Solar Jet Hunter

I have been helping scientists find jets of hot gas on the sun. These jets are "small and narrow ejections of solar material."

I don't have any special training, I'm just a citizen scientist. Anyone can help. You can too. 

The project is here: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/sophiemu/solar-jet-hunter/about/research

Astronomers and others think that jets may uncover new mysteries about our star.

The designers of the study say: "...solar jets could be linked to energetic particles and perturbations in the solar wind."  They're just not sure about jets yet.

Also, there are piles of fantastic new data coming from the Parker Solar Probe.  Understanding solar jets may help us understand this new data (or spawn even more questions).

Gemini VIII "Losing Control"

 

Gemini VIII command pilot Neil Armstrong (L)
and pilot Dave Scott (R).  Credit: NASA.

The crew of Gemini VIII were command pilot Neil Armstrong and pilot Dave Scott. During their mission in 1966, they were the first crew to dock two spacecraft while in Earth orbit. 

This was a crucial milestone in human spaceflight; it had to succeed to develop skills for later lunar landing missions.

After a successful linkup with an uncrewed Agena docking vehicle, things went sideways. A thruster started firing on its own, and neither astronaut could control it. They assumed the Agena was malfunctioning, so they undocked.

Then things got really bad.

"We have serious problems here," Scott said. "We're tumbling end over end. We're disengaged from the Agena."

"We're rolling up and we can't turn anything off," Armstrong said.

Agena docking vehicle.  Credit: Dave Scott, NASA

They eventually got everything under control, and it took cool heads and quick thinking to save the day. 

After a successful emergency splashdown in the Pacific Ocean 500 miles east of Okinawa, the crew shared these these alarming comments.

ARMSTRONG

We never, however, were able to reduce the rates in any axis completely. It was obvious at this time that the only satisfactory way for diagnosing the control system was undocking the vehicle so that we could disengage possible Agena problems from possible spacecraft problems. 

To do so, we had to get the rates of the combination down to a value that was suitable for undocking with some assurance that we would not have a recontact problem.

We, of course, had to have the OAMS [orbital attitude and maneuvering system - the small gas thrusters that moved the spacecraft around] on to reduce these rates and it took us quite a bit of time to get the rates down to a value that we both agreed would be satisfactory to try a release.

Upon mutual agreement, Dave undocked with the use of the Undocking Switch and I used the forward-firing thrusters to back away from the Agena as quickly as possible, using about a 5 second burst...

SCOTT

...we backed straight off a good 4 or 5 feet before we started tumbling there and lost sight of the Agena...

ARMSTRONG

Shortly after backing off, we noticed that we were essentially losing control of the spacecraft in roll and yaw and we suspected that we were over the lifetime of these attitude thrusters.

The spacecraft was continuing, however, to accelerate, and we were obtaining rates in roll at least that approached 200 to 300 degrees per second, or perhaps more.

SCOTT

Yes, I would agree with that. It looked like even more to me, and it was by far more in roll than in yaw. The roll was the most predominate.

ARMSTRONG

We realized that physiological limits were being approached, and that we were going to have to do something immediately, in order to salvage the situation...

SCOTT

I might add in there that the rates were high enough that both of us had trouble seeing the overhead panel due to the vertigo problems and the centrifugal force as we went around.



Sources:

[1] "Gemini VIII Technical Debriefing"; March 21, 1966; https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/57115999-Gemini-VIII-Technical-Debriefing.pdf


[2] "Gemini's First Docking Turns to Wild Ride in Orbit"; Bob Granath; August 7, 2017; https://www.nasa.gov/feature/geminis-first-docking-turns-to-wild-ride-in-orbit

Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle: User's Guide

Apollo 15 Commander David Scott drives the lunar roving
vehicle on the surface of the Moon, the first time the rover
was used. Source: NASA

The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) was an electric vehicle that allowed Apollo 15, 16, and 17 astronauts to drive on the Moon. It was folded up in the lunar module (LM) and deployed as show in in Image 1.

Image 1: Deployment sequence.
Source: Boeing Company

Astronauts were able to explore much more terrain with the rover.

