Do you know how many there is in Space right now? I do. Six people.
I can't quite figure out the picture changing before me right now. Is it ice? It might be. So are they moving over one of the poles? South our north? Could it be white clouds in a blue sky? Over an ocean? No, I think it is ice.
This is the thing. Trouble & Trouble introduced me to the International Space Station a while ago. I am not interested in Space. I am not into astronomy. I am not one of those persons getting panic attacks from a starry black endless sky.
Read me right. I am a child of the Space era. I know exactly where I was sitting watching the first moon landing, 12 years old. Simultaneously writing about it in my journal. Of course. I had completely forgotten about that part, but of course I did.
The six people in Space are Oleg Kotov, Mike Hopkins, Sergey Ryazanskiy, Rick Mastracchio, Mikhail Tyurin and Koichi Wakata. They have been in Space 109-151 days. I hang out with these guys most every day. This is what Wikipedia tells in an extract about what they are doing up there:
The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology and other fields.[11][12][13] The station is suited for the testing of spacecraft systems and equipment required for missions to the Moon and Mars.[14]
Although I have been socializing with commander Kotov and his crew for some month now, I am still in the mode of figuring out how things work up there. There is action throughout my day, so are they on some kind of European time? Which doesn’t make sense since they are in verbal contact with Houston and Moscow. Maybe they are going on shifts? I am sure I can google this to find out, but it’s kind of fun trying to figure out the life up there myself.
I have made it a routine having breakfast with commander Kotov and his crew. Well, I am the one having breakfast, they are working. Depending on which camera is “on air” (!), I can see the round shape of planet Earth behind some part of the space station, a world map showing where ISS is located right now, blue ocean with cloud systems moving over it, or the interior of ISS. The latter is my favorite!
Commander Kotov and his crew are busy. They are always up to something. My first morning with them I watched Hopper (that’s what they call Mike Hopkins) doing his workout, pedaling some kind of bike while hanging in his arms. When he was done he took his shoes off which floated around a while before he caught them putting them in their place in a pocket at the wall.
I can reveal that they are mostly wearing shorts and a t-shirt. No shoes, only socks. They are moving with grabbing blue handles attached to floor, ceiling and walls, kind of diving their way through the interior of the station. It is tight in there. A corridor cluttered with things attached to walls and ceiling. A lot of times the verbal communication with earth is public, and you get to be a part of their experiments. Not that I understand anything of it, but hey, it’s happening in Space, it’s exciting!
It seems to me like the work of Hopper, Rick and Koichi (who is Japanese) is conducted from Houston, and the Russians are led from Moscow. During a Russian shift they speak Russian which is simultaneously interpreted into English. The interpreters are so good, it took me several days to realize that they weren’t leading the conversation, but the other way around. The communication is mostly surprisingly down to earth so to speak:
- I have an item K 9,1 wrapped in bubble wrap, is that correct?
- Yes, that’s the one. Unfold it and read me the numbers please.
- OK, copy.
In the middle of the corridor their is a space that seems to connect different parts of the station. My jaws dropped one day when Koichi disappeared in a hole, and Rick jumped upstairs, kind of. While Hopper didn’t take any notice but continued his work:
- Could you walk me through this part of it?
- Of course, start by clicking the menu button.
You see what I mean, the conversation doesn’t indicate rocket science. It’s more like an ordinary day at work. I am not sure if I find that reassuring or something to be concerned by.
I like hanging out with my friends in Space. And I am very impressed and interested in the tone of the verbal communication between Space and the ground. It is extremely supportive, kind, clear, responsive and positive. I realize that the communication and the relationships between the six persons on ISS as well as between ISS and ground is crucial for the project. Of course everyone involved at the core of this is übermensch not only in their field but as interactive human beings.
I am thinking we have something to learn here though. If we were all educated in responsive, supportive and kind communication I am sure there would be less divorces, less messed up relationships between parents and children, less fights at school yard recess, happier work places and ultimately less war going on. Six people in a tight space ship can’t walk away from each other if they feel like it. And they can’t fight each other. They have to figure each other out and make it work. Which I am sure is done before they take off into orbit of course. And surely regular people can’t live as on limited time in a space station. Nevertheless…
Right now the ISS position is over Spain, I have now found a map showing the ISS orbit so I can keep track of it. Commander Kotov and his crew is experiencing sunrise and sunset every 45 minute. I wonder what that is like. Here in Umeå we haven’t had one single hour of sun in February until today. So I know what that is like. Oh how we need the sun now, and hopefully it will occur more often the following weeks. And tomorrow morning I will be having breakfast with commander Kotov and his crew again. The communication between Houston and ISS I might overhear maybe something like this:
- For this you might want to use the bigger screw driver.
- Ok, copy.
http://iss.astroviewer.net
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