Spacepirations is Growing Up

A little over five months ago I started to write this blog, inspired by other blogs of space enthusiasts and astronaut hopefuls and by a vacation that entailed a visit to Kennedy Space Center. My life has been greatly enriched, both by the enjoyment I get from telling my story and perspective, and by the numerous people I have come to know during this short time.

It's time for Spacepirations to grow up a little. From my alien brain to a name of a blog to over 1400 results on Google, now it is also a domain name - spacepirations.com. Those of you who have been following probably have noticed the look and feel tweaks, all meant to make it more pleasant to read and easier to share and comment.

What I learned along the way was that I'm writing less for myself and more for everyone else who has space-aspirations themselves or just intrigued by a Joe-regular that decided to look up and expand his life to where no Govrin has gone before. It is amazing to see I have readers in countries I haven't visited and can't really visit holding an Israeli passport. And yet, the Internet has almost no boundaries and word of a single person can reach places half across the globe without being a media mogul or getting picked up by the old-school media of TV, radio and print.

I hope that my presence on this virtual world will continue to unfold like a river delta expanding and diverging as I make more steps in the real world towards my dream.

NSRC - The Press Conference

NSRC press conference panel. Left to right: Mark S, Pete W, Michael M, Alan S, Jeff G, Stephen A

On the first day of NSRC (2/18/2010) at 12:00 there was a lunch and a press conference. After hearing about several of the vehicles that will take scientists (and hopefully me) up to near-space, possibly several times a day, it was time to hear a few announcements and ask questions.

I sat next to a table close to the speaker panel with David Masten - CEO of Masten Space Systems, John Gedmark and Matthew Isakowitz from Commercial Spaceflight Federation, Pete Worden from NASA and others. An impromptu discussion between David, Pete, John and Matt over lunch about the fresh NASA budget announcement and its outcomes was cut short by the press conference itself, where Pete was a member of the panel.

The panel was composed of a variety of people representing NASA, commercial suborbital space and research: Mark Sirangelo - Executive Vice President of Sierra Nevada Corporation and Chairman of the Board of Commercial Spaceflight Federation, Pete Worden - NASA Ames Center Director, Michael Mealling - Vice President of Business Development of Masten Space Systems, Alan Stern - Associate Vice President at the Southwest Research Institute, Jeff Greason - President of XCOR and Stephen Attenborough - Commercial Director of Virgin Galactic.

Sick in Space

USS-Enterprise Sick Bay

A few weeks ago I was sick. Nothing dramatic or life threatening, just the common cold. After three days I still felt weak. After six days, I finally stopped taking over the counter medications that help with the symptoms, but my nose still needed almost-constant draining. It took about two weeks for me to become my normal self again and get rid of this nuisance.

Having the common cold on Earth is nothing to write about. But NASA takes no chances. Every effort is made to avoid astronauts getting sick in space. Astronauts are mostly in isolation several days before launch, as any impairment could jeopardize the mission and crew safety. Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were also in isolation after coming back from the moon to be on the safe side in case some germs unique to the moon got a ride to Earth. Ken Mattingly was supposed to be on Apollo 13, the US space flight probably most known for its mishaps yet successful outcome (no human life lost), but got grounded for being exposed to measles. Mattingly didn't get sick but Fred Haise did and vomited due to an infection and lack of water, a lot messier and risky at micro-gravity on the way to the moon in a crippled vessel.

Buzz Outstepping Neil?

Buzz Aldrin (the dancer?)

It may have been "one small step" 40 years ago for Neil, but Buzz Aldrin is trying to one-up by making many more steps in season 10 of Dancing with the Stars. Among the fairly usual casting of a football player, singer, Olympian, a starlet and the original octo-mom, our favorite-to-win Buzz will do his best to show that the accomplishment of walking on the moon after 40 years of age can be matched with one after 40 more years.

NSRC - Fascinating Stories over Lunch

One of the unexpected delights I had at the NSRC was lunch on Friday. Most of the attendees went to the hotel restaurant and formed a line. I ended up sharing a table with three men - Jin Kang, Gil Moore and Conrad Wall. If you know any one of them you now realize how lucky I was to be grouped with such interesting people.