"Ken Jenks - Vectors" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jenks Ken)

Just then, the caution/warning system sounded a low priority alarm, and Trent rushed off to deal with some minor equipment problem. It was just as well; I had work to do, too. But I needed to know about him. About us.

As the internationals went back to work, we Americans moved cargo through the narrow docking adapter. James and I ended up doing most of the work. By this time, Bear and Kathy were mostly incapacitated with space sickness, and the rest of the shuttle crew was busy configuring the Orbiter systems for its short stay at Calypso.

After working for an hour or so, James and I took a rest break. Although I wasn't thirsty, I drank some water. I knew about the dangers of dehydration in space.

"So," said James, hoisting a water bottle of his own, "when do you dive into the potty?"

"Ah, boys," I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Always being gross." James was referring to one of my roles on Calypso: validating the bacteriologic models of the environmental control and life support system by sampling. "The other astronauts say it can smell pretty bad when they service some of those racks. The simulators never got too nasty."

James shook his head, grinning, "I'll never understand why you got a Ph.D. in plumbing."

I didn't need to remind him that my Ph.D. was in life support systems, not plumbing, really. He'd read my dissertation. I continued, "I'll have to unstow my equipment, and I'll get Trent to give me a tour . . .. I'll probably gather the first samples tomorrow. I understand it's one of his top priorities."

James held his nose, then turned the gesture into a different joke by plunging feet-first through the docking adapter into Atlantis. Laughing, I held my nose and followed.
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Because of the crew exchange, dinner that night was a special event. The combined crew of Calypso and Atlantis gathered in the American habitation module. Even Bear and Kathy attended, but with frequent trips to the head. When they both left the hab module at the same time, I raised a questioning eyebrow to James. He said, "Don't worry about them. It'll pass - probably overnight."

Andreii Petrovich, the Russian commander, winked at me conspiratorially, adding, "We Russians discovered space sickness, you know."

"Why, Andreii," said Trent, "I do believe you're proud of that!"

They chuckled, but quieted as Kathy drifted back in. I noticed that James' face was quite puffy, and that his legs were looking decidedly thinner, like the rest of the Atlantis astronauts. These effects of fluid shifting in space were already apparent.

Dinner was interrupted by a couple of minor equipment alarms, and a call from NASDA's control center dragged Li Chen away from the "table." The Russians passed around worn plastic squeeze bottles now full of vodka, and Andreii toasted "the Crawfish crew of the venerable Atlantis."

I spent my first "night" in space attached to the wall on the middeck of Atlantis.
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The wake-up music from Houston was last year's number one hit, "Gravity's Got Me Down," by EXO, a band I never liked. The morning e-mail contained minor updates to the flight plan and a couple of systems procedures for the shuttle crew, plus a note from my mother describing the launch as seen from Florida.

Kathy was feeling better, but she still wasn't completely adapted to microgravity. Bear seemed even worse than the day before. Although listless and pale, he insisted on working anyway. I offered him a water bottle, saying, "Hey, Bear, drink some more water. It really does help."

"Mercэ, Victoria, but it just goes right through me." He grimaced, then smiled wryly. "I believe I've discovered a new method of human rocket propulsion."

I wrinkled my nose and squirted him - just a little. Bear grabbed the water bottle and returned the favor. Laughing as I scooted up from the middeck to the flight deck, I saw Bear slurp down some of the floating water drops. That was good; he needed the fluids.

I checked my timeline then got to work on the bacterial samples. The life support systems on Calypso are complicated. Each country had built their own life support system, coordinating their engineering effort through interface documents, teleconferences and rare face-to-face visits. Engineering by committee, with language barriers and more subtle cultural differences adding spice to the broth. Not surprisingly, there were differences between the as-designed capabilities of each life support system and the as-built hardware and software. Mathematical modeling of those systems was made even more difficult by the interaction between the American, Russian and European systems through the open hatches between the modules. The life scientists back in Houston needed to know the nature of the microscopic flora and fauna currently growing in the system. Biologic sampling had been done many times before, but this time we had the basic laboratory equipment for identifying organisms on-orbit. Before now, samples had to be returned to earth in shuttle or Soyuz flights for later analysis, and the preservation and transportation processes took their toll on the microorganisms.

Two dirty, sweaty hours later, I had my first carefully labeled samples from the nooks and crannies of Calypso's environmental control and life support system. There was a little algae growing in the humidity separation system. I was disgusted to find fecal material on the air filters.

To identify bacteria, I put some sample swabs in thioglycolate broth. To identify fungi, I streaked several different tubes of sabaraud dextrose agar. I also streaked several Petri dishes to identify any enteric pathogens. Once the media were in their incubators, I found the shower and did my best to clean up. Showering in microgravity was more difficult than I expected.

Lunch was an individual affair, with most of the astronauts grabbing food, drink and a potty break whenever their work load permitted, which wasn't often. I spent some time in minor station maintenance chores, one of which was changing the inner protective panes on the cupola windows, which had a patina of small scratches from years of use. This gave me a perfect excuse to gaze at the passing earth for at least a few minutes before my mandatory exercise period. The earth is extraordinarily beautiful from space. Video, photos, and even IMAX 3 can't give you all the nuances of color, shading and shadow the naked eye can see - especially when the windows are clean. Sunset from orbit is about the most awesome thing I've ever seen, and it happened twice while I changed out all of the window panes.

As we orbited the earth, I looked at the moon periodically to see if the old astronaut rumor was true. Veteran astronaut Janice Sheperd claimed that the crescent moon would grow a little fatter then shrink again as our orbit took us around the earth, changing the angle between our line of sight and the illuminated hemisphere of the moon. Some astronauts say they can see a larger crescent during the daylight portion of an orbit and a smaller crescent during orbital night. I couldn't detect any difference. The rest of that day passed pretty quickly.

It was hard to sleep on Calypso. The schematics of a hundred subsystems flew past my mind's eye as I tried to relate my years of training in simulators and VR models with the living, humming, smelly space station. The simulators are almost always locked in a horizontal position, with a definite floor and ceiling. Up here, despite the fidelity of the simulators, I sometimes found myself lost in a very familiar setting. If that weren't enough, there was Trent. Was our encounter at the party just a fling? Or did it mean more than that to him? Or to me? Eventually, I gave up and went to the med kit for a sleeping pill. I saw Bear coming out of the head, going back to Atlantis.

"Hey, Bear, are you still rocket propelled?" I grinned mischievously.