History of ISS - Part 2

An Unlikely Guide

In order to continue our journey into the history of the ISS, I am going to introduce you to a little creature that has been to space. He's a bat, and has quite a fascination with space stations. 

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Don’t call me little! I’ve seen way more of space and time than you ever will! 

I’m sorry about that; I don’t like being called little. I know, I know, I AM little, but thats besides the point. Anyways, I’m Ato. That is pronounced “auto,” as in I’ll automatically dive bomb you if you pronounce it wrong, so don’t.

Credit: NASA

Don’t worry, I’m not mean, in fact, I can be quite a nice bat if you get to know me. I used to be famous, after all. You might have heard of me a number of years ago. I caught the attention of the Internets when I severely hurt my wing and decided to rest on what I thought was a giant orange tree. I found out later that it was a space shuttle external tank, not a tree. You can read more about my launch to space here, but needless to say, I didn't know anything about technology, or space travel. I was just resting. 

During that climb to space, the only thing I can think of that saved me, was that my body was somehow hit by a small stream of cosmic rays by some distant star collapsing to a quark star. How do I know that? Well, I don’t really. I just made it up, but something happened. I just know that I seemed to be immortal, and my wing was healed. Oh, and I can apparently travel in time and space. 

That’s impossible you say? I would have agreed with you back in 2009, but now, here I am talking to you, and very much alive. You’re just going to have to trust me on the time travel part. I can’t take you with me, but I can bring back my story. 

I guess I should start talking about my first adventure as a space-time traveling bat, shouldn't I? Well, as soon as I realized I was alive, I quickly figured out that in order to go somewhere that is seemingly inaccessible to me,

Credit: Berkeley

I just had user my echolocation system and create ultrasonic waves, which I normally used to find food at night. When I did this in the darkness of space with an image of my home in mind, I was instantly transported back to Florida. After flying to a library that night, and getting to a computer (don’t ask how I knew how to use it, after the launch to space, there are a lot of things I can do, including write to you as I am now), I found out that the shuttle I was riding with was Discovery, and it was going to a space station called the International Space Station. 

I wondered what a space station was. With a quick search, I found out that all a space station is was an container with air, and docking ports orbiting another body in space. It has no major propulsion systems, and no landing systems. Other spacecraft, like the one that tried to kill me, go to the space station and dock to it, resupply it, build it, and service it. Sounds pretty neat, huh? 

I thought so, at least, so I decided to go there. When I flew out of the library, and circled the building, I generated my super ultrasound, and thought of the picture of inside the ISS. Instantly, I was transported there. 

The moment of transport, I felt like I was falling. How could I be falling if there is no gravity in space? Well, later I found out that a spacecraft orbits the earth is actually falling around the earth. It is just going fast enough that the curve of its fall matches the curvature of the earth! That means I was the fastest bat on Earth. I mean, around the Earth, I guess I wasn't technically on Terra firma.

Credit: NASA

After getting used the the fact that flapping my wings to fly wasn't going to work, started jumping from wall to wall. It turns out I transported myself into the storage section of the Japanese module, called Kibo. It was quiet, but I could still hear the constant hum of computers all around. Peeking round the corner of the storage section to the main Kibo module, I could see that there were no humans currently in that module, so I felt it safe to look around. There were all sorts of racks with science experiments on the walls, covered with white blankets and blue handheld rails. Those were particularly useful for me because I could grab onto them. 

Overall, it was quite spacious inside, but I still didn't see any people. I guess that was natural considering that the ISS, at the time, had the volume close to that of a five bedroom house, but only had 3 crew members. 

Peaking around the exit of the Kibo module, to what is called a node module (they called that node Harmony because it connected the Japanese, European, and United States science modules together), I looked towards the United States’ lab, called Destiny. It was much more crowded with equipment. There were cables, and computers everywhere. The constant hum was a lot louder here too, almost like being in an airplane. I guess that was because it was the oldest lab on the station. 

Unclipping my wings from the blue handrail I was currently on, I hopped, and floated to a rail near the middle of Harmony. That’s when I saw a person, with long hair come out from one of the racks. I guess it wasn't a science rack, it was a sleeping rack. I was stunned by fear instantly! What would happen if, presumably she, would see me?

To be continued on Part 3 
Read Part 1 Here