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[…]
Category: accommodation
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,[…]
Finally, something I feel I can do. I feel that a lot of the content of this blog is filled with reflections on the differences between Earth and space and my … well, I suppose my dissatisfaction with returning home. It’s not that I’m not grateful. I am. I love my wife and our life is pretty incredible, but there’s it feels strangely dull to be back home. As though space was this grand, exciting adventure, except that it wasn’t. I know that, in space, a lot of my time was filled with just waiting around or just trying to get some sleep, but I miss the constant excitement of it all. You can’t imagine what it’s like to see[…]