NASA Astronaut Completes Boston Marathon in Space

What an achievement! International Space Station Expedition 14/15 flight engineer Suni Williams is running the Boston Marathon on a station treadmill. Credit: NASA TV.

"After more than four hours of running in place, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams completed the Boston Marathon while orbiting Earth aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

“Hooyah, I’m done,” Williams cheered as she passed the orbital finish line on the space station’s treadmill.

Williams, 41, began running the marathon at 10:00 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) as the race kicked off in Boston and the ISS circled Earth at some 17,500 miles (28,163 kilometers) per hour.

“It’s coming up on 9.5 miles and it looks like we’ve gone around the world,” Williams said about 90 minutes into the 26.2-mile (42-kilometer) race. “So that’s pretty cool. A nice statistic.”

At about 2:24 p.m. EDT (1824 GMT) she radioed to Mission Control that she’d completed the race with an unofficial time of about four hours, 24 minutes, marking the first time an entrant has competed from orbit.

A native of Needham, Massachusetts, Williams grew up in the Boston area and participated in Boston Marathon once before as a teenager. She qualified for this year’s race during the 2006 Houston Marathon with a time of three hours, 29 minutes and 57 seconds. The Boston Athletic Association issued her the bib number 14,000, which Williams taped to the front of her treadmill, for Monday’s event.

“I think the idea came up because I’m a big proponent of physical fitness and I just wanted to make kids aware that it is a necessary part of your life,” Williams told reporters last week during a video interview broadcast on NASA TV. “I think if I could do something up here to show kids that it’s fun and it’s important, than maybe somebody will get off the couch and start working out.”

High and dry

Unlike her terrestrial counterparts, who braved strong winds and rain to complete the course in Boston, Williams stayed high and dry. She ran a steady six-mile (9.6-kilometer) per hour pace on a treadmill inside the outpost’s Russian-built Zvezda service module while orbiting about 210 miles (337 kilometers) above Earth.

The astronaut lauded Kenya’s Robert Cheruiyot and Russia’s Lidiya Grigoryeva, who won the Boston Marathon’s Men and Women divisions, respectively. Cheruiyot finished with a time of two hours, 14 minutes and 13 seconds, while Grigoryeva completed the race in two hours, 29 minutes and 18 seconds, according to the Boston Athletic Association.

“Incredible, congratulations to all those folks,” Williams said of the marathon winners. “[Those were] pretty horrific conditions and those are some great times.”

Williams said that while she wouldn’t experience some of the tougher parts of the marathon’s terrestrial course, such as Heartbreak Hill, running on the space station’s treadmill – known technically as the Treadmill Vibration Isolation System (TVIS) – is no picnic either.

The exercise equipment features a bulky harness and bungee cords to hold weightless astronauts in place while running, and can prove painful on the shoulders and hips during long treks, she said before Monday’s race. It has also experienced technical problems in the past, but performed admirably during Williams’ four-hour run.

“The thing held out like a champ, no problems, no faults, no nothing,” Williams said of the station’s treadmill, which has acted up in the past. “It’s a great piece of gear.”

Boston support

On Earth, Williams’ fellow NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg completed the Boston Marathon in three hours, 32 minutes and nine seconds. Also running the race in Boston were Williams’ sister Dina Pandya, flight surgeon Steve Hart and long-time friend Ronnie Harris.

Other friends and supporters were expected to cheer Williams and her fellow marathon runners from a vantage point between the race’s Mile 14 and Mile 15 markers, signifying the space station’s ongoing crew change between Expedition 14 and Expedition 15, the astronaut has said. Williams joined the space station’s Expedition 14 crew in December 2006, and will stay on for the first stage of the Expedition 15 mission.

Williams ran the Boston Marathon as many of her fellow crewmembers slumbered aboard the station, though Expedition 14 commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Expedition 15 flight engineer Oleg Kotov prepared drink pouches and orange slices for her during the race.

“She has my undying respect,” Lopez-Alegria said after Williams completed the marathon."

Source

Space 'nerd' readies for lift-off

Dr Simonyi is in the last phase of preparation for the voyage

A 58-year-old software engineer is set to become the fifth ever space tourist when he blasts off on board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft this Saturday.

