Astronaut

I attended a fascinating talk by Astronaut Dan Burbank at the American Center this evening.  They don't allow cameras or phones into the facility so I had to make do with 'a photo of a photo' off the internet in order to post a momento of a very entertaining evening.  Posted an extra one too.  I've no time now to post my observations and will do so maybe later this week or next week - when time permits.  One thing he mentioned that will be interesting to blippers was the time taken (about a month) to get used to taking photographs in a weightless state in the the space station - using their super long Nikon lenses (there are issues with taking Canon lenses on space flights).

Also interesting (or not something I'd thought about) is that the space station is only 400 km away from earth - in contrast, the moon is 400,000 km away and Mars about a thousand times that distance. 

As promised a few more post-blip observations:

- The space station moves at 7.66 km per second or 27,600 km per hour - it needs to travel that fast to stay in orbit.
- Consequently, it orbits Earth every 92 minutes and goes through 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets every 24 hours.  Blipping made easy if sunsets are your thing.

- The astronauts have to exercise for at least 2.5 hours every day: 1.5 hours of strength training and one hour of cardio - apparently osteoporosis (bone loss) advances at 10 times the rate it does on earth hence the need to maintain one's strength continuously.
- Eyesight deteriorates too but the reasons for this are so far not understood. Apparently it recovers quite quickly once back on earth.
- One's taste changes dramatically - the astronauts crave for spicy food and apply hot sauce to "almost everything except dessert".

- The space station weighs about 500 tons (about the same as a fully laden Boeing 747).
- In overall space (solar panels included) it's larger than a football field (Americans often use the football field when making analogies to size!); the station can accommodate up to 6 space capsules docked on to it.
- 95% of the weight of a space rocket is discarded by the time it reaches the space station - most of this mass consists of booster rocket stages, fuel etc. It takes 25 lbs of energy to lift 1 lb. of cargo into space. We are apparently at the limit of what's possible.

- It's usually possible to tell where you are above Earth by the shape of the clouds.
- For blippers:  night time is often the best time to look at (and photograph) the earth - the city lights define the cities and other places clearly (in day time these are often obscured by cloud).

- Temperatures outside the space station can vary from +100C in the sun to minus 100C in the shade - in the same position.
- There are 200 billion suns out there and 200 billion galaxies similar to ours. Mind blowing.

- A major motive for space exploration is to determine the abilities of man to live in space. We were reminded that Earth's history is violent and one of catastrophe and extinction! ("if the dinosaurs had had a space program they would still be around today" is one famous quotation).
- When asked how space flight affected him, he said he had two outstanding impressions: one, just how fragile the earth is (in context I assumed of the vaster universe), and, secondly, the incredible capacity of mankind to do amazing things.
- What really brought the fragility aspect home was his analogy of the earth's atmosphere (within which all 7 billion of us exist) being equivalent to the thickness of a few sheets of paper around a football.  A tiny oasis in a potentially very hostile universe.

Dan Burbank by the way is the second astronaut I've met having previously been at (and blipped on 16 March 2014) an equally fascinating talk by Sunita Williams who has spent more time than any woman walking in space.

Another interesting report on astronaut Tim Kopra, Columbia University alumnus: http://magazine.columbia.edu/features/spring-2016/launch-code?page=0,4