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ZL2VAL > SAREX 08.01.03 17:57l 162 Lines 7788 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : A10035ZL2VAL
Read: GUEST DL9MDI OE7FMI
Subj: MIR nostalgia, Shannon Lucid
Path: DB0FHN<DB0RGB<OK0PPL<RZ6HXA<SP7MGD<7M3TJZ<ZL2TZE<ZL2TZE<ZL2WA<ZL2AB
Sent: 030104/2238Z @:ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC #:16131 [New Plymouth] FBB7.00g
From: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : SAREX@WW
Shannon Writes A Letter Home
Originally From: N5IST@N5IST.#AUS.TX.USA.NA
To : MIR@NASA
BID: NASA0519.MIR
Shannon Lucid writes a letter home
Sunday, May 19, 1996
Dear Everybody!!
Here it is, another Sunday on Mir!!! And how, you might ask, do I know
that it's Sunday? Easy!!! I have on my pink socks and Yuri, Yuri, and I
have just finished sharing a bag of Jello!!!
When light follows darkness every 45 minutes, it is important that I have
simple ways of marking the passage of time. The pink socks were found on
STS-
76 and Kevin, the commander, said that they were obviously put on as a
surprise for me, so I took them with me over to Mir and decided to wear them
on Sundays.
And the Jello? It is the greatest improvement in space flight since my first
flight over ten years ago. When I found out that there was a refrigerator on
board Mir, I asked the food folks at JSC if they could put Jello in a drink
bag. Once aboard Mir, we could just add hot water, put the bag in the
refrigerator and, later, have a great treat. Well, the food folks did just
that and sent a variety of flavors with me to try out. We tried the Jello
first as a special treat for Easter. It was so great that we
decided the Mir 21- NASA 2 crew tradition would be to share a bag of Jello
every Sunday night. (Every once in a while, Yuri will come up to me and say,
"Isn't today Sunday?" and I will say "No, it's not. No Jello tonight!!!")
There have been a lot of changes here on Mir since I arrived. And no, the
changeswere not because I am here!!!
The first big change was the arrival of Priroda, the final segment that is
to
be added to Mir. This segment is called Priroda because that's the Russian
word for nature and there are sensors on the outside of the segment to study
the Earth. The US science equipment is located inside this segment.
As a graduate student years ago, I fantasized about having my own
laboratory.
I must admit, though, that in none of my fantasies was I gazing out the
window of a space station watching "my laboratory" approach like a gigantic
silver bullet moving in slow motion toward the station's heart!! Reality is
indeed stranger than fiction!!!!
There had been a power problem on Priroda after its launch, so there was
some
concern about SO2 leaking from the batteries into the atmosphere. When it
arrived, we had to wait and check out the air quality before opening the
hatch. Yuri checked the air and pronounced it good. After listening to the
hissing air as the atmospheric pressure was equalized between Priroda and
Mir, the hatch was opened. And yes, it was a dramatic moment! There it was,
all bright, shiny, and new.
The installed American glove box protruding into the aisle gave it a real
"science" look. The bright orange cover on top of the glove box added a bit
of color to the gray-blue and dusty-pink panels of the floor and walls.
Station replacement parts and other equipment were bolted to the walls and
ceiling. Just inside the hatch, on the first few floor panels, were bolted
row after row of big orange and gray batteries, which were the power for
Priroda on ascent. We had to start work almost immediately unbolting and
bagging up the batteries because of the ground's concern about leaking SO2
into the atmosphere.
After a lot of work, the batteries on the floor were unbolted and I thought
the job was complete. Then, Yuri opened a panel that revealed more rows of
batteries to be unbolted. Another opened panel revealed yet more batteries;
there were batteries without end!!! And each battery had to be unbolted,
plastic caps had to be put on the four "feet" and on the connectors, and
then
each battery had to be bagged and tightly tied. Talk about a lot of work!!!!
To even reach the batteries, some of the equipment had to be unbolted and
the
supporting metal framework taken apart.
So there the three of us were floating in Priroda surrounded by floating
batteries, bagged batteries, equipment, and scrap metal. At times I thought
that there was enough scrap metal floating there to build station Alpha!!!
Periodically, free-floating metal pieces would impact each other creating
clear metallic tones like cathedral bells in the module and we joked with
each other about the "cosmic music" that we were hearing. We devised an
assembly line to clean up the mess and got so efficient that we finished the
task in one sixth of the time that the ground expected and
earned ourselves a holiday.
The other big change, although it is not permanent, was the arrival of
Progress, the resupply vehicle. Usually about every six weeks one is
sent to Mir with food, equipment, clothes -- everything that, on Earth, you
would have to go to the store and buy in order to live. Because it had
deployed solar batteries, it was easier to spot while approaching the
station
than Priroda had been.
I saw it first. There were big thunderstorms out in the Atlantic, with a
brilliant display of lightening like visual tom toms. The cities were strung
out like Christmas lights along the coast -- and there was the Progress like
a bright morning star skimming along the top!!! Suddenly, its brightness
increased dramatically and Yuri said, "The engine just fired." Soon, it was
close enough so that we could see the deployed solar arrays. To me, it
looked
like some alien insect headed straight toward us. All of a sudden I really
did feel like I was in a "cosmic outpost" anxiously awaiting supplies --and
really hoping that my family did remember to send me some books and candy!!!
Soon after it docked, the three of us began opening the hatch. When Yuri
opened a small valve to equalize the pressure, we could smell the air that
was in Progress. Yuri said, "Smell the fresh food." I will admit it was a
fruit smell, but I though it smelled more like the first time you open your
refrigerator after a two week vacation only to discover you had forgotten to
clean out the vegetable compartment.
The first things we took out were our personal packages and, yes, I quickly
peeked in to see if my family had remembered the books and candy I'd
requested. Of course they had. Then we started to unpack. We found the fresh
food and stopped right there for lunch. We had fresh tomatoes and onions; I
never have had such a good lunch. For the next week we had fresh tomatoes
three times a day. It was a sad meal when we ate the last ones!!!
After our impromptu lunch, we took the rest of the afternoon off, looking at
our mail that was in the packages and enjoying the apples and oranges that
were also on board. Yuri commented that for the first time all six of the
docking ports were now occupied--a Guinness Book record!
Like I said, I had a wonderful bag of new books on Progress. My daughters
had
hand-selected each one, so I knew I'd enjoy them. I picked out one and
rapidly
read it. I came to the last page and the hero, who was being chased by an
angry mob, escaped by stepping through a mirror. The end. Continued in
Volume
Two. And was there Volume Two in my book bag? No. Could I dash out to the
bookstore? No. Talk about a feeling of total isolation and frustration!!!!
You
would never believe that grown children could totally frustrate you with
their good intentions while you were in low earth orbit, but let me tell
you,
they certainly can. Suddenly, August and home seem a long way away!!!!
Shannon
-END-
73 - Alan, ZL2VAL @ ZL2AB
e-mail: zl2val@qsl.net
"As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building
using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday
and employees will receive their cards in two weeks." (This was the
winning quote from Fred Dales at Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, WA.)
Message timed: 11:34 on 2003-Jan-05
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