National Aeronautics and Space Administration

I’m full of helium. It feels good to be cold again. Sure is hot in Niihama. At least I didn’t have to join in the softball game. My Goddard friends sent me this photo of Tom Bialas getting a good hit, but I have a feeling it was about the only one they got. It was way too hot for me to join in, so I’m glad I had to stay here cooling down (plus I don’t have arms!). And I heard it was dangerous; my team had 3 injuries, which is the same as the number of runs they got. I think the Japanese team here at SHI had 11 runs. How embarrassing!

Anyway, back here in the clean room they’ve also put some neon in the neon tank, so now my helium will last a lot longer. Tomorrow they’ll start pumping on the helium tank so we can get down to my operating temperature of 60 millikelvin. Then on Monday they’ll actually start running the detectors for the first time since I got to Japan. Woo-hoo!

Still going full blast. Everybody’s been busting their butts to get things ready for my grand cooldown. They had to check out all the stuff they’re gonna attach to me. Apparently they’re totally freaked about what would happen if they did something to hurt me. I’m not a total wimp, guys!

But they’ve checked all the electronics, and my “housekeeping” sensors. Housekeeping? What am I, a janitor? No actually, it’s cool, they just have these thermometers stuck all over various parts of me, so they can keep track of my internal temperatures. They have a special box (which they call the “ACHE” … ugh) for measuring those. Wish they wouldn’t call the temperatures “housekeeping”, tho.

Now they’re putting liquid helium in! This is like the start of a wicked roller coaster, when you’re going up the first slope. Nothing’s really happening yet, but you’re on the way like it or not. Good thing I like roller coasters. 60 millikelvin, here I come!

Like 5 million people from Goddard got back here yesterday. Okay, not 5 million, just 9, but the clean room is still abuzz with activity. They’re here to start cooling me down and making sure all my detectors work. Last I saw they were trying to open a tool chest that got jammed in shipping. Let’s see, how many Ph.D. scientists does it take to open a drawer? *heh*

Man, there sure are lots of people hanging around me. Guess they want me to look my best for the cooldown. Being center of attention totally owns!