Friday, May 4, 2007

2007

After almost two weeks visiting back in 1987, we have returned to 2007! Not that '87 was that bad, I graduated from high school and went to college for the first time. However the screaming 2400baud data rate we have been using for the past almost two weeks, just sucked. I had to remember technical stuff that was best forgotten, like AT commands and modem init strings. Enough of that subject... we are back in the here and now!

We are getting the Hab in shape, slowly but surely. Our electricity is stable, the heat is on, and the plumbing only freezes when you close the wrong door. I should also explain that for the last few days it has been warm by Arctic standards, -10 or -15 Centigrade. We were starting to get a bit complacent. This all changed this morning. Overnight the wind shifted from the north and it got a bit colder. This morning while Matt and Simon were filling the generator it was -22 with a wind near what I estimate as almost tropical storm strength. Also we had left the EVA prep room door closed last night and it got a bit cold in there. We won't make that mistake again. The temporary sat mount Paul and Ryan got up yesterday went sideways in the wind for most of the day until they were able to firm it up late this afternoon. The plan was to use the permafrost drill to mount the pole, but with today's wind chill that much time outside was not possible. Today I worked on our snow melter which has a few leaks, and examined the autoclave that was damaged in shipping. Also it appears that our commander's laptop has become the first casualty of the Arctic. I'm working to recover the data from her failed hard drive and have my fingers crossed. Tomorrow I will have to start getting the data array on-line so that we can take backup images of the more important Hab systems.

For now, all my thanks to Emily for not costing me all my readers (at least the family is still here!), and here are some more pics:


Paul, working on the sat dish



Matt, watching Paul mount the sat dish



The Internet, the most beautiful sight I've seen here (just kidding...)



Chillin', after unloading a plane by snowmobile and kamatik



Kim and Mel, snow princesses!



Filling the generator



A Twin Otter landing



Making a list, checking it twice



The last sunrise of the summer

3 comments:

Dad said...

JIm, I see that you found out the winds that I told you about. You will really have to watch for those, for they can get very fearce, very quick. Take care of yourselves(I'm speaking to all of you, now.) The main thing is to have fun,but watch out for severe weather. Jim, can tell you some of the things that I witnessed in the extreme western Bernig Sea, back in the early 1960's. It was fun, but I do not want to do it agin. You'll take care of yourselves. Dad

Геш (gpetrov) said...

Fixit!!!!

Good to see you again. Looks like you are taking care of things.
It looks very beautiful up there.

In the mean time I became a dad a couple of week ago.
http://www.grahcho.eu
Cheers
Georgi

cookingforjp said...

Hey there Uncle James.
Haven't had a chance yet to show the kids where you are, but hopefully get to it tomorrow.
Anika misses you already. Oh and you know Lars wants to become an Astronaut. So there, all he's been building lately is rockets and spaceships with his legos. The 4yrs old mind of this boy is very interessting.
Stay Safe
Claud and Family