Monday, STS 122 hosted its first Spacewalk of the mission to install the Columbus Laboratory to the International Space Station. Wake up today is at 1045 Baumholder time (0445 EST). Key event today is a series of interviews by CBS News, KDKA-TV, and WPXI-TV at 1035 Baumholder time (1635 EST). Next space walk is Wednesday,13 FEB 08, at 1535 Baumholder time (0935 EST).
I woke up to read the news and check the STS 122 mission update. I read through the report to see that the space walk lasted almost 8 hours. Those guys spent 8 hours in space. Good grief! I don’t even like to drive 8 hours. I think about them eating and drinking and everything it takes to last for 8 hours. To me this sounds pretty painful-but I’m glad there are people who can do it.
I watched the replay tape this morning of NASA TV. With a little delay–maybe an hour everything is in order and the new wing to the space station is in place. What will Columbus do for research?
During its 10-year projected lifespan, Earth-based researchers, together with the ISS crew, will be able to conduct thousands of experiments in life sciences, materials science, fluid physics and a whole host of other disciplines, all in the weightlessness of orbit.
One of the cool things that is going one is the amount of research that can occur there–not because of the lab itself, but because of the growing broadband communication that is occurring on Earth. Thousands of researchers can perform experiments because of these improvements.