People have some serious misconceptions about astronauts. They think that we eat pills for breakfast and that we spend our time floating around in a capsule. While it’s true that we eat carefully packaged and highly condensed foods, and we’re in superb physical shape which allows us to adapt to the lack of gravity conditions, it’s far from the cliche. Another misconception is that astronauts care not for their physical appearance. I guess Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong probably gave the world that impression. But it’s not true. Some of us are quite into pruning and manscaping, and take pride in our looks. Since my daughter has been doing her makeup courses in Brisbane, I’ve learnt a lot about how[…]
Author: admin
Used to be that you could turn on the TV and watch whatever came on. I don’t want to make myself sound too old, but reality TV just wasn’t around when I was growing up and it shows in what the young folks of today are really into. Sometimes I’ll turn on the TV a for a bit of a curious squizz and I’ll see all sorts of inane rubbish. Oh, ten idiots living in a house. How does that qualify as entertainment? I come back to Melbourne and TV antennas have popped up all over the place. Really, sticking out of every roof. You know where we didn’t have TV? That’s right…space. We picked up a lot of signals,[…]
People think that there are no trees in space. They are wrong. We had one in our capsule. It had actually been planted into a giant pot during construction of the shuttle and allowed to grow. By the time it was due for us to go up into space, the tree was flourishing. It was an attractive feature of our space shuttle. I have to say we might have gone stir crazy if it wasn’t for old Bella (that’s what we called the tree). It was a cherry blossom tree that was genetically modified to be flowering roughly one week out of every month instead of for a few weeks every year. The psychologists working on the project made a[…]
With the arrival of our first grandson just around the corner we are extremely excited. We have been helping our daughter and son-in-law prepare as well as doing some preparations ourselves. We are going to have him stay with us one night a week to help out for the first few months. So we are redecorating one of the guest rooms into a beautiful baby’s nursery. Of course, it has to be space themed. That way, even if we get thrown a curve-ball and it’s a girl, it will still be fitting! I have had ongoing consultations with an excellent interior painter based in Melbourne. They understand exactly what I am going for and have painstakingly gone through all the[…]
I might not actually LIKE Perth, but there’s a very good reason I want to be buried there. See, on the space mission we faced many dangers. Pieces of debris just floating around from previous missions were on such example. Equipment malfunction while out space-walking was another. The list goes on, but obviously, space is not a place designed for man to thrive, not without piles of equipment to keep them breathing. I had to make sure my will was up to date before I left, everyone knew what to do with my estate, all of that complicated jargon. Not that many people die in space nowadays, but it’s still more hazardous than a trip to the milk bar. Now,[…]
When I returned to earth I found it hard to reintegrate into the every day of life on the blue planet. I was used to a strict and exciting routine on the mission so when I was faced with refilling the ice trays and replacing the windows I suddenly felt a little meaningless. My wife understood my anxiety towards the trivial mundane stuff and would try so hard to pose me challenges that would stretch me. Bless her. I was sure it would pass, it is a classic psychological passageway for astronauts to go through when they return to civilian life. If Neil Armstrong can do it, so can I. I decided to just throw myself into the house. We[…]
When something breaks around your home, what the worst that can happen? You have to go out to the shop and get a new light bulb, maybe. You call in a locksmith and he gets the key out from where it’s been jammed. You need new carpet after the dishwasher flooded. Ha! On the space station, every single little breakage could mean life or death. If the door fails to close, that means you lose your air. Water purifier broken down? Well, you need to use your instincts and ingenuity to rig up a solution before you die of thirst. See what I mean? Space problems are just so much more important than regular, boring Terra Firma problems. Nothing down[…]
Lorne will always hold a special place in my heart, for obvious reasons. When we first came back to Earth after the space mission, our craft landed right on target in the bay, and we were pulled to shore with crowds cheering. At the time, I was still unsure about returning to Earth but it was certainly a buzz, plus the mayor threw us a welcome home breakfast right there on the beach, where we could chat to our fans. And after that, we collapsed into soft hotel feather beds, because we’d been up for 46 hours by that point and it was definitely time for sleep! I suppose I have a soft spot for all the hotels in Lorne,[…]
We always used to joke around in the space station by telling each other about the space chimp. The Russians sent a chimp into space- you may have heard- and it managed to do just fine. So whenever any of us had problems with a task, we’d just say something like ‘if a chimp could do it…’ It was funny at least the first few times! I still chuckle whenever I hear about it, although to this day I don’t really know what happened to the chimp. Maybe it founded a moon colony. Peggy was the only one who never laughed, because she’d left her beloved poodle back in Melbourne, with dog walkers on an endless duty to make sure[…]
There’s a certain zen peace to being in space that you can’t find anywhere on Earth. Personally, I think it’s to do with the possessions. On the space station, everything we owned we also owned by someone else…or should I say, there WAS no true ownership. It was a blessed system of former possessions transitioning into objects, simply floating around and available to be used by all. I still don’t know who originally owned the red toothbrush all these years later! It’s a mystery! Then I was brought back down to Earth and suddenly everything was taxes, prices, mortgages, don’t use my toothbrush that’s gross. When would it end? I had to acclimatise to a whole new world. The first[…]