 
The Apollo 15 astronauts drove a total of 27.8 km (17.3 miles) in 3 hours, 2 minutes of driving time.

 
The Apollo 16 astronauts traversed 26.7 km (16.6 miles) in 3 hours 26 minutes of driving.  Apollo 16 covered less distance in a longer time.  Note comments about visibility by Apollo 16's commander HERE.

 
The Apollo 17 astronauts went a whopping 35.9 km (22.3 miles) in 4 hours 26 minutes total drive time. At their farthest, the Apollo 17 astronauts were 7.6 km (4.7 miles) from the LM!

Image 2: Control and display console. 
Source: Boeing Company

The final cost of this amazing machine was $38 million. Four lunar rovers were built, one each for Apollos 15, 16, and 17, and one that was used for spare parts after the cancellation of further Apollo missions.

A 1-gravity trainer was also built to allow astronauts to practice driving.  They also trained to handle malfunctions.  Fortunately, the LRV operated just fine for all three missions.

Image 3: Example of one of many malfunction logic flow diagrams.
Source: Boeing Company

It took only 17 months to develop the LRV. Apollo 17's lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt said,

"....the Lunar Rover proved to be the reliable, safe and flexible lunar exploration vehicle we expected it to be. Without it, the major scientific discoveries of Apollo 15, 16, and 17 would not have been possible..."

Image 4: When the steering dies, just pick up the rover to change direction! 
Source: Boeing Company

Sources:

[1] "Lunar Rover Operations Handbook"; Doc. LS006-002-2H; Boeing Company, LRV Systems Engineering; July 7, 1971; https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/43944200-Lunar-Rover-Operations-Handbook-07071971.pdf

[2] "The Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle"; https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo_lrv.html

Apollo 14 Surface Navigation Problems

During their lunar exploration in 1971, Apollo 14 moonwalkers Alan B. Shepard Jr. and Edgar D. Mitchell had some unexpected problems navigating on the rugged surface.

Fifty years later, this conversation from their technical debriefing still has value for Artemis astronauts.

Alan Shepard assembles a double core tube as he stands beside the portable workbench or
modular equipment transporter (MET) unique to this mission during the
 second moon walk on Feb. 6, 1971. Credits: NASA/Edgar Mitchell

SHEPHARD

Until we really get a feel for navigation on the surface, there should be some strong check points to follow.

First of all, it gives you a feeling of security to know where you are. You know where you are distance-wise and what you have left to cover.

Second, there's no question in my mind that it's easy to misjudge distances, not only high above the surface -- that we discussed before -- but also distances along the surface.

It's so crystal clear up there -- there is no closeness that you try to associate with it in Earth terms -- it just looks a lot closer than it is.

Edgar Mitchell moves across the lunar surface as he looks over a traverse map during
exploration of Fra Mauro. Lunar dust can be seen clinging to the boots and legs of the
space suit. Credits: NASA/Alan Shepard

MITCHELL

I certainly agree with that. I think there are two problems that affect your distance measurements.

One, as Al described, and the second is there has to be a little bit of distortion in the bubble. I don't know how much that contributed to it, but I think it contributed some.

I believe that our primary problem in navigation was the surprise brought about by the roughness and the undulation of the terrain.

We couldn't see -- one set of landmarks, the prominent landmarks -- our next set of landmarks from our present position.

Large craters which we expected to be able to see standing out on a reasonably flat plane were not on a flat plane. They were hidden behind other craters, ridges, and old worn-down mounds.

You'd say , "Well, this next big crater ought to be a couple of hundred meters away, or 100 or 150 meters." It just wasn't anywhere in sight.

So you'd press on to another ridge and you still didn't see it. All you would see would be another ridge. Finally, you'd get over to it and there it was. You could not get enough perspective from any one spot to pin down precisely where you were.

...but that was kind of the feeling I had. I never knew what to expect when I went over the ridge of the sand dune or what I was going to see on the other side of it.

SHEPHARD

I think that complicated our problem. I don't know what to suggest on that.

I think that we have talked about navigation problems before. We always felt that you know you'd see these craters out here. Men have planned for them and they're very well defined and we ought to be able to locate them easily, but that just isn't the case.

