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Chemical Leak on ISS
Random Utinni writes "It looks like the Russian Elektron system on the ISS may be causing problems again. Today the crew discovered potassium hydroxide leaking into the space station. This comes right after delivery of new ISS components and right before the arrival of a new crew and first female space tourist."
one has to admire their quiet selfless heroism.
In Soviet Russia, potassium hydroxide breathes you!
Fron TFA:
"NASA declared a spacecraft emergency for only the second time in the eight-year history of the station. The first time was for a false alarm of an ammonia spill."
That is a fantastic track record for an environment in a constant state of upgrade, falling perpetually at 17000 miles per hour. Nevermind the flammable nature of the atmosphere that surrounds overworked electronics and the parade of "space tourists." Ever have a visiting family member flush a broken toilet?
FairTax baby!
meh. Helen Sharman kinda predates her by 15 years. Not to mention the fact that neither actually like the term "space tourist" and have claimed they are the first such.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Bah, silly Rusians musta pulled out their firehoses to extinguish the "threat"
potassium hydroxide smells like chicken
Offcourse what can you expect when you've a lady on board.
...and just before noon, and right after 11:58 am, and right after late breakfast and just before a routine lunch but right after the early noon news and just before the early afternoon news, which came right after the early-late noon news and just before the late-early afternoon news.
Good thing there was a noon window for all of this to take place, or it would have had to wait until is was done before it could start...
International space station astronauts pulled an alarm and donned protective gear Monday after smelling a foul odor (...)
No wonder. That space food is not very good for anyone's intestines...
Does anybody know what kinds of problems they encountered with the Mir? I know that it is not exactly applicable to this situation, just was curious.
I t0o second that the ISS has a remarkable track record considering just what it is. A man made object that has to house several people 24/7/365 in space.
It does seem like the Elektron system has had some problems though. I wonder if after all this any member nations will chip in for a new model.
Justin - Don't be afraid of my blog, it won't bite.
Today the crew discovered potassium hydroxide leaking into the space station. This comes right after delivery of new ISS components and right before the arrival of a new crew and first female space tourist.
Now that she's around, they'll have to make sure to put the seat down after making a leak.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
We all remember the tense few days tracking down the sulphur leak that lead to the conspicuous posting of
this sign.
__ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
You know, I just love the fact that Anousheh Ansari is up there. It has been so long since we've had such inspiration, imagination, and determination in the space program. Heck, even of all the space programs going on these days in the world. Her presence there is inspirational and has really captured the imagination of my kids and their friends. Simply wonderful to see that look in their eyes that I must have had in the Apollo days. A woman who paid a prize to go to space also paid for her own trip up there. Just for the fun of it! And to boot, with all that is going on in the world, she is of Iranian descent. I mean, come on. If we can't feel good about this and make some "nice" over it, then we should really be ashamed of ourselves.
This is just fantastic. Thank you, Anousheh.
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
Can we save our money and finally get rid of the waste of money ISS now? Maybe we could spend it on, oh, say, science rather than tourism?
Helen Sharman was female *astronaut* and she wasn't even the first, just the first British. Anousheh Ansari is a space tourist.
A bit off topic, but I just saw this and thought I would share:
http://www.astrosurf.com/legault/iss_shuttle.jpg
It is just amazing the amount of detail that can be seen from the earth.
It could be worse, it could be Monday.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Anousheh_Ansari .jpg
While the ISS is certainly an engineering and political achievement, one has to wonder about the actual value of the ISS. NASA is spending massive amounts of money to build it, at the expense of funding critical science research. It is also causing them to ignore the fact that within 5 years, more than 1/4 of NASA's workforce is going to retire. Seeing that it is usurping all of NASA's resources, it makes me wonder, Is it really worth it? It reminds me of something I heard about a year or so ago. A retired Russian cosmonaut was speaking about about the ISS. He said "The international space station is like a nice piece of luggage that does not have a handle. It is totally worthless, but a pity to leave behind."
It helps pay the space bills! It's not some charity,even though she helped pay the x prize money, this is more money she is shelling out to go into space. Where's the problem? Nothing is perfect, if we *didn't* have full time man in space project, we'd have just as many people complaining that we didn't. The ISS is IT right now, let's enjoy what we have. Even in 2006, 20 million clams isn't chump change! And the more tourists, and the more different ways for there to even be "space tourists", the quicker we as humans will become a space faring society. Low earth orbit or just near orbit is a nice start, and it has taken decades, so don't negate it!
Everytime I log on to slashdot there is always something. This time "Critical leak in IIS" no wonder nobody ever reads the articles or even the blurbs.
My god slasdot is nothing more than an MS bashing site these days.
Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
That would explain all these accidents.
Someone earlier mentioned (perhaps not on
We shouldn't be so proud to parade around these statistics: there's a whole class of them that haven't been touched: "First misson where there are a majority (or at least parity) of women..." Like, what is the most women that there have been in any 7-person STS mission? Two? Maybe three?
Yeah, I know--the same can be said for many elected bodies, professional groups, etc.
Oh well. At least it was good to see another female capcom for STS-115.
