PoSSUM - Day 1

Another 4 hours of driving and I got to Daytona Beach. I checked in to the hotel, drove around town a little to figure out where things were (found the school and the beach, but didn't stop at either of them - yet), then went back to the hotel. In the room I met my roommate, Ahmed Farid, who was born in Egypt but now lives in Munich and works at the German version of Mission Control. I mentioned that SpaceX was planning to launch in about an hour, but that I wasn't sure if I wanted to drive for another hour down to try to see it - but he was up for driving so off we went in his rental car (a shiny red Dodge Challenger - not bad!) We didn't make it all the way down to the launch site, but we were able to see it streaking through the clear blue sky. I tried to get a picture, but it just shows up as a tiny dot.

Then we went back to the first activity - the evening reception for all the staff and participants. The director (Dr. Jason Reimuller) went over the schedule and introduced our special guests this week - astronauts Don Pettit and Nicole Stott! I also got to meet the other participants. We have 3 Egyptians in the program, a lady from Romania who lives in Toronto, a lady from India who works for NASA Ames (over near San Francisco) and a handful of Americans, from places like Virginia, South Carolina, Texas and just the other side of Florida. Then, as we were wrapping it up, we were all given our stuff - books, schedules, etc. - and FLIGHT SUITS!! I've been worried that it wouldn't fit right (even though I sent in my measurements when I ordered it) but it fits perfectly! It's even long enough in the sleeves! I've never had a flight suit long enough in the sleeves! So I'll wrap up tonight's update with a (slightly blurry) pic of me in my new suit!

Click to embiggen!