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Space Station Astronauts Gain Internet Access

cyclone96 writes "Internet access on the International Space Station went live this morning. The crew now has full browsing capability via a special LAN and the Ku-band data link on the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite network, as described in the NASA press release. Flight Engineer T. J. Creamer used the access to post the first tweet from orbit about 7 hours ago. Previous astronaut tweets had been posted by a third party on the ground via email."

201 comments

  1. Great... by Pojut · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...now they are gonna be so busy lolcatting and 4channing it up that nothing is gonna get done.

    GG.

    1. Re:Great... by Shatteredstar · · Score: 5, Funny

      Or playing WoW. "Sorry guys I can't raid tonight, gotta go do a spacewalk to fix a solar panel."

      --
      I do what I must because of what I must do.
    2. Re:Great... by Pojut · · Score: 4, Funny

      Or playing WoW. "Sorry guys I can't do the spacewalk to fix the solar panel, got a raid tonight."

      fixed :D

    3. Re:Great... by Hylandr · · Score: 5, Funny

      Fire up EVE ONLINE !! From SPACE !!

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    4. Re:Great... by Kenoli · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Sorry guys I can't go do a spacewalk to fix a solar panel tonight, gotta raid.

      Fixed that for you.

    5. Re:Great... by happy_place · · Score: 2, Funny

      Don't let'em set up their own web server. They probably don't want the spacestation slashdotted...

      --
      http://www.beanleafpress.com
    6. Re:Great... by Stupid+McStupidson · · Score: 1

      My space shuttle was equipped with the following:

    7. Re:Great... by Skuld-Chan · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Can you imagine the latency?

    8. Re:Great... by mcgrew · · Score: 2

      Most of the astronauts are nerds. How long before they're posting to slashdot from outer space?

    9. Re:Great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, god. I laughed. Hard.

      But the questions are...
      How many jumps to get to the system they're flying in, and are they Minmatar?

    10. Re:Great... by MBGMorden · · Score: 1

      Not as bad as you'd think. Certainly no worse, and possibly better, than satellite service provided to ground based customers. We have someone in our guild that plays WoW over satellite and her ping is typically 1000-1200ms. Bad, but not unplayable.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
    11. Re:Great... by sabt-pestnu · · Score: 1

      Killer latency, dude. Maybe your hearth point should be in Ironforge, not Dalaran...

    12. Re:Great... by IdleTime · · Score: 1

      What's next? Space Porn? Zero-G gay-men-in-space-orgy?

      Can you imagine a stripper pole dancing in zero-G?

      --
      If you mod me down, I *will* introduce you to my sister!
    13. Re:Great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, while you're down HERE posting on fucking /.

      When you become an astronaut, let me know.

    14. Re:Great... by EdZ · · Score: 1

      Wait, an incredible obscure image macro is now actually relevant? Crass humour is prescient!

    15. Re:Great... by Shatteredstar · · Score: 1

      Although it would be pretty epic to say "Ya I didn't get any loot, but do I get a world or realm first for "First Ony Kill From Space"?"

      --
      I do what I must because of what I must do.
    16. Re:Great... by jdigriz · · Score: 1

      Mining asteroids virtually while riding in a craft that can't even reach the Belt. bwahahaha.

    17. Re:Great... by ArsonSmith · · Score: 3, Funny

      SPACE POST!!!

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
    18. Re:Great... by Sabalon · · Score: 1

      AH in IF, so it's kinda busy.
      Exodar should be a safe bet.

    19. Re:Great... by Mr.+Freeman · · Score: 1

      There's also the fact that this isn't a commercial ISP. This is a purpose built (ish) system. Their latency could be anything from 20 ms to 5 seconds depending on just how they are doing this.

      --
      -1 disagree is not a modifier for a reason. -1 troll, flaimbait, redundant, overrated are NOT acceptable substitutes.
    20. Re:Great... by DJ+DeFi · · Score: 2, Funny

      Is that like playing the Sims on Earth?

      --
      You cannot warp because you are warp scrambled.
    21. Re:Great... by Skuld-Chan · · Score: 1

      I dunno - when my lag gets up to 1200 ms - it feels like I'm playing in jello, minus all the fun of actually swimming around in jello.

    22. Re:Great... by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

      With that ping, I highly doubt it.

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    23. Re:Great... by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      ...now they are gonna be so busy lolcatting and 4channing it up that nothing is gonna get done

      Heh. That was posted during normal work hours.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    24. Re:Great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let's hope they can get infowars dot com!

    25. Re:Great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What makes you think I haven't....err... THEY haven't?

    26. Re:Great... by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      Actually I think probably you have... er, THEY have.

  2. ISO country code by logophage · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Out of curiosity, is there an ISO country code for low Earth orbit?

