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Astronaut to Run the Boston Marathon From Space

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the space-racing dept.

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."

9 of 176 comments (clear)

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

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

  2. Treadmill vs road by Liquid+Len · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yes, I know this is Slashdot. But I'm a geek and a passionate marathon runner as well...
    There's a big difference between running on a treadmill and on a road (besides the boring factor): the relative wind resistance you experience when you move has a very significant impact on your speed. A rule of thumb is that you have to subtract about 1 km/h to your treadmill speed in order to have an idea on how fast you can go on the road.

    1. 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?

  3. Patriots' Day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    For the unaware, Patriots' Day commemorates the Battles of Lexington and Concord which are considered to be the first skirmishes of the American Revolution, a conflict that was actually fought be people generally considered to be patriots.

    We in Massachusetts have been observing this day long before a certain President co-opted the name to add a bit of jingo to the commemoration of a certain day in September.

  4. Tell us what we REALLY want to know! by erroneus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Will she be wearing diapers?!

  5. 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!

  6. Re:Not to mention... by rly2000 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    She's going to have tethers to keep her down. As a runner, I think it would be an interesting approximation of running.

    While the impact against the treadmill could well be compared to gravity, I wonder whether the zero-gravity will make it harder for her heart to pump blood to her legs. I couldn't imagine running upside down.

    Also, having run on the treadmill, I think a good approximation of running outside would be to set the incline to about 1.5%. Of course, that starts to disproportionately work out your quads as opposed to your hamstrings.

  7. 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 ;-)

  8. 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.