Well, we are essentially packed – we even put away our Harry Potter glasses … medical glasses to adjust for ANY vision changes with one pair of glasses. Too bad they look dorky.

Our sleeping bags go in the Soyuz tomorrow and that should be the last of our packing!

It is time to concentrate on the next task at hand – operating, working and riding in our Soyuz. It is amazing how you can automatically re-prioritize – the next task is upon us so the mind set has to change to leaving ISS safely and landing on earth safely.

To do this we checked out our Soyuz and fired its thrusters to make sure everything was working and had our last training session with our instructors on descent. It is time to start getting ourselves prepared for the journey. This week, I really felt like it was time to change focus. We had some maintenance stuff to do to make sure our ship is in good shape to hand over to Kevin and his crew. They will be here for five weeks as a crew of three, so we wanted to make sure she is in tip-top shape.

With the change of command ceremony on Saturday, our time on the ISS has really come to an end and our focus is on descent. Last time, I landed in the summer in the desert of California in a space shuttle. This time, it will be winter on the steppes of Kazakhstan in a gumdrop shaped capsule! I have a feeling I already know which one will be bumpier... 

Saturday night was the “Change of Command Ceremony!” Like everything up here – it was even fun! I love the fact that we are all up here together from such different places – Yuri from the Ukraine, Aki from Japan, Kevin from Indiana, Oleg from Belarus, Evgeny from Siberia and me from Boston. What a diverse group of people and somehow we all find a common ground and find humor in our daily lives together. Both crews, this one and Expedition 32, have shown that folks from such different lives, perspectives, cultures, religions can easily be really productive when working together. Think of all the possibilities with all the different nationalities, cultures and religions all over the world.

During our ceremony we gave the new crew some gifts to comfort them for the rest of their stay aboard the good ship ISS – Kevin got the Navy command pennant, Oleg got the honorary Magnum PI shirt (Hawaiian shirt!), and Evgeny got the stuffed Gorby to keep his hippopotamus company. I hope they liked them!

Finally, we “zapped” the ship with our crew’s patch. Here, we are putting it on the US segment. It is smartly aligned with 32 other crews that have come before us.

Think about it for a moment:

100 years ago or so, we started flying, Girl Scouts were established and the Oreo cookie was invented;

50 years ago or so, the first Satellite was launched;

25 years ago, Aki graduated from high school, I became legal to drink and Yuri became a pilot;

10 years ago or so, the ISS was manned for the first time – people living in space continually now.

Where will we be in 10, 25, 50 or 100 years from now … it is hard to imagine, but I can’t wait to find out.

In the meantime, it is time to go home to planet Earth. From one Earthling to another, I can’t think of a better planet to be from!

Suni’s blog also appears at http://www.fragileoasis.org/bloggernauts/sunita-williams/posts/. 

Now, it is time to start thinking about coming home. Up to this point I haven’t, and sort of denied it. I am still in denial, but I am going through the motions because I don’t want to forget something when the hatch closes … so we are preparing.

Space is just really cool. I love it here, just like most folks who get to come here. It is just so cool how we adapt and become so comfortable up here. You can be standing one moment and with just a little effort, flip upside down and be hanging – “look ma, no hands!” It is just an amazing place to be. Not to mention the view … why would anyone want to leave?

So, you might ask, what do you have to pack? It is a little like the airlines, we do have a baggage limit, but slightly less – only 1.5 kg in the Soyuz. That is like 3.5 lbs., so not much. We all brought that much personal stuff up here, so we know pretty much how much we can take back – essentially the same stuff we brought up comes back down with us in the Soyuz.

We don’t pack our clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, etc. That stuff is all here when we arrive. Even our special shirts and cargo pants are waiting here for us. But this is our personal stuff, so no one else will want it. 

I have worn essentially one pair of pants and one pair of shorts this entire trip. We don’t get “dirty” up here with dirt, but we are working on equipment, and sometimes little stains get on your clothes. Additionally, we don’t do laundry up here – we just get new stuff and throw away the old stuff. We don’t need to change our clothes as much as we do on the ground – not anyone up here to impress, and “smell-o-vision” has not been invented yet. Just kidding.