    1. Re:ISO country code by garcia · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah, WOY as in We Own You.

    2. Re:ISO country code by sakdoctor · · Score: 4, Funny

      Get your .co.moon domain name today!
      Grab your name before someone squats on your moon.

    3. Re:ISO country code by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      It is .awesome

    4. Re:ISO country code by Dancindan84 · · Score: 4, Informative

      No, but EO (earth orbit) and LO (low orbit) are both available.

      http://www.iso.org/iso/iso-3166-1_decoding_table

      --
      "Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde
    5. Re:ISO country code by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too bad you don't know your ISO from TLD.

    6. Re:ISO country code by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too bad you dont understand a joke, when you see one :)

    7. Re:ISO country code by amicusNYCL · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think "HI" or "UP" would be appropriate.

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
    8. Re:ISO country code by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You could probably market those to stoners here. Think of the commercial possibilities. Not just geographic location, but state of mind.

    9. Re:ISO country code by mapkinase · · Score: 1

      The answer could be guessed from the fact that there is no code for international waters.

      --
      I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
    10. Re:ISO country code by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      The answer could be guessed from the fact that there is no code for international waters.

      Oy! Matey!
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_code

    11. Re:ISO country code by sconeu · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's the "International Space Station". Seems to me that iss.int would be good.

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    12. Re:ISO country code by ehiris · · Score: 4, Funny

      HI should be reserved for Dutch-style coffee shops.

    13. Re:ISO country code by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      How about a TLD for the Earth, with a view to an interplanetary internet: .earth .terraprime .sol3 .neo (near Earth orbit)

      We made the mistake of not considering future needs when deciding on the 4 byte IPv4 address system :)

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    14. Re:ISO country code by IdleTime · · Score: 2, Funny

      I-can-see-russia-from-my-space-station is also available!

      --
      If you mod me down, I *will* introduce you to my sister!
    15. Re:ISO country code by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too bad you, don't understand the, correct use of, commas :)

    16. Re:ISO country code by TooMuchToDo · · Score: 1

      Already being worked on: http://www.ipnsig.org/home.htm

    17. Re:ISO country code by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Disregard this argument; we both suck cocks.

    18. Re:ISO country code by giggles778 · · Score: 1

      just remember .. the plumber .... when he squats everyone gets a moon

    19. Re:ISO country code by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      NT or Neutral Zone. Also used for the high seas.

    20. Re:ISO country code by Late+Adopter · · Score: 1

      Only if I can be the first to register "one.up" =)

      Or "look.up", which I would promptly sell to Google for a boatload of cash.

      (Or "movin.on.up"?)

    21. Re:ISO country code by Tacvek · · Score: 1

      The There is no legal entity created by treaty named ISS, nor is there the space station a UN agency or Organization, nor has the ISS been granted Observer Status at the UN, so it does not qualify for the int TLD.

      --
      Stylish sheet to fix many problems in Slashdot's D3: https://gist.github.com/801524
    22. Re:ISO country code by jroysdon · · Score: 1

      The International domain .int would fit better and isn't limited/bounded by geographic locations nor even political boundaries. iss.int would work. There is esa.int already, for instance.

    23. Re:ISO country code by DigiShaman · · Score: 2, Informative

      There are many moons. Earth's would be called .luna

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
  3. Space Porn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    This new innovation will be shortly followed by studies of Astronauts suddenly going blind in space.

    1. Re:Space Porn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wonder how long before their computer gets owned? It would be good bragging rights for some black hat to be able to say, "my botnet includes machines on the International f'ing Space Station!". Or, "this spam sent to you via orbit!".

    2. Re:Space Porn by ae1294 · · Score: 1

      my god man, surely you must be joking as orbital botnet bombardment was outlawed outright in the space treaty of 2247!

    3. Re:Space Porn by butterwise · · Score: 0

      Followed by a similar study of astronauts developing furry palms.

      --
      If a baby duck is a "duckling," why would anyone want to eat "dumplings?"
    4. Re:Space Porn by Obsi · · Score: 1

      Or palming to furries.

  4. Space, the final frontier by gmuslera · · Score: 4, Funny

    where no botnet/porn/rickrolling has gone before.

    1. Re:Space, the final frontier by show+me+altoids · · Score: 1

      I wonder which websites are blocked? Most likely the same as any government agency, I suppose.

      --
      I feel sorry for people that don't drink, because when they get up in the morning, that's as good as they're gonna feel
    2. Re:Space, the final frontier by mhajicek · · Score: 1

      Spr0n.

    3. Re:Space, the final frontier by bughunter · · Score: 1

      Man that would be one expensive pr0n habit.

      300 Megabit/sec Single Access (Ku band) TDRSS service was priced at USD$180 per minute in 1997. Adjusting for inflation, that would be over $240 in 2009, not accounting for likely price increases due to the growth in demand for satellite communications bandwidth during the GWOT.

