Six and a Half Months in Orbit: Junk Food and Sublime Moments

Over time, did you adapt to the results of house mind?

You determine floating, and also you don’t have that disorientation anymore. However the carbon dioxide drawback continues to be there. It will possibly get higher, if the CO2 ranges drop. If the CO2 ranges get increased, it will get worse. In order that’s simply one thing that’s there with you the entire time. I believe everyone would agree that you just’re simply not at a hundred-percent stage in house.

What did you miss most throughout your time aboard the ISS?

In fact family and friends—individuals. [NASA has] a great way to maintain you related by e-mail, cellphone calls, and video conferences. However it’s not the identical as being there in individual. There have been different issues too: The meals in house is fairly good, however it’s not recent meals. There’s no bread. I bear in mind I had a hen sandwich after I acquired again to Earth. We landed, took a helicopter experience to the airport. And whereas we had been on the airport, my physician went to the airport kiosk and acquired a hen sandwich. That was my first actual Earth meals, and it was wonderful. I can nonetheless bear in mind the mayonnaise.

Once we get to the purpose the place it’s widespread for individuals to stay and work in house, what do you assume can be tougher to regulate to: the bodily atmosphere (microgravity) or the psychological challenges of isolation?

The psychological facet might be more difficult. Once we’re hiring astronauts, there are tons and plenty of people who find themselves technically competent. There’s a number of good individuals who can fly and do experiments. However are you able to hang around with someone on daily basis for 200 days—or two or three years? That’s a a lot completely different ability, and to have a mix of each technical competence and emotional competence shouldn’t be all the time simple to seek out.

A number of the Apollo astronauts have talked about having an omniscient, almost-spiritual sense of Earth once they had been it from the moon. Did you ever really feel something like that whenever you had been aboard the shuttle or the ISS?

Sure, I’ve acquired a pair tales in my ebook about that. Once I was spacewalking, I had an incident, I suppose, or a second. Ninety-nine p.c of my spacewalks had been simply busy, busy, busy, work, work, work. Plug on this cable. Put grease on that bolt. However then each every so often, I’d cease and see creation. I’d have these elegant moments after I was blown away by what I used to be seeing.

What’s your opinion of Elon Musk?

Elon is a visionary. That’s the overriding opinion I’ve about him. I’ve met him a few occasions—simply briefly. The factor I like about Elon is that he gained’t simply sit round and look forward to different individuals to do issues. If he sees a necessity for one thing, he simply will get it accomplished. I believe that’s one thing that we want much more of. He’s the modern-day Proper Stuff.

What was your favourite junk meals whenever you had been on the house station?

That may be a nice query. No person’s ever requested me that. So there’s two issues right here: There may be consolation meals—I had baggage of Reese’s. And we additionally had—they known as it “bonus meals,” and you could possibly decide nuts or crackers or cookies or no matter. They’d these chocolate-covered blueberries that I’d get—they had been nice. Beef jerky too. You could possibly have these issues all through the day if you happen to wished. However to be sincere, the mechanics of consuming [in space] are a little bit of a ache. You must get the meals, fill it up with water, and wait. And reduce it and cope with the trash. [Instead] I’d hold a drink bag filled with some fruit drink or tea and lug it round. It was simply simpler than coping with crackers floating off. I misplaced as much as a kilogram a month in all probability as a result of there’s no quick meals. There’s no fried meals. It’s all fairly wholesome.