...Zero and lift off, the space shuttle Atlantis...
Weightlessness comes on really quickly during
a space launch, or rather should I say as soon as a space launch stops.
The rocket is accelerating and you might go up to 1 1/2 G, then back down to 1/2 G,
then you might go up to 2 1/2 G for a bit and then it drops back down a bit as the stage is jettisoned,
and then you will go up to 3 1/2 G on Soyuz where you maximise and then
suddenly: Bang! The final rocket stage is gone.
You go instantly from hyper G to zero G
and all of a sudden you weigh nothing. That is an incredibly powerful feeling you get,
the fluid immediately starts to redistribute and move towards your chest and head
No longer was I being pushed back into my seat,
no longer was I even sitting down but I was very much aware that I was floating
somewhere between the straps that were still tying me to my seat and I forgot what it feels like
to actually sit down.
We are aware of the vulnerability of our crew. We know the chance of losing our lives is
about 1 in a 100. We feel we have mastered what we are doing, mastered the spaceship
which has evolved in our mind as an extension of our own bodies. Any time there is a problem,
our first idea is to find a solution. When we get close to launch, we are like Superman as a crew.
They can invent any scenario they want, however complex, we will survive and succeed.
Weightlessness is 75% fantastic and 25% a pain in the butt. The 25% has to do with
keeping your stuff where you want it. Here's an example: eating dinner. You end up eating everything
sequentially. You open up your steak tips and you cut it open then you eat the whole thing.
Then you wrap it up and you put it in the garbage can. Then you go and get your package of green
beans and you open that up and you eat the whole thing because its just a hassle to have
to put it down, secure it and go to the next thing and pull it up. That just becomes a
lot of overhead and you have to think about it all the time.
Sleeping in space is not easy the first time
on the first day of any mission because you are excited. You think about what your going
to do and don't let the brain relax and think about the extraordinary adventures you are
living through. But it's funny because when you are falling asleep and during the transition
when you close your eyes you have this sensation of floating. Which is strange as you don't
feel your body pressing on a mattress like at home. Its strange, where is my mattress?
Just for fun I used to sleep on the ceiling facing down. Anything that is specific to
space that you cannot do on Earth I wanted to do. Like sleeping on the ceiling,
to do a pee upside down, watch the Earth whilst leaning on the cockpit's top window.
Its quite tricky to make yourself stay in
a particular place in the space station because as soon as you touch one of the walls in order
to make yourself move in that particular part you just carry on moving until you touch another
wall. So you have to perhaps hold two ropes on either side and let go simultaneously
and if your lucky you will let go with the same force. You tend to move through the
module as well as twisting round but its a lovely sense of freedom.
Being out in the space walk, in the space suit,
is like being in space on steroids because everything that makes space wonderful,
zero gravity, being able to float, being able to move big things and that incredible view
of the Earth. All of that is magnified, when you get outside you are not looking out the
rim of a window, you are out there.
The thrill, the rush if you will, of opening the door for the first time and theres a bit
of a sensation that your going to fall to Earth, that your leaving this platform that
is of course as weightless as you are anyway, but you do not think about that, you think
you are on a stable platform and as you are leaving that it's literally like stepping
out of an aeroplane and you think you are going to fall but of course you don't.
There is space and Earth and space station
wherever you look because of the bubble helmet that we wear. Every space walk is different
and you know they do not take space walks lightly so when you are asked to go outside
to do something a lot of thought has gone into if it is worth the risk. So, as the astronauts
outside doing the space walk, we are keenly aware of how important our tasks are. So most
of us are so focused on our task, its hard to stop and appreciate what a cool experience that we are being given
Believe it or not I think astronauts are more afraid of screwing up than blowing up,
our biggest stresses, tensions and fears come with that. The scariest things we do are the things we
train the most for so that makes us more task focused.
Having said that if you don't have a little bit of flutter when your doing these things
you probably don't realise quite where you are.
It only surprises me now when I think about life back in space how easy it was because
when your there you just do it. You don't have to think about it and its just a joy
the whole time.
I have a large family and we are very close but after 6 1/2 months in my first space flight
I didn't want to come home. Its so amazing up there, you're discovering new things,
your seeing your planet, your floating, your like superman. Its kind of addictive in a way but
you get past that and your always glad to be home and see your family, but I remember
thinking as great as it is to be home, part of me wishes I was still up there.