So, back to packing – I have some stuff, like my Yo-yo, my crew notebook with pictures, my specialty t-shirts I had sent up, my family photo album. It’s funny that your life actually boils down to these little things – really, think about it. Not much more is really important than the people (animals included), places and memories you have!

Last week was busy … and of course it was fun because we are in space! It doesn’t get better than that, even when all your computers don’t work and the toilet gets really broken.

Being high tech, we have tried to go paperless as much as possible on the ISS. This is great, and GREEN, but everything sort of comes to a screeching halt when the computer system, which provides you with all the information about your schedule and activities, dies. This happened bright and early one morning and put a little damper on our activities. 

Luckily enough, all the workout equipment kept on plugging along for the most part, so we were able to buy back a little time by working out for a while, while the computer guys on the ground worked their magic on our systems. It took the better part of the day, with a little help from us, for them to reload the hard drives of two of our main servers. We do the hardware stuff and they can do all the software configurations from the ground. It is interesting to see how vulnerable we are to these types of problems. I know the folks on the ground were scrambling to get all of our systems working again.

The big thing that was not working quite right last week was the toilet. We changed out practically every part in that thing system. The KTO, or solid waste function of our toilet, was working fine. It was just really the urine processing part. We really need to make sure the right balance of urine to chemicals is put into the system to make sure the downstream components, which turn the urine back into drinking water, don’t fail. As a result, the water valves, all plumbing, two sensors and finally the water pump were all changed out. In the meantime – we used the Russian toilet – all six of us using one toilet is rough!

Aki, Yuri and I fit in our Sokol (space) suits and our Soyuz. You know we grow up here so there is always a question about if we will really fit. In space your spine expands so you grow. The cartilage between the vertebrae doesn’t have the pressure of gravity on it, so it expands and hence, you grow. I did notice this when we were getting our suits on. I had to lengthen all the straps to get my head thru the opening. It was a little tight, but all worked out fine. 

Another impression I had was wow – that Soyuz is small. It felt big when we flew up here and even roomy. But now, after living in this “grand hotel,” it seems tiny! Actually, after I nestled my way into my seat – you don’t just sit in space, you have to get held down, and that seat is actually like being in the fetal position, so you have to tighten your belts, nestle down, tighten some more, nestled down, until you are all the way in there. It felt pretty good. Of course, your knees are in your chest.

Regardless of these strange sensations, the Soyuz automatically felt like home. We all know what we need to do in there – the training is that good I think – that you don’t really think too much about it. You just know what to do.

Suni’s blog also appears at http://www.fragileoasis.org/bloggernauts/sunita-williams/posts/. 

Fall is beginning in the northern hemisphere.  It is easy to see that from up here – the many agricultural fields that were bright green two months ago are all starting to become brown.   You can’t stop time.  It’s funny, these things, the natural changes on Earth, the seasons, the real day night, the wind then calm - those are the things that make life on Earth special.  We don’t have them up here, so when we hear about those natural occurring changes, I miss our planet!

I’m not saying we don’t have changes up here too, because lately it really seems like we are having a lot!  Last week, we had five external vehicles connected to us – two Soyuz spacecraft, one Progress, one ATV and one HTV-3. 

In the course of one week, two left – the HTV-3 and one Soyuz.  HTV-3 left us on Wednesday (September 12^th) after we prepared the hatches, installed the gold protective covering, and then installed the latching mechanism motors.  The ground team “grappled” her with the robotic arm, ran the unbolting sequence with Joe Acaba – 16 bolts, let go of the latches and moved the HTV away to a position for Joe and Aki to take over.  Then Joe and Aki opened the snares in the end of the robotic arm – which were holding the HTV – and let her go free. 

She hovered there for a little while, and then seemed to want to come back to us – moved ever so slightly toward the ISS instead of drifting away.  We released her in a slightly lower orbit than we are – which means she should be going faster according to orbital mechanics - she should have been moving away, and forward of us.  Instead she was drifting back toward us a little. 

