Posted on 06/02/2008 4:17:31 PM PDT by Cecily
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- Space shuttle Discovery performed a slow back flip and then docked at the international space station Monday, delivering a mammoth lab and two new occupants: a NASA astronaut and Buzz Lightyear.
Commander Mark Kelly pulled up to the space station and parked as the two spacecraft soared 210 miles above the South Pacific.
Discovery carried Japan's prized Kibo lab, a 37-foot-long, 16-ton scientific workshop. The seven shuttle astronauts and three station residents will combine forces to install the bus-size lab on Tuesday.
The shuttle crew also brought a spare toilet pump for the orbiting outpost. The space station's Russian-built toilet broke nearly two weeks ago -- forcing the crew to perform manual flushes with extra water several times a day -- and engineers hope the new pump will take care of the problem. Watch the shuttle close in »
Astronaut Gregory Chamitoff got his first look at what will be his home for the next six months. He is replacing Garrett Reisman, who has been living at the station since March.
"Garrett, you have a beautiful house," Chamitoff said. "Oh my God, it's so beautiful."
The two men hugged once the hatches between them swung open. It was a group embrace, actually, with the space station's two Russian residents joining in as well.
Also moving in for a half-year is a 12-inch action figure familiar to children almost everywhere: Buzz Lightyear, the character from the 1995 film "Toy Story" that's always yearning to blast off "to infinity and beyond." Disney sent up the toy as part of NASA's toys-in-space educational program.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
That almost looks like more than a group hug.
"BIIIIG HUUUGG!!""
"Yay! You brought a new Toilet Pump! Hey, wait... This is for a 1986 Mir toilet, not our 1996 ISS toilet!"
"Darn, well, we'll have to make another trip to the parts store."
Would have been a giggle to hand em a piddle bag and a case of depends with a plunger and a home plumbing repair book and a Home Depot gift card.
Ugh! The only toilet broken for a week! With no gravity, it kinda gives new meaning to the term “sh*t floats”.
With 7 shuttle Astronauts (+1 Buzz Light Year doll) and 3 Space station crew, made me wonder what the record was for most people in orbit at one time.
Looks like it was 13 in 1995.
Time thirteen people in space; no docking Shuttle: Steve Oswald, William Gregory, John Grunsfeld, Wendy Lawrence, Tammy Jernigan, Sam Durrance, Ron Parise
Mir: Aleksandr Viktorenko, Yelena Kondakova, Valeriy Polyakov
Soyuz/Mir: Norman E. Thagard, Vladimir Dezhurov, Gennady Strekalov
STS-67, Mir, Soyuz TM-20, Soyuz TM-21 Flag of the United States USA
Flag of Russia Russia
14 March 1995-
18 March 1995
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceflight_records#Farthest_humans_from_Earth
This is the first time that NASA is broadcasting a mission in Hi Definition TV, and the video coming back on this mission has been extensive and outstanding. There is a lot of live broadcasting on this mission, more than on others, and I would encourage everyone to tune into the NASA channel, and at least check out some of the replays that are being broadcast.
Impressive stuff!
SO...knowing now that the pump is a point of failure...did they take along TWO? Or, just the spare to fix the faulty one? Wouldn’t be too surprised to find out they only sent one...
Gubmint...too stoopid for words.
To infinity, and beyond! I love this guy. One of my favorites of all time.
Geez, is that Hook’em horns or some kind of gang sign?
Crips in Spaaaaaace.
When I read this headline, the initial lyrics to an old SF convention filksong popped immediately into my mind...
"I am a zero-g toilet,
backed up to the ceiling...
I am the face of
A zero-g hung over feeling..."
the infowarrior
-PJ
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