There has to be more thought given to some better way of positioning oneself on the chart.





Source: "Apollo 14 Technical Crew Debriefing"; February 17, 1971; https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a14/a14-techdebrief.pdf

AI-generated Space Art

I've had a great time playing with Wombo's artificial intelligence (AI) to create cool space art. Visit https://app.wombo.art/ to make your own.

Below are two of my examples. More of my results are here:
https://ramonerocketeer.blogspot.com/2021/12/ai-generated-space-art.html

American Scientist says:

To create AI art, artists write algorithms not to follow a set of rules, but to “learn” a specific aesthetic by analyzing thousands of images. The algorithm then tries to generate new images in adherence to the aesthetics it has learned.

Orange Juice Drama on the Moon

During the Apollo 16 mission in 1972, commander John Young and lunar module pilot Charlie Duke performed three moonwalks for a combined 20 hours.

Lunar exploration is thirsty work, and their spacesuits had a drink bag that they filled and attached inside the suit. The bag had a small drinking tube that was positioned above the neck ring.

Insuit drinking device.  Image: NASA.

To take a drink, an astronaut leaned their head down inside the helmet and took a sip.

And then things went wrong...

Commander John Young standing by the lunar rover.  Image: NASA.

YOUNG
Here is a problem that was annoying to both of us. The night before, we filled the drink bags full of orange juice in the CSM [Command Service Module; it remained in orbit while they landed]; and the next morning prior to suit donning, we put them in the suit.

Every time we bent our head, the microphone would get caught in the drink bag and put some orange juice into the air in zero gravity or would squirt the side of your face. Charlie really got covered up with it.

It really was an annoying problem.

Lunar module pilot Charlie Duke.  Image: NASA.

DUKE
My valve was really bad.

YOUNG
Mine didn't work all the time, and I was really being careful. I'm sure it got all over us because once we got on the surface and looked up at the lunar module, the travano cover had orange juice all over it.

[Travano covers provided abrasion and impact protection to select areas on the Lunar Module. They were used in areas where crew or equipment could make contact with wiring and sensitive hardware.]

It was in dots, less than 5 percent, but there was a lot of orange juice on the travano cover. I'm sure orange juice is something you don't want to float around on wire bundles. I think we need something to stop up that hole in zero gravity and in one-sixth gravity until you are ready to use it.

Maybe a cap that fits on the end of it that you could pull with your teeth would work. I think it's essential when you're going out for a 7- or 8-hour EVA [Extravehicular Activity or "moonwalk"], you have to have something in that suit to drink.

DUKE
Yes, that really saved me out there.

YOUNG
I took my suit off and didn't put the drink bag in right for the first EVA. I didn't get anything to drink while I was out on the Moon and that was bad. I sure could have used a drink about half-way through.

You do sweat a lot while you are out there. You sweat in your hands, you sweat at the back of your neck, and you sweat on your feet where you don't have water cooling.

We should have one that doesn't spend its time wetting you down.

And there was another problem associated with this. Before we went out the next day, Charlie had to clean the orange juice out of his microphone to get it to work. We wasn't transmitting at all.

DUKE
On VOX.

[VOX is "voice-operated exchanged". When VOX was activated, an astronaut's radio automatically turned itself on when he started talking.]

YOUNG
He had a comm carrier with one mike gone because of a busted wire and had to suck the orange juice out of the other mike to get it to work. Now that's a pretty marginal operation (laughter).

DUKE
Every time the left microphone hit that valve, the juice sort of migrated up that microphone in under my helmet, and this whole side of my head was just caked with juice.

YOUNG
Charlie looked like he had been shampooing with juice.

DUKE
It was really terrible.

YOUNG
The whole side of his face was just one big mass of orange juice. We got it on the helmet seal between the second and third EVA. We cleaned the orange juice off the helmet seal because we couldn't get the helmets unlocked and off.

I thought we were going to spend the night in the pressure suit.

DUKE
It really wasn't on the O-ring; it was where the two surfaces mate together.

YOUNG
Yes.

DUKE
The stuff had seeped in under there.

