Sat, Jan 23, 2010
The Earth Is No Longer The Limit For The World Wide Web
Astronauts aboard ISS have finally gotten direct access to the
Internet, thanks to a project undertaken by Expedition 22
Flight Engineer Timothy (TJ) Creamer.
Creamer made first use of the new system Friday, when he posted
the first unassisted update to his Twitter account, @Astro_TJ, from
the space station. Previous tweets from space had to be e-mailed to
the ground where support personnel posted them to the astronaut's
Twitter account.
"Hello Twitterverse! We r now LIVE tweeting from the
International Space Station -- the 1st live tweet from Space! :)
More soon, send your ?s" Previous Tweets from space had been
e-mailed to NASA, who had posted them on the web.
This personal Web access, called the Crew Support LAN, takes
advantage of existing communication links to and from the station
and gives astronauts the ability to browse and use the Web. The
system will provide astronauts with direct private communications
to enhance their quality of life during long-duration missions by
helping to ease the isolation associated with life in a closed
environment.
During periods when the station is actively communicating with
the ground using high-speed Ku-band communications, the crew will
have remote access to the Internet via a ground computer. The crew
will view the desktop of the ground computer using an onboard
laptop and interact remotely with their keyboard touchpad.
Astronauts will be subject to the same computer use guidelines
as government employees on Earth. In addition to this new
capability, the crew will continue to have official e-mail,
Internet Protocol telephone and limited videoconferencing
capabilities.
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