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Whee!
SEP-010, Chapter 5.
". . .and here we are with the pilot and commander of Constitution. It's good to see them; let's do what we've got to do now and say hello to them. So I say this to them: Constitution, This is John Hensley with Google, how do you hear me?"
The image showed Jamie Cunningham and Brian Adkinson as they floated in the aft-deck common area. Adkinson held a microphone, and Jamie waved to the camera as Hensley's words echoed in the transmission.
"We hear you, John; it's good to hear you again. Five-by-five," Adkinson said with a smile. "How are you folks on Earth doing?"
"We're doing just fine, Brian; you guys are looking good up there. Congratulations on making it up into space again, Brian . . . I know a lot of people down here watched that spectacular takeoff into space yesterday, and before we get to the questions from folks down here -- we've had a lot of comments from the public and just not enough time for a lot of our viewers' questions to pass moderatorship -- I know we want to get a little bit into what your plan is for the next few days from Mission Control all the way up to where you're at right now."
"Well, John, right now we're in the primary stages of what's called 'trans-lunar injection' -- we've extended our orbit up to touch the far side of the moon. It'll take us about four days to actually reach the moon's orbit, where we'll drift in space until the moon catches up with us. That's the best way I can describe it, and it's the same type of maneuvering that was done back in the Apollo era. We plan on reaching perilune -- which is the point of closest approach with the moon -- at an altitude of about three hundred thousand feet up, which is well within safety margins, and at that point we will have already made the decision to either circularize our orbit with the moon and stay a few days, or to ignore our orbit burn and come back on what's called a free-return trajectory. Our hope, of course, is to get to know the moon up-close and personal before we come back."
"Right, Brian. Now, we have a text message from a gentleman in New Hampshire; he writes: Congratulations on going to a place that hasn't been touched by human hands in over forty years; we're all looking forward to the next few days. Will you be able to see the moon as you approach it?"
"Ahh, unfortunately we won't be able to actually sight the moon until we're almost on top of it, actually," Adkinson said. "We're holding a specific vehicular attitude in space right now, and that's for reasons of both communication and passive thermal control of the vehicle. Right now we're in a head's up attitude with regards to the Earth, and that's so that we can use the TDRS network to relay our radio and telemetry back to Houston. Once we're out of that altititude range of the satellite's geostationary orbit, we'll flip Constitution over so that we're able to communicate directly with our ground tracking stations on the Earth. This will have the advantage that we'll have full-time, real-time communication with the ground, and our heat shield will be pointed at the sun most of the time."
"Alright, Brian. Now I know a lot of people are thinking about this possibility, and we're all well-aware that no NASA flight -- er, no spaceflight in general -- excuse me . . . tends to go off without a hitch or a glitch happening somewhere along the line; how has your crew fared so far, and is there a contingency plan that is satisfactory for any possible scenario that might come up?"
Adkinson laughed. "Well, John, I'd have to say if we didn't think for one iota of a second we couldn't do this with the current training and machinery we have at our disposal, we wouldn't be doing it. To paraphrase an old friend of mine, flying to the moon isn't like dusting crops. We've been working the possible scenarios to death even before Jamie and I were named crew for this mission. We've done everything possible to make sure we're up to speed, and Constitution is up to speed for this. To that end, I'd have to say we've weathered our first day and a half in space quite well, and we're eager to go see the moon."
"Now, I know we've heard reports of one of your crewmembers falling ill already, can you share any thoughts about that, Brian?"
"Yeah, it's a well-documented condition that tends to affect everybody in some way or another; it's been called 'Space Adaptation Syndrome' or 'Space Sickness Syndrome.' It usually affects all of us to some extent almost immediately after MECO, when we become truly weightless for the first time."
"It's kinda like being on the top of a rollercoaster hill forever," Jamie Cunningham interjected, and Adkinson nodded. "You get a little queasy; it doesn't take long to get used to it. It just feels like you're falling, and that's just something you need to train your brain into thinking it's okay while you're up here."
"Thank you, Jamie . . . and that brings up a question from a woman in Vail, Colorado. Her question is: How do you feel about the future of the role of women in NASA; do you feel there is any, and what was the road you took to get where you are now?"
