Thought I'd throw out a non-football related topic to take our minds off the disaster that unfolded on Saturday.
Ever notice in sci-fi movies how the characters can get into the space suits and just go out into vacuum at a moment's notice? Doesn't happen that way in real life. In real life, if they did that, they'd get the bends. The pressure inside the suit is much lower than the pressure inside ISS. Otherwise, it would be very difficult to move their arms and legs effectively.
Therefore, in preparation for a space walk, the crew has to pre-breathe pure O2 for a couple of hours. They also spend a couple of hours donning all the required equipment, which includes liquid cooled garments that they wear inside the space suits. And of course, they perform a leak check of their space suits before depressing the airlock down to vacuum. This is just on the morning of the space walk and doesn't even count the hours that are spent leading up to the space walk checking out all the equipment, studying up on the tasks they're going to perform, which handholds they'll use to get to each worksite, their tether config, and so forth. It's incredibly complicated.
And I mention this topic now because tomorrow the US crew of the International Space Station will be performing another space walk, and I'll be here in Mission Control supporting. If anyone is interested in watching, there is a link to NASA TV on www.nasa.gov. NASA TV is also available on DirecTV and probably other cable systems. The crew should be going out the door around 8am Eastern time, and the space walk is scheduled to last about 6.5 hours.
Ever notice in sci-fi movies how the characters can get into the space suits and just go out into vacuum at a moment's notice? Doesn't happen that way in real life. In real life, if they did that, they'd get the bends. The pressure inside the suit is much lower than the pressure inside ISS. Otherwise, it would be very difficult to move their arms and legs effectively.
Therefore, in preparation for a space walk, the crew has to pre-breathe pure O2 for a couple of hours. They also spend a couple of hours donning all the required equipment, which includes liquid cooled garments that they wear inside the space suits. And of course, they perform a leak check of their space suits before depressing the airlock down to vacuum. This is just on the morning of the space walk and doesn't even count the hours that are spent leading up to the space walk checking out all the equipment, studying up on the tasks they're going to perform, which handholds they'll use to get to each worksite, their tether config, and so forth. It's incredibly complicated.
And I mention this topic now because tomorrow the US crew of the International Space Station will be performing another space walk, and I'll be here in Mission Control supporting. If anyone is interested in watching, there is a link to NASA TV on www.nasa.gov. NASA TV is also available on DirecTV and probably other cable systems. The crew should be going out the door around 8am Eastern time, and the space walk is scheduled to last about 6.5 hours.
