ISS: Maintenance

Part 6 in a series on the ISS

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This is Doug

From Outerspace

Telling me he thinks I have a screw loose.

-No! Of course not.

I think he's saying

"Houston..... we have a problem."

And it's really cool

He can just let the screw go while he reads the directions.

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Errrr, not that he needs directions. He's freakin' commander of the ISS, I'm sure it's not the directions. It's probably the list of parts he should have leftover after product assembly. And then, no gravity, he just flips around
and floats off to Get 'Er Done.....-

-... or not.---

-Maybe that was an important little screw.

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I caught my old friend, Doug, on the NASA Channel installing and activating the Zvezda equipment which will take exhaled carbon dioxide from crew members and convert that into usable water. Sounds delish. The early days for outerspace travel won't be for the picky eaters among us.
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What I wanted to share is how nice it must be to do repairs when your body can stay in any position you need. Getting used to gravity again has to be a real pain upon return.
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-Being able to have full use of the ISS as a science laboratory is a primary focus up there right now. In an interview with Soldiers Magazine TV, Wheelock said,

"The hope now and the dream we have is to bring back to the human race on earth ways that we can better take care of our health and our planet as well. And so we have got a tremendous amount of research going on in the medical field trying to learn new breakthroughs for bone loss, possibly finding a cure for cancer, for new methods of transporting pharmaceuticals through the body to fight off different diseases that we face on the earth. We also have earth science going on -- ways that we can be better stewards of our farmlands, our forests, things like this. We also have research as well on what happens to the human body when it comes to space -- for our children and grandchildren -- who will take us out to farther planets -- they'll be able to spin off the research that we are doing to help them stay alive and maintain the vehicles when they get to another planetary body and to be able to walk when they get there."

--I find the international aspect of the ISS encouraging. Cooperation among nations for both research and technology is such a huge aspect of this endeavor, especially as we dismantle the shuttle program and rely on the vehicles of other nations to get our astronauts and our supplies to the ISS. Also, our astronauts are working on Japanese and Russian science experiments on the lab as well. In my next ISS post, I get to share Doug's personal thoughts on the international aspect.-Recently, Doug shared beautiful thoughts and photos with me about a three-hour visit he and Russian Cosmonaut Alexander "Sasha" Skvortsov enjoyed before he accepted Command of the ISS from Skvortsov. He said,

"the Change of Command of a truly International Space Station from an active duty Russian Colonel to an active duty U.S. Army Colonel is something only dreamers could have imagined for our generation. The road to this point has been bumpy and crooked and seemingly impassable at times, but it is a road carved out and paved with the blood, sweat, and tears of patriots and dreamers."

Read more about it in my next ISS post.

Doug's Bio
Beautiful Pictures from space on Doug's Twitter
My first ISS post.
My second ISS post: Change of Command
My third ISS post. To Infinity & Beyond: A Young Boy's Dream?
My fourth ISS post. ISS: Home Away From Home
My fifth ISS post. One Big Science Lab
My 2nd fifth ISS post. No Vacancy
My sixth ISS post. In Which Doug has a Screw Loose, I mean a Loose Screw
My seventh ISS post. Personal note from Doug about working with the Russians
My eighth ISS post. Doug talks about the emergency on the ISS
My ninth ISS post. Everyday Life on the ISS
My tenth ISS post. Heading Home