      I won't even mention the rather odious web content filtering that NASA uses these days...

      --
      I can see the fnords!
    4. Re:Space, the final frontier by ArsonSmith · · Score: 1

      How much is that in 2009 minutes though?

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
    5. Re:Space, the final frontier by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

      To boldly come...

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    6. Re:Space, the final frontier by Mr.+Freeman · · Score: 1

      You have to remember though that this isn't being paid for by NASA necessarily. I mean, they own the bloody link. They or the government probably owns any satellites that are used in the link.

      --
      -1 disagree is not a modifier for a reason. -1 troll, flaimbait, redundant, overrated are NOT acceptable substitutes.
    7. Re:Space, the final frontier by bughunter · · Score: 1

      Considering the overwhelming demand for hi-bandwidth satcom links these days, far in excess of the supply, it's statistically certain that there's someone who wants that Ku-band frequency slot at that time and who is willing to pay for it.

      I don't doubt for a second that NASA beancounters aren't billing that opportunity cost to whatever JSC account pays for astronaut porn^H^H^H^Hexpenses.

      --
      I can see the fnords!
  5. Infection in 3.. 2.. by TubeSteak · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Remember the last time(s) the Space Station's laptops got infected?

    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
    1. Re:Infection in 3.. 2.. by Magic5Ball · · Score: 3, Informative

      RTFA: "During periods when the station is actively communicating with the ground using high-speed Ku-band communications, the crew will have remote access to the Internet via a ground computer. The crew will view the desktop of the ground computer using an onboard laptop and interact remotely with their keyboard touchpad."

      It's difficult, but not impossible, to spread malware via RDP or VNC or X or whatever.

      --
      There are 1.1... kinds of people.
    2. Re:Infection in 3.. 2.. by 222 · · Score: 2, Informative

      They have remote control of a PC at mission control. Other than screen data / mouse & keyboard input, no communication is done directly with ISS.

    3. Re:Infection in 3.. 2.. by daver00 · · Score: 1

      But wouldn't you assume this laptop has about zero chance of getting in control of anything critical on the ISS?

  6. First email by SnarfQuest · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dear sirs:

    I am the son of the Eternal Living God of Mars, who was recently assinated by opposition forces. I cincerely need you help to transfer 5,000,000 Gomlets (Five million gromlets) from my planet to yours...

    --
    Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
    1. Re:First email by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What the mark doesn't know is, that at current conversion rates, his 5,000,000 gromlets isn't even worth my $0.02!

    2. Re:First email by naturaverl · · Score: 1

      "assinated". heh

  7. Can it stream YouTube? by ICLKennyG · · Score: 5, Funny

    But the internet is provided through a contract with Verizon Wireless, the $49.99Million/mo 'Unlimited' plan includes 100Mb of data 25k/25k transfer speeds and 1 email account.

    1. Re:Can it stream YouTube? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Don't forget the 2-year contract with $350 million early termination fee.
      If only we could get "new every two" for our space shuttles.

    2. Re:Can it stream YouTube? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Astronauts get all of the perks...I don't get 25k/25k here on Earth.

    3. Re:Can it stream YouTube? by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      Each additional megabyte (1,000 bytes) will cost $1,000,000 cents*.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

  8. So they RDP to a ground computer.... by jpedlow · · Score: 2, Informative

    Great, they RDP to a ground computer and go about their way. 3 problems I can forsee: 1. Somewhat laggy screen redraw 2. Possible RDPviewer remote code exploits? Then there'll be the first goatxe in space. 3. Line of sight problems, how is the handoff handled once the station goes over the horizon? Cool, though, glad to hear they've got the capability... Lets get them 100meg access, the RIAA and MPAA cant get them in SPACE!

    1. Re:So they RDP to a ground computer.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wouldn't be the first time! Though it was Paramount who did it... http://www.universetoday.com/2009/05/15/new-star-trek-movie-beamed-up-to-space-station/

    2. Re:So they RDP to a ground computer.... by dreamchaser · · Score: 4, Informative

      I know you're joking and yes I found it funny. You gave me a chuckle. I just wanted to point out that they only use RDP when the link is being used for voice/video/data communication between the ISS and the ground. The rest of the time they can use it like any other LAN based Internet, meaning they can use their personal laptops without resorting to RDP.

    3. Re:So they RDP to a ground computer.... by jpedlow · · Score: 1

      Hey, thanks for the info, I honestly thought they were restricted to RDPing into a terminal server (presumably from their laptops), but its good to know that they've got some sort of basic functionality up there. :)

    4. Re:So they RDP to a ground computer.... by Nova1313 · · Score: 1

      Thanks. I read the article same way as poster. That paragraph made it sound like the internet was being provided when the link was active only by RDP.

