were, what kind of environment we were in and when we would be found. See, astronauts go through a lot of training and one important part is survival training.

Astronauts have to be prepared and ready for almost everything and any situation in space. But not only there. Each trip to space starts and ends on Earth. Spacecrafts leaving for the ISS may encounter a problem after launch and may be forced to come down in the sea, desert, tropical rain forest or a glacier; summer or winter.

Survival training in the wilderness near Brunswick, Maine. In the foreground, left to right, astronaut candidates James P. Dutton Jr., Akihiko Hoshide, Dorothy M. Metcalf-Lindenburger, and Satoshi Furukawa use a makeshift gurney to extract fellow astronaut candidate Robert S. Kimbrough from the woods. In the back, Joseph M. Acaba, Richard R. Arnold II, Robert L. Satcher Jr. and Thomas H. Marshburn carry Christopher J. Cassidy. Hoshide and Furukawa represent the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

But there is more to it. Our astronauts train and fly the T-38 Talon aircraft a minimum of 48 hours per year to maintain aviation and navigation proficiency. Their flights takes them over mountains, deserts and water. If they had to eject from the aircraft, the may have to fend for themselves for at least a few hours and possibly longer.

Furthermore, the training in the wilderness also provides an unique and challenging team building environment. Astronaut candidates (ASCAN) spend a lot of time together. These ASCANs bring a wide variety of experiences, ideas and philosophies together and learning teamwork and leadership skills when dealing with adverse situation out in the nature is extremely valuable.

Three astronauts float down river during training at the Panama Jungle 
Survival School. Left to right, are Astronauts Edgar D. Mitchell, Ronald E. 
Evans, and Scientist-Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt.

So what kind of training did we go through? Well, we learned about survival medicine, signals, fire craft and navigations. We also learned about working with rationed materials to create shelter. Then we were instructed on how to safely climb and descend high cliffs, crossing rivers and how to pick your food out in the nature. Did you know that cupcakes actually don't grow on trees?

ESA Astronauts being introduced to climbing techniques
by a professional mountaineer during survival training, June 2010

Here we were, the BTS-1 crew inside the Sabine Wildlife Refuge. Apparently on launch/landing day, our ground crew came looking for us. They managed to find a boat, they managed to get close to our location, set foot onto the swamp, wade through the swamp, past the gators and through the mosquito swarms - but they just could not find and reach us.

For us it was time to make a fire and start singing camp fire songs. It would be a few days until we saw anyone else besides the three of us, the gators and some other very interesting animals...

The BTS-1 Flight

2011-05-15T16:18:00.000-07:00

In my previous post I talked about our launch experience. In case you missed it you can read it here!

So, here we are. At approx. 65,000 feet when the International Space Station flies right over Houston and over our BTS-1 balloon and capsule. At that time we were the closest individuals to the ISS. At this time Astronaut Ron Garan sent us all a message from the Space Station. Now how awesome is that? Ron and I met last year at Kennedy Space Center and it truly was friendship at first sight. He talked about his upcoming trip to the ISS via the Soyuz. And now he is already up there, sending us a hello back down. Plain awesome!

Ron also flew on STS-124 Discovery to the ISS to delivery the Kibo module. And on April 4, 2011 he launched on Soyuz-TMA21 to the ISS to join the Expedition 27 crew.

So we continued our ascent and that it was about then we left the Troposphere. See, our atmosphere has five distinct layers and they are identified by:
   - thermal characteristics (temperature changes)
   - chemical composition
   - movement, and
   - density

So the Troposphere begins at the Earth's surface and extends from 4 - 12 miles (or for my out of the US friends... 6 to 20 km) high. Obviously, this is the layer of the atmosphere we (minus 6 people) live in.

As the density of the gases in this layer decrease with height, the air becomes thinner. Therefore, the temperature in the troposphere also decreases with height in response. As we climbed up higher, the temperature dropped to a chilly -60 Fahrenheit (or -51 Celsius). Let me tell you, Mark Twain said the coldest winter is a summer in San Francisco, but Camilla says the coldest winter, spring, summer and fall is at 60,000 feet, mo matter where you are!

The transition boundary between the troposphere and the layer above is called the tropopause. Together the tropopause and the troposphere are also known as the lower atmosphere.

