July 13, 2011
What an awe-inspiring day today!
It’s way too late to still be up, but Ron Garan and I completed a six and a half hour spacewalk on the ISS while supporting the STS-135 space shuttle mission and I’m still pumped with adrenaline. This was my 7th spacewalk in 5 years. That, in itself, is hard to believe. It’s even harder to believe this is the end of an era and we are participants.
In this case, “we” means all of us — including you. For 30 years, the United States has flown a small fleet of spaceships named Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Endeavour, and Atlantis. We have suffered through tragedy and cheered the triumphs. Someday you will tell your grandchildren about these amazing flying machines we used to have. I’m saving up stories now to share with Rebecca Anne as soon as she’s old enough to understand and I’ll happily repeat them for her cousins.
We have paid dearly in terms of sweat, blood, and money for what we have learned over the last decades. Only through such perseverance can we hope to advance humankind. Our future may present us with challenges, but we press on because we must.
From the beginning of the program, one of the space shuttle’s envisioned missions was hauling big pieces of hardware up to space from which we could build a space station. With that monumental mission accomplished, we have decided to retire this venerable workhorse. Other vehicles will follow someday. But for today, it was humbling for Ron and me to be the last spacewalkers to work in a Space Shuttle’s cargo bay.
Before I entered the ISS airlock for the last time, I was held spellbound looking back at the majestic view of Atlantis perched on her docking port at the front point of the station. In only a few days, she’ll be winging her last crew home. Let’s enjoy every minute and lock in the memories to share until the next amazing flying machines light up the sky, hurtling their trusting crews toward the heavens while we watch, pray, and cheer from earth below.
Living the dream!
-Mike Fossum
Flight Engineer, Expedition 28
Hi Mike
Congratulations on a marvellous mission and best wishes to you and all the team. I feel privileged to watching activities via NASA TV.
Did one of you loose a tool or something towards the end of your time head down in the payload bay on Tuesday? I saw something, maybe 20cm long spiral from about 5 o’clock to 11, and out the picture frame? I guess that happens, and “when it gone its gone”, unless it was a picture glitch?
Safe journey back to the Cape.
Peter
My heroes and heroine 🙂
Thank you for your spot on comments and beautiful pictures. It’s gratifying to know that everyone on the team is so appreciative OF the team. It’s that type of eduring humility that inspires so many.
Thank you for your spot on comments and beautiful pictures. It’s gratifying to know that everyone on the team is so appreciative OF the team. It’s that type of eduring humility that inspires so many.
Great photos Mike. You and Ron made it look easy. And all of us down on Earth live the dream though people like you.
Have a great rest of Expedition 28 and safe return.
For me as an astrophotographer, and in the last 5 years active as a ground-based photographer of orbiting spacecraft, the end of the Shuttle flights will mean the miss of an incredibly fascinating photo-object, especially considering its size compared with the comming future manned spacecraft for flights to the ISS. Certainly, as technique improves, smaller spacecraft will be photographed with increased resolution as well, and this process already started.
But whatever it is, it won’t beat a vehicle making such impressive pictures as a spacecraft showing wings and a cockpit orbiting Earth.
The words from an astrophotographers’s point of view…
Best regards,
Ralf Vandebergh
What a great way to end the Shuttle era – having the ISS crew perform the final EVA with the support of the Shuttle crew! Everyone did an outstanding job. I still can’t believe how closely you and Ron were on the timeline. We learned some things to help us better prepare for doing only stage EVAs, where we won’t have the training luxuries we did with Shuttle mission EVAs. I think this served as a great transition, at least in respect to EVA.
Daren
Mike,
Reading your blog and seeing the pictures brings tears to my eyes. You and the entire crew are so inspiring and seeing the photos of earth turning in the background really puts life in perspective. I’ve watched every minute that I could during this last shuttle mission on NASA TV and I certainly hope that I can continue to follow the progress of you guys on the ISS. Thanks so much for all of you and all that you do.
With admiration,
Lisa Henry
Your words and photos express so well the thoughts, feelings, hopes and dreams of a great nation and, truly, all of humanity. Thank you so much for taking time from your busy schedule to share this post, these photos and words, with us back here on Earth. It’s a pleasure following your work on orbit and we look forward to welcoming you back home to Texas at the end of your time on Station.
Thank you, Mike!
Mike,
Thought I’d finally drop you a note. Very amazing stuff; seems things have come a long way from the GSE81D design project. Keeping my own fingers crossed for a successful Curiosity flight this fall. Hold fast to the dreams. Cheers and Happy Trails, Dave
Mike, beautiful photos from the ISS, as always.
I recently saw you are an Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT)Master of Science in Systems Engineering 1981 alum. We in the Systems Engineering (SE) program are real proud of you! Maybe we can arrange you as a guest speaker for the SE and/or AFIT student body, either when you get back… or on orbit. We hope your SE graduate education has been useful, and we would greatly appreciate your thoughts and observations of ISS from the systems perspective. Be safe.
–john
Awesome job, people! I don’t know how you ever slept on this mission. I imagine you wanting to stay awake every second to avoid missing even a single sunrise.
Keep the faith, we’ll be flying again, someday. One way or another, we WILL fly again.
Hello Mike!
Ever since I was a young boy I dreamed of going into space. My dream began in 1977 when I received a toy Shuttle Enterprise for Christmas. I remember pretending to blast off with that toy. I followed the Space Shuttle program all these years and lifted off in spirit with each mission. Needless to say, I am deeply saddened by the Shuttle’s absence in NASA’s repertoire of projects. I personally feel the move was too soon; however, who am I. So to appease my grief, I put together a 6:00 minute video to both honor you and you colleagues– for a job well done, and to also honor the astronauts who perished while pursuing their passion for space expiration. Additionally, I want to extend a special thanks to you and the many who accompany you on ISS. Please note, I used some photos of the space station and I believe your in a space suit. Can you tell me what you were about to do?
God Bless You and our great country.
Here is a link to the youtube video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N1GDGY8FDE
Hello Mike!
Ever since I was a young boy I dreamed of going into space. My dream began in 1977 when I received a toy Shuttle Enterprise for Christmas. I remember pretending to blast off with that toy. I followed the Space Shuttle program all these years and lifted off in spirit with each mission. Needless to say, I am deeply saddened by the Shuttle’s absence in NASA’s repertoire of projects. I personally feel the move was too soon; however, who am I. So to appease my grief, I put together a 6:00 minute video to both honor you and you colleagues– for a job well done, and to also honor the astronauts who perished while pursuing their passion for space expiration. Additionally, I want to extend a special thanks to you and the many who accompany you on ISS. Please note, I used some photos of the space station and I believe your in a space suit. Can you tell me what you were about to do?
God Bless You and our great country.
Here is a link to the
mark and congs. this is so wonderful, you are so lucky that u r one of the member of such a magnificient journey .this is all possible only because of u both genious intelligent person otherwise its not possible for us to see such a beautiful moment,thankyou very much if chance given to me I also wants to go Is it possible?its really beyond limitation hard work that a normal person can not think of.great nasa –.
Hello Mike,
You and Ron Garan did an amzing job with your spacewalk (the last of the shuttle era) during the time STS-135 was docked to the ISS. Keep “Living the Dream!”
From,
A person in your home state of South Dakota