      --
      There exists some positive integer N that you are the Nth person to read this signature.
    5. Re:So they RDP to a ground computer.... by iso-cop · · Score: 1

      There are no line of sight problems because the ISS uses TDRSS https://www.spacecomm.nasa.gov/spacecomm/programs/tdrsS/default.cfm, which gives them 24x7x365 global coverage.

    6. Re:So they RDP to a ground computer.... by FunPika · · Score: 1

      the RIAA and MPAA cant get them in SPACE!

      They will just have an army of lawyers waiting at the runway for them when they come back down to earth.

      --
      After years of not using a signature, I am going to make one to say the following: Fuck Beta
    7. Re:So they RDP to a ground computer.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're almost right with the RDP. It's actually done via Citrix HDX.

    8. Re:So they RDP to a ground computer.... by sidyan · · Score: 1

      They will just have an army of lawyers waiting at the runway for them when they come back down to earth.

      Not if you fly Soyuz.

      Which is what anyone wanting to get to the ISS will have to do in a year or two, until US commercial transport becomes available another few years down the line.

    9. Re:So they RDP to a ground computer.... by FunPika · · Score: 1

      Then the lawyers will be waiting wherever the Soyuz lands.

      --
      After years of not using a signature, I am going to make one to say the following: Fuck Beta
    10. Re:So they RDP to a ground computer.... by sidyan · · Score: 1

      That would be glorious nation of Kazakhstan, who do not take well to visits of lawyers from countries run by little girls (and especially not Uzbek ones).

      Also, even the recovery teams from Roscosmos themselves sometimes take a while to locate the landing site of a Soyuz spacecraft.

  9. what? still no /. response from space? by schizix · · Score: 1

    figured it would be up here today...

    1. Re:what? still no /. response from space? by RorschachUK · · Score: 3, Funny

      Maybe the ISS has already been slashdotted... watch out below!

    2. Re:what? still no /. response from space? by Totenglocke · · Score: 1

      Apparently they have some major lag - you'll see their response in a day or two! ;)

      --
      "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
  10. First tweet by elrous0 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Still no aliens. Keeping vigilant.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:First tweet by SnarfQuest · · Score: 5, Funny

      Still no aliens. Please send more people with large heads. Definately no brain eating aliens here.

      --
      Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
    2. Re:First tweet by mcgrew · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Dude, it's the INTERNATIONAL Space Station. There are aliens there all the time.

    3. Re:First tweet by jbezorg · · Score: 1

      Alex made me laugh. Drink came out nose fast. Spun alot. New drinking game: must do shot every rotation. Set rec. of 5.3rpm. Very dizzy...

      --
      I've lost all my marbles except one & It's fun to test angular & centripetal acceleration in my skull
    4. Re:First tweet by DarthVain · · Score: 1

      I really hate Sergei. He really pisses me off.

    5. Re:First tweet by DarthVain · · Score: 1

      Space madness OK now. Snarf wants in airlock, sec...

    6. Re:First tweet by TangoMargarine · · Score: 1

      Wow, that was a really long way of saying "an alien is anyone from a different region than the one they're currently in."

      --
      Unity? Screw that: XFCE. Slashdot Beta? Screw that: SoylentNews. Australis? Screw that: Pale Moon. UX developers DIAF
    7. Re:First tweet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      [I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I cannot tweet that]

  11. Latency? by peragrin · · Score: 1

    I wonder if there is too much latency for something other than web browsing? Say you tube ormore likely porn videos.

    --
    i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    1. Re:Latency? by amicusNYCL · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The latency probably isn't as bad as one would expect. Sure, it seems far, but it's a straight shot. Also, a link between US and Europe would be significantly farther.

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
    2. Re:Latency? by antifoidulus · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I shudder to think what kind of mess porn in space would leave.... Nothing quite like floating around in day old cosmonaut cum...

    3. Re:Latency? by snspdaarf · · Score: 1

      New arrival at ISS: "Does this airlock smell vaguely like chlorine to you?"

      --
      Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
    4. Re:Latency? by TooMuchToDo · · Score: 1

      It *is* lower than geosync, so it's probably comparable to Iridium ping times.

    5. Re:Latency? by demonlapin · · Score: 1

      TFA says it goes via TDRS, which is in geosynchronous orbit. Round trip is just under 45000 miles.

    6. Re:Latency? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the astronauts are fed a substance during their training which causes a severe reduction in sexual arousal much less sexual urges. Those uniforms they wear are not white for no reason.

  12. That Explains the Chatroom Comment this Morning: by BJ_Covert_Action · · Score: 4, Funny

    When I posted, "a/s/l check?" to 'Fun Single's this morning I got: "45/m/Rp = 6714 km, i = 51.6419 degrees. Please chat with me, it's really lonely up here," as a response.

