Blogs in Space
Greetings, Earthlings: While he's living aboard the International Space Station, Expedition Seven NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu is writing about his experiences.
ISS007-E-06975 (11 June 2003) --- Backdropped by the blackness of
space and Earth's horizon, an unmanned Progress supply vehicle
approaches the Pirs Docking Compartment (out of frame) attached to the
Zvezda Service Module on the International Space Station (ISS),
completing a three-day automated flight.
For my culinary friends:
The inside of the Progress is about the size of a small moving van. The difference here is that everything must be bolted down. Unlike most moving vans, this one goes from 0 to 18,000 MPH in 9 minutes. Literally, every bit of available space is filled, so to unload it you have to start near the hatch and begin unbolting things one at a time. After a few hours you have cleared enough space to actually go inside the Progress. It is like burrowing into a cave. Inside are containers of water, boxes of food, spare parts, letters from home, and of course, the fresh fruit. We haven't unloaded everything yet, but so far we have found apples, grapefruit, tomatoes and oranges.
Last night we celebrated by making space bruschetta. First, I cut up a fresh tomato. This is easier said than done in space - I put the tomato in a plastic bag and held my hand inside the bag with the knife. I managed to keep most of the tomato inside the bag. Then we added some garlic paste and olive oil, mixed well, and served it on tortillas. Delicious! This morning I had an actual real live apple with breakfast.
posted Mon 7 Jul 2003 in /blogs | link
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