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We had a lecture/presentation by an American astronaut, George Zamka on the last mission he was on in February 2010, whose main objective seemed to be installing a rotunda in the ISS. There might have been some sciency experiments, frozen stuffs and such, but he seemed to think this was the highlight of the journey. The presentation was awesome and he seems like a really fun guy. He elicited a few laughs, teased a girl, answered all questions seriously (even the obligatory UFO one) - altogether you can see why he's the commander. :)
Except now I really want to go into space. Yeah, I know the odds are astronomical (sic!), I know that three days in zero grav equals one day of puking (plus however long it takes to get used to being back on terra firma), three days of hitting limbs against everything, cleaning up after myself down to the last crumb, toilet that's more complicated to use than a helicopter is to pilot, and possibly dying of fright*, not to mention the thousand and one ways you can die anyway - apparently smelling ammonia in zero grav can kill you, and ammonia is used as a heat conductor. Plus, there's the 400 degrees difference in temperature between in the sun and out of the sun, and the ISS has an orbital period of 90 minutes.
Yeah, all of that and I would still go in a heartbeat. This tops my list of "things to do if I ever am a bestselling author."
* Apparently on your first ever spacewalk they suggest you attach yourself to the station and just float for half an hour, because being in orbit feels like falling down, constantly, so your brain thinks you're dying.
Except now I really want to go into space. Yeah, I know the odds are astronomical (sic!), I know that three days in zero grav equals one day of puking (plus however long it takes to get used to being back on terra firma), three days of hitting limbs against everything, cleaning up after myself down to the last crumb, toilet that's more complicated to use than a helicopter is to pilot, and possibly dying of fright*, not to mention the thousand and one ways you can die anyway - apparently smelling ammonia in zero grav can kill you, and ammonia is used as a heat conductor. Plus, there's the 400 degrees difference in temperature between in the sun and out of the sun, and the ISS has an orbital period of 90 minutes.
Yeah, all of that and I would still go in a heartbeat. This tops my list of "things to do if I ever am a bestselling author."
* Apparently on your first ever spacewalk they suggest you attach yourself to the station and just float for half an hour, because being in orbit feels like falling down, constantly, so your brain thinks you're dying.
