Adventure in 60 Seconds: This Week in Exploration

Text by Tetsuhiko Endo

SPACE

Today, the seven man team of the Atlantis space shuttle is floating somewhere a few miles above our heads, trying to fix the Hubble telescope. They completed the first of their five space walks on Thursday by replacing the telescope’s 16-year-old camera. Although the procedure was not without its difficulties, they got the job done. One down, five to go. (nytimes.com).

OCEANS

If anyone has been counting the days lately, it’s the people rowing in the Indian Ocean Rowing Race, which has already lost more teams than a cycling race that enforces its drug ban. The process of scraping barnacles off the boats has begun. Never the easiest task, when the boat is still moving and someone has to spot for sharks (indianoceanrowingrace09.com/).

Having a slightly easier go of things is the intrepid Sarah Outen, who you will recall is endeavouring to become the first women to row across the Indian Ocean. Check out her blog to hear her thoughts on food, solitude, and how to surf 12-meter waves (sarahouten.co.uk/blog/).

MOUNTAINS

Finally, as was reported yesterday. The Everest teams are on the move in order to get in place for their summit bids. According to the Adventure Blog, some estimates have as many as 60 people heading for the summit on Monday. All of this begs the question: Just how big is the summit of Everest? (theadventureblog.blogspot.com).