YOUNG
The vacuum dried out that thing, and left the glue there. When it was time to take the helmets off, I couldn't get Charlie's off and he couldn't get mine off. I tell you, I thought we were going to stay in the pressure suit. (Laughter)

Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan showing drink bag placement.  Image: NASA.

Source: "Apollo 16 Technical Crew Debriefing"; May 5, 1972; https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a16/a16-techdebrief.pdf

Astronaut John Glenn

John Glenn served as a pilot in the United States Marine Corps. In 1957, he set a speed record when he flew from Los Angeles to New York in less than 3 1/2 hours.

In 1959, he was picked as one of NASA's original seven Mercury astronauts. He was the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962 aboard his tiny capsule named "Friendship 7".

Source: NASA

In 1998, at age 77, he flew aboard space shuttle Discovery for nine days. At that time, he was the oldest human to launch into space.

Source: NASA

I am proud to have this autographed photo of John Glenn in my home office.

More info:

[1] "Profile of John Glenn"; NASA; https://www.nasa.gov/content/profile-of-john-glenn

[2] "Who Was John Glenn?"; NASA; https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/who-is-john-glenn-k4.html

[3] Image Gallery; NASA; https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/sets/72157677594211745

Hands on the Moon

In general, hand/arm fatigue is an ongoing problem for all astronauts when using their hands in a pressurized spacesuit. Imagine trying to squeeze a football for several hours over multiple days.

It can lead to finger, wrist, and arm pain including cramps and black fingernails.

Apollo missions were brief - 75 hours for the longest mission.  Now imagine you're an Artemis astronaut spending weeks in and out of a pressurized suit, not just a few days.

Gloves for the Apollo program were customized using plaster hand casts from each astronaut.
These are casts from Apollo 11 astronauts on display at the
US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL. Photo: Mickey Kulp

A rubber inner-glove was made from the plaster cast. 
The knuckles were artificially enlarged for easier bending. Photo: NASA

Dave Scott, the commander of Apollo 15, and Jim Irwin, lunar module pilot, spoke to reviewers in 1971 about their experiences using gloves in a pressurized suit on the moon. 

Scott's 50-year-old advice still has application for Artemis astronauts and designers.

Dave Scott making statements immediately after splashdown. 
Note his blackened fingernails. Photo: NASA

SCOTT

I ended up with a compromise solution on my arm length and my gloves. I had requested, just prior to the flight, for the people to shorten the arms so I could have mobility close to my chest, where I had to do most of the work.

If the arms were too long and the fingers were extended at that point, I got hand cramps trying to work the gloves. If the arms were shortened , when my arm was outstretched my fingers were pushing against the inside tips of the gloves.

My feeling before the flight was that I'd rather have the tight arms than the cramps in the hands. It resulted in too much pressure on my fingertips, but I'll accept that compromise because it enabled me to continue working without any hand cramps.

I never got any hand cramps at all throughout the whole operation. I felt like I had good mobility in cinching up the geology sample bags and in doing all that ALSEP [Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package] operation. Driving the Rover was also quite comfortable, except for my fingertips.

Other than that, I thought the PGA [Pressure Garment Assembly] was excellent.

Apollo 15 crew (L-R): CDR Dave Scott, CMP Al Worden, LMP Jim Irwin.  Photo: NASA

IRWIN

I think I had the same fit that you did on EVA-1, certainly. At the end of the EVA, my fingers were really sore -- the fingernails and the end of the fingers.

After that, I cut my fingernails back to the quick, just as far as I possibly could with the scissors; and then on EVA-2, my fingers didn't bother me at all . That solved it for me. I didn't have any cramps either.

Neil Armstrong's lunar glove from Apollo 11.  Photo: NASA.

SCOTT

I surely think that a better glove could be made which fits tighter. I think the gloves, in my case, are still too bulky, and there is too much easement inside the glove.

I think for an EVA operation you need to have a glove which has a smaller easement than for an IV [Intravehicular] operation when you don' t plan to pressurize. 

Scott gives some sound advice for our era of space exploration:

When you plan to run pressurized all the time, as you do an EVA glove, I think they should be designed and built for that operation alone, and not try to compromise by having it comfortable in an IV situation.

