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Author
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Topic: Podspotting: iPods on the shuttle, station
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kyra
Member Posts: 583
From: Louisville CO US
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted 09-30-2006 07:54 PM
   
Being a fan and collector of off-the-shelf flown type, have any iPods flown to space on shuttle or ISS missions?I've seen Sony Discman players quite a bit but no iPods so far... I'd love to know any details of this. Thanks all. Kyra |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 09-30-2006 08:29 PM
Spaceflight participant Greg Olsen is thought to be the first to bring his iPod to space. He invested his own money to have the Apple music player tested and "hardened" for space flight.Since his flight, the STS-121 crew became the first to leave CD players home and each take personal iPods instead. Quoting our interview with STS-121 commander Steve Lindsey, "We actually carry iPods now [so] I had my son put a lot of [music] on there for me. I'm not really exactly sure what I have on there. He promises that it is music that I am going to like but I've heard some of the stuff he listens to and I'm not sure I will. But fortunately, I hardly have any time to listen to it." The STS-115 crew also flew iPods, with one exception. Pilot Chris Ferguson opted to carry the older CD player instead as part of an educational demonstration whereby he powered the machine by a mini-solar array. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-10-2006 08:41 PM
quote:
Originally posted by kyra:
Have any iPods flown to space on shuttle or ISS missions?
 (Crop from ISS014-E-08795 [29 Nov. 2006]) |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-12-2006 04:18 PM
STS-116 pilot Bill Oefelein's iPod: 
(Crop from S116-E-05401 [11 Dec. 2006]) |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-12-2006 04:24 PM
And another aboard Discovery/STS-116... 
(Crop from S116-E-05405 [11 Dec. 2006]) |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-12-2006 08:55 PM
As mentioned above, we know that iPods in orbit predate Expedition 14 (and STS-116). The STS-115 crew (less Fergie) also had iPods, as did the STS-121 crew, Anousheh Ansari and Greg Olsen. So its surprising that they weren't caught on film/pixels until now, or were they? 
(Crop from S115-E-06786 [17 Sept. 2006]) The NASA caption for the above photo reads: "Astronaut Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper, STS-115 mission specialist, works out on a bicycle ergometer on the middeck of the Space Shuttle Atlantis." Seems she had some traveling music to pedal by... |
tegwilym
Member Posts: 2331
From: Sturgeon Bay, WI
Registered: Jan 2000
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posted 12-13-2006 12:44 PM
Not a single Microsoft Zune in sight... |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-16-2008 08:07 PM
While spotting iPods on the shuttle and station has become increasingly common, this shot, captured last week as Endeavour approached the ISS during the STS-123 mission, has become popular in the blogosphere for its iPod's prominent placement. 
(Crop from ISS016-E-032313 [12 March 2008]) ABC News also made an interesting mention of the iPod in a story by Gina Sunseri, What You Don't Know About Living in Space. In it Sunseri writes, quote:
The iPods had to be modified to fly in space; the lithium batteries were taken out and replaced with alkaline double As that are certified to fly on the shuttle.
If you note, in all of the above photos of iPods, they are attached to Belkin's Backup Battery Pack, which indeed does work with four AA batteries. |
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