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At the teahouse...
Jan. 9th, 2004 09:53 pmOkay, so it's not exactly Atkins, but...
Natalie and I just had dinner at a Japanese place with her friend Jessica. It was a nice dinner, albeit a bit pricey. We're now at the tapioca teahouse, and I'm waiting on a #26 (mocha coffee tapioca), which is the part that's not Atkins, but I'm beginning to repeat myself.
The day went swimmingly, with a lot of space-to-ground activity as the crew went about trying to find what appears to be a very slow leak somewhere on the station. The fact that the pressure drop is so small actually makes the job a lot harder and indeed causes some to wonder if there's really a leak. I don't know; I'm not really qualified to tell. The issue has converted the weekend from a couple of days of rest into a pair of working days.
The crew has been burning the so-called "solid fuel oxygen generators," which are cartridges filled with a substance that burns at a very high temperature, liberating copious amounts of oxygen in the process. This is apparently because of a malfunction in an electrolytic system that turns water into hydrogen (which is dumped overboard) and oxygen. The SFOG cartridges are routinely used, I am told, on submarines, and previous verions were used on the old Mir space station until an attempt to burn an old cartridge that had been marginally manufactured resulted in a fire on that station (one in which Sasha Kaleri, who is on the ISS right now, played a major role in putting out).
I'm off to work on #26 and then go home. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be an active day.
Cheers...
Natalie and I just had dinner at a Japanese place with her friend Jessica. It was a nice dinner, albeit a bit pricey. We're now at the tapioca teahouse, and I'm waiting on a #26 (mocha coffee tapioca), which is the part that's not Atkins, but I'm beginning to repeat myself.
The day went swimmingly, with a lot of space-to-ground activity as the crew went about trying to find what appears to be a very slow leak somewhere on the station. The fact that the pressure drop is so small actually makes the job a lot harder and indeed causes some to wonder if there's really a leak. I don't know; I'm not really qualified to tell. The issue has converted the weekend from a couple of days of rest into a pair of working days.
The crew has been burning the so-called "solid fuel oxygen generators," which are cartridges filled with a substance that burns at a very high temperature, liberating copious amounts of oxygen in the process. This is apparently because of a malfunction in an electrolytic system that turns water into hydrogen (which is dumped overboard) and oxygen. The SFOG cartridges are routinely used, I am told, on submarines, and previous verions were used on the old Mir space station until an attempt to burn an old cartridge that had been marginally manufactured resulted in a fire on that station (one in which Sasha Kaleri, who is on the ISS right now, played a major role in putting out).
I'm off to work on #26 and then go home. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be an active day.
Cheers...