Neil Armstrong's lunar glove from Apollo 11.  Photo: NASA.

Further Reading

[1] "Apollo 15 Technical Crew Debriefing"; 14 AUG 1971; PDF scan by Glen Swanson; https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a15/a15tecdbrf.html

[2] "Neil Armstrong's Flown Suit"; https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/A11NAAFlownSuit.html

Dick Gordon: Sleeping at the Moon

During Apollo missions to the moon, the command module pilot (CMP) stayed in lunar orbit while the two other astronauts landed and explored.

Dick Gordon was the CMP on the second moon landing mission, Apollo 12, in 1969.
Photo: NASA

After the mission, CMP Dick Gordon attended a debriefing in December 1969, and he had this to say about sleeping in space...

Sleep is probably an individual preference. I definitely had a preference for actually sleeping in the couch. I slept in the couch all but two nights.

These two nights, I slept in the sleeping bag underneath the number 1 couch, the left-hand couch. But it was always my preference to put the sleeping bag on, then get in the couch, and tie myself in the couch with a harness.

For some reason , I slept better with the lap belt and the shoulder harness on, and securely lashed down to the couch, rather than free floating or being suspended in the sleep restraint under the couch.

That was just a personal preference and it seemed to work better for me.

During sleep periods, I would wake up maybe two or three times. I would look around the spacecraft and make sure everything was okay and then really go back to sleep.

I got extremely tired at the end of that first day of lunar orbit activities. That sleep period was scheduled to be a relatively short one anyway. It necessarily turned out to be so because at the end of the day was the ... lunar orbit plane change number l occurred.

The CMP was alone in the command module during the lunar excursions. When his orbit went behind the moon, he was completely out of contact with every human everywhere. Gordon goes on to say:

But then I found that I had to do all the housekeeping and presleep activities by myself, whereas the 3 of us had been able to do them before and to clean them up in fairly rapid order.

It took a considerable length of time to wade through all that by myself, and this cut short the sleep period. So I actually was pretty tired in lunar orbit and didn't really catch up until one day out of lunar orbit on the way back.

I don't think anybody's performance was affected by fatigue and I'm not sure that fatigue really came into play. But certainly most of us in this particular occupation are used to performing while we are fatigued.

Source: "Apollo 12 Technical Crew Debriefing"; December 1, 1969; https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a12/a12-techdebrief.pdf

Oleg's Reentry Video

Excellent Soyuz reentry video from cosmonaut Олег Артемьев (Oleg Artemyev).

Check out the view during reentry!

Apollo Docking Emergencies

Image: NASA

Apollo Lunar Orbit Rendezvous

During the Apollo moon landings in the 1960s and 1970s, two astronauts landed on the moon in the lunar module (LM). The third astronaut remained in lunar orbit in the command service module (CSM).

After the lunar mission was completed, the two moonwalkers would discard much of their unnecessary equipment (like their life support backpacks) and launch back into orbit.

But what would they do if the LM could not properly re-dock with the CSM?

Spacecraft Design

Both spacecraft had two doors. One was in the roof, and one was in the side.

The roof doors were where the two vehicles docked. The "tunnel" was the connection from the top of the CSM to the top of the LM.

When both craft were correctly docked, astronauts could travel easily between spacecraft using the tunnel.

But each spacecraft also had side doors. On the LM, the side door was where the astronauts came and went on the lunar surface. On the CSM, the side door was only used at launch and landing.

Later, on Apollo 15, 16, and 17, the side door was used when the command module pilot went outside to collect film canisters.

Image: NASA

Docking Failures

No docking failures were ever encountered in lunar orbit, but astronauts and mission planners gave it considerable thought.

The thinking revolved around two choices:

1. Transfer through the roof doors.
2. Transfer through the side doors.

Technical Debrief Discussion

In 1970, after successfully returning to Earth after a crippling explosion, the Apollo 13 crew discussed their thoughts on these choices with Deke Slayton (Chief of the Astronaut Office) and others.

The topic came up about "transfer from the LM to the CSM, if you were not properly docked."

