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NASA released a report today titled, “Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report.”  Being a long time fan of the space program, I’ve already downloaded it and read through the major sections.  In particular, I’ve always been fascinated with space suits/pressure suits, so I was anxious to see if the report shed any more light into the ACES pressure suits worn by the Columbia crew.

Did it ever shed some light.  This was the most detailed report I’ve ever seen for any aviation/space accident that talked specifically about how the people were affected during the tragedy.  It wasn’t grotesque or morbid.  But it was sobering.  In many ways it was also a wakeup call for the next generation of spacecraft and space suit designers.

No one has ever designed an escape system for an in-flight breakup of a spacecraft.  This report shows us how far we have to go based on the performance of the Columbia’s systems.  What was clear from the report was that virtually every way the system could fail, did fail.  It even failed in ways no one ever expected.  If you have the time and an interest in the space program, it is definitely worth the read.  And don’t worry, there’s no gory pictures of crew remains at all.

http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/298870main_SP-2008-565.pdf

For another interesting read, here’s a short report on whether humans can actually survive exposure to a vacuum.

http://www.geoffreylandis.com/ebullism.html

I finally finished the annual holiday letter, a little later than planned, but before the end of the year.  We’re taking a break from mailing out Holiday Cards this year, and we’re just producing this electronic version of the Holiday Letter.  So , if you were curious to know what’s been happening at our house, check it out!

Happy Holidays 2008

Dmitri hit a huge milestone last week in his short career in Boy Scouting.  He achieved First Class Rank.  We’re awfully proud of him!

From Miscellaneous 2008

I caught Poe being Poe the other day.  She likes to have her face covered when she sleeps, so she did this with a blanket on the couch.

From Popo

I’ve been a bit remiss in keeping pictures posted from our very busy summer. I’ve finally gone through the pile, and the result is a couple of albums that should keep you entertained for a bit. I’m sure there will be more, so feel free to check again from time to time…

Popo is weird.  But we love her anyways.  She’s been a delight to have at our house.  I can’t imagine why the family who previously who had her wanted to give her up.  She’s recently decided that she likes sleeping on the couch at night.  So when I got up yesterday morning, I found her like this…

From Popo

It’s been a little more than a week since Stuart joined our family for the summer.  He’s from Northern Ireland, and came to visit us through the Children’s Program of Northern Ireland.  This is his first time in America, and it would seem that he’s having a good time so far.  Other than the fact he doesn’t like vegetables, he fits our family like a glove, and has made us get and be more than active this summer than we would normally be.

From Old Time Photos

From Minnesota Har…