Everyone on our crew agreed that we would love to have a one-sixth gravity chair to play with at home. You get to experience what it is like to walk on the moon. Small actions make a big difference when you only have one-sixth of your weight to move around. The second event was the gyroscope. Ruth made us all laugh as she rode it laughing while asking them to stop. Wow! What a way to start your day.
We launched our rockets today. Quite a sight to see. Sixteen rockets all set on their launch pads. Ruth’s launch went well. My rocket was eaten by a rocket-tree when the wind blew it into some high branches. Actually, I was relieved to have one less item to pack for our return tomorrow.
After the rocket launch, we headed off for our final STS mission of the week — Endeavour. For this round, Ruth would be in mission control as the Flight Director while I would be sent up on the shuttle and then out to do a space walk to repair the heat shield. We had a blast. There are scripts to read and buttons to push that run a real computer. If you don’t do something correctly or within the time frame, you don’t blast off (or worse you do not return to Earth). As we were going through the series of events for launch, our Commander called out to switch off the umbilical cord, meaning some pump with a similar name. All four of us in the orbiter got so tickled we could hardly move much less hear anything on our headsets over our own laughter. But don’t worry, we launched the shuttle successfully.
Once in space, the other mission specialist and I went out to do our space walk to inspect and repair the heat shield. We put on vests filled with ice packs so we would not overheat in the space suit. With helmets and boots on, we were strapped into harnesses and hoisted eight feet into the air to complete the repair job. What a trip! You have to hold on to your tether to keep yourself in place the best you can. You are hanging at 180 degrees. We completed our repairs successfully, but not without banging into each other’s helmets multiple times.
To end the day, we were all invited to the Sixth Annual Saturn Apollo Reunion with the people who worked on both rocket programs.
This has been an amazing learning experience. I am so fortunate to have spent this week being an astronaut in training.
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