TW Virts, Jr. - 01.12.1967

[Orionid]

Terry Virts uczestnik m. in. ikonicznej misji STS-130 Endeavour.

509. człowiek w kosmosie.
Odbył 2 loty kosmiczne o łącznym czasie trwania wynoszącym 213d 10h 49m 05s.
Wykonał 3 spacery kosmiczne, które trwały 19h 02m.

https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/virts-tw_0.pdf

http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/astronauts/english/virts_terry.htm
http://www.astronautix.com/v/virts.html
https://www.worldspaceflight.com/bios/v/virts-t.php

https://mek.kosmo.cz/bio/usa/00509.htm
http://www.kozmo-data.sk/kozmonauti/virts-jr-terry-wayne.html
https://www.astronaut.ru/index/in_pers/13_129.htm
https://www.april12.eu/usaastron/virts509ru.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_W._Virts
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Virts




https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/9368515595
S130-E-007171 (11 Feb. 2010) --- NASA astronaut Terry Virts, STS-130 pilot, poses for a photo near a container of tools floating freely in the Kibo laboratory of the International Space Station while space shuttle Endeavour remains docked with the station.

https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/portrait-view-of-expedition-22-sts-130-crewmembers/GQEPRjNVasBTbA
ISS022-E-067728 (17 Feb. 2010) --- STS-130 and Expedition 22 crew members gather for a group portrait in the Harmony node of the International Space Station while space shuttle Endeavour remains docked with the station. Pictured from the left (front row) are NASA astronauts Jeffrey Williams, Expedition 22 commander; Nicholas Patrick, STS-130 mission specialist; George Zamka, STS-130 commander; and Robert Behnken, STS-130 mission specialist. Pictured from the left (middle row) are Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, Expedition 22 flight engineer; NASA astronauts Kathryn Hire, STS-130 mission specialist; and T.J. Creamer, Expedition 22 flight engineer. Pictured from the left (back row) are Russian cosmonauts Maxim Suraev and Oleg Kotov, both Expedition 22 flight engineer; along with NASA astronauts Stephen Robinson, STS-130 mission specialist; and Terry Virts, STS-130 pilot.



https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/9406820619
2010-02-17-0002Hq (17 Feb. 2010) --- U.S. President Barack Obama, accompanied by U.S. Congressman C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger and middle school pupils, prepares to hand over the phone to a student to ask a question of astronauts on the International Space Station during an event in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Feb. 17, 2010. Onboard the orbital outpost were six NASA astronauts from the STS-130 Endeavour crew along with two station-assigned NASA astronauts, two Russian cosmonauts and an astronaut representing the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/9408425099
ISS022-E-062672 (9 Feb. 2010)--- Though astronauts and cosmonauts often encounter striking scenes of Earth's limb, this very unique image, part of a series over Earth's colorful horizon, has the added feature of a silhouette of the space shuttle Endeavour. The image was photographed by an Expedition 22 crew member prior to STS-130 rendezvous and docking operations with the International Space Station. Docking occurred at 11:06 p.m. (CST) on Feb. 9, 2010. The orbital outpost was at 46.9 south latitude and 80.5 west longitude, over the South Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern Chile with an altitude of 183 nautical miles when the image was recorded. The orange layer is the troposphere, where all of the weather and clouds which we typically watch and experience are generated and contained. This orange layer gives way to the whitish Stratosphere and then into the Mesosphere. In some frames the black color is part of a window frame rather than the blackness of space.









STS-130  https://www.forum.kosmonauta.net/index.php?topic=1051.msg1053#msg1053
STS-130 (opis) https://www.forum.kosmonauta.net/index.php?topic=84.msg333#msg333
Sojuz TMA-15M  http://www.forum.kosmonauta.net/index.php?topic=1945.msg71947#msg71947

Polecane książki https://www.forum.kosmonauta.net/index.php?topic=200.msg128580#msg128580
"Space Policy Directive 1" czyli nowa strategia dla NASA https://www.forum.kosmonauta.net/index.php?topic=3082.msg119532#msg119532

Artykuły astronautyczme

Obecne fotografie kosmonautów... https://www.forum.kosmonauta.net/index.php?topic=839.msg96468#msg96468

https://www.nasa.gov/gallery/sts-130/

1er décembre
Joyeux anniversaire (56) à @AstroTerry 🎂🎂🎂
(2 vols spatiaux : STS-130 et Expedition 42-43 soit 213 jours 10 heures 48 minutes dans l'espace dont 19 heures 20 dans le vide spatial en 3 EVA)

https://x.com/spacemen1969/status/1730484625431293981

[Orionid]

Veteran Astronaut Terry Virts Retires from NASA
Aug. 23, 2016 RELEASE J16-008

With more than 3,600 orbits of the Earth under his belt, astronaut Terry Virts will leave NASA on Aug. 23. Over the course of his 16-year-career at NASA, he piloted a space shuttle and commanded the International Space Station.

Virts, a colonel in the U.S. Air Force, considers Columbia, Maryland, his hometown. He is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and Harvard Business School. He also was a member of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School class 98B at Edwards Air Force Base in California, and served as an experimental test pilot in the F-16 Combined Test Force there before being selected for the astronaut class of 2000.

