What time is it on the International Space Station? When you get used to traveling 5 miles per second, do you get "un-motion" sickness when you get back on Earth for the first time? Do you wear sunblock up there? Do you always feel bizzare because of the constant full moon? How do you elevate your legs after running the Boston Marathon when you are in space? If you have questions for an International Space Station Commander - not just any Space Commander... one that has run the 2007 Boston Marathon in orbit - then you better, by golly, be prepared to ask her this coming Saturday, May 7th!
The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord has announced a very wicked awesome special guest Sunita "Suni" (pronounced Sunny) Williams for their 2016 Aerospacefest which goes all day from 10:30 AM to 4:00 PM.
The more I learn about Suni, the more fascinated I become. This Needham, Massachusetts resident who was born an Ohioan Buckeye, began her career as a Naval helicopter pilot who served in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf for Desert Shield and went on to test military helicopters. She has flown more than 30 different aircraft. Suni went to NASA in 1998 and worked with the Russian Space Agency in Moscow. After Moscow, she spent 9 days without coming up for air under the ocean off the coast of Florida as part of the NEEMO2 exploratory mission before being strapped to a rocket and launched into the other inhospitable environment barely known to man in 2006...
She didn't just go to space. While she was up there, she took a total of 7 "space jaunts" and holds the female record for the most spacewalk time of 50 hours and 40 minutes. During her 322 days in space split between 2 missions, she has completed the Boston Marathon and the Nautica Malibu Triathlon with bibs and all. Not only was she up there working and staying fit, she was also the Commander!
(Naturally, her Jack Russell name Gorby is also an over-achiever with an impressive resume that includes starring on the Dog Whisperer)
The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center has a totally exciting schedule planned for this festival including: an educational Planetarium film debut, a comic book debut, Mad Science on the Main Stage, and vendor activities from science entities ranging from the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center to Raytheon. The price is $15 for adults, $13 for students and seniors, $10 for children, and free for members.
The Granite State 10 Miler course starts by running directly in front of this fascinating museum and it finishes with another look on the way back. Our race committee met with the Discovery Center Executive Director for an out-of-this-world brainstorm on how to partner to sputnik up our race weekend so watch out for more announcements to come.
High five at mile TEN!
A lot of the photos that I bummed are courtesy of NASA