"That's three questions, John," Jamie pointed out with a smile, "but they're very good ones. I feel that the role of women in this organization has remained unchanged over the last thirty or so years; we've been becoming a truly diverse, multi-gender, multi-national organization, and I feel that human spaceflight should know no bounds like the color of your skin or whatever plumbing you happen to carry with you. It should matter what you carry up here," she pointed to her head, "and in here," she pointed to her heart.
"As far as how I got here . . . well, the door to the spacecraft opened, and I got in," She laughed. "Seriously, though, it takes a lot of schooling and physical training to become an astronaut; we're not just a bunch of button-pushers up here. You've got to be ready to weigh three times your body weight in an instant and still be able to reach that critical control; your job and your life might depend on what you can do in a split second. That's why they only send the best up here."
"Okay, we're almost out of time; thank you very much for that excellent and thought-provoking answer, Jamie. We have time for one more thing; one of the most overwhelming questions we've had so far is a simple one: What's it like to be weightless? Could either of you give us a demonstration?"
Brian Adkinson and Jamie Cunningham looked at each other, and shrugged.
"Spin me," She whispered.
"Hmm?"
"Spin me like . . . like a dolphin or something."
"Alright." Turning to the camera, he smiled. "Alright, what we're going to do for you, John, is . . . we have a bit of a physics demonstration for you today. We're going to aim to demonstrate one of the effects that microgravity can have on physical objects. Our willing labrat--er, participant, is going to demonstrate an application of Newton's Law. Since in the compartment we have no appreciable gravitational pull on anything, and only a modicum of air resistance--"
Jamie Cunningham crossed her arms and folded her legs into a fetal position, and Adkinson gave her a healthy twist.
"--her body is now forced into a spin. She will, of course, remain in this state of spin until either she extends her arms and legs out, which will redistribute her center of gravity, or I physically stop her from spinning."
"Okay, that's enough!" Jamie said, and Adkinson reached out and stopped her.
"Alright, well, thank you very much for that demonstration," Hensley laughed. "We're out of time; from all of us on the ground to you up in space, this is John Hensley from Google, and we're looking forward to hearing from you in orbit around the moon."
"It will be our pleasure," Adkinson said.
* * *
SEP-010, Chapter 5.
". . .and here we are with the pilot and commander of Constitution. It's good to see them; let's do what we've got to do now and say hello to them. So I say this to them: Constitution, This is John Hensley with Google, how do you hear me?"
The image showed Jamie Cunningham and Brian Adkinson as they floated in the aft-deck common area. Adkinson held a microphone, and Jamie waved to the camera as Hensley's words echoed in the transmission.
"We hear you, John; it's good to hear you again. Five-by-five," Adkinson said with a smile. "How are you folks on Earth doing?"
"We're doing just fine, Brian; you guys are looking good up there. Congratulations on making it up into space again, Brian . . . I know a lot of people down here watched that spectacular takeoff into space yesterday, and before we get to the questions from folks down here -- we've had a lot of comments from the public and just not enough time for a lot of our viewers' questions to pass moderatorship -- I know we want to get a little bit into what your plan is for the next few days from Mission Control all the way up to where you're at right now."
"Well, John, right now we're in the primary stages of what's called 'trans-lunar injection' -- we've extended our orbit up to touch the far side of the moon. It'll take us about four days to actually reach the moon's orbit, where we'll drift in space until the moon catches up with us. That's the best way I can describe it, and it's the same type of maneuvering that was done back in the Apollo era. We plan on reaching perilune -- which is the point of closest approach with the moon -- at an altitude of about three hundred thousand feet up, which is well within safety margins, and at that point we will have already made the decision to either circularize our orbit with the moon and stay a few days, or to ignore our orbit burn and come back on what's called a free-return trajectory. Our hope, of course, is to get to know the moon up-close and personal before we come back."
"Right, Brian. Now, we have a text message from a gentleman in New Hampshire; he writes: Congratulations on going to a place that hasn't been touched by human hands in over forty years; we're all looking forward to the next few days. Will you be able to see the moon as you approach it?"
