Experiment

"Message in a Bottle" Returns to TKSC

* All times are Japan Standard Time (JST)

JAXA Education Payload Observation (JAXA EPO) "Message in a Bottle"*, which was performed during the STS-133 mission's spacewalk, was returned to the ground aboard the return flight of the STS-133 mission.

When the bottle arrived at JAXA, it did not contain vacuum of space as it planned. It seemed that the bottle was damaged during shipping.

*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 aboard the International Space Staion (ISS) on March 1, 2011. During the STS-133 mission's spacewalk, the spacewalkers captured the vacuum of space in a bottle and sealed it. The bottle was brought back to the ground aboard the return flight of the space shuttle Discovery (STS-133 mission). The bottle was shipped to Tsukuba Space Center (TKSC) on April 19, 2011. However, when unpacking the cargo at TKSC, the glass bottle was damaged and did not contain vacuum of space.

Investigation on when and how the glass bottle was broken was ongoing.

Meanwhile, the Project Proposer is planning to hold an art exhibition* of the Message in a Bottle using the crashed bottle. The exhibition will be held at the Toyota Municipal Museum of Art from June 11 through the end of August 2011.

*All times are Japan Standard Time (JST)