Letters to Earth: Astronaut Don Pettit
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Here is the list of entries for Letters to Earth: Astronaut Don Pettit based on the selected criteria.
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What Makes a Mission Name?
May 17, 2012 09:26:13 PM | Don Pettit
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- What space station crews call our "mission" is a bit more complicated than what you might think.
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Space Is My Mistress
Apr 03, 2012 05:44:24 PM | Don Pettit
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- Seeing as how April is National Poetry Month…
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Seven Faces of Dr. Don
Apr 02, 2012 04:58:10 PM | Don Pettit
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- By mistake I had taken a picture in the Space Station Cupola that showed the reflection of my face in all seven windows. So I set up to intentionally do this, with an artistic flair.
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Blood and Treasure
Mar 23, 2012 06:18:58 PM | Don Pettit
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- Gold, silk, and spices were the tangible treasures from past explorations. Today, the frontier of space offers treasures that are golden but not gold—secrets about the biochemistry of life, drawn from the bodies of astronauts.
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Mar del Fuego
Mar 14, 2012 04:31:32 PM | Don Pettit
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- Tierra del Fuego, the land of fire, was what Magellan named the tip of South America in 1520. He saw the fires set by local inhabitants who did not want the Portuguese explorer to set foot on their land.
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Jelly on Both Sides
Feb 17, 2012 04:08:42 PM | Don Pettit
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- When your slice of bread falls on the floor, everyone anxiously looks to see if it landed jelly side up or jelly side down. Simple probability gives a 50-50 chance either way, but it seems more correlated to the difficulty of cleaning that particular section of flooring.
On space station the probabilities are still the same, but the results are different.
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Leonardo’s Closet
Feb 23, 2012 11:45:18 AM | Don Pettit
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- On space station, we have a closet module. Its prosaic name is PMM. In a former life, it was an MPLM, a special transport container that flew up and down to space station in the back of the Space Shuttle. Made in Italy for NASA, the PMM was formally christened Leonardo—obviously named after a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
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The Expanding Universe of Trash
Feb 01, 2012 06:51:31 PM | Don Pettit
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- It is not surprising that the humble garbage can, essential for Earth-borne civilization, is likewise essential for space station.
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The Eye of Issyk Kul
Jan 25, 2012 04:57:30 PM | Don Pettit
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- Out of numerous Kyrgyz lakes, one in particular stands out—Lake Issyk Kul. When seen from orbit, Issyk Kul appears to be a giant eye, looking at us looking down at it.
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Whisker Cleaning Time
Jan 25, 2012 04:09:32 PM | Don Pettit
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- I have never been able to shave with a safety razor without slicing my face, so I use a rotary electric razor instead. In weightlessness they work just as well, and the whiskers are captured inside the shaving head. But how does one clean out the whiskers in weightlessness?
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Perpetual Twilight
Jan 20, 2012 10:50:47 AM | Don Pettit
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- Twice a year, near the winter and summer solstices, the orbit of space station nearly parallels the terminator—the fuzzy line separating day from night on the surface below. For a period of about a week, we live in what seems like perpetual twilight, being in neither full daylight nor full night. Our orbit follows the terminator, so that space station is constantly sunlit. From this vantage I can see both day and night simply by swiveling my head from left to right.
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Lost Chopstick
Jan 19, 2012 12:19:10 PM | Don Pettit
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- I like to eat with chopsticks, and I bring a pair on every flight.
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Grand Views of the Grand Canyon
Jan 19, 2012 11:50:32 AM | Don Pettit
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- The Grand Canyon of the Colorado River is simply amazing when viewed from an orbital perspective.
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Gone for the Season
Jan 09, 2012 12:05:00 PM | Don Pettit
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- Being absent for the holidays is collateral damage for an explorer, whatever the location.
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Please Don’t Squeeze the Astronaut
Dec 22, 2011 02:22:54 PM | Don Pettit
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- Taking human anatomy into account, the toilet facilities on space station have an architecture that expertly aligns the purpose to the environment (such trifles as a toilet seat are not needed when you are weightless). The Soyuz spacecraft is a different matter.
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Godspeed to Earth
Dec 22, 2011 12:36:26 PM | Don Pettit
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- As you get closer to launch you shed earthly possessions, and your worldly stuff becomes meaningless. In my dorm room I give away my things, the tangible items needed on Earth that are of no use to me anymore.
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The Pieces Come Together
Dec 22, 2011 12:18:27 PM | Don Pettit
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- Four days ago our rocket was in pieces, scattered across the floor of the assembly building. Like anxious parents checking on their sleeping children, we took one last peek inside our Soyuz spacecraft. Everything was tucked in where it should be.
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Baikonur Graffiti
Dec 22, 2011 12:14:11 PM | Don Pettit
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- At the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, we scribble on our dormitory room doors shortly before leaving for the launch complex—with an indelible marker, no less. Doing this as a kid would have resulted in a fierce scolding. I know I have had such a talking to, and in turn have talked to my sons.
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Me and My Spacesuit
Dec 22, 2011 12:09:49 PM | Don Pettit
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- Our Soyuz spacesuit is named after the Russian word for falcon: сокол (sokol). It serves only one purpose, to keep us alive in the event of a cockpit depressurization. We venture into a place that is devoid of nearly all matter–a vacuum. This vacuum is as vast as space itself, and in a flash will remove our life-sustaining vapors with no more perturbation than an 18-wheeler smashing a jackrabbit on Route 66. And the effect on your body would be about the same.
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Six Months Turns to Ten
Dec 22, 2011 03:59:30 PM | Don Pettit
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- Space Station expeditions are planned for six months. Some may be a few weeks shorter, some longer. Malfunctions in your spacecraft can impact the mission duration either way by two months or more.
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A One-Way Ticket
Dec 22, 2011 11:48:32 AM | Don Pettit
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- Unlike my previous trips, this time I arrived in Russia on a one-way ticket. My bridge has been burned. And now I’m in Kazakhstan, awaiting our December 21 launch.
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