During his time on the ground at NASA, Virts served in a variety of technical assignments, including as the lead astronaut for the T-38 training jet program, chief of the astronaut office’s robotic branch and lead astronaut for the Space Launch System rocket program.

In space, Virts served as space shuttle pilot for the STS-130 mission in 2010, helping to deliver the Tranquility module to the space station, along with its cupola bay windows. He then returned to the station in December of 2014, serving as flight engineer for Expedition 42, and commander on Expedition 43. Virts spent a total of 213 days space and conducted three spacewalks for a total of 19 hours and 2 minutes outside of the space station.

Find Virts’ complete biography at: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/virts-tw.pdf

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/veteran-astronaut-terry-virts-retires-from-nasa

[Orionid]

NASA astronaut: Jeff Bezos is making the ‘most important rocket engine of the 21st century’ (not Elon Musk)
Published Wed, Dec 19 2018 Catherine Clifford

Elon Musk has SpaceX. Richard Branson has Virgin Galactic. And Jeff Bezos has Blue Origin.

These titans of entrepreneurship are ushering in a new generation of human spaceflight.

So who’s the most important space entrepreneur? “There are different levels of importance,” Terry Virts — a NASA astronaut who has spent seven months living in space, commanded the International Space Station and completed three spacewalks — tells CNBC Make It via Skype video conversation in Dec.

As far as getting the public excited about space, “Elon has done a great job with that,” Virts says. ”[Musk] has lots of big visions.”

Branson’s enthusiasm for space tourism is similarly important, says Virts. “Richard Branson is just fun. … He’s a cool guy. That’s a cool thing, that is going to inspire people,” Virts says.

But when it comes to Bezos, the founder of Amazon and currently the richest person alive, Virts says, "Jeff Bezos is the real deal. His company is legit."

In fact, says Virts, the BE-4 engine Blue Origin is building, "I think is going to be the most important rocket engine of the 21st century. Lots rockets are going to be using it — government rockets, rockets launching telecom satellites and also people," Virts tells CNBC Make It.

"In the long run he's going to really make an an impact on getting to the moon, getting people in space and really impacting the 21st century space economy," says Virts.

Together, the gaggle of elite space entrepreneurs' companies are building the next generation of human spaceflight.

"I've come to this conclusion recently ... We are at the end of the beginning of space flight and that's a really good thing," Virts tells CNBC Make It.

"The beginning of human spaceflight has been about government, it's been about Apollo, space shuttle and space station and Soyuz [the Russian spacecraft]. It's been about nation states having a space program," he says.

Now, "we're moving into a region where companies like SpaceX and especially Blue Origin — they are kind of the underdog ... those companies are so much more innovative, they're so much faster they're so much more visionary."

Equally important is the fact that Bezos “has got some spare change lying around the couch” that he can invest in his space company, as do Musk and Branson. (Bezos is currently worth $130 billion, Musk is worth $22.2 billion, and Branson is worth $4.9 billion, according to Forbes.)

“There’s always been smart people with ideas but now they’re smart people with ideas and money,” Virts says. “I think it’s going to be a fundamental shift over the coming years and decades.”

“I think we are at that phase where, as Winston Churchill said, ‘It’s the end of the beginning.’ And you know the beginning phase of human spaceflight was great — that’s what motivated me to be an astronaut, but I am hopeful that the future will be even better,” Virts says.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/19/nasa-astronaut-terry-virts-on-jeff-bezos-versus-elon-musk-space-race.html

[Orionid]

Q&A with Astronaut Terry Virts
By Amy Mulvihill | October 9, 2017, 9:40 pm

Virts's new book of showcases images and stories from his NASA career and Columbia childhood.


Astronaut Terry Virts holds a copy of his new book, View from Above: An Astronaut Photographs the World. -Amy Mulvihill
   
In many ways, Terry Virts is just your average native Marylander. He loves the Orioles and fondly recalls growing up in Columbia during the 1970s and ’80s. How is he not like the average Marylander? Well, as a retired astronaut and one-time commander of the International Space Station, he has spent 213 days in space, which he documented extensively in thousands upon thousands of hi-def videos and still photos. Since retiring from NASA in August 2016, he has spent his time organizing his images and career recollections into a book, the newly released View From Above: An Astronaut Photographs the World. While in town on his book tour last week, he stopped by Baltimore’s offices (where he geeked out about our Orioles-themed décor) and answered our questions about growing up in Columbia, working with the Russians, and thinking he might die in space.

*This transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

The book just came out last week and is the result of your 16-year career with NASA, including your stint on the International Space Station, during which you took the most photos anyone has ever taken from space.

That’s what they told me, yeah. When I landed, they were like, ‘Ugh. Finally, you’re back on Earth.’ Because they told me I took 319,000-plus pictures.

Were they ever like, 'Maybe hold off taking pictures for a day or two?

' Oh, totally. And it wasn’t just fun pictures. Like sometimes, if you’re doing an experiment, they want three different views. If you’re filming experiments, that payload stuff would kill all the downlink so there’s no time to get your fun stuff down. We had RED, this Hollywood-quality camera. Jim Cameron told me he used it to film Avatar. The RED camera was the worst. My last week I was like, ‘You know what, I took enough stills.’ So I got the RED out, and they had always warned us to be real judicious with it because it uses so many gigabytes. But I just filmed away, and they were like, ‘Oh my God!’ But you know what, a week later they had it all down, and they made the most popular UHD highlight reel. It was a couple years ago when UHD was new. It’s amazing. And they’ll have that forever. Yeah, it was like, ‘Sorry. You’ve got to download it.’



