Do Your Ears Pop in Space?: And 500 Other Surprising Questions about Space Travel

260 Pages·1997·31.942 MB·English

by  R. Mike Mullane

1
"Even space experts can learn from this entertaining collection ofthe facts behind the facts \
-NeilArmstrona.Commander GeminiVIII.AdoIIo 1
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Ears
Space?
in
AND 500 OTHER SURPRISING QUESTIONS ABOUT SPACE TRAVEL
Boston Public library
Do Your Ears Pop
Space?
in
Also by R. Mike Mullane
Red Sky, A Novel of Love, Space & War
Liftoff! An Astronaut's Dream
Do Your Ears Pop
Space?
in
and 500 Other
Surprising
Questions about
Space
Travel
R. Mike Mullane, Astronaut
&
John Wiley Sons, Inc.
NewYork • Chichester• Brisbane •Toronto • Singapore • Weinheim
This text is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright © 1997 by R. Mike Mullane
All rights reserved. Published simultaneously in Canada.
Photographs on pages 6, 7, 25, 30, 42, 43, 47, 52, 71, 74, 80, 81, 85, 86, 87,
88, 101, 115, 116, 117, 118, 124, 130, 131, 132, 135, 146, 164, 167, 170,
174, 179, and 180, courtesy ofNASA.
Reproductionor translationofanypart ofthis workbeyond that permitted by
Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without the
permission of the copyright owner is unlawful. Requests for permission or
further information should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John
&
Wiley Sons, Inc.
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative informa-
tion in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understand-
ing that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other
professional services. Iflegal advice or other expert assistance is required, the
services of a competent professional person should be sought.
Library of Congress Cataloging^in^Publication Data
Mullane, R. Mike.
Do your ears pop in space? and 500 other surprising questions
about space travel / R. Mike Mullane.
p. cm.
Includes index
ISBN 0-471-15404—-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Astronautics Miscellanea. I. Title.
TL793.M7893 1997
629.4—dc 20 96-28544
CIP
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
9876543
10 2 1
This book is dedicated to the—heroes and heroines of America's
NASA
space program the team.
BR BR
TL793
M7893
1997

Acknowledgments
Believe it or not, astronauts don't know everything about space,
and I depended upon many other people to complete this work.
A sincere thanks goes to the following individuals who gave
freely of their time to answer questions or review my manuscript:
Steve Nesbitt, Pam Alloway, Doug Ward, and Norma Rhoads of
NASA
the Johnson Space Center (JSC) Public Affairs Office;
other NASA JSC employees Dan Adamo, Karen Ross, Duane
Ross, Karen Edelstein, David Shaw, Bill Atwell, Bob Williams,
Sharon Jones, Olan Bertrand, and Bill Bates; Astronauts Sid
Gutierrez, Pierre Thuot, Jerry Ross, Robert (Hoot) Gibson, Jim
Bagian, Dick Truly, Steve Hawley, Ken Bowersox, and Rhea Sed-
don; Dennis Stocker of NASA's Lewis Research Center in
Cleveland, who was particularly helpful in reviewing my com-
NASA
ments on weightlessness; Dr. Joe Boyce, a former flight
surgeon, and Dr. Denise Baisden, a current flight surgeon, who
were my medical sources; Tammy West, the source ofsome ofmy
astronaut facts (as an astronaut office secretary, she probably
knows more about astronauts than anybody alive); Colin Sikor-
ski of Hitachi Semiconductor (America) Inc., who did some
Einsteinium relativity calculations for me; Kay Hemme of Delta
Airlines, who deserves a huge thanks for making it possible for
me to travel so extensively to document Americans' curiosi—ty
about space. Another big—thank you goes to my children
Patrick, Amy, and Laura who have always been enthusiastic
audiences for my literary efforts. Finally, a heartfelt thanks goes
to my wife Donna. She's been my best friend and confidant for
29 years. Thanks again, everybody!