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Journal 1a-
Scott Kelly: Day 1: Monday, September 23, 2002
On behalf of myself and my crew I would like to welcome you to the NEEMO 4 mission. As NASA's fourth crew to the NOAA/UNCW Aquarius Habitat, we are very fortunate and excited about participation. As a space station analog Aquarius in uniquely suited to provide us with a training environment like no other on Earth. As we live and work inside and outside the Habitat, we are learning things that will benefit ourselves, other astronauts, engineers, and scientists in preparing for or executing future space missions. Although our mission has gotten off to a late start due to Hurricane Isidore, I am now writing this from the kitchen table of the Aquarius Habitat and I can tell you it is honestly an incredible place. In my lifetime I have spent much time in and around the water, from pleasure boats as a small child, all the way to aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines as an adult. All fantastic in their own right, but what I find most interesting about Aquarius thus far is that although it is self contained environment 50 feet below the oceans surface, it is still in fact, open to the sea. The result of this is that as the sea state above us changes by the minute, with waves passing over head, the pressure inside the habitat constantly changes. This causes a continuous change of pressure inside our ears as well as a change of our voices as we speak. It is even much harder to whistle down here at 2.5 times the surface pressure. Our day started late, not arriving at the habitat until 5PM. We have been on board Aquarius now for about 5 hours and most of that time has been spent inventorying and configuring our gear. Since we have much more work to do before going to sleep this evening, I will unfortunately have to end this note. Good night, and thanks for joining our crew on what I hope will be an incredible adventure. |
Mission
Date: September, 2002 Mission Summary Aquanaut Profiles Expedition Journals Mission Pictures |
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