Orbiting Fun

4/1/07 – 4/7/07

One of my favorite websites is “Astronomy Picture of the Day” (APOD) - the images are just amazing. One recent image depicted the very slim crescent moon hanging above the blue-skied horizon of the earth. It was taken by the astronauts on the space station. I often forget that there are astronauts floating above the earth looking down on us every ninety minutes or so. In their free time they like to take pictures of the earth, and the one they took of the crescent moon is beautifully dream-like. Well, at least it made me day-dream when I saw it.

I thought about how fun it might be to toss little pebbles out the window and watch them burn up as they fall through the air and descend to earth. I would be creating my own meteors, and how fun is it that people on the earth below would look up and see my meteor shower. How many little children would be making wishes on the “falling stars” I was tossing down? Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a front porch on the International Space Station for visitors who are lucky enough to go up there? What a view from that porch swing!

Obviously I’m amusing myself with fanciful thoughts of being in orbit, but I bet someday it will come true. Why not? People pay lots of money for all sorts of exotic vacations, but what could be more exotic than a few weeks aboard the space station? Of course, it being a scientific endeavor, and being rather on the dangerous end of things, one should probably come up with a scientific experiment or two to make it worthwhile. It can’t be all solar-tanning windows and zero-g foot rubs. I think I would experiment with different fluids and how they behaved in space. I would be sure to bring along six-packs of various fluids, and perhaps some pretzels to interact with the fluids. I’d be interested to study the formation of bubbles on carbonated beverages floating in microgravity. I’d also study how the human body reacts to these carbonated beverages. I’ve seen pictures of the astronauts floating giant bubbles of liquid around the cabin, dodging and ducking to catch them in their mouths. I think that would be pretty fun, and I’m sure there’s some scientific value in it.

While I was up on the porch of the Space Station, I would be sure to take lots of photos. I’d try to capture a pebble falling through the air. I think it would look like a pebble for awhile, and then it would start to glow, and then I’d see a little blaze and then would see it no more. That’s my theory, but it would be fun to prove it. That’s what science is all about, right?

There is science going on up there. The astronauts have a barrage of experiments they tend, from growing protein crystals to live tissue cells. Life in low gravity is very different than anything the human body is used to. If we ever want to make trips to Mars or other planets, we need to learn how to counteract the atrophy of our muscles and the weakening of our bones. We have to learn how to maneuver in centrifuges which can simulate the effects of gravity. There’s a lot to learn about living in space, but I know that I’d be on the list of volunteers to spend spring break in orbit!

Until next week, my friends, enjoy the view.