posted March 23, 2008 12:28 PM               

What an AWESOME, history-making EVA! This one will go down as one of our biggest successes in EVA history. Words can not express how proud you made everyone with the execution by the entire team. Scott, what a way to add to an already impressive EVA career! The summit of Everest will have a hard time competing with the view from the boom.

Now, Scott Parazynski is heading for another high climb, attempting to summit Mt. Everest.

Departing today for Nepal, Parazynski will be followed in his trek over the next month by a NASA team heading to Everest's base camp. Among the expedition are STS-120 fellow spacewalker Doug Wheelock, as well as astronauts Jeff Ashby and Kent Rominger.

A veteran of five space shuttle missions, Parazynski is currently scheduled to attempt the summit in May. Among the items he plans to take with him to the top are a flag flown on his second spaceflight, STS-86, to the Mir space station, and tributes to NASA's fallen astronauts, including Karl Henize, the first astronaut to attempt Everest.

On October 4, 1993, STS-51F astronaut Karl G. Henize, Ph.D., died during an Everest climbing expedition organized by the Loel Guiness Research Foundation. In accordance with his prior request, he was buried on the mountain at the British base camp.

Parazynski will also carry with him with a patch for the annual April 12th Yuri's Night celebrations and flags for Texas Children’s Cancer Center's Purple Songs Can Fly project and the Houston Museum of Natural Science's Challenger Center.

The climb will be well covered on the web, with multiple sites posting updates:

• OnOrbit.com expedition blog
  
• NASA Trekking Team blog
  
• NASA Trekking Team wiki site
  
• Twitter for up-to-the-minute field reports
  
• Video Clips: a special playlist will cover the expedition
  
• Facebook Group covering the expedition

posted March 23, 2008 04:43 PM               

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Originally posted by Jay Chladek:
Now even though members of the expedition are NASA astronauts, is this an official NASA expedition or is it just a climb among friends who happen to be NASA astronauts?

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I'm taking this trip on my own time and dime, but my team and I hope to share with all those interested a view into the life of an Everest expedition, particularly since there are so many parallels between the exploration we do in space to what we'll be doing in the Himalayas.

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posted March 23, 2008 09:01 PM               

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As a 30-year-old physician, Scott Parazynski joined a team of other doctors organizing a climb of Mount Everest. But two months into the planning, he got a call from NASA inviting him to become an astronaut.

Everest would have to wait.

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posted March 24, 2008 09:16 PM               

Astronaut Scott Parazynski soon sets off for a new expedition. This time, he won't be leaving Earth.

posted March 25, 2008 10:42 AM               

• In 1991 aboard STS-40, James Bagian carried "a small souvenir rock collected by his friend Tom Hornbein in 1963 on the first ascent of the West Ridge of Mount Everest."

• In 2006 aboard STS-115, Steve MacLean carried "a small stone off of Mount Everest" for a friend who had climbed the seven continents' seven highest mountains.

posted April 02, 2008 05:10 PM               

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Originally posted by MCroft04:
Does Scott need permission from NASA to attempt such a dangerous undertaking?

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1. Is Scott Parazynski on official NASA work time for this extensive trek and climb? No, Scott is not on duty status and is on personal annual leave. Other than annual leave compensation, he is receiving no compensation from NASA. This is basically a vacation for him that fits with his mountaineering hobby.

2. People have died in climbing Mount Everest, doesn't NASA have some rules directing astronauts to not participate in dangerous activities. Yes, NASA does have rules that limit activities like snow skiing, water skiing, mountain climbing, skydiving, etc. for astronauts assigned to a space mission. These restrictions take effect 12 months prior to the scheduled launch. . But since Parazynski is not assigned to a mission (he recently completed a mission as a crew member of STS-120), these restrictions do not apply. Parazynski is now in a period that allows an extensive vacation prior to beginning the typical technical work required of astronauts in between mission assignments.

3. NASA appears to be supporting this climb, is NASA a partner in this activity? NASA Public Affairs identified a value in helping communicate aspects of Parazynski's Everest climb because of the natural parallels between the challenges of climbing the Earth's tallest mountain and exploring space. Scott is a big supporter of exploration and education and developed a number of ways to communicate the story of his climb to tell others and encourage young people to pursue their education and dreams. NASA sees a great - if not unusual - opportunity to collaborate in communications that help the public see the parallels between space exploration and exploration of the far reaches of Earth.