  13. Space tweets? by BenoitRen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So they finally get Internet access, and one of the first things they use it for is a tweet on Twitter? Talk about useless.

    1. Re:Space tweets? by Caue · · Score: 1

      I was thinking just the same. Shame on you, NASA, shame on you.

    2. Re:Space tweets? by Grygus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      When funding is on the line, PR becomes important work.

    3. Re:Space tweets? by Mushdot · · Score: 1

      Tweeting first, what next... Spacebook?

    4. Re:Space tweets? by NeoSkandranon · · Score: 1

      Yeah because there are all those other vital things they could have done first right? Give me a break.

      --
      If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
    5. Re:Space tweets? by Undead+Waffle · · Score: 1

      Regardless of whether or not it could be considered "useful" in this situation, I had a similar first reaction. I can't wait for twitter to die so I never have to see the word "tweet" again unless it's referring to a little yellow bird.

    6. Re:Space tweets? by TobyWong · · Score: 1

      I'm going to post this on my YouFace page immediately! FingerTag me for details.

      --
      - Toby
    7. Re:Space tweets? by HTRednek · · Score: 1

      So they finally get Internet access, and one of the first things they use it for is a tweet on Twitter? Talk about useless.

      That's just what they're going to admit to. You really think they'd fess up to the first piratebay torrent from space?

    8. Re:Space tweets? by BitZtream · · Score: 1

      Yea? Well this sort of thing blows my support for NASA funding. I'm all for spending my tax dollars or research and exploration, I'm not OK with it being used so some douche bags can tweet.

      They can wait the to get back to Earth rather than spend hundreds of dollars to show everyone they are a twit.

      --
      Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
    9. Re:Space tweets? by rdnetto · · Score: 1

      Dude, these guys are *in space*. If anyone has anything interesting to tweet about, it would be them.

      --
      Most human behaviour can be explained in terms of identity.
    10. Re:Space tweets? by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

      What public? Nobody reads Twitter feeds.
      Isn’t that some Internet rule?
      If not, we should call it “rule 140”. :)

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    11. Re:Space tweets? by daver00 · · Score: 1

      Honestly dude, how much of their time would be taken up posting a tweet? Nasa needs a public image, it needs to show itself off to the public and keep a good image in the public eye because thats what keeps people interested in the whole thing and thats what will hopefully inspire and draw in new engineering and science talent in the future. You may not like Twitter but Nasa certainly needs good pr.

      For the time it takes the astronauts to drop a tweet here and there (albeit more or less wasted time) compared to the pr benefits of actually doing this in the first place, I'd say there is a pretty decent return on the investment.

    12. Re:Space tweets? by BenoitRen · · Score: 1

      Yeah, like:

      • "Damn, some shit escaped the toilet and is now floating around."
      • "I just drank some floating champagne."

      How interesting. Have you forgotten that tweets are composed of very short text? Hard to fit anything remotely interesting in there. If there's something interesting to talk about, you do it on a weblog.

  14. Countdown to... by Zordak · · Score: 5, Funny
    Yesterday:

    Houston, please repeat. Right. Yes, the new solar panel has been successfully installed. ISS out.

    Today:

    hstn, lol wut?1? ya we pwnd sol pan1 suxrz1!!

    --

    Today's Sesame Street was brought to you by the number e.
  15. In space by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In space, no one can hear you Cream.

    1. Re:In space by Ipeunipig · · Score: 2, Funny

      I did find it ironic that the "first" internet usage in space was from a man named Creamer.

  16. Yes, but ... by dkleinsc · · Score: 1

    the lag is really going to suck.

    But seriously, good work, engineering types who worked on this.

    --
    I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    1. Re:Yes, but ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      They don't say how they did this feat, but it doesn't have to have sucky lag. Remember, ISS is only a couple hundred miles from earth, which is likely closer than you are to pretty much any server you access. The furthest away they'd be from any server is halfway around the world, which still can have 150-200 ms ping times theoretically.

      But if they do use a geosync sat for routing to earth, then it will have a slow ping like the people in the boonies with sat internet. At least they don't have to worry about losing signal when it rains.

    2. Re:Yes, but ... by marcansoft · · Score: 4, Informative

      The space station is at most 460km above the Earth. Not counting bouncing around support satellites, the lag is only going to be a millisecond or two. People have this misconception that the ISS is far from the Earth, while in reality it's not that high up.

      Even if they have to bounce through a satellite in GEO (which is some 100 times farther away than the ISS and the farthest you're going to get for comms), that's, say, 300ms Earth-GEO-ISS, so the total ping time would be 600ms. No good for Counter-Strike, but still quite tolerable.

