Idag kom Ellie på besök, för att gå ut och gå en längre runda. Pontus skulle egentligen ha sprungit Malmö Marathon, men hoppade över det, då han inte kunnat träna p.g.a. sjukdom.

Så, Ellie och jag fick villigt med oss Tina, på dagens vandring, som gick via Emporia, runt om Elinelund och sedan inom Konsum, för att till sist ta oss hemåt.

Det blev en lagom lång runda i solen!

Under morgonen kom det sista vykortet från utmaningen Space Stations. Det åttonde i ordningen!

Nowadays, there is little talk about launch infrastructure when it comes to space travel and a lot more about getting to the Moon or even Mars. The work jointly conducted aboard the International Space Station by America, Russia, and the 10+ other nations is pivotal in achieving such lofty goals. But more than that, the instruments pointed down to Earth are vital and will become more so for the preservation of our only home in the universe. 

From systems that detect drought and predict wildfires, to programs that develop new drugs and technologies that can offer us a better life, the ISS offers the world valuable tools for a better life on Earth. Experiments regarding human and plant life in space might offer us a good life on some other planet. 

Since its first crewed mission in 2000, the ISS has welcomed more than 70 others, with astronauts from all over the world. There is an echo to the Space Race era and the Red Scare, however. Legislation put in place by the US practically bans China from participating in the ISS. The International Space Station shared Earth’s orbit for a brief period of time with Mir, but for 20 years, no other permanently occupied spacecraft orbited Earth. In 2021, the Chinese Manned Space Agency sent Tiangong (which translates as “Heavenly Palace”) into space and began a permanent presence in space. 

If this is a sign of yet another space rivalry or the beginning of an orbit full of space stations conducting research and sharing data for the betterment of all living on Earth, it remains to be seen. 

ISS’s operational life ends in 2030, and plans for its controlled deorbiting are already in place. Mir overstayed in orbit by 10 years, and Voyager probes are still hurtling through space, so I foster a secret hope that the International Space Station might remain in space a while longer. 

For now, however, the International Space Station still orbits the Earth around 16 times a day, every day. Due to its size, it can be spotted with the naked eye, and NASA has a few tips on how to do it, which I’ll leave with you here. While you look up and your eyes narrow on the little light crossing the skies of your nation, try to remember that you are looking at the result of decades of space rivalry and cooperation. The ISS symbolises the tremendous achievements gained from international collaboration and goodwill. Since we had eyes to see, we trained them on the stars and longed to touch them. This will probably remain true in the future, so while you follow the ISS, try keeping in mind that it is not only the past you’re looking at, but also the very beginning of our future in space. 

Senare på morgonkvisten, ganska exakt kl. 09:28, så passerade även jag mållinjen i Space Stations!

Därmed var Gabriel och jag båda klara med våra tre utmaningar i serien Space Race!

Idag gick Gabriel i mål i vår tredje utmaning i the Conqueror Events utmaning Space Race. Denna sista utmaning ”Space Stations” var på 120,4 km, vilka Gabriel klarade av på 16-dagar, vilket ger honom ett snitt av ca: 7,5 km/dag. Själv ligger jag ca: 2-dagar efter just nu!

Idag kom även min medalj för vår förra utmaning ”To the Moon”.

Idag fick jag beskedet att vi passerat 80% av den totala sträckan i utmaningen ”Space Stations”.

Gabriel ligger dock en bit före mig!

Ett nytt träd planterades också!

I natt kom det sjunde vykortet från Gabriels och min utmaning Space Stations. Gabriel gick om mig och ligger ca: 2km före just nu!

On 20th of November 1998, the US-funded and Russian-built module named Zarya launches from Kazakhstan. This component is the first building block of the International Space Station, and its name, meaning “sunrise”, is chosen to symbolise a new dawn in collaborative space exploration.

Zarya is joined in December of the same year by the Unity Module, carried into orbit by Space Shuttle Endeavour. The now connected Russian and American modules form the core of the ISS, and although they are less important for the station’s functioning now, they remain part of it today.

On 2nd of November 2000, the ISS is finally ready to welcome its first human inhabitants. Space veterans Bill Shepherd, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev become the first astronauts to visit it and to initiate the uninterrupted human occupation of the station. The three men spend 136 days aboard the station and activate various systems, unload equipment and experiments from uncrewed Russian spacecraft and host two visiting Shuttle missions.

Over the years, the International Space Station has welcomed 6 more Russian modules and 8 American ones. What makes the station truly international, however, is the hardware contribution from space agencies from Europe, Japan and Canada and the access to astronauts from over 20 nations. As the habitable area grows, so do the scientific capabilities of the station, making it a unique and invaluable space for conducting research in a variety of fields.

