Tortillas in Space?

Ever wonder about those fresh tomatoes in the picture above the space food exhibit in Beyond Blastoff? How the heck does one cut up a fresh tomato in space without making an amazing mess?

As a regular follower of Paolo Nespali's flickr posts from the ISS, and thanks to the frequent comments by pc0101 (whoever you are), I came across these interesting articles about the practical aspects of cooking in space. There are 2 parts to the article so don't miss the second half.

Food and Cooking in Space

Food and Cooking in Space, Part 2

Enjoy

Two cargo vessels arrive at ISS

In the past few days 2 different cargo vessels have arrived at the ISS with lots of supplies and equipment for the crew.


Friday HTV-II arrived from Japan, (http://www.flickr.com/photos/magisstra/5393134148/in/photostream/) and Sunday, the Russian Progress ship arrived (http://www.flickr.com/photos/magisstra/5401615469/in/photostream/). Lots of unpacking for the crew to do.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/magisstra/5395174039/in/photostream/

Seems that HTV-II brought the astronauts some goodies from home. It's hard to tell but I think that's a bag of chocolates in Cady's hand.

-steve

HTV2 on the way to ISS

Friday afternoon California time the HTV2 or Kounotori2 was launched into space from Tanegashima Japan after a 2 day delay because of weather. This supply ship will arrive at the ISS on Jan 27. When it does, it will be grappled with the stations robot arm by NASA astronaut Cady Coleman, where it will be attached to one of the docking ports.

The arrival of the HTV2 at the ISS will be on NASA TV early Friday morning California time. Might be worth programming the Tivo for?

The HTV2 has both pressurized cargo area, which can be accessed from inside the ISS by the astronauts, and unpressurized cargo area which must be accessed by either the robotic arm, or by space walking astronauts.

More on Kounotori2 at http://www.jaxa.jp/countdown/h2bf2/index_e.html
There are several other cargo vehicles arriving at the ISS in the first part of this year. Lots more info at
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition26/resupply_feature.html

Paolo gets a haircut

High above earth on the ISS, ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli gets a haircut from his crewmate, NASA astrpnaut Cady Coleman. Notice how the lack of gravity allows the barber to just float over the top of the head to get a better angle of attack. Also notice the lack of a barber chair.

Paolo appears to have a second razor/clipper in his hand along with a mirror, no doubt to keep an eye on Cady's work.

Why are they both wearing 2 watches? Isn't there an old saying along the lines of "a person with 2 watches is never sure what time it is"?

In case you want to know what a day on ISS is like...

Here are links to the time lines for each day. It shows what each crew member is supposed to be doing.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/timelines/index.html

There's a lot of jargon and acronyms here. If there is anything in particular you want translated, let me know, and I'll try to find out what it means.

Great picture by Paolo from ISS

http://www.flickr.com/photos/magisstra/5335505925/


I think this is particularly cool because it show how "3-D" the aurora really is.