New work

I'll be spending July and August in Baltimore as part of the on-orbit calibration team, but before I go, I need to deal with this: a 10 ton mound of pea gravel sitting in our driveway. The easy part --- mulching the nearby xeric bed --- is done. Now, we have to move the remaining mountain down the driveway, through the back yard and up the hill to the rock garden in the front. After moving the first several loads yesterday, I added a new workout to my iFitness log, where each trip up the hill is a rep and the weight is the number of shovel-fulls of gravel in each wheelbarrow load. I think by the end, I will have arms and shoulders like Michelle Obama.

COS Launch

The weather on launch day was wicked hot: in the high 80s with equivalent humidity. We would take turns keeping our spot on the bleachers while the other person hid underneath. (Note to self: the answer to the question "Do you think I should bring some water?" is always YES!) The launch itself went off like a dream and the servicing mission, while not without drama, was a complete success. John Grunsfeld is a machine: he and Drew Feustel installed COS with no trouble at all, after which John executed the extremely tricky ACS repair with as much ease as the rest of us fiddle with our toasters on the ground. It was a masterful performance. Today, we turn on the near-ultraviolet detector and start getting the first on-orbit data. Woot!