members of the diminshed american astronaut corps

...what the space knowledge is like from a personal point of view -- doug wheelock, tony antonelli and mike massimino. scroll down to connected for our earlier reports.
here's our report from inside the space encounter:

nasa scientists said one important human lesson learned from the 135 shuttle flights is to give astronauts time off even in the cloistered quarters of area, a day off for reading,Tiffany Key Pendant, relaxing or live emailing with family.

it can take nearly three hours to dress for a area walk, longer even than a columnist's wife takes for an earthbound event. what do they do during a six or eight-hour room walk about individual needs? they wear a diaper. do they get thirsty? yes,Tiffany Rings, there's a pressure straw on the right side of the helmet.

what about itchy noses? yes, they happen. at the astronauts' request, nasa installed a little pad on the left they can rub their face against to scratch. since they can't look down inside the suit, spacewalkers wear a mirror on their wrist to read a clock and instruments off their chest.

spacewalkers are usually so focused on their assignments, practiced often in the giant pool at houston's johnson area center, they don't have much time to sightsee. but they can't help noticing the frequent sunrises and sunsets that occur every 45 minutes at their speeds.

their custom-made spacesuits must change gears just as often, for the more than 300-degree difference between keeping them warm during the night flight portions and cooling them during the daytime above the atmosphere. wheelock says in room the twinkling stars don't look that much different than from earth. however, there are millions more.

wheelock, an army test pilot who spent six months aboard the room station, said you are not so much wearing the oversized spacesuits like clothing as you are floating within them.

he describes one creepy expertise during a spacewalk. his assignment was to stow gear in the cargo bay. his feet were buckled onto the orbiter arm and he began a slow journey up and over. at the end of the long,Tiffany Bracelet Heart, gangly arm he could only look straight ahead.

for the longest time he lost sight of earth and the orbiter. "i was staring off into the utter blackness of deep scary space," wheelock recalled. "and you think, 'now, that's a very large place.'"

he knew he was safe, but found himself kicking his heels back against the locked space boots frequently just to doublecheck.

for a long time the space station, scheduled for use through 2020, had only simple windows offering straight-out views. now it has some arranged like a cupola, offering maybe a 160-degree view. one sleep period wheelock was tucking himself into his vertical sleeping bag like a bat, when he decided to take a quick peek out the cupola for a few minutes.

so busy are the working room inhabitants that they're rarely aware of where they are at any one time, just as earthlings don't track the station's location. wheelock spotted the familiar shape of australia below. then came the vast pacific with a few dots of islands, northern canada and then africa where scores of lightning storms flashed like natural strobes throughout the cloud cover below. he couldn't wait to see what was coming next.

later, wheelock checked the time on his watch: he'd been watching earth for two hours and circled the globe twice. as corny as it sounds, he said that expertise made him wonder why humans don't get along better on what from area seems to be a very tiny place in a very big universe.

the consensus was a launch in the russian soyuz craft, now the only way for u.s. astronauts to go into space, was smoother than the shuttle. but the return -- russian capsules descend by parachute to land on,Tiffany Engagement, well, land -- is something else. wheelock sought advice from an american colleague before his soyuz return. and the text reply contained only two words: "hang on."

wheelock said he did. it was two or three loud explosions followed by "the loudest biggest car crash you can imagine."

back on earth wheelock said he felt as if he was floating for six weeks. u.s. astronauts are forbidden from driving for the same time period to ensure return of equilibrium. even months after his return, wheelock's dreams often involve floating.

still, members of the diminshed american astronaut corps, now about half the size of the peak 135, say they would make the dangerous trip in a heartbeat.

"i'd stow away in atlantis' toilet if i thought i could get away with it," said antonelli. the american is learning russian to enhance his longshot chances of being picked for future launches which will be under russian command. president obama canceled the scheduled next generation of crew-carrying u.s. rocket.

robert crippen, who flew, among others, the very first shuttle mission with john young, told the....


.... nasa tweetup that he'd sign up to return to area if they'd let him. he said, "it's the nature of the united states to press forward and explore," but he finds nasa's future plans "very fuzzy."

the pioneer added, "it's sad from where i sit to see our room shuttle come to an end and i hope we get our act together as a country to return to low-earth orbit, the moon, mars,Tiffany Jewelry, somewhere."

antonelli offered running commentary of nasa tv's live feed of the crew-boarding procedure at the 195-foot level of the orbiter through the white room, so-called because it is white. "see, that phone there," antonelli said, "that's your last phone on earth. it's for the crew. they didn't phone me. guess they thought their family was more important for some reason."

he pointed out white room crew members handing their nametags to the boarding astronauts for a free ride into room. "it's the crew's salute to the last guys they see, who buckle them and seal the hatch."

then, panelli highlighted another important astronaut procedure in preparation for launching into area at 25 times the speed of sound. "see that corner?" antonelli asked, pointing to the giant tv screen. "around there is the last toilet on earth."

related:

behind the scenes of a shuttle launch

atlantis is up and the room shuttle program is up in smoke

where each u.s. area shuttle is scheduled to live in retirement


-- andrew malcolm

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photos: paolo nespoli / esa / nasa (endeavour docked at the international room station, may 30, 2011; dick clark / nasa (atlantis launch aerial view); andrew malcolm (screengrab from nasa tv); jean louis santini / afp / getty images (at the 195-foot level, the ramp to the white room, last fresh air for boarding astronauts; bill ingalls / nasa (launch controllers watch the last atlantis ascent july 8 from the control room three miles away).

video courtesy of our new twitter pal, jay catalano; more of his photos the following.