So tell us something about space that the average person doesn’t know.

So it’s nothing like Star Wars. The Wookiees are not that loud in real space. The Storm Troopers are actually nice guys. [Laughs]

Well, tell us about floating.

In space, you move with your hands and you carry things with your feet.

Why?

Because you have to grab onto handrails to push yourself around. The way we’re designed: Hands are fine motion and feet are [mimes pounding his feet]. You can do that [mimes jumping], but you’re going to shoot up to the ceiling.

What are the annoying parts about being in space?

Well, floating is super annoying. Like, anybody can move over there and get to the door, but to end up at the door [facing it with your hand near the handle], you have to push and rotate at the correct number of degrees per second and your brain has to figure out that it’s going to take five seconds to get there and I need to rotate 10 degrees.

How long does that learning curve take?

The first couple of days, it is pretty steep. After a week, I was still not there. After two weeks, I was good but I wasn’t [at my peak]. It probably took me a month before I was good, and I got really good.

What about sleeping in space?

Yeah, you get sunrise and sunset every hour and a half, unless you’re in high beta [orbit]. I went through a week with no sunsets.



It’s like living in Scandinavia in the summer or something?

Right or Antarctica in the winter. It’s just constant sunlight. So you close the windows and you don’t know what the sun is doing and you set your alarm to GMT [Greenwich Mean Time].

Why GMT?

Because it’s the International Space Station and the bus and the subway system [in Russia] does not run in the middle of the night. So we had to pick a time that was close to their normal work hours for their mission control people. Going GMT is close, it’s a couple hours difference. We didn’t just cave and use Moscow time. So it kind of saves face for us. [We can say] ‘Okay, GMT, that’s official.’ But the real reason is the Moscow subway schedule—so I’ve been told. I was still in the Air Force when the [ISS was launched].

Speaking of the Russians, you were up on the ISS with how many others?

Five others. There were three Russians, two Americans, and an Italian.

This was in 2015, which, even then, was a tense time in U.S.-Russian relations. How did that affect your working relationships?

It was great. It was the highlight of my mission having my Russian crewmates there. It was a lot of fun to hang out with them. We all knew that these things were happening on Earth and we would just consciously, actively say, ‘We’re going to ignore the politics and focus on staying alive.’ Because on the other side of the window is vacuum and death. In a universe of a lot of bad stuff happening, the space station was a good example of how people can work together.

Can you give an example of something political that threatened to divide you?

Well, [the U.S.] put sanctions on Russia. And when that happened, the ruble got devalued in half. So my cosmonaut friends were calling home asking their wives, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ And I’m the guy that did it, and I’m commander, so that could have been very divisive. So I made a very active decision to spend time with them, have dinner with them, to talk. And actually, the cosmonauts are paid in dollars—that’s just the way their contract is—so in the long run, their salaries doubled.

And then [the U.S.] had an orbital rocket that blew up here in Virginia, a Russian Progress rocket blew up, and a Space X rocket blew up. Three rockets in eight months. When the Progress blew up, it was the Soyuz [Russian spacecraft] rocket after [the one that delivered me to the ISS], so they wanted to do an investigation before they launched the next crew to replace us. So we didn’t know how long we were going to be stuck in space. And we were very flexible. Every day I would say, ‘Okay, guys, tell us your rumors,’ because I didn’t want rumors. I was like, ‘Let’s get ’em out. What is everybody hearing?’ And the Russians had the best because it was their rocket. I would talk to the station program manager [at NASA] and he was great. He was just like, ‘Here’s what we know. The reality is, it’s their rocket and they’re going to decide.’ I was like, ‘Okay, I can deal with that.’ There have been other examples when crews got delayed—or they didn’t even get delayed; they had threats of delays—and they were like, ‘Arggghh!’ But we were very positive. And our international partners get paid by the day. When they get extended, they get paid even more. The folks were not that upset about having to stay longer.

You were born in Baltimore, grew up in Columbia, graduated from Oakland Mills High School. What are your memories of growing up in Columbia?

I lived in Lanham and Gambrills first. I didn’t move to Columbia until fourth grade. My fourth grade teacher just found me on Facebook. He remembered stuff. He was like, ‘There was this trip to D.C. and you bought a prism, and you spent 15 minutes explaining how a prism works.’ I remember that but it’s crazy that he remembers that.

So obviously you had an aptitude for science. Yeah, math and science were my strong suits.

What was your experience going through Columbia’s public schools? It was amazing. The public school system then, that I went through, was rated one of the, I think, top 10 in the country. First of all, it was a multi-racial place. It was kind of weird because I didn’t really think about when I was growing up because I had friends of all [backgrounds]—a Korean guy, an Indian guy. We had everything, and it just wasn’t a big deal. And academically, it was amazing. I got to take Calc 3 in high school and had French every year, seventh through twelfth grade. I became a French minor. I became an astronaut because of my French experience. Madame Micka, I talk about her in my book. She was my French teacher in high school.

