DISCOVERY’S
One scene from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey that still prompts a chuckle is where the character Heywood Floyd is shown trying to figure out the instructions to the Zero-G toilet while in space. Funny maybe, until your space commode stops working. Hence the extra 30 pounds of cargo for Space Shuttle Discovery.
Much has been made of the balky toilet on the International Space Station, so pardon me if I don’t. However, regarding the public’s fascination with answering nature’s call among the Astronauts…I do recall seeing the catalog for a space memorabilia auction where a Russian urine collection bag was put up for bid starting at $30.
Perhaps they were looking for a buyer who wanted to “go where no man has gone before.”
Sorry, couldn’t resist…Back to reality.
On a lighter note, many thanks for all of you who clicked on the YouTube clip of that UCF-TV interview on “Final Countdown” over Memorial Day. I’m flattered that people would take a break from their barbeques to watch. If you like have to have a look, here’s the link…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv_lMXGFtFA
See you on launch day…more to come…
|
|
|
||
Discovery’s primary mission, aside from fixing the Russian built Space Station commode is to deliver the billion dollar central laboratory module for the Japanese Kibo workshop on the outpost. A desktop model of the finished complex is pictured here The long cylindrical compartment in the middle is what Discovery is carrying up this weekend The short drum-shaped module on top is in orbit now after it was delivered on a previous Shuttle. Once both of those pressurized segments are in place, the flat open porch-like unit on the front of the model goes next. A robot arm will move experiments here that are exposed to the conditions of space. Before you ask, work on the space toilet goes first.