Oh yea, almost all the weather we know occurs in the Troposphere. And speaking of weather, we get into some Jet Stream and that really sped us up. At some point we were doing well over 130 mph hours! What is jet stream? Jet Stream are fast flowing, relatively narrow air current found in the atmosphere around 6-7 miles (10-11 km) above the surface of Earth. They form at the boundaries of adjacent air masses with significant differences in temperatures, such as the polar region and the warmer air to the south. The jet stream is mainly found in the tropopause, at the transition between the troposphere (where temperature decreases with height) and the stratosphere (where the temperature increases with height).

So we entered the Stratosphere, which extends from the top of the troposphere up to around 31 miles (or again, 50 km) above the Earth's surface. Now this layer holds 19% of the atmosphere's gases but very little water vapor. (side note: I believe for a little while we increased that % to 20 or 21% percent since Fuzz really had some bad CCG (CupCakeGas).

What's really interesting - in this region the temperature increases with height. Why is that you might ask? Well, heat is produced in the process of the formation of Ozone and this heat is responsible for the temperature increases from an anverage -60 Fahrenheit (-51 Celsius) at the tropopause to a maximum and warm 5 Fahrenheit (-15 Celsius) at the top of the stratosphere.

So, here is where some of our problems started. But in order for you to get the entire picture, I have to tell give you some more insight information. Of the past 5 months we did daily Trajectory Predictions on a daily basis. These predictions really helped us understand the dynamics of a balloon flight. There were periods where we landed 200+ miles away from the launch site and then there were periods where it was "only" 100 miles. And we learned that the seasons and weather patterns really have a big impact. The morning of May 8, our launch day, the two different predictions we got were so-so. One got is on land, the other one had us land in the Gulf of Mexico.

Red and Pink where our May 8th predictions. Green ended up being our real flight data!

As we approached 78,000 feet our ground tracking went offline. What happened? We looked at Mission Special Skye Bleu and she just shrugged her shoulders. My first thought was that maybe Space Weather impacted our communications.

Could have a solar storm, solar wind or even a Coronal Mass Ejection really taken us "offline"? While it could have, we didn't think so. See, Space Weather does have a direct impact on life on Earth and can interfere with communications. The charged particles that come in from the Sun can truly take out satellites. Imagine GPS satellites to go down or communication spacecrafts to get damaged. But space weather can also be harmful for our Astronauts in space. And a large enough solar event can also damage and entire power grid, leaving millions of people without power. If you want to learn more about Space Weather, read my older post "Space Weather - A different kind of Storm" or "Space Weather - Impact on Life on Earth".

Well, it turns out that Space Weather was not the cause for our communications black-out with our ground team. In fact, we are still analyzing all the data and are trying to learn the real cause and how we can fix it in the future.

But what it meant was that our recovery team was "stranded" for over 15 minutes. They really had no idea where exactly we where. So they stopped and waited. During this time we also hit our apogee of approx. 87,000 feet. Our propulsion system, the weather balloon, by now over 25 feet in diameter, popped. For a few seconds we experienced weightlessness and then it went the other way! Because the air is so very thing up there, the parachute did not deploy and we had a few seconds of fun free fall. We were all screaming from joy!

The parachute deployed as planned and slowed down our descent. I looked out the window and saw a lake ahead of us. At around that time our tracking picked up and I was able to send a message to Ground Control "Houston, we have a problem!".

We were heading straight for that lake. I was not really excited about a water landing. Only because the rocking of the waves always makes me a little sick. For some time we just seemed to "hover" over the same location. The weather patterns were pretty amazing. But then we continued to decent and get closer to the ground. Fuzz pointed to our map and said "Commander, we are about to cross the State line into Louisiana.". We were not supposed to go there! But hey, why not! Except, I really wanted to get across that lake, which divides Texas from Louisiana.

Fuzz did a great job with piloting us over the lake and Skye kept giving us coordinates and instrument readings. It was great team work. About 20 seconds before touchdown I was able to send one last message and then we hit the ground...

And now it's time to learn about our landing experience and our first day in the swamp of Louisiana. Check out my next blog entry.

The BTS-1 Launch

2011-05-14T17:17:00.000-07:00

Commander Camilla SDO here!

It is Saturday, May 14, 2011 in the late afternoon. The BTS-1 crew has arrived back in Houston, TX and is currently in quarantine. Yesterday was our rescue, even though we really didn't need any rescue. But I guess you can say that they rescued our capsule and equipment and just happened to find us too. By the time they got to us, we were already in Port Arthur. And because Fuzz was hungry, we stopped for cupcakes. But let's start at the beginning!