What do you mean you became an astronaut because of your French experience?

There are 100 test pilots who are great, but I was the guy who had done an exchange at the French air force academy, and I had international foreign language [experience]. For something like being an astronaut that’s so competitive, you want to have something that makes you stand out, and that made me stand out. No one ever tells you why they picked you, but I just know in my heart that it wasn’t only math and science, it was also the language side of things that got me in.

You really did want to be a pilot from a young age. There’s a cute picture of you in the book standing on the wing of a plane. Where do you think this love of flying came from?

The first book I ever read was about Apollo. It was one of those picture books for kids and I was in Lanham, and I can remember it. It just stuck. My mom was a secretary at Goddard [Flight Center in Greenbelt] and my dad and my stepdad both worked at Goddard. But they weren’t pilots. It was satellites, not human space flight.

But you were around the culture.

Yeah, they would bring home pictures. I remember when Viking landed on Mars I got pictures from Mars. They would get, probably, posters from books they could bring home. They would just bring stuff like that home and my room was just covered with airplanes and stuff. And every summer I’d get Astronomy magazine and, the day it showed up, I would sit there and read the whole thing.

Do you think a human is going to go to Mars?

I’m sure, eventually. I hope sooner rather than later, and I hope America leads it. If we don’t, other countries will. The thing about humanity is that nothing is static. Just ask the Portuguese, ask the Brits, or ask the Chinese. They decided to build a wall, and for 1,000 years they just wallowed in themselves and they didn’t grow. The whole world did this [mimes expanding] and China was behind the wall. So America had the 20th century, right? That was our century. But that doesn’t mean the 21st century is going to be our century unless we decide to make it so.

What is the most dangerous situation you’ve ever encountered in spaceflight?

There’s a whole chapter in the book about it called “Emergencies in Space.” There was an ammonia leak. We’re sitting there, minding our own business, and the alarm goes off, and we pop our heads out. Samantha, my Italian crewmate, we’re looking at the panel. I see ‘ATM.’ There are three kinds of emergencies: There’s fire. There’s an air leak. And there’s toxic atmosphere, which is ammonia inside the atmosphere. Ammonia is the coolant. So cars have radiator fluid, the station uses ammonia. That’s how it stays cool—on the American side. The Russian side uses sugar water. It’s not as efficient. It’s not as good a coolant, like ammonia, but it’s sugar water. Ammonia kills you dead.

So I go, ‘ATM?’ It was such a big deal that I just couldn’t process it. So we put on oxygen masks, run down to the Russian segment, and close the hatch because the Russian segment is safe. And then you’re supposed to take all of your clothes off because if there’s ammonia in your clothes, its poisonous, and then you go through another hatch. But we didn’t take our clothes off. No one smelled anything. We were like, ‘We’re probably fine.’ And the ground was kind of mad at us about that. Thirty minutes [later], the ground goes, ‘Hey, just kidding, it was a false alarm.’ So we’re just like, ‘Ugh.’ It just kills the day’s schedule. So we get back and we’re putting things away because we had just dropped everything and the CAPCOM [the Capsule Communicator] calls up and says, ‘Execute ammonia response now. This is a real thing. This isn’t a drill.’ It was this super intense voice. We were like, ‘Crap!’ We put the masks on, we go down, we close the hatch, we don’t take our clothes off. We do the whole thing. We get a sampler out. Okay, the air is good. Twenty or thirty minutes later we take our masks off and we’re like, ‘huh.’

What I knew had happened was the computer [activated] the alarm automatically. I knew there would be a crowd of engineers looking at every little bit of data. What I assumed had happened was, after the first alarm, they went, ‘Nah, that’s not really a leak. Tell them it’s not.’ And then they [continued] to watch the data and it [looked] like it was still leaking and they said, ‘Yeah, that’s a leak. It’s a small one, but it’s a real leak.’ And then they called us back. Since I’ve worked in mission control for years, I knew what was going on; they didn’t tell us this. And then we sat around for hours on the Russian side and the Russian deputy prime minister called up in the middle of sanctions and all these bad things and says, ‘Hey Americans, you can stay as long as you want. We’re going to work together.’ This was the same guy that had said we could take a trampoline to the space station after the U.S. had put sanctions on Russia. The same guy who was having a Twitter battle with, I guess, Obama at the time called up and said, ‘Hey we’re going to work together and get through this.’ So it was a great, great, great example international cooperation in space when things were really bad down here.

So we spent the day like, ‘So, there’s a small leak on the station.’ What’s going to happen if it continues to leak is the station pops. It just gets over-pressurized and the metal explodes—unless they vent it. They could vent it and then there’s no air and ammonia stuck to the walls. So we’re like, the station’s dead, and we’re going to stay on the Russian segment for a few weeks—with the one pair of underwear because all my clothes are over there—and then go back to Earth and the station will go into the Pacific. And then I went and took a nap. I was like, ‘I don’t have anything else to do. I’m going to take a nap.’ And then they called up and said, ‘Just kidding, it was a false alarm.’ [Laughs]

But then when we went back to the American segment they said, ‘But just keep your masks on just in case.’ So my crewmate and I, we put our masks on and we had these samplers and we were floating around and it was like this surreal alien movie. There were things floating around—we just abandoned stuff and left—so it was like being the first person on this ghost ship in space. And then everything was fine. That’s a story that no one knows and it’s an amazing story.