    3. Re:Yes, but ... by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      The space station is at most 460km above the Earth

      To put that into perspective, I'm in Springfield, about 200 miles or more from Chicago. When the ISS is directly overhead it's closer to Springfield than Chicago is.

    4. Re:Yes, but ... by Paolo+DF · · Score: 1

      ...and that is, hmmm, how many football fields? Or was it Libraries of... no, wait!

      --
      Pumbaa! I don't wonder; I know.
    5. Re:Yes, but ... by BitZtream · · Score: 1

      Yes, from a purely theoretical 'it takes this long for the signal to travel round trip' then you get 600ms. However these are low data rate, high error rate, heavy protocols to correct for that bouncing not just point to point but through massive amounts of electronics.

      Theory and reality are entirely different things. RDP over that link would be pure hell.

      Of course every time I hear something about how NASA handles networking it makes me realize that they really need to throw out everyone who has any part of their networking system.

      They use RDP when other data (like voice traffic) is flowing ... because updating the display using RDP requires less data transferring than opening a simple web page locally ... not.

      --
      Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
    6. Re:Yes, but ... by Existential+Wombat · · Score: 1

      The space station is at most 460km above the Earth

      To put that into perspective, I'm in Springfield, about 200 miles or more from Chicago. When the ISS is directly overhead it's closer to Springfield than Chicago is.

      No it's not.

  17. Small and simple things by igadget78 · · Score: 1

    One small step for man. One giant tweet for mankind.

    1. Re:Small and simple things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One small step for man. One giant skeet for mankind.

      Fixed that for you.
      Just give 'em a week...

  18. Wait! by headkase · · Score: 1

    On the billion to one chance, what if that was one of the astronauts!? Then we'd have to have the first Troll from orbit... and.. Well, never mind ;)

    --
    Shh.
  19. Terrible idea by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 4, Funny

    In a week it's going to look like a snow globe in there!

    1. Re:Terrible idea by Leafheart · · Score: 4, Funny

      Why do you think they packed extra socks this time?

      --
      --- "When you gotta do something wrong. You gotta do it right. (Fighter)"
  20. RFC1149 by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 4, Funny

    I guess the vacuum of space was too much of a challenge to overcome with RFC1149 IP datagrams.

    1. Re:RFC1149 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      indeed someone should patch this to include space pigeons

    2. Re:RFC1149 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL at the +1 Informative mod

    3. Re:RFC1149 by waterlogged · · Score: 1

      Well assuming you could get them on the correct trajectory they would maintain speed and vector. The message on the ankle would make it to the destination on the ISS. The return traffic would tend to drop though. Accelerating at roughly 9.8m/s^2 - wind resistance.

      --
      I couldn't fail to disagree with you any less.
  21. Search Engine made of People. by headkase · · Score: 1

    Seriously, need to make a square filter fit in a round processing machine? Hell, with the followers of that twitter account: darn useful. Just because you don't understand it doesn't make real-time useless :P

    --
    Shh.
    1. Re:Search Engine made of People. by BenoitRen · · Score: 1

      ...What the hell are you going on about?

    2. Re:Search Engine made of People. by erayd · · Score: 1

      He's talking about the Apollo 13 mission CO2 filters.

      --
      Forget world peace, bring on -1 pointless
    3. Re:Search Engine made of People. by Hamsterdan · · Score: 1

      Like the Apollo 13 reference :)

      --
      I've got better things to do tonight than die.
  22. Finally: Space Pirates! by ArbitraryDescriptor · · Score: 1

    They need to hop on ye ole usenet and download something.

  23. The first tweet sent back into space by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    TJ Creamer:

    Hello Twitterverse! We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station -- the 1st live tweet from Space! :) More soon, send your ?s

    about 9 hours ago from web

    wssp crmr, I jst wna knw hw ths lk in 0g (*)(*)
    all out of ?, hng 10

  24. mmm let me see... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Next we will hear about chinese hackers stealing military from the ISS secrets via IE6.

  25. Wasted opportunity by Evildonald · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I can't believe with all that time they've got up there, they wasted their first tweet not writing

    That's one small tweet for man. One giant tweet for mankind.

    1. Re:Wasted opportunity by mininab · · Score: 1

      And I can't believe they had a smiley in it. Well I guess he can't be fired now, so why bother with anything.

    2. Re:Wasted opportunity by ehud42 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Which after years of controversy and intense packet analysis would finally be corrected as "That's one small tweet for a man. One giant tweet for mankind".

      --
      I'm in my right mind and I have the answer to everything!
    3. Re:Wasted opportunity by kraln · · Score: 1

      That's one small tweet for a man, One giant tweet for mankind. FTFY.

    4. Re:Wasted opportunity by ArsonSmith · · Score: 1

      It's past tense:

      One small twat for a man. One giant twat for man kind.