Until the present day, over 3000 experiments are conducted aboard the ISS, some of them expand our understanding of subjects researched since the first space station, such as the effects of microgravity on the human body, the growth of plants in space and Earth monitoring. Experiments regarding muscle and bone loss not only improve the health of astronauts, but are now used to understand and combat the effects of osteoporosis in people back on Earth. Since the puny harvests of Super-Dwarf wheat on Mir, scientists have managed to grow a variety of plants onboard ISS, such as three types of lettuce, red Russian kale, zinnia flowers and chilli peppers.

Samtidigt kom det besked om att vi passerat 60% av den totala sträckan och att ännu ett träd blivit planterat!

Mission STS-71 is the third launch in the Shuttle-Mir programme, but the first to dock with the space station. On 29th of June 1995, Shuttle Atlantis docks with Mir, forming the biggest spacecraft in orbit at that time (approx. 225 tons). Atlantis carries a crew of eight, which, over the course of five days, run joint experiments with the Russian cosmonauts already on board. This mission also marks the first in-orbit changeout of a Shuttle crew.

Until 1998, a total of 9 dockings between a Shuttle and Mir takes place; the program sees a number of crew swaps and hundreds of experiments in areas such as human adaptation to long-duration spaceflight, Earth observation, fundamental biology, and materials science. All throughout, the primary mission of this program remains to prepare for a future international space station, so every failure and accident is treated as a learning experience to take their knowledge forward. For example, a fire on 23 February 1997 leads to changes in astronauts’ fire training as well as in the design of the solid-fuel oxygen canister that started the blaze.

On 2nd of June 1998, Space Shuttle Discovery docks with Mir. For the next few days, the crew loads the last US experiments into the Shuttle and performs the last transfer of equipment and supplies to the space station. When the airlock closes behind the shuttle on 8th of June, it marks the end of the Shuttle-Mir programme, the end of Phase One of the International Space Station, and the end of 907 days of continuous occupation of the space station by American astronauts.

Once in orbit, a space station requires a considerable amount of time, attention and funds to be kept there; without constant boosts, repairs, maintenance and adjustments, anything that is in orbit eventually comes back to Earth. The dissolution of the USSR, coupled with the fact that resources and energy have to be redirected to the building and launching of the International Space Station, brings on a difficult decision: Mir has to be deorbited.

In August 1999, the last cosmonauts undock from Mir and close the hatch behind them, putting an end to almost 10 years of Russian presence on the station. During Mir’s lifespan, over 15,000 scientific and technical experiments are conducted by 28 long-term crews, 86,331 Earth orbits are completed, and 31 spacecraft (9 of which are Shuttles) and 64 cargo vessels dock.

On 23rd of March 2001, Mir goes through a controlled re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere and burns up, its debris falling over the Pacific Ocean.

The first module of the International Space Station launches in 1998, while the Mir deorbiting takes place in 2001, which means that, for a few years, the ISS is up in space with the strange, oddly-shaped, accident-prone, and damaged spacecraft that guaranteed its success.

Idag valde Ellie och jag att utgå hemifrån henne, för att sedan ta oss till stranden och gå längs Ribersborg och sedan tillbaka.

Vädret var soligt och ca: 15 grader.

Så fort vi var klara med denna runda, kom det sjunde vykortet!

Jag gissar att det var i och med gårdagens lopp i kalkbrottet, som jag lyckades passera 40% gränsen i utmaningen Space Stations. Detta med 49,84 avverkade km.

Gabriel har just nu hamnat lite efter och ligger på 34% och 41,72 avverkade km.

Jag tror dock att han kanske kan komma ifatt mig under söndagen!

Ännu ett träd har dock planterats!

Idag var det så dags för Kalkbrottsloppet. 5,4 km ner och upp i Limhamns kalkbrott.

Meningen var ju att Pontus och jag skulle springa detta idag, men eftersom Pontus varit sjuk de senaste dagarna, lämnade han över stafettpinnen till Elias, som gladeligen ställde upp. (Ovetande om vilken påfrestning det skulle bli).

Starten gick kl. 14:00 och Elias höll sig cirka 30-meter framför mig i stort sett hela vägen ner i kalkbrottet, därefter sprang jag förbi honom och höll mig där resten av loppet. Försökte hålla ett tempo på 6:30, men det gick lite fortare nerförsbacke och en hel del saktare uppförsbacke!

Sluttid för mig, blev 32,49 enligt min egen tidtagning, och Elias sluttid, enligt hans klocka, blev 37,35, (men han glömde att stänga av tiden direkt efter målgång!). Nu återstår det bara att se vad våra officiella tider blev – återkommer med det här nedan!