The software in the system detected this as a “safety net/corridor violation” and sent an ABORT command.  As a result, she sped away from us at warp speed!  It was seriously like a Star Wars film.  She flew away so fast that we had a hard time tracking her on the camera. 

Her name was Kounotori-3, meaning stork – so maybe she is like one of those heavy birds that take a while to get going, and then flies away at lightning speed. After some other issues with her GPS systems, she finally had a normal deorbit and entry into the atmosphere Thursday. Congratulations to our Japanese colleagues on a great mission for Kounotori-3.

The second big change was the departure of the Soyuz 30S vehicle and her contents, Gennady, Sergei and Joe!  We locked them in their Soyuz at 8:30pm GMT.  We stay up until they land. 

We heard the undocking on the communications loop and finally saw the Soyuz a bit later as she was moving behind us.  The ISS was actually flying belly first since this Soyuz was docked on the top of the Station.  That way she could push off straight aft of the Station after the docking hooks were opened.   So, it was difficult to find windows to watch her.  Then a couple orbits and hours later she did her deorbit burn.  We tried to watch but she was such a speck it was again difficult to see her. 

 Our boys are finally back on Mother Earth.  It was great to see their smiling faces on NASA TV up here, thanks to our control team who sent up streaming TV coverage.

Suni’s blog also appears at http://www.fragileoasis.org/bloggernauts/sunita-williams/posts/.

The past week sort of defines long duration space fliers. 

We certainly don’t do the same thing every day, and every day was different with different types of activities for all of us.  There is an awesome group of people on the ground – the planners – who know what all the constraints are for all the activities we need to do.  Somehow they make it all work.  For example, I had to wear a device that would hinder the use of my left hand for 24 hours, but first I had to fly the robotic arm and work out, and then I had to make sure I had it off in time for me to do a weight lifting exercise the next day.   That is just one example of the puzzle these folks on the ground solve every day.  We just stick to the schedule up here and somehow it all seems to work.  These folks are amazing.

There is a little red line on the computer’s daily schedule which marches across the page with time.  So we know if we are ahead or behind schedule.  If we are behind, we all seem to pitch in and help each other out to get all of our stuff done.  If we are ahead, well that is a good time to take a break, check in with each other, and then see if there is “task list” (extra stuff) we can do.  We manage to squeak in taking photos of each other and outside for “historical documentation” (that is from Galaxy Quest but we actually had photo documentation with that name on it for some of our tasks this week – that made me crack up!).    But usually by 8pm, we just get dinner ready and relax – no more watching the line after 8pm.

Before bed, lots of science, some operations, some maintenance, and a little relaxing!

Food Frequency Questionnaire

This week instead of having a controlled diet, I just had to write down everything I ate, including the times that I ate them and approximately how much water I drank.

Integrated Cardio Vascular (ICV)

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/Integrated_Cardiovascular.html

ICV involves wearing blood pressure cuffs on your fingers – actually really cool technology that can essentially estimate your cardiac output by measuring the blood pressure in your fingers.   There is a computer attached to it which puts pressure into the cuff of a finger to counter the blood pressure.  So, you get this continuous pressure pulsation on your fingers and the associated motor noise.   We wear this for 24 hours and power the pump by Makita drill batteries.  They last only about 3 hours, so battery change outs are required during the night.

ICV also involves wearing a holter monitor for 48 hours with Actiwatches. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/Actiwatch.html 

A holter monitor http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/Holter.html is a portable device for continuously monitoring various electrical activity of the cardiovascular system.  No big deal, just get wired up for a couple days.  The biggest issue here is the sticky stuff that holds the electrodes on.  After a day – which should involve some exercise – it starts to itch.  Maybe I just have sensitive skin, but it seems to leave us red and blotchy at times. Actiwatches are used to sense motion and light.  These watches and their data show when we are doing some activity.  All three of these devices (blood pressure cuff, holter monitor, Actiwatch) are used together to accurately depict what we are doing to make our heart work.