So, essentially, you got told it was a false alarm twice?

Yes. And there have always been false fire alarms, and there have been a few false air leak alarms, but there’s never been a false ammonia alarm.

Ever?

That’s the one and only ammonia alarm. The ammonia alarm is a big deal. That’s the one you don’t want to get. They sent a text to my family at four in the morning. The text is in the book. My wife got it and she gave it to me for the book. In general, space flight sucks for families. It’s just hard. Everyone’s always like, ‘Oh you’re so lucky your dad’s an astronaut!’ My kids are like, [rolls eyes]. We were watching the NBA five or six years ago and my daughter, she was probably like 10 at the time, and we were watching the Heat and they were in the finals and she just looks at me and says, ‘Dad, why can’t you be more like LeBron James?’

https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/2017/10/9/q-a-with-astronaut-terry-virts

[Orionid]

Astronaut Terry Virts Shares Tips on Coping with Isolation
By Evan Greenberg | March 25, 2020, 3:05 pm

With more than 200 days logged in space, the Baltimore native knows a thing or two about confinement.


-Courtesy of Terry Virts

When now-retired NASA astronaut Col. Terry Virts used to go into space, isolation was an occupational hazard. The nature of space travel—being confined to tight areas with a select group of others—doesn’t really present any other options.

During one of Virts’ two spaceflights, however, this idea was taken to an extreme, when complications on the ground at a Russian space station—where a replacement crew was to take off—delayed his scheduled return home.

“We were just a few weeks away from getting to come back to Earth after having been in space for five months, and all of a sudden we’re stuck,” says Virts, a Baltimore native who grew up in Columbia. “It really kind of hit home that in space, I was faced with this sudden isolation.”

In some ways, that situation mirrors what people around the world are facing now in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Granted, the ground is under our feet, but the idea—being forced into a prolonged quarantine unexpectedly without a concrete end date in sight—is something Virts has experienced.

“Humans do well when they expect something to happen, and they don’t do well when they don’t expect something to happen,” Virts says. “As an astronaut, I was ready [for isolation]. I was expecting it and I was trained for it.”

To get a few tips on how to cope in a restrictive environment, we asked the 52-year-old Virts to share some of the wisdom he’s picked up during his illustrious career. Here are some of his suggestions:

Figure out what isolation means to you.

People define isolation in different ways, Virts says. But it’s important to set a baseline for what you’re comfortable with and ascribe to it.

“It really depends on the person,” Virts adds. “Humans are social creatures and we’re designed to be in groups. Some people are introverts. Other people want to be talking and interacting. For extroverts, just a little bit of cutting back on that is really painful. This is going to be tough psychologically. But you can also survive for longer and in tougher situations than you think you can.”

Address the situation and make the best of it.

When Virts and his fellow astronauts found out they were going to be delayed in their voyage home, they weren’t told how long it would be before they could return. Virts could have sulked, but he made an active decision to see the glass half full.

“We really didn't know how long we were going to stay,” Virts says. “A lot of times astronauts get depressed or really bummed out, but my attitude was, ‘I’m stuck in space, but it’s going to end. I’m going to get back to Earth eventually. While I’m here, I’m going to take advantage of it and get some projects done that I didn't have a chance to before.' That attitude is the most important thing in situations when the unexpected happens—it happened, and there’s nothing I can do to change it. Now, let’s make the most of it.”

Take an active approach in handling monotony.

Many of us are working from home in the same space and, in following social distancing guidelines, not leaving our residences unless we have to. This can make days feel a bit repetitive. As an astronaut, Virts knows all about that: “I get [monotony],” he says. “I was in the same can for 200 days. So I understand that.”

Virts suggests adding tweaks to your day-to-day routine to avoid making life feel like Groundhog Day. “A little bit of variety goes a long way,” he says. “Try to do mornings in the bedroom and afternoons in the living room, and go for a walk at a certain time of day. Set your alarm to have a certain routine, but vary that routine—don’t do the same thing every day. Even if it’s simple things like changing the time of day you exercise or the order of things you do. You should have a basic schedule, but vary it up.”

Be mindful of others.

Virts was once the commander of the International Space Station, where it was his responsibility to monitor morale and take the temperature of his crew to see how they were faring. That meant being aware of what they needed in certain situations, and discerning how best to give it to them.

In the midst of coronavirus, though you might be adjusting and adapting well to this new normal, it’s important to consider how it might be affecting friends, family, and colleagues.

“This situation requires some emotional intelligence,” Virts says. “You have to understand if someone is feeling lonely. If they are, reach out to them and call them and play a game or Skype or whatever works for them.”

Virts also says that, as important as it is to recognize when someone needs a hand, it’s equally important to know when they want time to themselves.

“On the International Space Station, people needed time alone sometimes,” he says. “Carve out personal space for people and let them have it and respect it. A mix of yourself and connection with other folks is a good thing.”

Decide how to be alone.

Virts believes that, throughout this time, people can be strong and cope with these extreme circumstances. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t times when living in quarantine can feel limiting. It’s important to strike a healthy balance.

“You can go without much more than you think you can,” Virts says. “But connect with people if you can. You can’t be with someone physically, but you can reach out to them in some way. Make lemonade when you’re given lemons.”

