tourmaline | Almost Time

Just under half an hour until the hatches close on ISS & Discovery, before undocking tomorrow morning. The crew is currently taking some off-time, so on NASA TV showed a news conference earlier - everyone bursting with how wonderful this mission has been - and now we're seeing pictures from cameras on various parts of the station, with the woman voicing what everything is. It's just like wandering round someone's new house with a camcorder, with them showing you each room with a blindingly obvious comment eg "Here you can see the Canadarm" like you couldn't tell, it's a big robotic arm with 'Canada' written on it - like when people say "This is the bathroom" - yes, it's got a bath in it, I can tell it's the bathroom.

Discovery isn't due to land until Saturday, so a few more days of work, including the checking of the tiles (no specific concerns ahead of the check according to the news conference). But it feels like it's gone so quickly, like when you go on holiday and the time flies. Speaking of flying - they had the big group photo taken yesterday on the ISS - they zoomed through to the module for the photo, coming round the corner feet first. In the crew press conference Garrett Reisman said that's the thing he'll miss most about being back on Earth, being able to float to work in the morning. I think I'd miss it too, it sounds awesome.