Christer Fuglesang’s newsletter: quarantine
JSC crew quarters, 17 August 2009. Hi! Now it feels like the launch is approaching in leaps and bounds. An hour ago, together with the rest of the crew, I moved into the crew quarters at Johnson Space Center. Now we're sitting around the big conference table watching a semi-documentary on Apollo 11. It's two o’clock in the morning and we’re supposed to stay awake for three more hours.
In the days immediately before launch we will sleep between seven in the morning and three in the afternoon. The launch attempt will very likely be on August 24 at 01:58 local Florida time (07:58 in Sweden).
Unless the weather throws a spanner in the works. The hurricane season has started in earnest, and several storms have appeared over the Atlantic. Tropical storm Bill is expected to reach hurricane force soon, but it probably won't hit Florida.
We are not completely isolated in quarantine. Some instructors are allowed to come here if we have questions, as are spouses and children above the age of ten. Everyone that wants to see us has to be checked by a doctor first.
During the next couple of days I'll be going through notes and the material we've been supplied with during the almost year-long training. I'll be taking the most important stuff with me in my personal notebook, a Crew Notebook. Here in the crew quarters there are also many tools, appliances and so on to practice with, such as the things we’ll use on spacewalks.
On Wednesday afternoon we’ll fly to the Cape and move into the crew quarters there. When quarantine started, so did the 'space chess game'. I made my first move two hours ago: d2–d4. Follow the game and vote for moves at http://www.dn.se/nyheter/vetenskap/schack-christer-fuglesang-1.844628.
It's getting closer!
Regards,
Christer