LOVELL We did the WIF [Water Immersion Facility] exercise, and my feelings were that if we ever were faced with that in reality we were in deep trouble. As a matter of fact, we came up with a new technique.

HAISE We had several ways to go. You go through the tunnel or you could go outside. All we determined was that we couldn't make it through the tunnel.

LOVELL No, but we were trying to determine if we could use the PLSS [Portable Life Support System, backpack] from the lunar surface. Remember we wanted to leave the PLSSs on instead of taking them off.

HAISE We never had a PLSS on, in the water tank.

LOVELL Remember that late in the game we were talking about using a PLSS with John down at the Cape in the one-g mockup. I'm trying to see what the situation was that set us up so we could use that. We said instead of taking the PLSS off and putting the OPS [Oxygen Purge System] on.

HAISE We never did any training for that though. There was some idle conversation about that one day, because the hatch jammed and wouldn't seal. It was stuck in there and we couldn't pressurize the LM.

LOVELL Yes, but the normal thing was to get rid of the PLSS.

HAISE Yes. Do a vacuum mate/demate.

LOVELL I think you would be much better off to leave the PLSS on and do the EVT [Extravehicular Transfer] with the PLSS, because you would have communications and you wouldn't have to do all that vacuum demating and mating and get all that stuff squared away.

HAISE You never get even one-g, on the ascent stage. Why don't you just lift off with the PLSS on your back, and go into orbit that way?

SLAYTON It depends entirely on what your failure mode is. Even in that case, if you get docked, you can get repress from the CSM and get back to normal, anyway.

LOVELL We were looking at the case where we had no LM pressurization, and, we couldn't go to the tunnel. We had to go exterior.

We thought that we could even recharge our PLSS with the LM system under vacuum conditions, better than we could take off the PLSS, put on the OPS, and pressurize.

We were willing to launch with the PLSS on our back and transfer that way, because we would have communications that way. It would take a long time, maybe 4 hours to recharge the PLSS. That was the only change we had on that.

Diagram from Apollo 10 debriefing transcript showing the EVA that would be route taken to
transfer from the LM to the CM should the docking tunnel not be usable. Source: NASA

Sources:

[1] "Apollo 13 Technical Debrief"; 24 April 1970; PDF by Glen Swanson; https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a13/a13-techdebrief.pdf

[2] "Apollo Oxygen Purge System (OPS) for the Portable Life Support System (PLSS) & Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU)"; Karl Dodenhoff; https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/alsj-OPS.html

[3] "Apollo 10 Day 5, part 17: Snoopy prepares for the main event"; Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright © 2012-2021 by W. David Woods, Robin Wheeler and Ian Roberts; https://history.nasa.gov/afj/ap10fj/as10-day5-pt17.html

Zero Gee Adaptation

Everyone, even veteran astronauts have an adjustment period when they first enter a micro-gravity environment.

Reading through the "Apollo 13 Technical Debrief", it seems like all three astronauts had some trouble at first.

Jim Lovell, commander of Apollo 13.
He was a veteran of Apollo 13, Apollo 8, Gemini 7, and Gemini 12.
Photo: NASA

LOVELL

"My feelings were as I've had previously. When we first get subjected to zero g, I feel I' m upside down, my head is full, and blood is rushing to my head; this lasts several hours.

I think this sensation lasted approximately 6 hours. But basically, that's the only sensation I felt in zero g. After that, it went away."

 

Jack Swigert, command module pilot.
Apollo 13 was his only space mission.
Photo: NASA

SWIGERT

"I think Fred and I felt the same fullness of the head."

Fred Haise, lunar module pilot.
After Apollo 13, he flew the initial set of Space Shuttle approach and landing tests.
Photo: NASA

HAISE

"We both mentioned it about the same time. I don't know who mentioned it first. We both had it go away about the same time. Offhand, I don't remember how many hours had elapsed."

SWIGERT

"It was around 8 hours; we both mentioned that the fullness of the head was gone."

HAISE

"I had one other different reaction. On the morning of the second day, I woke up with a pretty severe headache.

I drank some juice and ate some bacon cubes. That didn't sit right and I upchucked about 2 ounces of my juice.

