Orbital jet
lag aside, space seems to agree with U.S. space tourist Gregory Olsen, who
ended his fourth day aboard the International Space Station (ISS) Thursday with
a video broadcast to Earth.
Olsen spoke
to listeners at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey
from the space station's U.S.-built Destiny laboratory, though was unable to
take questions from the ground as he'd originally hoped.
"One of the
things I've learned out in space is that we forget how limited technology
really is and how far we have to go," Olsen said.
But unlike
his first
solo broadcast, which suffered from a satellite communications problem,
Olsen - the world's third paying visitor to the ISS - appeared clear and
comfortable.
A scientist
and entrepreneur who founded the Princeton, New Jersey-based optics firm Sensors
Unlimited, Olsen is paying about $20 million for the orbital trip under an
agreement brokered with Russia's Federal Space Agency by the Arlington,
Virginia-based space tourism firm Space Adventures.
Earlier in
his flight, Olsen reported
feeling none the motion sickness that sometimes affects astronauts, cosmonauts
and other space flyers. However, the station's constant flight around Earth has
been slightly disorienting given the 16 sunrises and sunsets that occur every
24 hours.
"There is a
little bit of jet lag," Olsen said of his sensation in Earth orbit. "It just
really whacks you out. The sun goes down in like a half a minute."
Olsen
described the view of Earth from 210 miles (337 kilometers) up aboard the ISS
as "wonderful," and reported spotting New Orleans - which still appeared flooded
from last month's hurricanes
- as well as Cape Town, South Africa and Princeton during his spaceflight.
Observing
the Earth is part of Olsen's planned science
program, which also includes a trio of medical experiments for the European
Space Agency (ESA) to better understand how the human body reacts to the
weightless environment of space.
"I never
thought I'd be doing this, even two years ago," Olsen said, adding that his
road to space has been difficult. "Here I am floating in the air."
After
declaring his intention
to fly up to the ISS in 2004, Olsen later stopped
training due to an undisclosed medical condition. In May 2005, that
condition had been resolved
and Olsen resumed his cosmonaut flight training at Russia's Star City.
Launch
and landing
Reflecting
on his Sept. 30 EDT launch
into Earth orbit aboard the Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft - which also carried ISS Expedition
12 commander Bill McArthur and flight engineer Valery Tokarev toward the
station - Olsen marveled at the flight's speed.
"Once we
took off, we reached zero [gravity] in a little over eight minutes," Olsen
said. "It's quite a shot, as you can imagine."
Olsen also
described is upcoming departure from the space station set for Oct. 10 EDT,
when he will return to Earth aboard a Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft alongside Expedition
11 commander Sergei Krikalev and flight engineer John Phillips. Krikalev
and Phillips are handing control of the ISS over to their Expedition 12
counterparts and concluding a six-month mission in space.
"It's
mostly a wing and a prayer, and there are some really interesting aerodynamics,"
Olsen said of the descent, during which the Soyuz crew capsule separates from
the spacecraft's orbital and propulsion modules and enters the Earth's atmosphere.
"It's like the Apollo [capsule], except it's bell-shaped."
Olsen said
he looks forward to returning to the U.S. after his flight. He expects to make
one more video broadcast on Oct. 7 between 6:30-7:00
p.m. EDT (2230-2300 GMT).
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