CNN logo
Navigation
 
COMMUNITY 
Message Boards 
Chat 
Feedback 

SITE SOURCES 
Contents 
Help! 
Search 
CNN Networks 

SPECIALS 
Quick News 
Almanac 
Video Vault 
News Quiz 


Pathfinder/Warner Bros


Barnes and Noble






rule

The Mir diet: Lose weight while weightless

The View from Space By John Holliman

e-mail: jholliman@CNN.com

February 18, 1998
Web posted at: 11:26 AM EST (1126 GMT)

In this report:

(CNN) -- I'm getting set to talk to Dave Wolf, the most recent astronaut to live on Mir. He's been back on the ground for about a month and decided to talk to CNN before anybody else. I'll try to find out how he's getting back to weighing something.

The last time I saw him, landing day in Florida, he looked really, really thin. Andy Thomas, the current Mir resident, was shocked to learn that Dave had lost 20 pounds. The interview will be live on CNN Thursday at 7:20 a.m.

Mir had a fairly quiet past month. No big problems to report from Thomas or from NASA shuttle-Mir program managers. There's growing concern that Mir will not last as an occupied space station until the year 2000. The Russians would like to keep it up, but growing financial problems there, combined with the need of the Russians to contribute to the new space station, may result in Mir's living on borrowed time.

Iraq faces 'smarter' U.S. bombs

The big news from my past week was the tour and briefings I was able to get at various military bases around the United States. The prospect of another massive bombing campaign in Baghdad and Iraq gets closer every day. I would not be surprised if bombing was under way by the time we talk next week.

The major headline from my travels is that the United States is much better prepared to drop accurate bombs on targets in Iraq than it was during Desert Storm. The main reason is global positioning system satellites. I toured the GPS control center in Colorado and saw how they keep the satellites in orbit.

I also found that individual satellites have times during the day when they're less accurate than others. Despite this, there are enough satellites in the constellation to guarantee that smart bombs and missiles will hit the targets regardless of the weather over Iraq. The GPS-guided munitions don't depend on a clear line of sight from the airplane to the ground. GPS receivers have been mounted on the rear of thousands of bombs that were "big and dumb" during the Gulf war.

I've talked to pilots who say they're going to be able to drop their bombs and fire their missiles with no doubt that they'll hit the target. The result will be fewer sorties flown. The cruise missile, which amazed me during my time in Baghdad, has been outfitted with GPS guidance in addition to the internal maps that guided it to the target during Desert Storm.

Another headline from my trip involves the use of space to make sure people on the ground in the region know more quickly when Iraq launches a missile. During the war, it sometimes took more than five minutes to let the commander of a Patriot missile battery know that a Scud was on the way. Notification time has been cut to seconds. I looked at the U.S. Space command control center in Cheyenne Mountain Colorado where launches are detected, and at remote satellite receiver stations that can be shipped to an army commander on the ground in the region. Lots of this stuff is brand new, but it has been tested and it seems to work.

There's also better weather forecasting from space through the use of satellites as well. I came back from Colorado with the distinct impression that space will play a much greater role in U.S. military operations than it has in the past.

Gen. Howell Estis, who is commander in chief of space command, spent lots of time with me talking about the military importance of space and you'll be hearing from him on CNN and in this column in future weeks.

Glenn begins training

John Glenn starts his astronaut training this week. On Thursday he goes to Brooks Army Medical Center in Texas to see how his 76-year-old body is doing at the beginning of a rigorous training period. After weeks of indecision, NASA has picked a crew to travel into space with Glenn in October. We'll get to meet them for the first time as a group on Friday. I'll let you know what they say and do after their Johnson Space Center news conference.

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions on things to talk about here. I'm getting them, and when time allows over the next few weeks, I'll be exploring lots more than time allows today.

By the way, don't forget the eclipse of the sun. Coming up next week. CNN Interactive will show it to you live here with a direct link to Aruba, one of the places where it will be visible for several minutes. February 26 is the date.. See you next week.

John Holliman's column appears each Wednesday.




Infoseek search  


rule

Watch Science & Technology Week on CNN for more sci-tech stories.

rule
Message Boards Sound off on our
message boards & chat


rule
Back to the top

© 1998 Cable News Network, Inc.
A Time Warner Company
All Rights Reserved.

Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.