Experiment

"Message in a Bottle" Performed aboard ISS

* All times are Japan Standard Time (JST)

JAXA Education Payload Observation 5 (JAXA EPO 5) "Message in a Bottle"* was performed aboard the International Space Station (ISS) by spacewalkers during the STS-133 mission's Extravehicular Activity (EVA).

*Project Proposer: Shiro Matsui, Associate Professor of Kyoto City University of Arts

"Message in a Bottle" is an art project aiming at inspiring the people on the ground to feel messages from space. People living on Earth never know or feel real vacuum of space. During a spacewalk, Extravehicular Activity (EVA) crew members bring out a glass bottle and fill it with the vacuum of space. Then, the space-filled bottle is brought back to Earth.

When you hold the bottle filled with vacuum of space, you would feel history of manned space activities, relationship between people and space, and a message from space to our descendant.

"Message in a Bottle" was performed both inside and outside of the ISS. Inside the Kibo module, a special video to be used for an art exhibition of Message in a Bottle was recorded for about 30 minutes from at 0:25 a.m. on September 15, 2010. Outside of the ISS, the spacewalkers captured the vacuum of space in the bottle, which was performed for 15 minutes from 6:43 a.m. on March 1, 2010.

The glass bottle filled with "vacuum of space" is scheduled to be returned to the ground aboard the space shuttle Discovery. The Project Proposer will use the bottle and the video images to create artistic products for exhibition to the general public.

Upon completion of this theme, all of the first phase JAXA EPO projects are completed.

Special Message from Principal Proposer

I received the space-filled bottle. I hope that my artwork will make you wonder and think beyond time and space.

*All times are Japan Standard Time (JST)