Posted: Nov 07, 2008 01:12 am EST
(Pythom.com) He built galaxies in soap bubbles while taking weightless showers; shot images of Everest for Google maps; made abstract paintings using new techniques available by the physics of the Universe - and returned home in a ball of fire, crashing on the Kazakh tundra in a scorched rocket head.

He's real and now he's going back up again. ExWeb's founders are invited to the launch, complete with T-1 party at Cocoa beach.

The world and everything that's in it
By Tina Sjogren

We met in 2006 when Don called to get some tech gear for his meteor hunt at Antarctica. We went to Houston to deliver, and became instant friends; bonding in our mutual enthusiasm for the world and everything that's in it, not to mention outside of it. "What does it smell like up there?" we asked. "It's a metallic scent, like when welding," Don said.

True to his form, already before hitting the ice some months later Don had found a lot of strange things going on also down south [New Zeeland]: Draining the bath tub, the swirl moves in the opposite direction and the rental cars have a big decal placed over the speedometer stating, "KEEP LEFT", he reported. Tomatoes are planted in the north section of your yard, and moss grows on the south side of trees. As for the night sky: the big dipper is no where to be found, neither is Polaris (the Northern star) while Orion is upside down.

Dispatching over Contact (named after Carl Sagan), the Astronaut wrote after he was dropped by the plane at Antarctica's Grosvenor mountains, ”I have had this feeling before. The departure of a drop off vehicle signals that there is no going back. This was the feeling when the Space Shuttle Endeavor pulled away from the International Space Station, leaving Expedition 6 to carry on."

A full moon rising

Well it's that time again. Endeavour is scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida next Friday, November 14. The STS 126 mission will carry seven Astronauts to the International Space Station, hopefully blasting off to the backdrop of a full moon rising over the beach at around 8 pm.

We have often sent off explorers to the most remote parts of the world including Everest, but this is a first for us. As Don's friends, we will view his departure from the VIP area at Banana creek, a premier launch viewing site at KSC.

T-1 (one day prior launch) we'll attend a VIP mission briefing and later that night, as in the Apollo movies, a kick-off party with Don's family and friends at Cocoa beach. Don will already be quarantined by the time.

Stay tuned for updates, and meanwhile check out the following re-runs of ExWeb's stories about our first meeting with Don, and his unusual tales from a world so different, and yet so alike ours.

ExWeb Special: Don Pettit, "If the dinosaurs had explored Space, they would be alive today"

Don Pettit about Diving the deep Oceans of Space

When Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry February 1, 2003, killing all seven astronauts aboard, Don Pettit was one of the three crewmembers aboard the International Space Station. Further shuttle flights were cancelled, and Don - scheduled to return to Earth the following month - realized his ride home had been scrubbed.

After logging over 161 days in space, including over 13 EVA (spacewalk) hours, the Expedition-6 crew finally returned to Earth on a Soyuz TMA-1; nearly crashing on the Kazakhstan tundra. Puzzled, ground control watched empty skies while miles away from targeted landing site - three men donned in survival gear sat in a tent by a capsule scorched black from a slightly uncontrolled descent. They were located 5 hours later and Don could go home, at last.

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