Oregon Media Insiders

Below the jump is a fanvideo commemorating the delivery of the Firefly and Serenity DVDs to the International Space Station via the Space Shuttle Atlantis. This video premiered on the big screen at the weekly Firefly at the Mission event in the Portland of Oregon on Tuesday, 17 July 2007, and now (of course) is available on YouTube.

Since the photos of the Firefly and Serenity DVDs were released, the news has been making its way around, mostly on blogs affiliated with various media outlets. It hit Idiot Box (The Oregonian), TV Squad (AOL), Pop Candy (USA Today), and Boldly Go (Houston Chronicle). And today a link to the photos appears on IMDb, as the third item on their "Hit List". That last link is generating the highest level of single-day traffic ever for Breaking Atmo. And, of course, if you missed it, there was this over on WHEDONesque. "We're all just floating." (tee hee) That, of course, would be the reaction of one Joss Whedon. You might know who he is.

Everyone has been waiting for this particular moment. In over the email transom this morning, and obviously already making their way around the Web, come three photographs of our intrepid Browncoat astronaut and his precious cargo of DVDs. Click the thumbnails below to open pop-up windows with slightly larger versions.

A couple of things have happened that will be of interest to Browncoats waiting for news about the delivery of Firefly and Serenity DVDs to the International Space Station aboard the shuttle Atlantis. What things? Read on. The most important updates from Maiii (our Browncoat insider at NASA) are below, as posted to the various online discussion threads wher ehe's been keeping us updated. The first being the email from orbit from Steven R. Swanson, our intrepid Browncoat astronaut.

From: MS2
Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 2:01 AM
Cc: Shuttle-Crew
Subject: RE: Hope you had a great spacewalk

The package has been delivered. Pictures were taken (and probably downlinked already) and I'll have to find how to get them. I've got most of the crew hooked on the show and Clay too, so he will enjoy them.

Thanks again and take care,
Steve

The second piece of information comes from Maiii. And, seriously, this is the bit you want to make sure you read. And then, of course, tell every Browncoat you know. I added some photos from the crew return at Ellington today. I had a chance to talk with Swanny after the ceremony he is doing well. turns out when the crew was in quarantine prior to launch they watched 5 episodes and that is how Swanny got them all hooked. Clay was definitely excited about having the set on the ISS since he was hooked. Swanny is going to try and find the photos of him, Clay and Suni on the ISS with the DVD's as soon as he can. Again sorry I couldn't get them for the CSTS screening's this weekend. stay shiny. You read that right. But in case you want to see the wild bit again: "[T]urns out when the crew was in quarantine prior to launch they watched 5 episodes and that is how Swanny got them all hooked. Clay was definitely excited about having the set on the ISS since he was hooked." While the photos of the DVDs in orbit weren't available in time for this year's charity Serenity screenings, the above, nonetheless, likely qualifies for the following. Happy birthday, Joss!

You should, of course, read all of the crew profiles, but in the end you might want to spend a little extra time on Mission Specialist Steven R. Swanson via his bio and interview. You can see him at the end of this set of pictures. Swanson, as we know now is our intrepid Browncoat astronaut, currently carrying Firefly and Serenity to the International Space Station aboard the shuttle Atlantis. Addendum (09 June): Here's a short excerpt from his interview, linked above, that might be of some interest and/or amusement to Browncoats. We've been talking about a lot of work going on on the outside of the station and the shuttle. There's work inside, too. What are you guys doing, to be doing inside of the station for a week or so? Well, we're doing stuff just to help the station crew members themselves; that's our main job, too, while we're there. They need supplies, for one, so we're bringing them some new supplies, from food to all sorts of things, and new computers. So we'll be giving them as much as we can handle. Our payload being so large has limited our ability to give them a lot. But we will still have some stuff to give them and we will then take some of their stuff away, their trash, whatever, that they want to get rid of or bring back down to Earth, or to Houston. We'll take that from them and load it into our middeck lockers or wherever we can, and bring that back for them. Emphasis added.

At 7:38 PM Eastern time, STS-117 lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center on its way to the International Space Station. As posted previously, track the progress of the launch via NASA TV (video) or via Spaceflight Now (text).

To borrow a phrase, STS-117 is cleared for upthrust at 7:38 PM Eastern time. And stay tuned, because reportedly once the crew is in the sky we will be told the identity of our intrepid Browncoat astronaut.

Launch remains scheduled for 19:38 (7:38 PM) Eastern time today. Keep an eye out here for any updates from maiii, and remember that NASA TV coverage already is underway. Spaceflight Now has reprinted a mission preview from CBS News, and there's also the most-recent update from NASA SpaceFlight. Don't forget the former's handy countdown chart, as well as NASA's own real-time clock and mission clock. For those without access to the video, or just as an additional information source, checkout Spaceflight Now's mission status, updated more or less in real-time as things progress.

