It never occurred to me that people would respond to it in the way they do with other stuff I've done. They seemed to respond to it as entertainment. "What I was really pleased by how people seemed to respond to it in the way they do with a movie they've enjoyed, or a TV show they've enjoyed. "I've been very pleased by the response people have had to it," he said. In 2021, he was honored by the American Astronautical Society with the Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History.Finally, Merchant expressed surprise at the fan response to Portal 2 and Wheatley, explaining his realization that games generate a response similar to that of other media. Space Camp Hall of Fame in Huntsville, Alabama. He previously developed online content for the National Space Society and Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, helped establish the space tourism company Space Adventures and currently serves on the History Committee of the American Astronautical Society, the advisory committee for The Mars Generation and leadership board of For All Moonkind. Pearlman is also a contributing writer for and co-author of "Space Stations: The Art, Science, and Reality of Working in Space” published by Smithsonian Books in 2018. Robert Pearlman is a space historian, journalist and the founder and editor of, an online publication and community devoted to space history with a particular focus on how and where space exploration intersects with pop culture. All rights reserved.Ĭ Editor, Contributor Wheatley, however, will remain "in spaaaaaaace!"įollow collectSPACE on Facebook and Twitter collectSPACE and editor Robert Pearlman robertpearlman. After about a month attached to the complex, the HTV, re-loaded with trash, will leave the orbiting laboratory to re-enter into Earth's atmosphere and be destroyed. This is Japan's third resupply spacecraft launched to the International Space Station. In addition to the NASA experiments, JAXA's own payload includes an aquatic habitat for fish and a cooling water pump. While there are no portal guns on JAXA's Kounotori-3, there are 7,000 pounds (3,175 kilograms) of supplies and equipment for the station's Expedition 32 crew.
Wheatley, as the slow-witted companion, helps players as they navigate the game's futuristic setting. Portal 2 challenges the player to solve a series of puzzles using a "portal gun," that opens entrance- and exit-ways (portals) through walls and other flat planes. It has partnered with other entertainment and game companies in the past, including Disney and Rovio, the latter makers of the "Angry Birds" mobile games, but those collaborations were to use their characters for educational outreach. government agency, NASA cannot promote or endorse commercial products. "Believe it or not," the software company continued, "they don't even officially endorse Portal 2, despite the fact that it's a really excellent game."Īs a U.S. "NASA in no way officially endorses secretly laser-engraving characters from Portal onto their spacecraft." "And please note that when we mentioned an 'anonymous tech at NASA' we weren't kidding," Valve explained on its blog.
The lack of details may be because the Wheatley etching is unofficial.
payloads are an Earth-observation camera, two small satellites, and a communications and navigation test bed. NASA has several scientific experiments and payloads on the HTV-3, which astronauts will unpack after capturing the spacecraft using the space station's robotic arm and then attaching it to the outpost on Friday (July 27). The photograph offers no reference of scale for the component, nor from what instrument it may have originated. A photo posted on Valve's website shows what appears to be a circuit board with Wheatley's likeness laser-inscribed in one corner.