JessiandMatt.net

NASA’s Report on Columbia Crew Survival

Matt — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 04:54:28 +0000

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

Better Late Than Never

Matt — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:24:51 +0000

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

I’m proud of my Boy Scout!

Matt — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:13:42 +0000

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

Crazy Hound

Matt — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:11:54 +0000

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

Pictures from the summer…

Matt — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:24:48 +0000

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…

Weird Hound

Matt — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:39:01 +0000

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

Stuart

Matt — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:58:10 +0000

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…

Family Portraits

Matt — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:25:21 +0000

It’s been a while since we’ve had some family portraits posted on the page, so I thought I’d recycle some recent photos. Check them out below:

From Monterey

Getting Settled In

Matt — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 20:06:35 +0000

I think Popo is feeling more at home.

From Popo

Trying Again

Matt — Sat, 24 May 2008 23:50:25 +0000

Back last December, we tried to add another greyhound to the house. It didn’t turn out so well. So, we’ve been carefully looking since then to see if we could find another hound that might fit in around here. Well, it would appear that we may have finally found one. Her name is Popo, and she’s a nine year old black female. She’s a lot like Willie. She only raced a few races, and she’s very low key. We brought her home this afternoon, and she’s already comfortably sleeping in her bed in the living room. Below is a few pictures of her relaxing in the backyard. Her racing information can be found by clicking here, which will take you to Popo’s page on greyhound-data.com. Like Willie, she only raced a handful of races (just six). She’s quite a bit smaller than Willie, only weighing just a bit over fifty pounds, where Willie weighs seventy pounds.