MEET THE AUTHOR
Evan Greenberg is the digital editorial assistant for Baltimore magazine. A native of Atlanta, he works on digital initiatives and explores the how and why of what makes the people, places, and things of Baltimore tick.

https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/health/astronaut-terry-virts-shares-tips-on-coping-with-isolation

[Orionid]

Spotkanie z astronautą NASA
12/5/2010 10:20

Uniwersytet Pedagogiczny w Krakowie w ramach 10. edycji krakowskiego Festiwalu Nauki zaprasza do wzięcia udziału w spotkaniu, którego gościem będzie Terry Virts, pułkownik sił powietrznych Stanów Zjednoczonych, astronauta NASA, pilot misji STS-130. Spotkanie będzie miało miejsce w dniu 13 maja 2010 r. o godz. 9.00 w Audytorium im. prof. W. Danka przy ul. Podchorążych 2
https://dlapilota.pl/wiadomosci/polska/spotkanie-z-astronauta-nasa

Astronauci odwiedzą Rzeszów
AK10.05.2010

Terry Virts, astronauta grupy NASA, pułkownik USA Force i członkowie załogi amerykańskiego promu kosmicznego będą gośćmi Politechniki Rzeszowskiej.

Goście przyjadą do Rzeszowa i Bezmiechowej na zaproszenie Polsko-Amerykańskiej Fundacji Wolności i Ambasady w Warszawie. Spotkanie wspólnie z Politechniką Rzeszowską organizuje Fundacja Pomocy Dzieciom i Młodzieży "BARKA".

Terry Viris, pilot misji STS-130 będzie miał w środę, o godz. 10.30 wykład otwarty w budynku P PRz (sala P 23, ul. Poznańska 2). Natomiast astronauci promu kosmicznego STS-130 Endeavour wezmą udział w spotkaniu (17 - 18 maja) ze studentami i kadrą w Akademickim Ośrodku Szybowcowym PRz w Bezmiechowej. (...)
https://brzozow.naszemiasto.pl/astronauci-odwiedza-rzeszow/ar/c1-404570

[Orionid]

One More Orbit - Inmarsat CEO Rupert Pearce and NASA astronaut Terry Virts in conversation
10 lip 2019

Hear Inmarsat CEO Rupert Pearce, based at our London HQ, speak to International Space Station Commander Col. Terry Virts, as he circumnavigates the globe in a Gulfstream jet to mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Thanks to our Global Xpress connectivity and partner Satcom Direct, the One More Orbit mission is being streamed live through their world record attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 48 hours.



Crew Members Headed to ISS Preview Their Mission
18 wrz 2014 NASA


An Inspiring Leadership Q&A with NASA's Terry Virts, presented by HBS Executive Education
16 cze 2015


Astronaut Terry Virts Setting up Robonaut
31 gru 2014 NASA Johnson

[Orionid]

Meet Astronauts Terry Virts & Samantha Cristoferetti
30 sty 2017 Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum


USA vs RUSSIA IN SPACE - NASA Astronaut Terry Virts
5 gru 2016


Terry Virts - View from Above: An astronaut's perspective of the world
1 lip 2018

[Orionid]

Terry Virts@AstroTerry 21 mar 2020

Let’s make this our new greeting, since we can’t shake hands anymore. It’s faster, doesn’t require any contact at all, works in every country, and Mr Spock would be proud! Pass it on, this can be a trend!   #LLAP and beat #coronavirus...
@StarTrek
https://twitter.com/AstroTerry/status/1241445379427708930

[Orionid]

Czego astronauci potrzebują?

‘Can be pretty depressing’: Formerly stuck astronaut on how he persevered
Sean Noone Updated: Mar 15, 2025 / 01:02 PM CDT

Virts commended crews on the ground for keeping supplies flowing to the astronauts.

“Those types of little logistics, things that you wouldn’t think about. NASA did great,” said Virts. “They got the things that they needed. One of the biggest things: you have to have exercise shoes and that’s super important because you have to exercise. Because if you don’t, your bones and your muscles start to deteriorate.”

https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/astronaut-terry-virts-stuck-in-space/
PA https://www.forum.kosmonauta.net/index.php?topic=3082.msg119532#msg119532

https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/space/nasa-astronaut-tweets-amazing-footage-taken-aboard-the-iss/news-story/b2553e21018a7deb448d071fad06bee5

2) Były astronauta rozważa kandydowanie w wyborach do U.S. Senate
http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum38/HTML/002015.html

Terry Virts @AstroTerry 1:14 AM · May 23, 2025
Today's GOP spending bill in one chart. Billions in cuts for the working class and even more in handouts for the wealthy.

https://x.com/AstroTerry/status/1925691841367683542

Terry Virts @AstroTerry 11:33 PM · May 20, 2025
Congress is debating the spending bill tonight at 0100 (yes 1AM!) hoping Americans don't notice massive tax cuts for billionaires, cuts to medicaid, and pain to the working class.
Well, we noticed.
https://bit.ly/45kN53Y

https://x.com/AstroTerry/status/1924941597122138222

Terry Virts @AstroTerry· May 18
For the last 40 years, rather than allow science to drive progress, both parties have focused on politics which has seriously stunted our energy innovation.