Billionaire Charles Simonyi, who led development of Microsoft's Word, will lift off from Kazakhstan at 1731 GMT.

The $20m ride will make him the 450th person to enter orbit and by his own admission "the first nerd in space".

With two professional cosmonauts, he is now making final preparations in a quarantine unit at Baikonur Cosmodrome.

"There are really two reasons for the isolation," Dr Simonyi told the BBC News website.

"The practical reason is so that you don't get sick. The other reason is perhaps psychological - it helps you focus on the task ahead."

Vital control

Dr Simonyi's task started six months ago when he began training for the flight at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City, Russia and at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Since then he has been through a gruelling physical training programme, including strict medical tests, to prepare him for the exhilarating eight minute ride to escape the Earth's atmosphere and his time on board the International Space Station (ISS).

In graphics: Space station

Dr Simonyi and the two Russian crew members - Fyodor Yurchikin and Oleg Kotov - will spend two days reaching the ISS.

Once there, he will spend ten days onboard, completing 200 orbits of the Earth and covering 5 million miles (8 million km) in the process.

The return journey, accompanied by the fourteenth ISS crew already onboard, will take just two hours and will return to Earth on 20 April.

Although Dr Simonyi is classed as a spaceflight participant, rather than a cosmonaut, he will still have a role to play in the flights.

"There are a few valves on my side of the space craft which are not flight critical but if they are not handled they will be come flight critical," he said.

The valves, situated on the right hand side of the Soyuz module, control the air conditioning and oxygen supply.

By the time I get to the spacecraft, I think it will be a wonderful relief Charles Simonyi

"You may think that is very important but there is a large amount of oxygen in the cabin," he explained.

However, his primary job is to make sure that he is not a burden to the professional crew.

"My main role is to take care of myself and my space suit. I have to put on the gloves, close and open the visor, manipulate the valve to check the pressure integrity," he said.

Space traditions

Once on the space station, Dr Simonyi will carry out a series of experiments including measuring the amount of radiation that he is exposed to while onboard the ISS.

The aim is to help to generate an accurate map of the radiation environment onboard the space station.

He will also be updating his website, charlesinspace.com, and taking time to gaze down on the planet.

Dr Simonyi will fly with two professional cosmonauts

The Hungarian-born engineer is now in the last phase of preparations and training for the mission, including regular sessions on a tilting table and in a spinning Vestibular Chair to get used to the effects of weightlessness.

In addition, his feet are gradually elevated, higher each night, while he sleeps in bed.

"It gives you a feeling of fullness in the head, which is typical of weightlessness," said Dr Simonyi.

He will also take part in a series of ceremonies and rituals, including a viewing of Russian film White Sun of the Desert, a tradition for cosmonauts spanning many years.

Friends and family will also attend a party, although they will be separated by glass from Dr Simonyi to prevent the spread of infections.

"By the time I get to the spacecraft, I think it will be a wonderful relief from all of the excitement and I can just concentrate on the flight which we have simulated many times," he said.

"That is probably the easiest part."

Lunar dream

Dr Simonyi's once in a lifetime trip has been arranged by US-based Space Adventures.

The company has previously sent four private explorers to space.

Anousheh Ansari flew to the ISS in September 2006

In 2001, American Dennis Tito became the first space tourist. He was followed by South African Mark Shuttleworth the year after, and American Greg Olsen in 2005.

Iranian-born US businesswoman Anousheh Ansari became the first ever female space tourist in September 2006.

She was a last minute replacement for Japanese businessman Daisuke Enomoto who failed his medical tests.

"Every time someone flies it keeps proving that there is a market for this," said Eric Anderson, co-founder of Space Adventures.

As well as trips to the ISS, Mr Anderson's company plans to develop suborbital vehicles for pleasure flights and be the first to complete a tourist trip to the dark side of the moon.

"That's the $100 million dollar grand daddy of them all, where we use the Soyuz capsule to do a circumlunar pass," said Mr Anderson.

It has not been announced whether anyone has signed up for the ambitious trip.

Source