posted 04-14-2007 04:18 PM               

Thursday and Friday became some very special days for me. Thursday evening I was invited for a reception ceremony in honor of the STS-116 astronauts at Ambassador Benson K. Whitney's residence in Oslo. It was supposed to last for an hour and a half.

I had just been selected to compete for a slot at International Space Camp this summer and I was in Oslo to go through many of the same tests astronauts go through during the selection process. If that wasn't enough it was supposed to be filmed and aired on national television. Well, back to the reception...

We arrived early, before anyone else, and we spent some time talking with the ambassador who was just a great guy.

Then a lot of other people arrived, before lastly, the astronauts. Joan Higginbotham entered first and she went straight up to me and introduced herself. Sadly, I never got to talk with her later as everyone was very busy. Then Nick Patrick came, followed by Bob Curbeam, Mark Polansky and Christer Fuglesang. I introduced myself to them all, except for Polansky as he and the Ambassador were going to say a few words.

After some great words by Ambassador Whitney and Polansky we were free to approach the astronauts and ask them questions. The first I spoke with was Nick Patrick and he was just a class act. He was very easy-going and friendly and he gave me a vivid recollection of the launch. He also gave me some advice on education and we talked a while about Cambridge since he studied there and I visited the university a few years ago.

Well, being in Norway it wasn't very surprising seeing Christer as the most popular of the astronauts. He's half Norwegian (as the Norwegian news media loves to point out) and he was basically swamped. Even his wife could barely get to him through the crowd! I spoke briefly with him about finally getting into space after waiting 14 years and about how he felt about returning to earth.

Mark Polansky, poor guy, basically never got three feet away from where he stood while saying hello to everyone. Nevertheless he was more than happy to talk about the landing which he said was very easy. He also remarked how responsive the orbiter is "for such a lousy design of an aircraft". I also asked him how pilots almost always hit the centerline on the runway. "Well, actually where you touch down isn't that important, it's where you stop. That's the picture they'll get so if you miss you just gently steer for the centerline before wheels-stop,". Mark was a thrill speaking with.

For some reason I never got to speak to Beamer or Joan during the reception. Beamer however I got to meet the next day.

Well this is going to be a long post so just bear over with me. Friday morning we went to the Aviation Medical Institute to do all kinds of tests. First out was lung tests, then heart tests before going into a high altitude chamber. We got to try what they referred to as a rapid decompression simulation. What happened was that we went from 8000 feet to 25500 feet in 12 seconds. We'd been breating pure oxygen for an hour before to avoid getting the bends. I can tell you that although the decompression wasn't painful or very uncomfortable, it wasn't a joyride either. I also got to try a flight simulator they use on millitary pilots to check if they can cope with confusion of senses. According to one of the instructors he'd like to see me in the line of applicants for millitary pilots when I get old enough (I'm 16) as the flying went really well.

But now I'm straying off topic. In the afternoon Christer and Beamer showed up, and while Christer was interviewed I followed Beamer and listened to him talking to some med. students. He was really nice and was always very polite and had a good sense of humour. He and Christer was kind enough to sign my STS-116 crew patch. The only thing I forgot to ask them was if Beamer and the other American astroanuts had tried the infamous Norwegian brown cheese. Foreigners seldom like it very much.

As I said I was selected in a competition to go to Space Camp. One other also had been selected and the one in best shape got to go. In the end, our test results was so even that they scribbled our names on pieces of paper, Beamer mixed them, and then Christer picked the one of us that got to go. Sadly, I lost. However I have one more chance, but that's another story. Nevertheless I've gotten a unique experience that I just wanted to share with you and I the joy of meeting the astronauts I admire and all the other things that happened completely overshadow the disappointment of not going to space camp.

Sorry for making this such a long post, I don't know if you're that interested. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Kim

posted 04-15-2007 10:41 AM               

P.S. This was my paperback version of Tom Jones' book as his hard copy autographed version would never leave my house. Of course, then I had to protect the paperback version on my subsequent trip! Also when I asked Christer to sign Tom's book, he said that he would have to tell Tom about that for sure.