I sat still for about half a day pretty much; I never had any symptoms again after that."

LOVELL

"I think a general comment concerning space flight is in order.

The fact that when you first get inserted, what you do for the first day (especially if we go into Skylab or something like that) should be held down. We should not try to do too many different things per day.

No matter who you are, it's going to take a while to get used to zero gravity.

Towards the end of our flight, we didn't know we were in zero or one g. You get so used to it.

But, in the beginning, zero gravity is different. You do feel different; so, you've got to just take it easy until you get accustomed to it."

Photo: NASA

I met Fred Haise once after he gave a talk, and he seemed like the coolest guy in the world!

Photo: NASA

Source: "Apollo 13 Technical Debrief"; 24 April 1970; PDF by Glen Swanson; 

https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a13/a13-techdebrief.pdf

Meteorite or Meteor-wrong?

I thought I had found some teeny meteorite fragments (see HERE), so I retraced my path along the same stretch of road.

Sure enough, my magnetic walking stick found some more magnetic grains. Some were smaller than before, but one was bigger. 

My most recent space rock candidates with a toothbrush for scale.

Maybe, I thought, the big one was big enough to grind a little to reveal the interior.

I'll call this big one "Biggie."

I used a nail file to scrape off some of the outer layer.

The Lunar and Planetary Institute recommends six tests to determine if a rock might be a meteorite. Here are the results on Biggie.

1. Does the sample have a black or brown surface? Yes
2. Is the sample solid, without pores or hollow vesicles? Yes
3. Is the sample heavy for its size? Not sure - too small to tell
4. If a corner of the sample is ground slightly, is the interior metallic silver? Yes - see below!
5. Is the sample unlike other rocks in the area? Yes
6. Is the sample magnetic? Yes

You can just begin to see a bright silver surface after light scraping.

Another view of the silver surface.

I passed 5 out of 6 tests. Maybe we have a winner? Stay tuned for more info as it becomes available.

SpaceX Crew 3 Suiting Up

 Here are some photos from the Crew 3 pre-launch suit up taken from the SpaceX live feed.

The crew consists of Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, Matthias Maurer, and Kayla Barron.

Matthias Maurer and Kayla Barron

Thomas Marshburn

Raja Chari

Suit Room

Matthias Maurer and Kayla Barron

Kayla Barron

Matthias Maurer

Meteorite Hunter

I have started trying to find meteorites in my area.

It is amazing to think that I might be able to touch a planetary fragment that has drifted through space, unchanged for billions of years. 

Some meteorites may even be older than the Earth, or they might be blasted off of the moon or Mars!

Image: NASA; https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/21492/a-martian-meteorite-for-mars-2020/

I needed to know a lot more to be a good meteorite hunter, so I consulted The Lunar and Planetary Institute.

I learned it takes patience since meteorites are rare and sometimes tiny. I have been looking for iron meteorites using a walking stick with magnets taped near the tip.

My hand-carved walking stick with magnets taped near the tip.

David A. Kring wrote an article for The Lunar and Planetary Institute that says:

"Iron meteorites are much more common among the meteorite finds, because they are so unlike most terrestrial rocks and because stony meteorites are highly susceptible to weathering on the surface of the Earth."

Image: NASA; https://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/snc/nwa480.html

I recently found a tiny rock - a speck like a grain of rice - that stuck to my magnet. I wonder if it's a meteorite?  I put it on a clothespin to show the scale...

I checked my little rock using tests from The Lunar and Planetary Institute.

1. Does the sample have a black or brown surface? Yes
2. Is the sample solid, without pores or hollow vesicles? Yes
3. Is the sample heavy for its size? Not sure - too small to tell
4. If a corner of the sample is ground slightly, is the interior metallic silver? Too small to grind.
5. Is the sample unlike other rocks in the area? Yes
6. Is the sample magnetic? Yes

Here are some more photos of different sides.  One side is a little darker than the other.  Could it be from the reentry heating where one side got "cooked" more than the other?

Right now, it looks like it could be a tiny meteorite! I want to be sure, so stay tuned for more information if I can get someone to help identify it.