ISS astronaut, upon seeing inside SpaceX Dragon vehicle first time: "It looks sci-fi."

[n2doc]

By Xeni Jardin at 10:42 am Monday, May 28


André Kuipers, a Dutch physician and astronaut with the European Space Agency, was on board the ISS when the SpaceX Dragon vehicle berthed. He took this photograph, and wrote,

Inside of the Dragon module. Beautiful. Spacious, Modern. Blue LEDs. Feels a bit like a sci-fi filmset. Of course it is from Los Angeles.

He wrote more about the historic space milestone here, on his blog.

Last Friday was a special day on my mission. Don and I docked the SpaceX’s cargoship Dragon to the Space Station. Dragon brings new equipment for the crew. On the 31st of May it will return to Earth with supplies from the others and myself. The Dragon mission is the operational highlight of my mission. But it is also a milestone for international spaceflight. This is the first time that a commercial spacecraft has flown to the ISS and docked with the Station. You could say a new era of spaceflight has begun. Soon private companies will take people to and from space.

http://boingboing.net/2012/05/28/iss-astronaut-upon-seeing-ins.html

[longship]

1. Stick a PanAm stewardess in the pic...

Walking around the outside until she's upside down.

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

[bananas]

2. Wow - Not something you'd expect from someone living in a space station!

It really highlights how old the ISS, Space Shuttle, and Soyuz designs are.

[MisterP]

3. "dimension of pure evil . . . showers of blood . . . oh God oh God o"

[tclambert]

4. I know someone who works for SpaceX, and he's a huge "Alien" fan.

So don't go looking for the cat. Just saying.

[solarman350]

5. Where's "Hal?"

Dave Bowman: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.

HAL: I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.

Dave Bowman: What's the problem?

HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
-------------------

Dave: Heal the Earth Hal.

Hal: I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.

[sofa king]

6. It looks like someone left a syrofoam cup in the panel on the right.

I doubt that's what it actually is, though.

[MicaelS]

7. It DOES look like the Nostromo

Neat.