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British Astronaut Competes in London Marathon from ISS (cnn.com)

An anonymous reader writes: "British astronaut Tim Peake became the first man to complete a marathon in space on Sunday, running the classic 26.2 mile distance while strapped to a treadmill aboard the International Space Station..." reports Reuters. "The 44-year-old spaceman saw London's roads under his feet in real time on an iPad as, 250 miles below him, more than 37,000 runners simultaneously pounded the streets." Meanwhile, in a show of solidarity, two earth-bound runners ran the marathon wearing space suits.
CNN notes that Peake "ran the race for real in 1999," but this time competed with avatars that represented actual runners who were using the Run Social app. His zero-gravity run took longer -- more than three and a half hours -- while a Kenyan runner ultimately won the race, completing the whole 26.2-mile course in just two hours, three minutes and four seconds, the second-fastest time ever recorded.

61 comments

  1. Road To Nowhere by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Although on the treadmill, Peake stayed in place; during his three hours, 32 minutes, and 21 seconds run, the tin can that he was floating in traveled roughly 61,490 miles.
    In a straight line, roughly a quarter of the way to the Moon.

    1. Re:Road To Nowhere by pr100 · · Score: 0

      Travelled 61.490 miles relative to what? Pick you frame of reference appropriately and you can assign arbitrary movement to any object (subject to relativistic constraints).

    2. Re:Road To Nowhere by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Wrong. The ISS is continuously falling along the horizon - that is something called "orbit".

    3. Re:Road To Nowhere by Rei · · Score: 2

      The frame of reference that he launched from and that we live on (the surface of the Earth directly below where we stand) is probably a pretty good one, I would think.

      You don't have cops pulling people over and saying, "Do you realize how fast you were driving relative to Sagittarius A*?"

      --
      "99 dead duelists of Dios on the wall. 99 dead duelists of Dios! Take one's ring, pass it around..."
    4. Re:Road To Nowhere by pr100 · · Score: 1

      ... but it's not terribly relevant to running on a treadmill. If you're running on a treadmill, then the only frame that really counts is the surface of the treadmill.

    5. Re:Road To Nowhere by mobby_6kl · · Score: 1

      He's cheating because thanks to relativity, he has more time to run the marathon up in ISS than we do have here on earth.

    6. Re:Road To Nowhere by pr100 · · Score: 1

      What do you think is "wrong"?

      Of course it's in orbit, but that's not relevant to how far he's travelled relative to the treadmill surface.

    7. Re:Road To Nowhere by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Travelled 61.490 miles relative to what? Pick you frame of reference appropriately and you can assign arbitrary movement to any object (subject to relativistic constraints).

      its good that you flag that, because it was obviously an attempt to fool people into funding future Projects, and not just a bit of a fun factoid thrown in to add a bit of fun to the article and perhaps to highlight the orbiting distance/speed of the station

    8. Re: Road To Nowhere by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Relative to an Earth centered inertial reference frame, of course.

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

    You're just jealous you have to beg the Russians for a lift for your broke asses to get there.

  3. Re: fp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We jocks have taken over the internet and are cleansing it of the ugly nerdom. Your next stop is in a toilet, heads down.

  4. Welcome astronaut! by tgibson · · Score: 1

    I've been part of the "couch contingent" of the marathon for a couple of years now. A lot of people don't know this but I've played in the Super Bowl several times as well. And I don't mean just watching it on the television. I am in my living room playing right along with the other players. It really is a team effort.

    1. Re:Welcome astronaut! by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      I am in my living room playing right along with the other players. It really is a team effort.

      Buddy, I need to talk to you about maybe doing a little point-shaving in the next Super Bowl. There's money to be made.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
  5. Re:fp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    sampenzus? Who the fuck is that?

  6. Re: fp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Close your eyes. Now picture a world without Tepublicans. Imagine people living in harmony.

  7. Re: fp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone that pays attention wants to die.

  8. Re: fp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I know. The people fighting for what is right have no power here.

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

    But those pukianz take that dream away from us.

  10. Re: fp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Waiting for the day when they don't have such power over us is waiting for death.

  11. Re: fp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I miss the old /. Which was technical rather than just a pile of fucking shit made to reaffirm racism and hate. Racism and hate.

    And, I miss the old /. before you SJWs took over.

  12. Re: fp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And funny how you Republicans do nothing but hate. Nothing but hate.

  13. Re:Shark by frovingslosh · · Score: 1

    Be nice. Obviously they don't have anything useful to do up there while blowing through all of our tax money. Whey shouldn't a man on a treadmill be allowed to run a marathon in zero gravity and call it " competing "?

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
  14. Re: fp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This. Free will is no more.

  15. That's not a spacesuit by Hentes · · Score: 1

    While it would be quite a feat to run a marathon in spacesuits, those are just white dresses with a spacesuit painted on them.

    1. Re:That's not a spacesuit by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

      There is a record for a 1 mile run in a bomb suit, though.

    2. Re:That's not a spacesuit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did he survive the explosion?

    3. Re:That's not a spacesuit by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

      There is a record for a 1 mile run in a bomb suit, though.

      Army Times Story

      --
      If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
  16. Risky by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This seems really reckless to me - running a marathon puts the body under huge stress and some medical emergency is the last thing you want in the ISS. Why was this even allowed?

