Video Tour of the International Space Station 71
A reader writes with an excerpt from Bad Astronomer Phil Plait, writing at Slate: "Before she came back to Earth in a ball of fire surrounding her Russian re-entry capsule, astronaut Sunita Williams took time out of her packing for the trip home to give a nickel tour of the International Space Station. ... I know the video's long, but if you have the time I do suggest watching the whole thing. I have very mixed feelings about the space station; it cost a lot of money, and in my opinion it hasn't lived up to the scientific potential NASA promised when it was being designed. But watching this video reminded me of the good that's come out of it: There is science being done there; we're learning how to design and build hardware for long-term space travel; we're learning just how to live in space (and NASA just announced it will be sending humans into space for an entire year, an unprecedented experiment); and we're finding new ways for nations and individuals to cooperate in space."
Re:unprecedented ? (Score:5, Informative)
They probably meant unprecedented for the US.
When it comes to manned space exploration, the US is lowering the bar lower and lower every day.
Valeri Vladimirovich Polyakov (Russian: , born Valeri Ivanovich Korshunov on April 27, 1942) is a former Russian cosmonaut. He is the holder of the record for the longest single spaceflight in human history, staying aboard the Mir space station for more than 14 months (437 days 18 hours) during one trip.[1] His combined space experience is more than 22 months.[2]
Hopefully, the Russians will help us. I don't think we'd be able to do this without their help anyway.
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Compare and contrast (Score:5, Informative)
IMAX (!) video [youtube.com] from inside the Russian Mir space station. Dark, cramped and most likely very smelly - still an incredible achievement. International Space Station? Some kind of progress!
Re:Missing fake-gravity module (Score:5, Informative)
They had plans to build such a module but it was canceled along with other modules due to costs and due to the lack of Space Shuttle launch slots thanks to the Columbia disaster.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifuge_Accommodations_Module [wikipedia.org]