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
    5. Re:Wasted opportunity by CaseCrash · · Score: 1

      Uh, we don't do tenses on nouns in english

      --
      No, that link you posted to a web comic we've all seen a hundred times is not "obligatory."
    6. Re:Wasted opportunity by ArsonSmith · · Score: 1

      You've been verbed!!

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
    7. Re:Wasted opportunity by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      Laaaaaaaame.

      Although, I have to admit, if the first tweet from space was "We now welcome our $TOPICAL overlords..." I'd actually find that funny for the first time in 6 years.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    8. Re:Wasted opportunity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe someone will find you funny sometime in the next 6 years.

    9. Re:Wasted opportunity by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      Zing?

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

  26. Online Ordering by crsuperman34 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thank you for your online order; Online Pizza Delivery status: "6-12 months, Pending Space Shuttle availability; NEW click here for 2 day super saver shipping"

  27. Twitter might be good for NASA. by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1
    Thinking about it, twitter might be a good way for NASA to get the youngsters interested. Many people seemingly have the attention-span of a tweet now, but NASA things tend to be, let's say, "more involved" (meaning longer, methodical and boring), but that's the reality of safe space travel.

    Anything that gets more people interested and supportive is a good thing - even if it's something as inane as Twitter.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  28. Security? by necoutis · · Score: 1

    Are we sure this is wise? I mean how long can it be until the Chinese root the friggin space station?

  29. Previous access by twistah · · Score: 1

    Previous astronaut tweets had been posted by a third party on the ground via email.

    So, then, they did have SOME access before?

    1. Re:Previous access by robot256 · · Score: 1

      Only on secure data links to NASA HQ with very limited uptime. See this previous /. on ISS email access

    2. Re:Previous access by Stupendoussteve · · Score: 1

      Of course they did, just not to the Internet. This is certainly not the first data connection to the ISS, probably just lower on the priorities.

  30. FINALLY!! by compsci06 · · Score: 1

    Ladies and gentlemen, we now have pr0n in space! :D

  31. Lag by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can only imagine the lag they must have in LEO it would make AOL almost seem worth it. They might have something about that in the article but I can't read NASA.gov at work. (Guess they don't want us getting smarter)

  32. Reply to the first tweet. by camperdave · · Score: 1

    Thinking about it, twitter might be a good way for NASA to get the youngsters interested. Many people seemingly have the attention-span of a tweet now, but NASA things tend to be, let's say, "more involved" (meaning longer, methodical and boring), but that's the reality of safe space travel.

    Reply to the first tweet from space: tl;dr

    --
    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  33. Second tweet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Toilet backed up again. Vlad ate the mislabeled beans. Maintenance request put on hold. WTF?

  34. ISS Orbit WiFi Record by starbugs · · Score: 1

    src: wikipedia

    (Wi-Fi) distance records (using non-standard devices) include 382 km (237 mi) in June 2007.

    (ISS) maintained at an orbit between 278 km (173 mi) and 460 km (286 mi) altitude.

    If their laptops don't have their wi-fi cards removed, that would make for some out-of-this-world wardriving.

  35. MMMMMMM! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    MMMMM - Porn!

  36. They tweeted form space in May by SirCodeAlot · · Score: 1

    http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/05/13/twitter.space/ wtf?? how many times wil they have the 1st tweet from space?

    1. Re:They tweeted form space in May by Tokerat · · Score: 1

      That was the first tweet sent from a person in orbit. It was relayed to a ground controller who actually did the posting. Today's tweet was the first one actually transmitted from space.

      --
      CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
  37. Pr0n in Space!!! by Virtucon · · Score: 1

    Now they can watch Pr0n at 18000 miles per hour! This is truly a giant leap for mankind!

    --
    Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
    1. Re:Pr0n in Space!!! by werfu · · Score: 1

      Nah, the true leap will be the first real space pr0n movie!

  38. This ushers in a whole new swarm of patents..... by NiteShaed · · Score: 1

    Instead of filing a patent by just appending "on the internet" to every idea anyone's ever had, now they'll be adding "in space". I can see it now: "Business process patent describing the sales of books to previously known customers -- on the internet -- in space". There you go Amazon, this one's for you.....

    --
    Some bring out the best in others, some the worst. Some bring out far more.
  39. Full browsing is not Internet by VincenzoRomano · · Score: 1

    In my lingo "internet access" is the full (or a reasonable part) of the TCP/IP stack. Something like all TCP and UDP ports in both directions plus SCPT (transport), ICMP and IPSec (internet layer).
    What the astronatus have is an HTTP proxy server!

    --
    Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
    For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
  40. TranqBay Here... by The+Wild+Norseman · · Score: 1

    OMG! teh Eagle has landed! W00t!