    1. Re:Risky by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It only puts the body under huge stress if you're not used to running long distances or you're trying to go way faster than you are realistically able to.
      Peake ran the marathon before without issues and presumably does a lot of running on the treadmill, so unless he was going for a record time, which he obviously wasn't, it's no more risky than any other repetitive physical activity.

    2. Re: Risky by Malc · · Score: 2

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/scie...

      Elastic straps over the shoulders and round the waist keep Major Peake in contact with the running belt of the treadmill, located in the station's Tranquility Node.

      The straps are designed to generate the foot force necessary to give astronauts' bones and muscles a workout in weightlessness.

      He said: "One of the biggest challenges is the harness system. Obviously, my bodyweight has to be firmly attached to the treadmill by this harness, and that can rub on the shoulders and around the waist."

      The Chichester-born astronaut ran the London Marathon in 1999, finishing in three hours, 18 minutes and 50 seconds.
      He did not try to beat that time as his medical team wanted to ensure he was perfectly healthy for his return to Earth in June.

      He's clearly a very good runner and although they say he didn't try to break his previous record for safety reason, isn't it more likely that it's because it was 17 years ago?

    3. Re: Risky by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Runners are typically pretty healthy. They aren't average couch potatoes. And he's only 3 hours from the nearest hospital.

  17. Re:Shark by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Rather they spend the small pittance that they are on this than the over $400Billion POS F-35!! We could have had 4 ISSes for that though, I'd rather have one “Copernicus” Mars Transfer Vehicle instead.

  18. Re:Kenyan runners always win by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    When is Obama gonna run? You know they run even faster when the cops are behind them.

    You must be one a them "Ethno-Nationalists".

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  19. Not even true by rcharbon · · Score: 1

    People have run multiple marathons on the space station before this. I'd Google it, but I'm on my phone. In space.

    1. Re:Not even true by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First *man*. Suni Williams is definitely a woman.

    2. Re:Not even true by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A wonder man is a man just like a jack boot is a boot. The fact that they have been contracted to "woman" and "jackboot" doesn't change that.

    3. Re:Not even true by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://www.boston.com/sports/sports-news/2016/04/24/british-astronaut-tim-peake-runs-marathon-aboard-space-station

      Sunita Williams, 2007, Boston Marathon.

  20. Ooooops! by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 1

    When I first saw the headline, I thought he was running from ISIS.

    --
    "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
  21. First man, not first "man" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Note that Peake is not the first person to do this-- Suni Williams ran the 2007 Boston Marathon in the ISS.

  22. Re: fp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    No fries thanks. Er... what did you say?

  23. Re:Shark by Sarten-X · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Now, what's being overlooked, of course, is the scientific merit of such a feat. This is one of those cases where we have an opportunity to gather data at very little additional cost, and it may reveal new insight that may assist future work.

    If we ever do leave Earth for a significant length of time, running on a treadmill is one of the often-proposed mechanisms for maintaining muscle during the long trip, and possibly for the long stay at an extraterrestrial outpost. Unfortunately, we haven't really had much success with treadmills so far. Even with rigorous exercise, astronauts have typically lost up to 0.4-1% of their bone density per month in space, and when we're talking about trips of several years, that's a significant health hazard. This run provides a rare insight: what if the astronauts do more than just "rigorous exercise"? What if they routinely do what would be extreme on Earth?

    During the run, Peake's body was monitored, and of course routine measurements will continue. This may provide a promising avenue for future research, or it may not. It may indicate against future research in this direction. Either way, the expense to do it now is only a few hours of time, rather than the millions or billions of dollars to run a specialized experiment.

    Don't think of it as spending money to run a marathon in a spectacular war. We already spent the money to put people in space, and now we're getting every bit of data we can for that money.

    --
    You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
  24. ISS is a lie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is nobody on the ISS. All fake. He is probably holed up in a backlot somewhere.

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

    Yeah, you apparently give so few fucks that you've taken time out of your day to tell us how few fucks you give.

    Guess how many fucks I give about your opinion?

  26. Re: fp by Hylandr · · Score: 1

    +1 Funny.

    --
    ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
  27. Re: fp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Har har. Dream on, homo nerdo. While your ilk slaves away hunched over dorito crumbs-filled keyboards we in management get to be paid to lay you off. See that security guard over there? The one you're always looking at nervously, knowing that one day he will politely but very firmly escort you out of the building? He makes more money just standing there doing nothing than you will ever see. Slave away on your keyboard, little nerd, and remember that you're supposed to throw in overtime tonight. There will be el cheapo cold pizza for you as a consolation. Still dreaming big, geekoboy?

  28. Re: fp by malditaenvidia · · Score: 1

    Al Gore must be rolling in his grave right now.

  29. Re:Shark by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    don't think of it as spending money to run a marathon in a spectacular war. We already spent the money to put people in space, and now we're getting every bit of data we can for that money.

    we spent the money to put people in space as part of military project NOT for science, you monster. The science from it happened to be very useful though and was a good cover too, rather than a meaningless bluff it had real merit but that wasn't the objective thus we spend military budget on it. Exactly the same way we spend tax payer money on other munitions and military hardware. Our space projects have been admitted since to have been military orientated yet surprising how many still believe the civilian for science lines despite the public knowledge it isn't for some time now.

  30. Yeah? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well isn't this just extremely exciting!!!