Thursday, June 19, 2014

What are the chances?




Google  Matthew Gast EVA  and you can read his 11-13-08 interview he did about the work he does as an EVA (extravehicular activities) Trainer.


Believe it or not last Friday 6-13-14 I am in my pole shed working on a little project for the Duct Tape collection to bring to OM World Finals next year. Into the driveway pulls a car and out jumps the guy that has handled my insurance and investments for the last year and a half. He was in the area, it was a nice day, he had some time and thought he would just drop in. He asks, "What are you working on?"

My former advisor retired from the company a year and a half ago and Matt his replacement. I told Matt that I was working on my Duct Tape collection. He was puzzled, but he was interested and I began to explain the collection and pointed to the U.S. and World maps in the shed surrounded with all the rolls of Duct Tape. He was impressed and I explained to him how I had some extra special Duct Tape to show him. Duct Tape from the International Space Station (ISS - 13 mission) signed by 15 astronauts!

As I show Matt the tape he says to me, "I told you I worked for NASA didn't I?" I said no I didn't know that. I asked how long? Matt tells me he worked for them from 1999 to 2011. Then as he looks at the astronauts signatures on the Duct Tape from STS - 115 and 121 missions he says, "I know these guys. I worked with them in the NBL (Neutral Buoyancy Lab) in Huston as a trainer working with them to build the ISS." I am dumb founded to say the least! The he shows his arm and the tattoo he got while working at the NBL. This is the real deal! NASA has a great web site and lots of information on the NBL and what goes on there if you want to read more about it. It's awesome!
I am looking forward to learning and sharing more of the stories of future Duct Tape collections and the people involved. Keep thinking how you might help get a roll from a country not on the list.
  
I ask you, really, "What are the chances?"

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Ed Smylie signs roll of Duct Tape for world collection

Ed Smylie, oversaw NASA's crew systems division in 1970 and was presented with GlobalSpec's Great Moments in Engineering Award in 2005 for his work in concocting a plan using plastic bags, cardboard and Duct Tape to save the Apollo 13 crew after their space craft was crippled by an explosion.

The problem was that the square CO2 filters from the command module needed to be used in the lunar module's round openings or the crew would die of CO2 poisoning!  Here is a picture of the solution to the problem. For more pictures and details of how Ed's team communicated this to the astronauts to build in space  Google  Ed Smylie  .

If you would like to help complete the World Duct Tape collection it's easy. Go to the second post on this blog for a list of countries I already have signed rolls from. Get your roll from a country not on the list and have it signed inside by a person living in that country, also have them write in the city and country the roll is from. I will be happy to reimburse you for the cost of the roll and postage to get it to me. Send along the story of how you got the roll and I'll post it on this blog.


Just mail it to Dick Anderson  11672 Center Hill Road Darlington, Wisconsin 53530 U.S.A. 
or e mail me at  richard640@centurytel.net if you have questions.  Thanks in Advance.

Monday, June 2, 2014

Duct Tape from the International Space Station

Hello Omers and all others interested in Duct Tape. Hope everyone had a safe return home after the 2014 World Finals in Ames, Iowa. Great week and hope that many visitors will be checking this blog to see and help with collection rolls of Duct Tape from all over the world.

Since collection my first roll from an OM team from China on 5-31-04 at Maryland World Finals a lot has happened. One of the highlights was getting duct tape (called cargo tape) that was on the ISS.

The story goes like this - In 2006 my students were in the process of laying out a full sized outline of the ISS on the playground next to the school. I saw a news report of a live video call that an astronaut on board the ISS was making to students of Winter High School in Winter, Wisconsin USA. This caught my attention and I found out that the astronaut was ISS-13 Science Officer Jeff Williams from Winter, WI. I knew that NASA used Duct Tape and had seen pictures taken inside the ISS where rolls of Duct Tape were visible. I thought how cool it would be to get a roll from the ISS signed by an astronaut. Thinking that maybe Jeff's parents might still live in Winter I searched and sure enough. There was a Lloyd Williams listen. I mailed a letter telling Lloyd about OM and duct tape and if he thought Jeff might be able to help us out. He contacted Jeff on the ISS for the next six months and Jeff said he was interested and would help us out.

He would not be able to bring back a roll, however, he made a project out of it and in true OM fashion solved the problem.  Jeff covered an ISS Cue Card with Cargo Tape. Then got the three ISS 13 astronauts to sign it. During the next six months STS  115 and STS 121 made trips to the ISS and Jeff got them to also sign the tape!  Fifteen astronauts in all!! The signatures are in three columns and I have listed each below with their mission number if you want to do more research on them.

1st Column
Wisconsin - Jeff Williams - ISS 13  MS
New Jersey - Mark Kelly - STS 121 Pilot
Washington DC - Lisa Nowak - STS 121 MS
Massachusetts - Stephanie Wilson - STS121 MS

2nd Column
California - Steven Lindsey - STS121 CMD
South Dakota - Mike Fossum - STS 121 MS
United Kingdom - Piers Sellers - STS 121 MS
Russia - Pavel Vinogradov - ISS 13 CMD

3rd Column
Michigan - Brent Jett - STS 115 CMD
Canada - Steven MacLean - STS 115 MS
Germany - Thomas Reiter - STS 121 and Expedition 13
Illinois - Joe Tanner - STS 115 MS
Pennsylvania - Chris Ferguson - STS 115 Pilot
Connecticut - Dan Burbank - STS 115 MS
Minnesota - Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper  - STS 115 MS



This is the folder I keep "the tape from space" in. 

And now you know the story about "the tape from space". I hope that you enjoy and might be able to help or spread the word about this blog to get signed rolls of Duct Tape from the world countries I don't have. Check the list found on the previous blog entry. Keep checking for new rolls being added and the story that goes with them. Maybe you will be part of the story.

Remember - Duct Tape holds the world together.