Word from the Space Station; "Tinkering is definitely a good thing for exploration"
Oct 22, 2004 22: 39 EST
Published Oct 21, 2004 13: 40 EST
"It's about exploration. By our nature, human beings are explorers. We're curious. We need to see what's on the other side of that mountain. All kinds of benefits come out of that. The Space Station is right along those lines," said Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao from the Space Station.
In a transcript of a NASAWatch.com Interview with NASA Astronauts Fincke and Chiao aboard the International Space Station Tuesday, we learn that rocket science boils down to basics.
The guys have been introduced to their new pad: "The daily living activities and how we do things on board - how to download photographs, and where all the food containers are located, and how we manage water, where the wash station is..."
They fixed the fridge and checked supplies. And while they are not out of toilet paper yet, they need more light bulbs. "Send us up the stuff we really need. Light bulbs is definitely one of them."
The guys have their own do's and dont's - outside the official manuals: "Everything I learned for Mike I pass on to Leroy -and I pass on 'hey Mike told us this' and 'we learned that this way works a little differently' or 'hey that was right on', says Fincke.
As we all know, going on an expedition with a lot of tech all too often involves breaking packages and reading manuals at the foot of the mountain or out at sea - way too late and way too far away from spare parts and support. So what about our pros up there?
"Are there things that you wished that you'd played with on Earth before you came up there that you've had to fix?"
Fincke: "I was on Expedition 9 for a while then we switched around and I ended up back on Expedition 9. During the time off I had - when I wasn't on the crew - I definitely did pay attention. In fact I justified some home computer purchases to my wife - because I built them myself.
I just bought the parts and built them to tinker - but I justified the purchase to my wife as, you know "that's spaceflight training" including a satellite dish that I installed myself and all these other cool gadgets. They are also really helpful - honestly - it turns out that it was kind of for spaceflight training. I didn't realize it completely at the time.
So when the computers up here aren't working quite right we have some older models that are just beyond their normal lifetime. We're able to put some together pretty quickly, flash the BIOS and that kind of stuff, because I had practice at home. So tinkering is definitely a good thing and having a good set of skills with electronics as well as computers is vital for the space station - and for exploration."
"Chiao: Well, you're right Keith. Tinkering is something we need to know how to do in order to keep something like the space station running. I am a tinkerer by nature. I think most of us are, but I think we all have to say that Don Pettit set the standard as 'King Tinkerer'.
I didn't do anything special to prepare for this flight (tinkering around) I really did not have much time - so I have really been gleaning lessons learned from Mike and from other folks I have talked to like Mike Foale, Ed Lu, and of course Mike Fincke. I am just trying to soak up as many of the lessons learned as I can. We have a whole treasure trove of tools up here and we'll be ready to deal with any kind of contingencies and repairs we need to make."
Check part 2 of this interview tomorow; how the guys compare the risks that they are taking to mountaineers or Antarctic explorers - are there any lessons they have learned from them?
Chiao and Sharipov will spend six months on the Station, while Shargin will return to Earth October 24 with the Station's current residents, Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Mike Fincke.
Image "where are we?!" Astronaut James S Voss checks his position, courtesy spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov.
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