Bio Rhythms

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/Biological_Rhythms_48hrs.html

This is a Japanese experiment that’s also looking at what is going on with us inside and out.  This one involved wearing another Actiwatch for motion and light for 72 hours.  Then another type of cardiac monitor similar to the holter monitor.  This Japanese technology is small, lightweight, and can even be worn in the shower.  Pretty reliable!  However, I had these experiments one after another this week.  It is Sunday night and I am finally free of all the electrodes!  I sort of forgot about them – but like I said, working out with all this stuff on gets a little yucky!  I was happy to finally get a good wash down of all that sensor sticky stuff this evening – after the Falmouth Road Race!

Reaction Testing

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/Reaction_Self_Test.html

Essentially you have a black screen on your computer.  You need to hit the space bar as soon as you see numbers counting.  I am generally around 200 milliseconds.  I was watching swimming and running during the Olympics, and they were talking about the importance of getting a good start at the gun.  I think this test can identify who can start quick and who can’t!

Cleopatra and Nefertiti Update

All the doors are open for the fruit flies to come out and be prey to Cleopatra and Nefertiti.  Nefertiti is still quite active and eating away.  Our little Cleo is still shy…we haven’t seen her.  However, for both of them, I fear their destiny.  I see next week Joe is tasked with taking them out of the “rack” where we have them stowed – not sure where he is taking them. You know, they don’t need to drink water since they liquefy the fruit flies and use their body water…but I don’t think this can last forever….maybe more to follow.

Second YouTube Space Lab Winners

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/youtube_space_lab.html

Sara and Dorothy from Troy, Michigan won the 14-16 year-old category. They are just too smart for me.  They came up with the idea to test the growth of a type of bacteria, which is used for getting rid of stuff like mold, etc. on plants, which we use for food in space.  I think seeing how these bacteria do in space is really cool – especially in light of the landing on Mars.  If we do end up growing our own food on the way to Mars, we might need something like this to make sure it remains good during the growth cycle.  If the bacteria grows better in space than on Earth, then we might be able to produce it up here.  Endless possibilities.  These teenage girls are smart!

Binary Colloidal Alloy Test (BCAT)

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/BCAT-5-PhaseSep.html

More for Joe!!!  He has a lot of patience and very good camera skills.  He set up an intervalometer to take pictures of the colloids for 4 days!  An intervalometer is a device that counts intervals of time and is used to signal, in accurate time intervals, the operation of some other device.  One picture an hour.  Science takes time!

Capillary Flow Experiments (CFE VG2)

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/CFE-2.html

Watching fluid flow on different surfaces in space.  No gravity to hinder the flow, so we are investigating how different surfaces (shapes, perforations, etc.) make fluid flow.  Looks just like a lava lamp – but has really great spinoffs for making new types of fuel tanks, for example, for space travel.  Pumps can fail – natural phenomena like this won’t for the long trip to Mars!

Burning and Suppression of Solids (BASS)

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/BASS.html

More burning stuff in the microgravity glove box! http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/msg_anniversary.html  We burned a little 2 cm sphere that looked like the sun whizzing through the air.  It was bright orange like the sun, with flowing flames behind it  – thankfully all contained in the glove box!  We also burned different fibrous materials at different airflow speeds to understand how much of that 3^rd leg of the fire triangle is needed to sustain a fire.  Cool science!

Speaking of fire, we also have a combustion chamber.  Joe did work on that to reinstall some very small fuel lines!

Unpacking, Still!

The H-II transfer vehicle (HTV) unpack is almost done!  Will be done soon. But in the meantime – we got to load some trash.  This place is shaping up and we are getting rid of lots of “common trash.”

Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Robotics

Joe and Aki used the Japanese robotic arm to “grapple” the HTV – to unload external payloads from the External Platform that HTV brought up.  This is such a cool idea!  Not everything needs to come inside the ISS.  Some experiments and replacement boxes for outside can just stay stored outside.  So with the External Platform, we can carry these large things in an unpressurized part of HTV and transfer them to the ISS.

Spacewalk

Getting closer and closer to August 30^th when Aki and I will do an EVA.  So, we had to start really cleaning out the airlock!  Even got to open up our suits and test the “positive pressure relief” system in the suit.  Remember, the suits are essentially little space craft so they have all the valves, tanks, cooling, heating, that we have on ISS to keep us alive.  These suits haven’t been used for a while, so we are starting to do our “preflight” on them to get them ready!

