Justin Walsh
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jstpwalsh.bsky.social
Justin Walsh
@jstpwalsh.bsky.social
6.2K followers 500 following 3K posts
Space archaeologist, hab consultant, ancient Mediterranean, heritage | Prof at Chapman U | Fellow at USC | Explorers Club 50 | https://issarchaeology.org / http://brickmoonspace.com | He/him | Settler on unceded Tongva land (LA) | avi by Zach Weinersmith
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jstpwalsh.bsky.social
Screenshot from the Simpsons episode where Seymour Skinner and Edna Krabappel are a couple. They are in the lunch line and Seymour is telling a story when they notice Bart is about to tell on them. Skinner says, "Good gravy!" And the lunch counter guy responds, "Oh, thank you. It's just brown and water."
November 10, 2025 at 12:48 AM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
Like, this is just sad
The Lockheed Martin exhibition stand at IAC 2021 in Dubai. In the middle is a giant display showing the identical image as the Chinese inflatable habitat, except this one has corporate logos on it.
November 4, 2025 at 6:18 AM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
The ISS Archaeological Project studied the phenomenon of crew-created visual displays in two articles (both open access): www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... and www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11...
Three inhabitants of the ISS in front of a wall covered with various items.
November 2, 2025 at 3:37 PM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
Here's a photo from our experiment on the ISS showing the table on the US side on a Saturday, with a leftover Russian pastry in a Ziploc bag at lower left.
The wall of Node 1 above the table. There is a Russian pastry at lower left in a plastic bag
November 2, 2025 at 4:54 AM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
This situation was seen as suboptimal by some crew, though. It stuck out into a space that it wasn't designed for, and people hurt themselves bumping into it. ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli solved the problem by tilting it at 45°. www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-ma...
ISS crew with the reused table in Node 1. Now it's at an angle to the wall.
November 2, 2025 at 4:47 AM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
But that original table also did not go in the waste stream. Instead, it was installed in the US Node 1 module, because it seemed like a second table was needed for the larger crew.
Nine astronauts and cosmonauts around the reused table in Node 1. The table is held in place by bungee cords
November 2, 2025 at 4:46 AM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
The various ISS mission controls did not like this, because the drilling and screwing needed to make the table generated metal bits that could be inhaled in a microgravity environment. The crew didn't care. They had a table.
The bricolage table cobbled together by the Expedition 1 crew
November 2, 2025 at 4:43 AM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
This is one of the most remarkable achievements in spaceflight - the first permanent habitat off the Earth, and unique example of international cooperation. It's the largest, most complex, and most durable spacecraft ever made.
A photo of the ISS in orbit, with the Space Shuttle docked and Earth below
November 2, 2025 at 4:41 AM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
THREAD: 25 years ago today, the first crew of the International Space Station for a four-and-a-half month stay. Two cosmonauts - Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev - were joined by NASA astronaut William Shepherd. Since that moment, the ISS had had at least two people onboard.
An agency photo of the Expedition 1 crew The Expedition 1 crew in the Russian Zvezda module with fresh oranges. The table is at lower left A graph showing the ISS population over the last 25 years
November 2, 2025 at 4:41 AM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
Someone please explain the railings to me
An almost absurdly monochromatic spacecraft interior, on two levels. The four crew members are seated on the upper level looking at about 12 screens, only two of which are close enough to anyone to be really functional (or reachable, if they are touchscreens like in Dragon). And for some reason, there is a super skinny railing around the upper level that will get completely in the way in microgravity and won't stop anyone from falling in one G or one-sixth G
October 30, 2025 at 6:44 PM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
Screenshot from the Simpsons. Lenny and Carl got lost looking for Mr Burns's mountain cabin. Lenny says, "Maybe it's one of them metaphorical things." Carl responds, "Oh, yeah, like the cabin is the place inside each of us, created by our goodwill and teamwork." Lenny says, "Oh. Nah, they said there would be sandwiches."
October 29, 2025 at 1:28 AM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
There is exactly *one* cool skull to get a tattoo of. I will die on this hill.
Detail of Hans Holbein's 1533 painting "The Ambassadors," showing the famous anamorphic skull at the bottom
October 25, 2025 at 1:44 AM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
For me, the most powerful piece was one of the preparatory sketches that Walker made during her artistic process. It relates to America's original sins (Black slavery and Native genocide). It also spoke to me as an archaeologist who tries to understand the effects of the past on present/future.
A photocopy/scan of a photo of the original equestrian sculpture, cut up and rearranged as a collage. In handwritten pencil, text reads "What the the future deserves IS WHAT IT HAS ALREADY MADE."
October 24, 2025 at 11:32 PM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
There are other pieces besides the Jackson-and-horse statue (Walker really engaged with the horse's story). She also pulled apart the grantite base and altered it.
The square part of the base, about 2 meters on a side,, flipped over and covered with black stars. It is called Star Spangled. The top of the base with a black "cut-out" reminiscent of some of Wlaker's most famous works. It shows a hybrid creature with Jackson's profile head, horse legs, and tentacles. It is called Tread. The front of the base, tilted so it is lying on the curved front. The top has another "cut-out.". This shows an indistinct human figure in profile. It is called Ghost.
October 24, 2025 at 11:32 PM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
I just saw one part of the MONUMENTS show of decommissioned public monuments from across the American South. Specifically, I saw Kara Walker's reinterpretation of the Stonewall Jackson equestrian statue from Charlottesville, VA (where I lived for three years). The show is timely, to say the least.
The centerpiece of Walker's part of the show, called UNMANNED DRONE. It is a bronze equestrian statue that has been torn apart and put back together so that it is barely recognizable. Body parts of man and horse stick out at strange angles.
October 24, 2025 at 11:32 PM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
It's a dark moment when my space specialization collides with my classical one. And a $1m grant is so typical of Musk's pathetic "philanthropy." This is what percentage of his current fortune he is pledging.

