 | | NASA
ISS Science Officer Ed Lu floats inside the Destiny Laboratory. |
No. 16
From:
Doug Blunt, Brownsville, Texas, Age: 49
Question:
I am very curious how e-mail works onboard the Space Station. Does
e-mail on the Space Station work similar as on Earth? Are you able
to obtain T1 speeds or is there some latency involved?
Lu:
It turns out we have something like offline folders - offline e-mail.
It gets synched up a few times a day. That means we don't also have
direct Internet connectivity. Basically, all of our downlinked e-mail
goes into a folder, which gets synched up later. A few times a day
we get fresh e-mail.
No. 17
From:
Awatea, Auckland, New Zealand, Age: 15
Question:
What types of technology are involved in managing breathing in space?
Lu:
First thing is obviously producing oxygen. We have a couple of sources
of oxygen. We have tanks of oxygen here on the U.S. side. But on
the Russian side we also have a way to separate water into hydrogen
and oxygen using electrolysis and that's our primary means of breathing
oxygen. We feed water into that system and dump the hydrogen overboard
and breathe the oxygen.
As far as removing
the carbon dioxide that we breathe, we have a system that's actually
fairly similar in concept both on the U.S. side and the Russian
side that remove the carbon dioxide by using some sort of resin
that absorbs it. Then we remove the carbon dioxide from that resin
by exposing it to the vacuum of space and basically dump the carbon
dioxide overboard.
No. 18
From:
Alain Haezebaert, Mennecy, Essonne, France, Age: 56
Question:
On one of the last ISS pictures I saw was a music keyboard with
Ed and Yuri dressed in Hawaiian native shirts. I don't know who
is playing piano but my question is: Due to the lack of gravity
is it more difficult or easier to play and finally are the sounds
the same as on Earth.
Lu:
Most definitely, yes. Because, first off, just pressing on the pedals
- pressing on the keyboard - will push you away from the keyboard.
You need something to strap yourself down. What I first set up was
a couple of, basically, straps that you could put your feet in and
hold yourself there. But I found out that didn't work very well,
because you also have to put a pedal down there. When you press
on the pedal on one side, it pushes your body. So it has a tendency
to flip you upside down. You couldn't play for very long because
you would slowly twist out of position. So beyond that I have to
rig up sort of a seatbelt type arrangement that actually holds me
into the little table that the piano is mounted on. Even that still
doesn't work quite as well, but I'm still working on it.
CAPCOM:
Any style of music that's easier to play than another?
Lu:
Well, I'm quite good at playing bad music.
CAPCOM:
(Laughter) We copy.
No. 19
From:
Cary, Atlanta, Ga., Age: 31
Question:
I'm 6 ft.-2 inches and I weigh 215 pounds. Would the station be
a comfortable place for me?
Lu:
Of course. Because in here he'd be 6'-2" and zero pounds. There's
plenty of room up here. It's not like the inside of…for instance,
the Soyuz would not be a comfortable place for him. But once you're
up here, there's considerable room. You could fly around and you
wouldn't have any problems up here.
No. 20
From:
Kathy Larson, Houston, Texas, Age: 30
Question:
Hello, Ed. What book are you currently reading? Take care.
Lu:
Well, actually I'm not doing all that much book reading. I am doing
a little more writing than I am doing reading, as it turns out.
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