"Ahh, unfortunately we won't be able to actually sight the moon until we're almost on top of it, actually," Adkinson said. "We're holding a specific vehicular attitude in space right now, and that's for reasons of both communication and passive thermal control of the vehicle. Right now we're in a head's up attitude with regards to the Earth, and that's so that we can use the TDRS network to relay our radio and telemetry back to Houston. Once we're out of that altititude range of the satellite's geostationary orbit, we'll flip Constitution over so that we're able to communicate directly with our ground tracking stations on the Earth. This will have the advantage that we'll have full-time, real-time communication with the ground, and our heat shield will be pointed at the sun most of the time."
"Alright, Brian. Now I know a lot of people are thinking about this possibility, and we're all well-aware that no NASA flight -- er, no spaceflight in general -- excuse me . . . tends to go off without a hitch or a glitch happening somewhere along the line; how has your crew fared so far, and is there a contingency plan that is satisfactory for any possible scenario that might come up?"
Adkinson laughed. "Well, John, I'd have to say if we didn't think for one iota of a second we couldn't do this with the current training and machinery we have at our disposal, we wouldn't be doing it. To paraphrase an old friend of mine, flying to the moon isn't like dusting crops. We've been working the possible scenarios to death even before Jamie and I were named crew for this mission. We've done everything possible to make sure we're up to speed, and Constitution is up to speed for this. To that end, I'd have to say we've weathered our first day and a half in space quite well, and we're eager to go see the moon."
"Now, I know we've heard reports of one of your crewmembers falling ill already, can you share any thoughts about that, Brian?"
"Yeah, it's a well-documented condition that tends to affect everybody in some way or another; it's been called 'Space Adaptation Syndrome' or 'Space Sickness Syndrome.' It usually affects all of us to some extent almost immediately after MECO, when we become truly weightless for the first time."
"It's kinda like being on the top of a rollercoaster hill forever," Jamie Cunningham interjected, and Adkinson nodded. "You get a little queasy; it doesn't take long to get used to it. It just feels like you're falling, and that's just something you need to train your brain into thinking it's okay while you're up here."
"Thank you, Jamie . . . and that brings up a question from a woman in Vail, Colorado. Her question is: How do you feel about the future of the role of women in NASA; do you feel there is any, and what was the road you took to get where you are now?"
"That's three questions, John," Jamie pointed out with a smile, "but they're very good ones. I feel that the role of women in this organization has remained unchanged over the last thirty or so years; we've been becoming a truly diverse, multi-gender, multi-national organization, and I feel that human spaceflight should know no bounds like the color of your skin or whatever plumbing you happen to carry with you. It should matter what you carry up here," she pointed to her head, "and in here," she pointed to her heart.
"As far as how I got here . . . well, the door to the spacecraft opened, and I got in," She laughed. "Seriously, though, it takes a lot of schooling and physical training to become an astronaut; we're not just a bunch of button-pushers up here. You've got to be ready to weigh three times your body weight in an instant and still be able to reach that critical control; your job and your life might depend on what you can do in a split second. That's why they only send the best up here."
"Okay, we're almost out of time; thank you very much for that excellent and thought-provoking answer, Jamie. We have time for one more thing; one of the most overwhelming questions we've had so far is a simple one: What's it like to be weightless? Could either of you give us a demonstration?"
Brian Adkinson and Jamie Cunningham looked at each other, and shrugged.
"Spin me," She whispered.
"Hmm?"
"Spin me like . . . like a dolphin or something."
"Alright." Turning to the camera, he smiled. "Alright, what we're going to do for you, John, is . . . we have a bit of a physics demonstration for you today. We're going to aim to demonstrate one of the effects that microgravity can have on physical objects. Our willing labrat--er, participant, is going to demonstrate an application of Newton's Law. Since in the compartment we have no appreciable gravitational pull on anything, and only a modicum of air resistance--"
Jamie Cunningham crossed her arms and folded her legs into a fetal position, and Adkinson gave her a healthy twist.
"--her body is now forced into a spin. She will, of course, remain in this state of spin until either she extends her arms and legs out, which will redistribute her center of gravity, or I physically stop her from spinning."
"Okay, that's enough!" Jamie said, and Adkinson reached out and stopped her.
"Alright, well, thank you very much for that demonstration," Hensley laughed. "We're out of time; from all of us on the ground to you up in space, this is John Hensley from Google, and we're looking forward to hearing from you in orbit around the moon."
"It will be our pleasure," Adkinson said.
* * *