In the meantime, China has surpassed us in energy production and energy manufacturing.

It's time for a massive change—we need political leaders who understand basic science and put doing the right thing for the country over doing what their party wants.

https://x.com/AstroTerry/status/1924175447392174180

Terry Virts @AstroTerry· May 17
Gravity is one of the most fundamental forces in the universe.
If you remove it, you’re left with gravy!
Happy Saturday, everyone!

https://x.com/AstroTerry/status/1923796613744464196

As a former commander of the space station who flew with Russian cosmonauts, seeing my one-time comrades turn into Putin loyalists and supporters of the invasion of Ukraine was revealing. It taught me a critical lesson about how men and women I’d considered friends can be willing tools for evil.
https://bit.ly/43owc5T

https://x.com/AstroTerry/status/1923528691746787469

Space United Us. Putin Tore Us Apart.
May 15, 2025 By Terry Virts



Former International Space Station commander: Watching my Russian cosmonaut friends turn to the dark side was a troubling lesson in how easily normal people can be bribed into supporting a tyrant.

The promise of the International Space Station was so exciting in the 1990s. After a decades-long rivalry that nearly went nuclear, America and Russia were launching one of the most impressive scientific projects in history for the good of all mankind. But as Russia relapsed into dictatorship, the dream of the ISS turned into a dark nightmare.

As a former commander of the space station who flew with Russian cosmonauts, seeing my one-time comrades turn into Putin loyalists and supporters of the invasion of Ukraine was revealing. It taught me a critical lesson about how seemingly normal people—men and women I’d considered friends—can be willing tools for evil.

From Partner to Pariah

When work on the ISS began in earnest, the Soviet Union had just collapsed. The Cold War was over and friendship and cooperation were the vibe. By the time modules actually began flying in 1998, both sides were deep into the daunting task of assembling the ISS in orbit while flying at 17,500 miles per hour.

Throughout the 2000s, a stream of Space Shuttles, Soyuz capsules, and cargo ships launched from Earth to build the massive space station, which eventually grew larger than a football field. The ISS partnership was a 15-nation coalition, including Europe, Japan, and Canada, alongside the US and Russia. Life was busy for the astronauts, cosmonauts, engineers, and scientists as we worked hard to build and operate the ISS. The hazards of space united us while the US-Russia rivalry belonged to the history books.

Yet disturbing developments down on Earth threatened to upend our utopia up in space.

Vladimir Putin decided to remain in power after his constitutionally mandated presidential terms ended in 2008, rotating into the Russian prime ministership while clinging to the real levers of influence. That same year, Moscow began a brutal invasion of Georgia, a young democracy located just to Russia’s south. Putin’s troops killed thousands there, repeating a playbook developed in Chechnya and Moldova in the 1990s and early aughts when the West was enticed by the prospect of cooperating with the new Russia. Facing little serious resistance, Russia would soon continue its pattern of death and destruction in Syria, and, of course, Ukraine. All while Vladimir Putin continued to rule Russia with an iron fist, hiding behind the facade of fake elections and suppressing the last vestiges of freedom.

At first, I thought that this was just a phase and that Russia would eventually gravitate back to the democratic world. I had lived and worked and even flown into space with Russian cosmonauts on Soyuz capsules launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It was difficult to grasp that people whom we counted as friends and trusted colleagues were working for an evil regime. But as Russia’s slide towards authoritarianism continued, it became clear that Moscow was no longer a partner, but a dictatorship and an adversary.

Choosing Comfort Over Conscience

In January 2015, I found myself in orbit aboard the Russian segment of the space station with my cosmonaut colleague Aleksander “Sasha” Samokutayev. One night, Sasha and I watched the European city lights quietly drift by through the hatch window. As we flew over eastern Ukraine, we saw red flashes down below. Seeing bombs exploding on Earth from the ISS shocked me, and the two of us stared on in stunned silence. It was an incredibly sobering moment.

Growing up in the US with the privileges of freedom, I understand that my peers in Russia can’t criticize their leaders as we Americans can without risking their lives and the lives of their loved ones. So I didn’t pass judgment on Sasha when he failed to resist the Russian war machine responsible for those deadly red flashes we’d watched together from space.

But Sasha didn’t simply stay silent on Putin’s oppression and the invasion of Ukraine. He enthusiastically enabled both.

Today, Sasha Samokutayev—my old friend—is a member of the Russian parliament, the Duma. He entered as a member of Putin’s United Russia party. Two other cosmonauts with whom I flew—Max Suraev and Yelena Serova—also joined the Duma with United Russia. As loyal pro-Putin politicians, they’ve supported aggression against Ukraine and the Russian dictator’s oppressive agenda at home.

These are men and women who know better. They have lived in the West, trained with American and European astronauts, speak English, and have been sufficiently exposed to foreigners and non-Russian media to know that Putin’s lies are just that: lies. And yet they decided that fancy SUVs, bougie apartments in Moscow, plum jobs for their kids, and the promise of more spaceflights are worthwhile tradeoffs for supporting an evil regime and an evil war.

Seeing my former friends and crewmates sell their souls to Putin has been one of the saddest and most maddening experiences of my life. Watching Sasha, Max, and Yelena (as well as other cosmonauts) turn to the dark side is not representative of something that only happens in Russia but a troubling lesson about how normal, intelligent people can support a tyrant in exchange for some creature comforts. It can happen anywhere, and we need to recognize that.