Exercise

It has been an exhausting week for exercise.  Of course we are doing our integrated resistance and aerobic training study (SPRINT) aerobic workouts – which get my heart rate way up there.  We are also doing max rep exercises on the advanced resistive exercise device (ARED) now.  This is different from last time, because we only lift every other day with this protocol.  I was a little wary, but after this week, I think I understand, I need some recovery from this type of workout.  I am getting that 2^nd day onset muscle soreness with these maximum repetition routine.  I like doing a lighter aerobic workout on the lifting days to try to get rid of some of that lactic acid.  That seems to help.

Also this week in exercise, I had my Maximum VO2 test. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/VO2max.html

Now that isn’t too much fun, I will admit.  We are again wired up, and the equipment measures the difference in what you breath in and what you breath out as the exercise intensity increases until you can’t take it anymore.  We do this on the cycle ergometer with vibration isolation and stabilization (CEVIS).  We have to do this with a nose clip – which is annoying – to make sure they can account for all the air exchange.  Of course we are breathing in and out thru a mouthpiece.  Lots of mixing bags, hoses, sample catheters, etc. in this contraption…but in the end, I think my VO2 max is pretty good!

Finally, I ran alongside a lot of friends during the Falmouth Road Race in Massachusetts!    We tuned into the pre-race festivities through our communication system. I was hoping to wish everyone good luck as well, but we lost communication.  However, I started on time (well, 10 minutes late, because of the torrential rain in Falmouth –no rain up here) with the rest of the runners.  I finished in around 1:03:52.  I had a couple of “water breaks”, but made it thru the 7.2 miles no problem.  The first half of the run was my SPRINT protocol and the second was a nice consistent pace until that final “hill” and downhill to the end.

Food:

Had a pesto pasta dinner to go along with the pre-race theme.  I had to dig deep to find it in the side dishes container, but I found it! We also have oranges from a Progress 48P delivery.  Nothing better than fresh fruit!!!

For pre-race breakfast, something light – I had vegetable quiche.  Only need to add hot water and it is ready.  Even some bits of broccoli inside – not bad!

Lots of fun and interesting science with a quick break for the arrival of Progress (unpiloted resupply ship). That means even fresher fruit and care packages for us, as well as lots of supplies, including our EVA cables…more on that in a later post.

We are not the experts in all the science that we do up here – there are many people on the ground ready to support us when we are doing the experiments.  Experts on the science and systems are located all over the world.  They get “patched” into our communications loops so at times we get to talk to them WHILE we are performing the tasks.  We usually have a video camera set up over our shoulders so they can “watch” what we are doing and how the experiment is going.  We have experiments that need our eyes on them to watch for changes, and to report.  Remember, things up here act differently than on Earth.  We all think we know what will happen, but the beauty of science is that sometimes we get surprised, especially when this is really the only place to do this type of stuff.

Cleopatra and Nefertiti

Cleopatra and Nefertiti are our two spiders.  Cleopatra, the zebra spider seems to be either very clever or very shy.  She has disappeared.  She was the first one I met and was pretty active when I first saw her.  She is sort of small, like the size of the holes where the fruit flies live…so, we think she was maybe really hungry and went into one of the holes.  If so, she was having a buffet in there.  There are cameras on them in the habitat so the ground can watch and they saw evidence that there was webbing in one of the fruit fly holes.  My only worry about her is that she will eat too much, grow a lot and get stuck in there…the life of a Spidernaut.

Nefertiti on the other hand is too big.  She is sort of scary; in fact I am so glad I am not a fruit fly.  I opened up the habitat and actually saw her running around at full speed looking for something to eat.  It was difficult to even get a steady picture.  Then a fruit fly came out. Nefertiti stopped, she stalked and then she pounced.  It was amazing to see this with my own two eyes.  Apparently they inject some acidic fluid in the fly body, which liquefies the insides, and then she sucks everything out of the fly.  The only thing left is the carcass…and I saw many carcasses floating around in her twisted web.  Note her 4 eyes and the fruit fly in her mouth!  I was told she has excellent vision.  Again, I am so happy to not be a fly – reminded me of that futuristic movie Starship Troopers. Yikes!

