American Morning
Counting Down Cady: Touring KSC with family and friends
Editor's Note: Cady Coleman, Ph.D. is a NASA astronaut – a veteran of two space missions, who has logged over 500 hours in space. She is assigned to the Expedition 26 crew and is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station aboard the Russian Soyuz 25 in late 2010. Below is a blog written by Cady exclusively for CNN via NASA's Astronaut Office.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/05/14/cady.josh.jamey.ksc.34.cnn.art.jpg caption="Astronaut Cady Coleman poses with her husband Josh and son Jamey at Kennedy Space Center."]
By Cady Coleman, Special to CNN
How does the time go so fast? Just a few weeks ago, Jamey, Josh and I were watching the Space Shuttle Discovery blast off from the Kennedy Space Center for the STS-131 mission to the International Space Station. Now it is May, and the STS-132 crew is already poised for their trip to the station to deliver our newest Russian module.
I’ve worked many of the launches over the years, but I’ve never been able to see one with my family. Because we launch from there, many folks think that astronauts live at KSC, but most of us are based in Houston. That’s why it is a treat to visit the space center, especially at launch time.
In just two days, Josh, Jamey and I watched a space shuttle launch, cringed as an alligator snatched a muskrat, strapped ourselves into a shuttle launch simulation at the visitors’ center and checked out the KSC SWAT team. For a 9 year old, vacation doesn’t get any better than that, and his Mom and Dad were pretty thrilled as well.
I marvel every time I fly into KSC for training. The center covers something like 140,000 acres, many of which are part of a wildlife preserve. Alligators, wild boars, snakes and manatees are everywhere, right next to active launch pads and massive machines like the crawlers that carry the shuttle stack to the launch pad. I know that the KSC workers probably get used to seeing these things every day, but driving by the launch pads is a huge inspiration for me.
I always try to make time to visit the old launch pads from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs when I come to KSC, and I felt lucky to be able to show these special places to Jamey and Josh. Those early missions were built one upon the other, flown by real people with the same passion for exploration that surrounds me in the NASA family. Even though it makes me sad, I often visit Launch Complex 34, where we lost the crew of Apollo 1. It is important to me to respect the memory of the astronauts that paved the road that I now travel. I am humbled to think about the moments in history connected to these places that have made it possible for astronauts like me to think of six months on a space station as almost routine!
Counting Down Cady: Astronaut vs. volcano
Editor's Note: Cady Coleman, Ph.D. is a NASA astronaut – a veteran of two space missions, who has logged over 500 hours in space. She is assigned to the Expedition 26 crew and is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station aboard the Russian Soyuz 25 in late 2010. Below is a blog written by Cady exclusively for CNN via NASA's Astronaut Office.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/04/23/cady.airport.art.jpg caption="Astronaut Cady Coleman stranded at an empty airport terminal in Frankfurt, Germany."]
By Cady Coleman, Special to CNN
Planes, Trains and Automobiles vs. The Space Shuttle
It turned out to be easier for the crew of Discovery to undock from the International Space Station and land the space shuttle than for me to fly home to the United States after my training trip to Europe this past week! Just when you think you have it all figured out, Mother Nature throws a curve ball that forces us to reevaluate our place here on the planet.
Volcanic ash from an erupting volcano in Iceland caused most European airspace to be closed because of the potential for ingesting volcanic ash into aircraft engines. The space shuttle landed smoothly at the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, but getting home from Frankfurt was a completely different story!
We had just finished a week of training at the European Space Agency, when Flight Director Bob Dempsey and I found ourselves stranded along with thousands of other passengers in Frankfurt. As more news about the nature of the cloud and our inability to predict or control it became clear, I realized that I needed to make more drastic backup plans if I wanted to salvage precious school vacation time with Jamey and Josh.
Counting Down Cady: Boiling water at room temperature
Editor's Note: Cady Coleman, Ph.D. is a NASA astronaut – a veteran of two space missions, who has logged over 500 hours in space. She is assigned to the Expedition 26 crew and is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station aboard the Russian Soyuz 25 in late 2010. Below is a blog written by Cady exclusively for CNN via NASA's Astronaut Office.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/04/02/caldwell.tracy.gi.art.jpg caption="Astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson waves while getting into her space on April 2, 2010 for launch to the International Space Station."]
By Cady Coleman, Special to CNN
Woo hoo! My friend Tracy Caldwell Dyson is in space! Tracy blasted off last night in a Russian Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan along with Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov and fellow flight engineer Mikhail Kornienko.
That is just the beginning of an exciting month at NASA. Two days from now they’ll dock with the International Space Station (ISS) and begin their six month expedition. Meanwhile, the Space Shuttle Discovery is poised on the pad for an early morning launch Monday and their crew of seven will dock with the ISS on Wednesday.
Those seven astronauts include three women that I’m proud to call friends: Stephanie Wilson, Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger and Naoko Yamazaki. Let’s hear it for girlfriends in space!
The same preparations that got Tracy for her journey last night have kept me hopping as well. Since I last wrote in late January, I’ve traveled to Russia and Japan for training, spent weekends in Massachusetts to see my husband Josh and my son Jamey, qualified on the robotic arm to "catch" our supply ships, picked out pants, shirts and workout gear to wear on the space station, helped Sandra Day O’Connor celebrate her 80th birthday and got a decent start on organizing the many piles of stuff around my house and office for next December’s launch.
Counting Down Cady: Out of this world 'Chicks Network'
Editor's Note: Cady Coleman, Ph.D. is a NASA astronaut – a veteran of two space missions, who has logged over 500 hours in space. She is assigned to the Expedition 26 crew and is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station aboard the Russian Soyuz 25 in late 2010. This is part of our year-long American Morning original series, "Counting Down Cady."
(CNN) – Cady Coleman was 18 when six women made history and helped make her future possible. They were part of the astronaut class of 1978. Sally Ride, America's first woman in space, was one of them.
Today, for our continuing original series "Counting Down Cady," our John Zarrella takes a look at the bond shared by female astronauts.
Counting Down Cady: 'Cady Cam' takes us to Japan
Editor's Note: Cady Coleman, Ph.D. is a NASA astronaut – a veteran of two space missions, who has logged over 500 hours in space. She is assigned to the Expedition 26 crew and is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station aboard the Russian Soyuz 25 in late 2010. This is part of our year-long American Morning original series, "Counting Down Cady."
American astronaut Cady Coleman is getting ready for a six month stay aboard the International Space Station and we are getting an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look as she trains for the mission.
Today, Cady brings us to Japan courtesy of her "Cady Cam."
Counting Down Cady: Astronaut's mission for kids
Editor's Note: Cady Coleman, Ph.D. is a NASA astronaut – a veteran of two space missions, who has logged over 500 hours in space. She is assigned to the Expedition 26 crew and is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station aboard the Russian Soyuz 25 in late 2010. This is part of our year-long American Morning original series, "Counting Down Cady."
Don't miss: Read Cady's blog
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