Last night, the countdown to the launch of STS-117 began. See coverage of the start of countdown via NASA SpaceFlight and Spaceflight Now. Also, the latter site has a handy countdown chart, and NASA provides a real-time clock and a mission clock which "begins 43 hours before launch and mirrors the real clock by pausing during the various built-in holds during the countdown". Launch is scheduled for 19:38 (7:38 PM) Eastern time on 08 June.

Simply put: There are Browncoats at NASA. And so, in early June, an astronaut aboard the next-scheduled shuttle mission will carry DVDs of Firefly and Serenity to the crew of the International Space Station. Or, at least, that's the short version. In order to get everyone up to speed as we launch the Breaking Atmo website in advance of the launch of STS-117 itself, what follows is a tour through how all of this came to happen in the first place. And then, from here on out, check back here for updates -- or subscribe to them via email or feed, so you never miss any news. Because next week, Serenity takes off into the black. There's a narrative to made of all of this, someday. But for now here are the relevant online postings from Maiii, presented in chronological order. It begins somewhat before the DVDs entered the picture, with altogether something else finding its way to the International Space Station. 14 Jul 2006 Some of us Browncoats are working the current Shuttle and Station Mission and we got the Captain's quote about love uplinked to the ISS crew in tomorrow morning's daily summary. Below is the review copy of the daily summary. I dont know if I can get PAO to release the document, but if anyone wants to request it from I think the JSC PAO office the document is UPLINK ID: 13-0709 USOS Daily Summary GMT 196, Saturday, 15 July 2006 Docked Ops Ð FD 12 Quote: It's great to have three crewmembers aboard ISS again! Welcome to your new home, Thomas! "You know what the first rule of flyin' is? É Love. You can know all the math in the 'Verse, but you take a boat in the air that you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughtta fall downÉ tells ya she's hurtin' before she keelsÉ makes her a home." -- Captain Malcolm Reynolds in "Serenity" 15 Jul 2006 now I have our PAO officer intrigued and interested in checking out the Movie. 18 Jul 2006 Fans of the Cult Hit Firefly and Serenity beamed an emotional quote from their fearless Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds to the ISS crew Saturday morning as part of the Crew's Daily Summary Message. Browncoat Flight Controllers working both station and shuttle were able to convince the ISS Planning Flight Director, a recent convert to Firefly, that the quote would be a great inspiration to the crew as the International Space Station finally returns to three fulltime crew members with the addition of Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter who arrived aboard Space Shuttle Discovery. 23 Jul 2006 Hammer2 over at the SCI-FI board was able to take the print out and hand it to Joss at Comic-con. How shiny is that! 22 Sep 2006 I just go confirmation, the DVD sets are heading to the international space station aboard STS-117. "Thanks for the DVDs. I've been trying to figure what's the best thing to do with them -- here's my plan. I'll take them with me and see if the ISS crew wants them, if not I'll bring them back (after taking a few pictures with them) and give them to you. O.K.?" I will be sure to post pictures when I get them. I will see if we can't convince his wife about having the ballad of serenity as his wake up music. 24 Sep 2006 I gave him both firefly and Serenity. 24 Sep 2006 Yeah the crewmember and I talked back during STS-121 and mentioned that I would be willing to provide the dvd's for him to take up. he was out on training when I dropped them off on his desk, but sent me the email I posted the other day. it's not the shuttle mission in december but the one following that. so we have a little bit before we break atmo. 28 Sep 2006 I worked with the astronaut on STS-121 we talked about sending the DVD's up instead of just uplinking them. apparently the station gets movies uplinked on a regular basis but they files are rotating and only stay onboard for about 10 days. we wanted Firefly/Serenity to be a permenant movie in their collection. so the astronaut agreed to take them up on his flight STS-117. 17 Oct 2006 the launch of STS-117 is now scheduled for 3/18/07 according to the latest manifest. 5 Feb 2007 just a quick update on the mission. last week was rollout review and things are looking very well with the ship. New launch date is supposed to be moved up from March 16th to March 15th. I haven't had a chance to tag up with the astronaut lately, but I will give him a friendly reminder closer to the mission to not forget our precious cargo 15 Feb 2007 got an email today from our browncoat astronaut: "Thanks and the cargo has already been packed. I talked to Suni and she is looking forward to getting the new entertainment. IÕll make sure to get a few photos." 27 Feb 2007 well due to hail damage to the external tank, the mission is being delayed until April 22nd so that the stack can be rolled back to the VAB for assessment and repairs. 08 Mar 2007 I still havent heard anything more about a new launch date yet, it has been 3 days since the scaffolding was installed and they started looking at the tank. right now rumors say anywhere from April 19th - May 11 for launch date. 12 Apr 2007 just ran into our intrepid Browncoat astronaut, the DVD items are still packed and ready to go. new launch date is June 8th and he is aware everyone is wishing him well and waiting for photos. All of which brings you almost up to date. Now we await the launch date of 08 June 2007, and/or any new trickles of information that might come our way. Whenever there's an update, we will post it here (you can subscribe to this site by email or feed). Over in the sidebar, we've added links to the mission page and NASA TV, pages about the STS-117 mission on other space-related websites, and various places online where Maiii has been keeping people aprised of things.