- RG>
Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
For those of you curious about such things, the X Prize (which Anousheh Ansari funded) is hosting an official Anousheh Ansari Space Blog. Before her launch, Anousheh posted some descriptions of her pre-launch training and her thoughts on going to space. There's also some commentary from Peter Diamandis, the founder of the X Prize.
Some other interesting bits of info:
* She's carrying a small carbon-fiber piece of Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne up with her into orbit.
* According to an interview with MSNBC's Alan Boyle, she had initially planned on bringing some science projects up with her, but this was scratched when the launch date was suddently bumped from being 1-2 years to being a few months away. However, she's purchased some datalink time in order to do live communications with groups at MIT and Google.
* Her company Prodea is working with the Russian space agency and Space Adventures to build a suborbital spacecraft which will launch out of spaceports in the UAE and Singapore.
* She rathes dislikes the term "space tourist." From an interview with space.com:
SPACE.com: You don't like the term "space tourist" and call it an "over simplistic label to a complicated process." Can you further explain that?
AA: Absolutely. In a way I take offense when they call me a tourist because it brings that image of someone with a camera around their neck and a ticket in their hand walking to the airport to go on a trip somewhere and coming back to show their pictures. But I think spaceflight is much more than that.
I've been training for it for six months. I think if it is to be compared to an experiment or an experience on Earth it probably is closer to expeditions like people who go to Antarctica or people who climb Mount Everest. I mean that requires a lot more preparation, thinking, and studying or appreciation of the environment. So I would probably compare it more to an expedition than I would to a touristy trip to another city.
I wonder if when Anousheh Ansari comes back from space she will start up her own Linux version :-) (see Ubuntu)
News flash: In 2006, in the western world, except when it comes to physical activity, being a woman while X is not notable unless X is notable by itself. Being the "first female space tourist" is not a "first" that anyone should care about. Being one of the first few space tourists is. Being behind the Ansari X-Prize is. Being a woman is not.
Anyway, the post is wrong. Ansari isn't the first female space tourist, Laika, was, or perhaps some American fruit flies were.
http://outcampaign.org/
Why not just the nth tourist?
Of course, I bet she prefers the be the 'first' of something, but like I said in a previous -1 post, when I read 'first siamese space tourist' I am getting a gun and killing as many humans as possible to try and rebalance the sanity levels of the universe.
'Feminists', what do you make of 'first female space tourist'. Probably they welcome that moniker, because they are fucking stupid.
'Feminists' and 'male feminists' are certainly first against the wall. When I am king of course. Karma.
#hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
In space, no one can hear you clean.
ccalam - acoustic versions of new songs.
Russian spaceparts, american spaceparts...
ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!!
SpaceShipOne is to civilian space travel as the X-15 was to the US space program. It's a testbed, it's where much of what will be used to reach orbit is developed. No company is going to jump straight to desinging an orbital craft, there's a long learning process. Even then, there are only two major things missing, the first is enough fuel to reach orbit, and the second is a system to re-enter the atmosphere.
SS1's hybrid rocket is a pretty major development on it's own.
It seems that ever time ISS issues come up, then everybody starts knocking it, all the while not thinking. Back in the 60's, we had to develop rockets to make it to space and then to the moon. As it is, other than the shuttle, the launch rate is actually pretty safe. But it was not back in the 60s (it really was amazing that we did not lose more astronauts in the 60s work). But it was a time of learning.
For the last 2 decades, we have been only in LEO, which kind of sucks. But it we do not have a flawless system in orbit (where we can come back easily), then how are we going to survive on the moon or mars? In particular, America is now testing the OGS (Oxygen Generator system). This will enhance the russian elektron. America is now developing a system that will scrub the CO2 from the air and turn the system into a closed system WRT O2, CO2 while limiting the water lose. This will enable us to take long jumps to mars (and other places). In addition, the cost of sending O2, CO2, and water is expensive. If we are able to lower our long-term costs by the use of the ISS, then it was well worth it.
BTW, much of this tech. will make its way into bigelow's BA-330. As it is, the inflatable ship was NASA's work (transhab) as a way to extend the ISS. Due to budget cuts, it was dropped. That was a mistake for NASA, but it will enable bigelow to get off the ground (who will be much cheaper than LMart is).
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Now wait a second. I thought we had a color-blind, gender-blind, racially and gender neutral society where everyone is supposed to be equal, at least in the ideas of the liberal quacks in the media. So who gives a rat's ass that she's the first FEMALE space tourist? I guess "eqwalit-ee" only applies if it's against men or whites. Or the Jews. Can't forget those Jews.
Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown,
And things seem hard or tough,
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft,
And you feel that you've had quite eno-o-o-o-o-ough...
Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
Of the galaxy we call the "Milky Way".
Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.
It's a hundred thousand light years side to side.
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,
But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide.
We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point.
We go 'round every two hundred million years,
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.
(Animated calliope interlude)
The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Isn't it amazing that, surrounded by billions of dollars' worth of space station, their first inkling of a problem still came from their noses?
Went to and Indian (er, Native American) Heritage Festval once. The "trailblazers" are honored as the evil White Men, though I don't think the word "heroic" ever came into play. *sigh* Life's hard when everything is your fault...