Cutting Russia Loose

It has become tragically clear that there are serious limitations to the political benefits of our ISS partnership with Russia. It has not made Russia more free and it has not prevented their illegal invasion and barbaric destruction of Ukraine. It’s important to be clear-eyed about how cooperation in space relates to life down here on Earth.

Yet US-Russia cooperation in space continues, even as Russia savages Ukraine while threatening America and her allies, and Kyiv fights back with US-made weapons. It’s bizarre, the equivalent of doing a joint German-American arctic expedition in 1940. Most of all, it’s out of step with reality.

Therefore I believe there are a few steps we should take to fundamentally change the ISS partnership.

First, American astronauts should stop flying on Russian capsules, while Russian personnel should not be welcome aboard American spacecraft.

Next, we should dramatically limit the amount of travel NASA employees do to Russia, which presents serious risks to their personal safety and US national security. Though a basic level of cooperation is necessary to keep the ISS in orbit, we should limit it to the bare minimum while halting joint scientific projects.

Finally, future space exploration should be pursued without Russia or any other blatantly authoritarian countries.

I am tremendously proud of the work that I did as an astronaut and former commander of the International Space Station. And I am proud of the thousands of my colleagues who joined me. This disengagement would be a small loss compared with the tremendous human loss in Ukraine—though I do feel the loss of those friendships with my Russian colleagues. But we all need to adjust to reality.

Ten years ago, there were many Russian cosmonauts among my close circle of friends and colleagues. Now, I work closely with many Ukrainians fighting to defend their homeland. It is time for NASA and the US government to follow that same course.

Our cosmic collaboration with Russia has proven a poor investment, and the relationship is past its best-by date. Even some of our closest Russian partners—cosmonauts whom I and many other Americans trusted with their lives—have shown us their true colors.

We should believe them.
https://thenextmove.substack.com/p/space-united-us-putin-tore-us-apart

[Orionid]

Per aspera...

Terry Virts @AstroTerry 5:50 AM · Jun 1, 2025
It wasn't the outcome we were hoping for, but it was enough just to be in my happy place today. And always, Go @astros!

https://twitter.com/AstroTerry/status/1929022742864552082

Terry Virts @AstroTerry 2:47 AM · May 15, 2025
Looks like @Elon's pick for NASA administrator (rightly) doesn't agree with @elon 's NASA budget cuts? What does that tell you about how this administration is operating… It's a clown show. We've never seen chaos like this.

https://x.com/AstroTerry/status/1922815993396564218

Terry Virts @AstroTerry 8:30 PM · May 30, 2025
Our draft-dodger in chief is throwing himself a $50M birthday party with Tanks, APCs, Missiles, and 6,600 soldiers— all while cutting kids' cancer research.

https://apnews.com/article/army-parade-trump-birthday-96bb9c8e9af1ef285c56fdc3d1ba4b35
https://x.com/AstroTerry/status/1928519278950592732

[Orionid]

W czwartek (2 października) jest święto w USA (przynajmniej chyba dla części polityków) więc nie będą dziś pracować. Czyli najwcześniej się dogadają w piątek.

Propozycja dla polityków byłego astronauty oraz kandydata na senatora:

Terry Virts @AstroTerry 2:26 PM · Oct 1, 2025
There should be a rule- if one party controls the House, Senate, and President, and they allow the government to shut down, they’re all fired and we have snap elections to replace them.

https://x.com/AstroTerry/status/1973363986591785281

2) Former astronaut Terry Virts launches Democratic bid for U.S. Senate in Texas
By Owen Dahlkamp June 23, 2025

The early announcement tees up what is likely to be a crowded primary field angling for the seat held by Republican Sen. John Cornyn.
https://www.texastribune.org/2025/06/23/terry-virts-texas-senate-astronaut-campaign-democrat/

[Orionid]

Terry Virts  jednak będzie startował do Kongresu zamiast, wg wcześniejszych planów, do Senatu.

Terry Virts @AstroTerry 3:53 PM · Nov 6, 2025
It’s true!
Today I am pleased to announce that I am entering the congressional race for #TX09. While my original plan was to run for Senate, Trump’s brazen moves to change the electoral map motivated me to step up locally. (1/2)

Through my past leadership, experience, and common-sense Texas values, I believe I am best equipped to serve TX9 in this fight. 2/2
🚀Tell Congress we’ve had enough, and join my relaunch here!

https://x.com/AstroTerry/status/1986446911423865254
TV for Texas-9
Terry Virts for Texas

Terry Virts @AstroTerry 5:18 PM · Nov 5, 2025
Yesterday’s elections are clear- Americans are fed up with Trump chaos.
Senate Republicans need to do the right thing and work with Democrats to protect health care and re-open the government.

https://x.com/AstroTerry/status/1986105863468425328

Terry Virts @AstroTerry 6:55 PM · Nov 9, 2025
While Trump is obsessing over his gold-crusted Lincoln Bedroom toilet, he is working overtime to ensure low-income families go without food this holiday season.
MAGA in a nutshell.

https://x.com/AstroTerry/status/1987579800072913150