Wis. astronaut leaves this week for 3rd space trip
WINTER, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin astronaut Jeffrey Williams is heading back to space this week, and he's bringing a few reminders of home.
He says he's limited to two to three pounds of extra gear. He says he'll take a Bible, some family pictures and a few small U.S. flags.
The Winter man will be making his third trip to space Wednesday. He'll blast off from Kazakhstan in a Russian Soyuz rocket, for a six-month ride in Earth's orbit.
Williams says a Russian cosmonaut will be bringing his own trinket. Maxime Surayev will bring a small stuffed lion, part of a Russian space tradition. Williams says they leave the lion unsecured, so when it starts floating about the cabin they know they're officially in zero gravity.
Williams will return to Earth in mid-March.
Sep 29, 2009 at 3:47 p.m.
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Even still you have to make money to pay taxes.. I'm very excited that someone in Wisconsin has gone all this way.. Congrats to him..
Sep 29, 2009 at 1:31 p.m.
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There are only half a dozen more shuttle trips in the manifest, after that the orbiter program is retired. The ISS crews typically use a Soyuz on either the up or down leg of a journey, because the US shuttles simply don't fly often enough. Many of the Soyuz capsules are partly paid for by the European Space Agency or the US.
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Williams is one of two Americans on the second ISS six-person crew.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expedition_...
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It's taken a decade to construct the station and it's almost complete. Congratulations to all who made it possible.
Sep 29, 2009 at 10:16 a.m.
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Major Tom winds up for the pitch on Mars.
(Photo courtesy NASA)
http://www.yunchtime.net/misc/astronaut....
Sep 29, 2009 at 9:54 a.m.
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He is an astronaut! Not some guy on the street that spends his extra money flying to space for fun. A simple search on the internet shows a ton of information on him and his expertise. We should be proud that a Wisconsin Astronaut is heading to space this week.
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/wi...
Sep 29, 2009 at 9:15 a.m.
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Obviously he's NOT paying his way if he is going to be staying in the space station for 6 months. This is obviously government funded. And it's not a waste of tax payer money. Obviously he has some talents that NASA likes if they are sending him for a 3rd time. He may be going in a Russian Space craft because NASA doesn't have any plans to send trips for awhile. He's more than likely going up to relieve somebody who's been up there for the previous 6 months.
Sep 29, 2009 at 9:11 a.m.
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You think he does this as a vacation?
All kinds of technology has come from space travel. Just a quick click on space.com revealed that they are growing better vaccine's quicker in space than on the planet. Space is the future. To not invest in the future would be disastrous.
Sep 29, 2009 at 8:58 a.m.
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If he is riding in a Russian space ship I am sure he is paying his own way and none of your money is being spent on his joy ride. It's nice to have that kind of bucks to go for a pleasure ride.
Sep 29, 2009 at 8:32 a.m.
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Why go three times? What a waste of tax payer money.
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