Addison Pictures

More pictures for everyone! Addison is a month old now and she's doing great! Her two week appointment went really well - she was 7 lbs, 3 ozs and 20 inches. I am sure she will be pushing 9lbs soon. She is much more aware now and has even done a little tummy time and lifted her head. She likes to snuggle but also needs time to stretch out - she will definitely let you know when she needs something different. She is starting to smile now as well. Her Grandma and Grandpa Fischer were here until August 9th and had a great time. Her Grandma Cassady just headed home after two weeks here. Samantha is doing good too. She's a great helper - she gets diapers, wipes, burp clothes...anything to help out, and even helps feed Addison by holding the bottle. She loves to gives Addison kisses on the top of her head. I should be interesting when she realizes Addison is here to stay though. She has her moments where she needs complete attention from Mommy or Daddy. Having Grandparents here really helps - she's got great bonding time with them!

Daddy and Addison

Sisters!

Grandpa Bill and Addison

Grandma Mimi and Addison

The Cassady girls

Cassady family

The Cassady girls

Cute little feet!

Grandma Cassady

Sisters hanging out

Addison Emma Cassady. Beautiful baby girl born at 12:47pm July 28. 6 lbs, 13 ozs and 18.5 inches long. She came out with chubby cheeks and loud crying.

The End of the Space Shuttle Program

It's time to dust off the blog with kiddo #2 ready to arrive anytime. So I thought in tribute to the last Space Shuttle Mission (STS-135), I would post a few pictures...I had the privilege to be a part of the program and had the opportunity not only to work missions, but to see the most amazing machines ever built by man up close and personal. I got to see the launches of STS-95 in 1998 (when John Glenn flew) where I got to see the space shuttle in person for the very first time - my first road trip with Lenny too, STS-93 in 1999 (Eileen Collins was the first female commander), STS-123 in 2008 with my parents and Aunt and Uncle, STS-124 in 2008 for a Space Flight Awareness Award, and STS-131 in 2010 to see my friend Dottie off. I also was lucky enough to see two landings, STS-119 where I was part of a flight experiment and STS-131 for the flight experiment again and to watch Dottie come home. It is a sad day for us all at NASA...

Lenny and I standing on the launch pad on the back side the stacked Endeavour in 1998.

STS-123 was in the middle of the night, here we are anxiously awaiting launch!

Right before the launch of STS-124, yes Samantha is in this picture too! :)

Atlantis in the VAB - my favorite.

Got to go inside Endeavour - this is the side hatch - I am coming out of the Orbiter.

The docking hatch inside Endeavour, that's me on top of the picture.

In the commander's seat!

Checking out the aft stick looking out on the payload bay.

Next to the tail of Discovery just after it landed for STS-131.

Under Discovery in the Orbiter Processing Facility just after STS-131.

Inside where the main engines usually sit on Discovery.

Next to the wing on Atlantis just prior to rollout for STS-132 in the VAB.

Me and Atlantis in the VAB - getting ready for STS-132.

The wing of Discovery after STS-119.

The nose of Discovery after STS-119.

The flight experiment right after STS-119 landing.

The body flap of Atlantis in the VAB - getting ready for roll-out for STS-125.



Discovery landing to close out STS-131.

Zero G Movie

Here is a 10 minute movie of me flying in the Zero G airplane - also known as the vomit comet. The plane starts at about 25,000 ft and pulls the nose up to 45 degrees causing about 1.8 times the force of gravity. You can see me tossing the little cube and how fast it falls. The video is real time. Once the airplane is at about 45 degrees nose up the pilots start to pitch the plane over in such a way that inside there everyone is in free fall and it feels like zero gravity. We got only 20 to 30 seconds of zero gravity before the plane is 45 degrees nose down and they have to start pulling up again. The plane reaches about 35,000 ft at the top of the parabola. It is very odd to look out of a plane window and see the horizon at a 45 degree angle!

This video is from the first 10 minutes of my second day of flying. You can see me still getting comfortable to weightlessness and tossing the cube around. Keeping busy kept me from getting too sick. Turning my head during the 1.8 g pull out caused a lot of disorientation so you can see me holding my head very still when sitting on the ground. During my first day the zero g time made me instantly feel like I was upside down. On the second day it was much more fun and it was an interesting and new experience. It was fun to float around, but hard to control myself. I was afraid of kicking other people on the plane.

I hope to gather a couple of better videos during the next few weeks.