4. NASA seems to be using different media to communicate about the Everest trip, why is this? We see this as a good opportunity to try out and enlarge our ability to use more advanced, social media capabilities for unique exploration activities. Material from Scott will appear on a NASA blog site, a YouTube site, and even a MySpace page. In addition, several individuals and groups will receive communiques from Scott to help transmit the story.

5. NASA must be spending excessive amounts of resources to support this private adventure, how much? NASA is supporting its very small involvement with resources already funding public affairs programs. Personnel are supporting this effort in addition to other on-going duties supporting Shuttle, Station and Constellation. A small amount was used to arrange for very limited number of satellite phone services to get the story directly from Scott. All other climbing-related equipment and expenses, including personal insurance, was paid for by Parazynski.

6. To some this might appear to be a special privilege for Parazynski, is he getting any special favors here as an astronaut? As an astronaut who's flown to space five times, Scott does have a certain degree of fame that makes the story of his climb more newsworthy. As in astronaut appearances and speeches, astronauts are particularly good at telling the story of their explorations and the public readily pays attention. In this case, Scott's on his own time, but the story of his climb has enough parallels to space exploration to capture the public's interest to hear message about importance of preparation, training, safety, teamwork, etc. for difficult exploration expeditions. In the end, this is a special situation where there is a benefit to our communications role in helping tell others about his climb.

7. What exactly are the parallels? There are great parallels of mountain climbing and space exploration including survival in very challenging, extreme environments, working in specialized, even dangerous circumstances wearing specially-adapted clothing, developing and working in small teams on highly-demanding tasks, etc. Parazynski's climb to the peak of Mt. Everest is much like astronaut training such as the NEEMO underwater lab and wilderness training which are often publicized to show the public similarities to space exploration. Also during Scott's summit, a call will be attempted to patch Parazynski to station crewmembers to further describe the parallels between the two activities.
   
   
   • What other historical events/activities have involved NASA astronauts and Mt. Everest? Parazynski took photographs of Mr. Everest from space, which he will present to various groups in Nepal during his expedition. He is also carrying a number of flown items such as mission patches, flags and tributes to fallen NASA astronauts including STS-51F crewmember Dr. Karl Henize, the first astronaut to attempt Everest, but died during the expedition in 1993.

8. How long as Scott been planning this expedition? Scott has been planning for this expedition for more than 15 years. He was originally scheduled to join an expedition to climb Everest in 1992, but his selection into the astronaut corps and subsequent space mission postponed his expedition plans until this year.

9. Are other NASA astronauts also climbing Mt. Everest with Scott? Several other NASA astronauts and employees will also be traveling to Mt. Everest basecamp for a portion of Parazyski's trip (around the time he attempts to reach the summit). These NASA employees are also using their own personal funding and vacation time for this trip and will be on a separate expedition from Parazynski. They will not be attempting to summit the mountain, but instead will provide moral support and assist with transmitting expedition coverage and educational support.

posted April 19, 2008 12:21 PM               

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Scott and his team have been at Everest Base Camp at an elevation of 5,380 meters (17,700 ft) on the south side of Mt. Everest in Nepal for a week now.

He sounded really good and said that "everyone is doing well and in excellent spirits" but noted that "at this point a little of the loneliness is starting to set in" in terms of friends and family and that in this regard he "now feels a kinship with my friends on-orbit".

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Today he and his climbing team will be heading up to Camp 1 which is located at 6,065 meters (19,900 feet) where they will stay for three days. This is all part of the gradual process whereby he will acclimatize his body to work at higher and higher altitudes. This process assures that climbers will be at maximum capacity when it is time to make the push for the summit.

During their stay at Camp 1 they will make a day hike even higher up to Camp 2 also known as Advanced Base Camp (ABC) which is located at 6,500 meters (21,300 feet). They will then head back down to Everest Base Camp and rest for a few days before doing this again.

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posted April 28, 2008 03:37 PM               

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The Nepalese authorities have imposed a complete communications ban from the base camp upwards and closed territory on Everest above 6,500 metres until the torch has been and gone from the top.

We knew there were restrictions on satellite phones and video cameras but were now told that even pre-recorded radio material on non-political subjects would not be allowed.

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