    --
    "A government is a body of people usually -- notably -- ungoverned." -Shepherd Book
  41. That's Nice by myspace-cn · · Score: 1

    It really is nice.

    Even if it has satellite lag it's nice. And the Human Race is better for it.

    Now with that said, we have some problems on Earth.
    Constitution
    Electronic Vote Tabulation Devices
    Corporate Owned Public Spectrum
    State Secrets covering corruption
    Banksters
    and on and on and on

    But I will take the chance to sniff the rose proposed to the people or Earth from the ISS above us.

  42. I for one fail to see the gravity of this by marqs · · Score: 1

    So now we can read tweets with as much substans as the vaccum of space actualy writen in the vaccum of space.

  43. going in for astrobaut job by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Getting paid to tweet...
    Am going to be astronaut

  44. In other news, productivity at the ISS... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    has plummeted recently while requests for hand-lotion have sky-rocketed.

  45. not according to the article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    During periods when the station is actively communicating with the ground using high-speed Ku-band communications, the crew will have remote access to the Internet via a ground computer. The crew will view the desktop of the ground computer using an onboard laptop and interact remotely with their keyboard touchpad.

    Astronauts will be subject to the same computer use guidelines as government employees on Earth. In addition to this new capability, the crew will continue to have official e-mail, Internet Protocol telephone and limited videoconferencing capabilities.

    - - - -
    sounds like they have email and VOIP but internet is via Remote Desktop.

    1. Re:not according to the article by dreamchaser · · Score: 1

      "During periods when the station is actively communicating with the ground using high-speed Ku-band communications"

      You read the article incorrectly. The above means that when they are NOT actively using the link it's available for the new 'LAN'. When the link is being used for 'real' work they fall back to the terminal server.

  46. Facebook by DarthVain · · Score: 1

    They better watch what they post, otherwise Huston might find out... What goes on in the ISS, stays on the ISS, unless you post it on facebook.

    I wonder if their connection is being monitored closely?

  47. OT - your sig by mcgrew · · Score: 1

    If you mod me down, I *will* introduce you to my sister!

    You just invited 100k nerds to date your sister!

    What's her phone number?

  48. 20M gas bill drivers pay $1 no tip = #1 / #2 all o by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    20M gas bill drivers pay $1 no tip = #1 / #2 all over the food.

  49. In related news... by gyrogeerloose · · Score: 1

    ...porn servers all over the Internet report a record number of downloads. Film at eleven.

    --
    This ain't rocket surgery.
  50. what year is this? by butterwise · · Score: 0

    ummm... what took so long?

    --
    If a baby duck is a "duckling," why would anyone want to eat "dumplings?"
  51. remote desktop by idioto · · Score: 1

    funny, it seems that they have to share screens with a ground computer. from my experience windows media center will not work in space.

    1. Re:remote desktop by bughunter · · Score: 1

      Egad, that sucks. God forbid they get even five minutes of private browsing or email time.

      I guess they'll have continue to do what I was forced to do as a young nerd in summer camp, with no access to news stands from which to lift a copy of Juggs or Club, nor even the sight of any actual females to commit to short-term visual memory: sketch my own porn.

      --
      I can see the fnords!
  52. Using RDP? by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

    Isn't RDP's weak point in the initial authentication (which is why RDP over an open wifi network is a bad idea)? If so, isn't this just begging for someone to go for the ULTIMATE man in the middle attack?

    And, if that happens... will the hacker's first task be to tweet "How are you gentlemen!!"

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:Using RDP? by BitZtream · · Score: 1

      Yes, because the datalink they use is an open network with no builtin security ... and also, its the year 2002 and we've not upgraded any bits of the RDP protocol or the client or server.

      You should probably look into the random crap you read on the Internet rather than believe it straight off the bat as true.

      --
      Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
  53. Ever seen a STUPID skimming troll run? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1512306&cid=30785704

    Utterly hilarious - See BitzTream run in the URL above (after he being caught skimming like the typical troll does).

  54. Good grief... by Izhido · · Score: 1

    What I would like to know is, how come, a full decade into 21st century, with ALL the technology inside the ISS, and thousands of communication satellites in your immediate vicinity, how come they *just now* get something as freakin' obvious as Internet access? And you wonder what's wrong with USA's Space program... seems that for each Mars rover in the NASA, there are a million ISS without Internet access...

  55. First tweet by sootman · · Score: 1

    "Hello Twitterverse!... send your ?s"

    First response: "A/S/L?"

    --
    Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
  56. Please answer this question then BitZtream by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why are you so fucking stupid?

  57. What is the answer to this then BitZtream? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why are you SO fucking stupid?

  58. I would like to ask you a question BitZtream by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why are you so fucking stupid ?

  59. There's An App For That by jman.org · · Score: 1

    In Space, No One Can Hear You Spam.