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All
gravitational realities from your every waking moment on earth are shattered giving you with a peaceful
feeling that leaves you wanting for more. Of course, the initial order of business for the students was
to conduct their experiments and record the data collected during these 30 second intervals of zero-g. In
between the parabolas, you also quickly learned to plant or at least aim your feet at the ground as gravity
not only returned but doubled to 2g’s as the plane dipped down at the bottom of the preceding parabola
and thundered back up at a 45 degree angle. The speed and the parabolic trajectory of the plane has also
given it the nick name over the years of the "Vomit Comet." All students are required to have two plastic
bags in their front left and right pockets of their flight suit just in case. Fortunately, we were given
appropriate medicine to counter these affects and our plane only had 1 "Kill" on it. While I might be able
to describe the "weightless wonder" as this plane is also known, it’s best to see video and photos
of the whole event. |
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Astronaut
Briefing notes:
We had the opportunity to
speak with Astronauts about their job at NASA such as Colonel Mike Fink also known by his flight name "Spanky."
"Spanky" graduated with an undergraduate degree from MIT and a graduate degree from Stanford.
U. How many astronauts are in the
corps?
A. 146 (93 have had
flight experience)
Quick Shuttle facts:
9 minutes into orbit and 45 for reentry 113 space shuttle flights 650 astronauts 2.5 million parts Triple
redundancy on every onboard system
U. How is it working with
the Russians?
A. It’s a marriage,
some days we love them and other days it’s frustrating.
U. How important is military experience
in Astronaut selection?
A. 50% are military
50% scientists
U. Is going to Mars justified?
A.
1. Don’t have all of your eggs in one basket Colonize another planet in the event of a meteor wipeout
2. Life could be on Mars
3. Continuation of our aeronautic and engineering Science
4. Continuation of human exploration
5. New scientific breakthroughs
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