Pro K Investigation

Dietary Intake Can Predict and Protect Against Changes in Bone Metabolism During Spaceflight and Recovery

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/Pro_K.html

This is a controlled diet investigation.  It is interesting when you can’t choose for yourself…immediately you start feeling deprived.  I think this is why diets don’t seem to work in the end.  You just can’t wait to get off it and then go crazy!  At least that is my personality.  The idea has been to see if a high animal protein diet contributes to bone loss.  This is not as important on the ground as it is here in space. Living in space immediately starts to change the body, and one of the unfortunate side effects is bone density loss because we don’t need a skeletal structure to hold us up.  Immediately the body starts to redistribute calcium.  That is why we do weight bearing exercises up here – to help prevent it.  Well, an additional theory is that the acid created in breaking down animal protein also leaches calcium out of the bones as it is used as a neutralizing agent for the acid.  So, we are testing out a high animal protein diet versus a low animal protein diet.  Associated with the menu is how to test it.  Of course there is sampling after 4 days of these diets – that means 24 hours continuous of taking urine samples, which we insert in the MELFI freezer (Minus Eighty Laboratory Freezer) http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/MELFI.html

BCAT-5

Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-5: Phase Separation

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/BCAT-5-PhaseSep.html

There are many different types of samples that potentially form colloids differently here than on Earth.  We get them ready, place them somewhere on the ISS in a certain orientation, let them sit for a while and then photo document them.  This is pretty difficult photography with micro lenses to try to take a picture of the potential crystals.  The depth of field is small with crystals, making it hard for the camera to “see” them.  It is like trying to take pictures of a prism.  I need more photography work on this small scale!  Very interesting though how the crystals vary from sample to sample.

ACE

Advanced Colloids Experiment

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/ACE-1.html

Working with a high-powered microscope to look at samples here in space.  I was essentially a technician.  We mix samples with a magnet, install samples that we have here, change out lenses for the microscope and get it all ready for the ground teams to run sessions to look at and analyze the samples.  Pretty meticulous work, but fun to see how we can work together with the ground teams.

Treadmill Kinematics

Biomechanical Analysis of Treadmill Exercise on the International Space Station

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/Treadmill_Kinematics.html

Treadmill Kinematics evaluates the difference between running in space and running on the ground.  We sort of assume that it is the same when the folks on the ground have us do exercise up here.  But in fact, with the harness and microgravity, we aren’t even sure we are working the correct parts for bone density and muscle mass deficits. By videotaping ourselves at different speeds, the folks on the ground can figure out the differences.  I saw a similar thing on training Olympic swimmers when they push off the wall – you’ve seen the dolphin kick thing they do now.  Folks analyze the position of the ankle, knee and hip to record and see the motion and see what the result is – speed in that case.  Maybe proper position in ours.

More SPRINT

Integrated Resistance and Aerobic Training Study

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/Sprint.html

I am into SPRINT now.  The interval running workouts are getting intense.  Weight lifting workouts have been difficult with 12 repetitions per exercise.  We’re decreasing the repetitions and increasing the weight….should be fun?

After all that working out, and finally not having to eat “what I am told to eat” for the Pro-K, it was time to really EAT!  After all of us were off the “diet” we opened some of our bonus containers and had a smorgasbord while watching the Olympics together.  We had chips (corn tortillas broken in pieces) with bean dip from Joe, nacho cheese spread from me, fish in miso sauce from Aki.  Gennady, Yuri and Sergei joined in and we had fun all eating together and cheering for our teams.

I felt like continuing the Mexican theme and had beef fajitas the next day on a flour tortilla with spicy corn.

Notice our “table” in the background.   It just consists of a place to Velcro the food; stick it down with duct tape, and a place for baby wipes to clean our silverware.  We got some grapefruits and apples from the Progress cargo ship -- crunchy and REAL!

Suni’s blog also appears at http://www.fragileoasis.org/bloggernauts/sunita-williams/posts/.