I just did a sweet video call with astronaut Woody Hoburg orbiting above in the ISS. We began with him in the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), and I saw JEM under construction… so I pulled up my photo (on top screen) to show him the outside of the same JEM face we can see behind him in the live video feed (on bottom screen).
We both agree that EVAs are the peak space experience, and that the Russian toilet design is insane, creating a massive stockpile of filled bulky metal canisters awaiting disposal by a Cygnus reentry burn.
We are both high power rocketry enthusiasts, and that is how he found me (from my TED Talk). He went up on SpaceX Crew 6 and is five months into Expedition 69. Go 69, go, go, go!
We used NASA’s Ku-band TDRS for connectivity, and so we had to manage the inevitable comms latency of a GEO-relay (vs LEO, like Starlink).
He showed me the ISS, from toilet to breathtaking cupola window overlooking the Soyuz, Dragon and Cygnus currently docked. It was surreal to be doing this live, a variant of the overview effect for me.
I took him on a tour of my space collection. He especially liked the flown logo panel from the first SpaceX human flight. His equivalent panel is still on his spacecraft and must pop off during reentry for the parachutes to deploy.
After 1.5 hours, I ended with: “next time you are on Earth, drop by to see it in person.”
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