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Astronaut to Run the Boston Marathon From Space

BostonBehindTheScenes writes "American astronaut Sunita Williams will run 26.2 miles on a treadmill on Patriot's Day (April 16th for those of you outside of Massachusetts) while runners on the ground will compete in the 111th Boston Marathon, according to this New Scientist article. And yes, she is an actual registered participant who qualified by finishing among the top 100 women in the Houston Marathon in 2006. NASA's press release touts this as yet another space first."

20 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. Pork. by Morky · · Score: 5, Funny

    I protest! She is wasting precious oxygen paid for by you the taxpayer.

    1. Re:Pork. by GreyPoopon · · Score: 4, Funny

      Or does the fact that it might be a european taxpayer make it all ok?

      Speaking as an American, I'm perfectly happy to let the Europeans pay my taxes. *duck*
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      GreyPoopon
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  2. MOM! by bigattichouse · · Score: 4, Funny

    Moooooommm, Sunie's hogging all the oxygen again!

    Sunie, Cut it out. Don't antaonize your sister.

    But, I gotta win the maaarathonn.

    Well, do it quietly, dear. Your sister has experiments to conduct.

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    meh
  3. That place is gonna smell... by sycodon · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...like a locker room.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  4. Tell us what we REALLY want to know! by erroneus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Will she be wearing diapers?!

    1. Re:Tell us what we REALLY want to know! by Corporate+Troll · · Score: 3, Funny

      Of course, how else do you think she's going to last several hours without going to the bathroom?

      Have you never driven a long trip with a women in your car? *sigh*

  5. Do I hear a rumbling at Arlington Cemetery? by Bazman · · Score: 2, Funny


    Can you imagine if JFK was president now? "We choose to run on the space treadmill and do the other things not because they are easy but because they are publicity stunts!".

  6. What next? Unix hacker to run the marathan from .. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... the C shell?

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    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  7. Taking part in the marathon by Rogerborg · · Score: 1, Funny

    In the same way that with a webcam, you don't need to be on-hand (or on anything else) to contribute to a bukkake.

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    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  8. think of the aliens! by symes · · Score: 5, Funny

    Seriously, what would our outer-space neighbours think if they picked that moment to swing by and pay us a visit? They're just going to scratch their heads and think we're some backwards species that powers space flight by putting funny sweaty little creatures on treadmills!

  9. Re:Treadmill vs road by Quarters · · Score: 5, Funny

    She'll already be moving close to 17500 mph. How much more of a headwind do you want her to have?

  10. Re:Is this really fair? by martin-boundary · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sometimes great publicity ideas can backfire. I hope they thought about attaching a dynamo and lightbulb combo to the threadmill, it's pretty dark up there in space and the worst thing would be if she tripped up and started falling continuously towards the earth....

  11. In other news... by dour+power · · Score: 2, Funny

    NASA confirms that Rosie Ruiz has stowed away on a Soyuz supply ship scheduled to dock with the ISS just before the end of the marathon.

  12. And elsewhere... by ciaohound · · Score: 2, Funny

    an anonymous slashdotter will be competing in the wheelchair category from his cubicle using an Aeron chair and a piezoelectric sensor to detect lateral fidgeting while slinging Java for a large consulting outfit.

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    Oh, yeah, it's not easy to pad these out to 120 characters.
  13. Re:Patriot Day? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It celebrates the battles of Lexington and Concord of a certain war which you are not a patriot if you cannot name.

    I'm a patriot, and I can name it. It was the war of the treasonous, ungrateful colonists ;-)

  14. Re:Treadmill vs road by Lumpy · · Score: 2, Funny

    you think that's a difference. try it in zero G.

    I dare you to run on a real road in Zero G. I bet you cant make it past the first step!

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  15. She'll finish first, though by Migraineman · · Score: 5, Funny

    The ISS is moving at 7.726 km/s (I checked this morning - I'm running Orbitron to track a different satellite.) 26.2 miles converts to 42.165 km, so she should traverse the course length in about 5.5 seconds.

    How many steps does it take to complete a marathon from low earth orbit? A one ... a two ... a three. Three.

  16. Gona be a short (~5 sec) race... by OhMickey · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...at 17500mph she should cross at about the 5.35 second mark.

  17. Re:What next? Unix hacker to run the marathan from by mknewman · · Score: 2, Funny

    I want to run the Marathon from my Wii.

  18. Running marathon on my couch by steelerguy · · Score: 3, Funny

    It looks like I will be running the marathon on my couch and quit possibly in my bed also, probably won't be doing too much running either, but hey...at least I am participating in the Boston Marathon (even though I not in the correct city or state or registered or even running).