(Also, why am I not surprised to see Darius Arya involved?)
The number is 0.000002045, or two ten-thousandths of a percent.
October 22, 2025 at 3:01 AM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
Money is the power to avoid consequences. Money is the power to achieve goals.
Screenshot from the Simpsons where Homer's brain is teaching him that $20 is better than a peanut because $20 can be used to buy many peanuts. "Money can be exchanged for goods and services."
October 10, 2025 at 2:13 PM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
Amazing session at #IAC2025 - "25 Years of the International Space Station: Yesterday - Today - Tomorrow." We had former NASA/current Axiom astro Michael López-Alegría, ISS program director Robyn Gatens, Voyager Technologies founder Jeffrey Manber, photographer Roland Miller, and others!
October 3, 2025 at 9:34 PM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
Archaeologist motto?
An artwork consisting of a square mirror in a white frame, with the words "No object implies the existence of any other" etched across the middle. Reflected in the mirror are a man in blue shirt with grey hair, glasses, and a cell phone and a blonde woman in a blue dress.
October 2, 2025 at 4:50 AM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
Current status
A man with gray windblown hair is seen from behind. He has a shirt that says "boldly going where no archaeologists have gone before" and wears a messenger bag with an archaic Greek gorgon. In the background are Sydney Harbour and the Opera House.
September 28, 2025 at 2:18 AM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
Just needs a dome...
Albert Speer's planned Volkshalle for a postwar Berlin
September 25, 2025 at 5:25 PM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
This is practically impossible for me, but what the hell.

Share your favorite black-and-white movie

DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)
A man in a fedora and suit, and a woman in a blonde wig and cat's eye sunglasses in a very carefully curated supermarket. They are not looking at each other.
September 24, 2025 at 5:15 AM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
Simpsons screencap showing Tom Brokaw describing a group of NASA astronauts dubbed The Three Musketeers: "And we laugh legitimately. There's a mathematician, a different kind of mathematician, and a statistician."
September 22, 2025 at 11:23 PM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
There's merch (I have a tote bag somewhere, too)!
A tshirt with a blue and orange logo of abstracted Earth and space with satellites and lines indicating their trajectories
September 16, 2025 at 8:23 PM
jstpwalsh.bsky.social
The radio DJs Crazy Ira (Matt Besser, smirking and pointing at the camera) and The Douche (Nick Kroll, wearing a hat and shirt that both read "Douche Nation") from Parks and Recreation
September 16, 2025 at 8:07 PM