NEEMO
6 Journals
| NEEMO
6 Topside Team |
 | | Astronaut/aquanauts
Nick Patrick and Doug Wheelock attach an identifier
tag to a line during a shared dive in the waters
off the Florida Keys as part of NEEMO 6 activity. |
| | RELATED
LINKS | |
|
|
Topside
Journal #8
Editor's
note: Marc Reagan is the mission director for the NEEMO 6 mission.
This is the eighth of a series of daily reports documenting the
undersea activities of the NEEMO 6 crew and its Topside Team of
supporters in Key Largo, Florida.
Greetings!
NEEMO 6 is almost in the history books. They have
had a very successful and rewarding mission, which has run the gamut
from investigating new engineering hardware, software and procedures,
to learning to be proxy scientists on the coral reef outside their
home. They've done multiple educational outreach and public affairs
events, built waterlab, tagged and characterized the excursion lines
around the habitat, and worked with a mission control team in Houston.
All the while they were using new timeline and procedure viewing
tools operationally for the first time
As you now know, the crew has spent the last 9
days at a depth of 47 feet. At that depth, their bodies have taken
on excess amounts of nitrogen which has been absorbed in their body
tissues and must be removed. In order to return to the surface,
they will have to go thru a 16 hour process called "decompression"
or "deco." This is a very safe procedure which is accomplished
in several steps: 1) The crew breathes pure oxygen for 3 short intervals
to help decrease or "washout" the nitrogen in their blood;
2) the main living quarters are "locked out" from the
"wet porch" area and the internal habitat pressure is
slowly brought to the surface pressure by exhausting the internal
air to the surface (14 hours); and finally 3) the habitat is "blown
down" to the 47 foot level again in just a few minutes. Then
the hatch is opened and the crew swims slowly to the surface under
the watchful eye of escorting safety divers. They should be on the
surface at ~ 9:00 am on Wednesday, where we (the Topside Team) will
be waiting on the boat to take them home under the expert supervision
of Otto Rutten, the Base Manager of the NURC operations here in
Key Largo. There are few people in this world as good at what they
do as Otto - what a nice feeling to know he'll be there to get you
safely home…
When we get
back tomorrow, the crew will get a chance to relax and enjoy the
fresh air. They're prohibited from leaving the area for 24 hrs -
48 hrs if leaving by air (which they all are.) This gives the doc
a chance to closely observe them for any signs of decompression
problems, and treat them immediately if any show up. That's just
a precaution, though - this approach to decompression has been done
hundreds of times successfully so far and is considered to be quite
safe and conservative. They're not really supposed to leave the
base tomorrow, but we've arranged for their doc - Dr. Scott Sparks,
on loan from the Navy - to accompany them to lunch tomorrow so they
can have some "real" food. They'll spend the afternoon
relaxing, washing clothes, packing up (and hopefully helping us
pack all this engineering hardware to be shipped back to Houston!)
In the evening we'll have the traditional "Splashup" party
with our NURC hosts to celebrate the successful conclusion of the
mission. Part of the NEEMO 7 crew, who have been in town for the
last few days getting some preliminary training for their mission,
will be joining us. NEEMO 7 starts in October…not much time
to rest up!
- NEEMO Topside
Team
|
