The International Space Station (ISS)
Dear readers,
I admit I'm a fan of space and aviation. I've spent over 10,000 hours at the controls of one type of aircraft or another, and enjoyed skydiving with friends from the Johnson Space Center for almost a decade. Sondra (my wife) says its in our blood as my son, at 10, shares the same fascination.
So it shouldn't be surprising that I consider a shuttle launch an event, and normally have at least one computer at the office and at home tuned to NASA TV, where you can see and hear what's happening above our heads in real time. Its a pleasant diversion from our earth-based problems.
The current mission, STS-126, deserves the Home Depot theme playing in the background, as they lift an additional apartment into orbit, doubling the size of the station and allowing up to six occupants at a time. STS-126 is also carrying a nifty, urine to drinking water machine, partially developed here in the Brazos Valley, but that's a whole story in itself. (Click here and read the second brief on the page.)
Coincidentally, Nov. 20 is the tenth anniversary of the launch of the first bus-sized module, Zarya, from the Russian launch facility in Kazakhstan. Thursday, the ISS will complete 57,509 earth orbits. In a decade, the ISS has been visited by 167 individuals from 14 countries.
To take a virtual tour of the International Space Station and learn more about the current mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station
To find out how to see the station here in the Brazos Valley,visit: http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings
To the folks in orbit, I wish you a safe return to earth.
Blue skies,
Sam White
www.SamWhiteRealty.com
