The first ISS spacewalk for this year took place on 14/1, from the Russian segment, the 24th Russian spacewalk. Details:
- Maksim Suraev (EV1, Orlan-MK №4)
- Oleg Kotov (EV2, Orlan-MK №5)
- Duration: 5h 44m (10:05-15:49)
- From Pirs
- ISS Daily Report, NASASpaceflight.com thread, TsUP
“At last, space station crew gets live Internet”, MSNBC.com, 22/1. I did mention in my 4/12/2009 entry that the ISS crews were getting Internet, and this article gives more details (see also “NASA Extends the World Wide Web Out Into Space”, NASA Media Advisory, 22/1/2010).
Humphries said the space Internet uses the station’s high-speed Ku-band antenna, so it is active whenever the station has that connection. To surf the Web, astronauts can use a station laptop to control a desktop computer on Earth. It is that ground computer that has the physical connection to the Internet. There are security restrictions in place to protect the Internet portal, which NASA is calling the Crew Support LAN (Local Access Network).
Energiya’s website is undergoing a makeover with a new design (reminiscent of NASA’s current site); the old one has been in place since the 1990s. They are still using a table for page layout though (a very outdated method now), and the site is not very accessible (too much Javascript, and I wish they would discontinue the images appearing in pop-up windows!).
I decided to rename my “Kosmonavtka” sub-site to “RuSpace” (Russian Spaceflight) which is easier to say and remember. I wish I had not chosen the Kosmonavtka name – it makes no sense (it means “lady cosmonaut”, «Космонавтка») and sounds wierd – but was stuck for a name at the time, and happened to see it in a book. Thankfully I did not choose it for my main site URL (it was an option I considered).
I found out how to do 301 redirects, so have spent the afternoon moving files. Unfortunately it means anyone who has linked to my site will have to update bookmarks or links (there are quite a lot), and search engines will have to reindex, which might take many months.
I don’t update my space site (or this blog) much anymore; I feel little enthusiasm for it. The manned space program itself is going nowhere slowly – or around in circles – and just seems stagnant. Perhaps if there were an international manned Mars mission my interest would rekindle, but such a mission is unlikely to happen for a long time, if ever, given the numerous problems in the world.