Sunday May 8: Launch Day
At 8 AM we were woken up by the song "99 Luftballons". Fuzz was already awake and he was dressed and ready to rock. Skye was a little nervous but as excited. As for me, I felt good, proud and ready. We got to the University of Houston-Downtown at 10 AM and most of the Ground Crew was already working hard.

Let me quickly say a huge Thank You to the fine and wonderful people of the University of Houston-Downtown. They were so helpful and really made the launch experience a fantastic experience for everyone involved:

Undergrad Students - The following students are majoring in STEM degrees:
   Deysy Vieyra Damon
   Aaron Herridge
   Douglas Litwin
   Midar Balimuttajjo

They were responsible to organize and transport the materials for launch. There were two more students who wanted to be part of this. But one happened to be out of town and the other one is expecting a baby any day soon! (all the best from the BTS-1 crew! Kind of glad she didn't come and try to find us in the swamp area! Wouldn't have been fun!).

University Faculty (University of Houston-Downtown):
   Dr. Donals S. Musselwhite (Lecturer)
   Dr. Penny A. Morris (Professor)

They oversaw the students and Don met with the the team on Saturday, checked out the payload and made sure all materials met FAA regulations.

On the Day of Launch they made the calls to the FAA to clear for launch, directed the launch tasks, making sure all the materials were properly packed for launching. Don was pretty much the Close-Out Crew!

Penny directed the overall operation including day to day communications, organized the student support and ensured all required launch materials were readily available.

Don directing the student team.

Like I said - this was an amazing team and we are proud that they took such good care of the vehicle, the propulsion system and the crew!

There were a lot of tasks that needed to be performed carefully. All the equipment was laid out, the capsule was prepared, the equipment was double checked, the cameras tested and the close-out crew was making sure they had their procedures down. We were a little concerned about the early morning trajectory predictions because one of them got us into the Gulf of Mexico. But we had full trust into our ground teams.

Here I also want to mention the many other friends who came out to the launch. There were the many HAM radio operators who came to support and help us, there were our great friends from NASA JSC and then there was a very special group! They drove over 14 hours from Alabama to come and be part of this launch. Not only that - but they brought Henrietta, who is also a rubber chicken. Huge thank you Melissa!

After saying our good-byes to our friends, family and team members, Skye boarded the "Inspiration" capsule first. As Mission Specialist she got the the bottom left corner. I took my seat next on the right side and Pilot Fuzzy boarded our near-space vehicle last. As the pilot he got the very good spot. The center one that let him look through the camera holes to the bottom, the side and through the top. He needed the view to control our spacecraft's ascent and descent.

At T-10 minutes the propulsion system was activated and helium was pumped into our 800 mg weather balloon. It didn't take too long for the balloon to get the right size. It is balloon science! You don't want to over or under fill that balloon.

The balloon grows and bursts due to atmospheric pressure. Let's take a look at that for a second. Sometimes you see a weather balloon being launched and it looks as if someone forgot to fill it all the way up. Being partially inflated at liftoff allows the weather balloon to reach its intended altitude without bursting. That's called the "Boyle's Law".

Boyle's Law states that for a fixed amount of an ideal gas kept at a fixed temperature, pressure and volume are inversely proportional. This means that, as pressure decreases, the volume of confined gas, like the one in a balloon, increases.

So as altitude above the Earth increases, the atmospheric pressure decreases. At sea level, atmospheric pressure is 14.7 pounds per square inch. As a balloon rises, the weight of the air directly above it decreases and the number of air molecules touching it per square inch decreases. That means the atmospheric pressure drops.

Now as the atmospheric pressure around the balloon drops, the volume of the gas inside the balloon increases. So if the ballon is half-full of helium when it's launched, the expanding gas in the balloon now fills up as it rises.

So if you add too much gas, the balloon will burst prematurely. Not enough helium and it will not raise fast enough.

The Countdown
So, inside the capsule the atmosphere was filled with excitement and we heard the countdown being called out! 10, 9, 8 - I remember when the the "7" was called it hit me that we were about to head to near space. It got me really excited and Fuzz was looking at Skye and said "Let's Go!".

The launch crew released the balloon and the capsule and we started to ascent into the sky. It was a little bouncy the first two seconds but then it was just beautiful and we climbed at a very steady rate. We quickly reached 10,000 feet and the view we had over Houston was truly awesome. Fuzz did really well piloting us and we took a Northern course at first before almost turning around and going back South and then East.

