The Fellowship of the Flask

So yesterday marked the first day Dan and Gary had ever set foot in the grand state of Texas. Consider them honored. Nothing of much consequence happened other than retrieving these lost souls from the vacuous confines of Bush Intercontinental and setting them on the path of righteous glory to Ellington Field where our destiny awaits. Well, I guess we have to wait for Isaac before the real battles begin.

Also, a change of plans: we will not be going to Rice University, but to a molecular biology lab in the Johnson Space Center (only 10 minutes away), courtesy of the very nice Mayra Nelman, who agreed to set us up in this hip locale after hearing about our trouble transporting our little guys (the cells). Obviously, transporting the cells for an hour in rush hour traffic would not make them very happy (obviously, this did not excite us either), and this reduces the chance something will happen to them on route to the KC-135.

Anyway, our goals for Wednesday:

1. Unfreeze and culture the cells
2. Receive our experimental box and prepare it for the Test Readiness Review (TRR) next Monday.
3. Pick up the last member of our fateful crew from IAH. Hopefully without any harm to animals.
4. Play a 5 player game of "Puerto Rico," which I highly recommend.

Lets hope it doesn't hit 100 today.
On a side note: The KC-135 is NOT air-conditioned. Fun times over the Gulf next week.

-John