Tuesday, June 03, 2003
FLYING LESSONS
Ed Lu's Space Blog Gets Its Second Entry
Ed Lu, the U.S. Science Officer on the current "caretaker crew" aboard the International Space Station, has posted his second letter. It's all about learning to get around in the micro-gravity environment. I like this toward the end:
Lately, I've been trying to perfect my technique flying across the node. When flying from the FGB there is a handrail right at the entrance to the node. If you grab that handrail for a split second as you pass and immediately tuck, then you will do somersaults across the node into the lab. If you time it just right you can grab a handrail right at the entrance to the lab to stop your rotation. If you time it wrong, you crash into the wall or go careening into the lab. Single flips are pretty easy now, but when doing double flips I still end up hitting something about half the time. I guess I need more practice.
Lu's a pretty good writer. Considering how busy the 2-man instead of 3-man crew is, it's great he's got the time to drop us a line from time to time.
And, yes, I've been grousing about ISS lately. But I'm an incurable sucker for human spaceflight.
GB, THHotA
posted by Greg 8:19 PM