Inside the capsule we were focused on our tasks at hand. All the equipment worked very well, the capsule handled the winds as predicted. While there was not a lot of space for us crew members inside the "Inspiration", we felt comfortable. Our team prepared the vehicle well and so our ascent was a smooth one.

In my next update I will talk a little more about our flight and our landing.

Fore more launch pictures and another great blog read "A Bear, a Pig and a Rubber Chicken Take Off in a Balloon..."

Read my next blog about our in-flight experience!

BTS-1 Launch Schedule

2011-05-07T20:29:00.000-07:00

Our current launch window extends from 10:50 AM to 2:02 PM on May 8, 2011. Current launch target time is 11:03 AM.

Tonight we discussed many of the things that we could encounter during our mission. One thing has become very clear; What you can't predict, you cannot prevent. So we are doing final planning and coming up with contingency procedures in case something does go wrong. Better to be prepared than not.

Below is the schedule for the next 11 hours.

T-11 hours

▪ Weather and engineering briefings

▪ Flight crew equipment late stow (so our cupcakes and chocolate stay fresh!)

▪ Perform ascent switch list

▪ Crew goes to sleep

▪ Activate the capsule’s fuel cells (or in other words, charge all the batteries)

T-6 hours

▪ Mission Management Team and launch director receive weather update

▪ Launch team verifies no violations of launch commit criteria before loading the external tank (or balloon) with helium

T-3 hours

- Crew walk-up call

▪ Perform inertial measurement unit preflight calibration

▪ Align BTS-1 Launch Area (Houston) tracking antennas

T-30 minutes

▪ External tank (balloon) loading with helium

T-20 minutes

▪ Crew departs for the launch site and, upon arriving at the site, begins entry into the capsule

▪ Complete close-out preparations

▪ Check cockpit switch configurations

▪ BTS-1 crew perform air-to-ground voice checks with Launch Control and Mission Control

▪ Close the capsule crew hatch and check for leaks

▪ Transition the capsule’s onboard computers to launch configuration

T-9 minutes

▪ Final launch window determination

▪ Activate flight recorders

▪ Final "go/no-go" launch polls conducted by Test Director, Mission Management Team and launch director

▪ Start automatic ground launch sequencer

▪ Crew members close and lock their visors (T-2 minutes, 0 seconds)

▪ Capsule transfers from ground to internal power (T-50 seconds)

▪ Ground launch sequencer is go for auto sequence start (T-31 seconds)

▪ Activate launch area sound suppression system (T-16 seconds) (asking people to be quiet)

▪ Main engine start (T0 seconds) – letting go of the balloon

T-3 Days for BTS-1 Launch

2011-05-05T14:16:00.000-07:00

We are now 3 days away from our "Inspiration" capsule launch as part of the Balloon Transport System (BTS). On Sunday May 8, 2011 we will launch from Houston, TX. You can all follow us live on Ustream starting at 10:30 AM CST. Our actual launch will happen at approx. 11:00 AM CST. Watch the BTS-1 Launch live here. And if you would like to learn more about our BTS-1 mission you can go to our mission blog and get some information.

Since our T-15 days Pre-Flight Medical a lot has happened. The crew arrived at Squaw Valley on April 30 for two reasons. At Squaw Valley the Living with a Star (LWS) Solar Dynamics Observatory is holding a workshop for over 200 solar scientists from all over the world. At this meeting the scientists are sharing information, findings, ideas and their science after Year 1 of having SDO operational.

The other reason is for Fuzz, Skye and I to get ready for our ballon flight mission. We are doing some high altitude training and team work preparations. As of last night we went into quarantine. Why do we have quarantines at NASA?

Why are we going into quarantine? Well, NASA is cautious about exposing the crew to any and all viruses and bacteria in the preflight phase, whether that be swine flu or the common cold.

In 1963, a special subcommittee of the Space Science Board of the National Academy of Sciences was convened to consider the general problem of handling material and personnel returned from flights to the moon. The subcommittee recommended that NASA establish a quarantine program to ensure that the Earth and its ecology would be protected from any possible hazard associated with the return of lunar material.

Flight crews typically spend seven days split between JSC and Kennedy Space Center in isolation before flight, and the Russian crews spend approximately five days of postflight isolation at JSC.

Once the crew arrives at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center the quarantine is strict, and the crew surgeon is isolated with the crew. The astronauts undergo a second exam two days prior to launch, and are given a brief medical check just before they suit up on launch day. Anyone on the ground who is sick or exhibits any signs of illness is prohibited from working with the crew.