Posted on Aug 16, 2010 10:39:55 AM | Heather Smith | 1 Comments
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During an interview with astronaut Chris Hadfield,
commander of the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations NEEMO 14
mission, I got to ask two questions. I wrote about the first one, about the use
and impact of social media during the mission. I decided to make the second
question its own post. It needed its own space to shine because Hadfield had an
amazingly unique answer! I asked: “What are you most looking forward to when
you return to the real world?” meaning when he returned to the surface at the
end of the mission.
I could’ve guessed a few responses of what he might have
said, based on what other astronauts have said they miss about Earth while in
space -- family, certain foods, the comforts of home. But the answer Hadfield
gave was surprising and very specific to the environment he was in. Hadfield’s
answer? The sun.
"The view here is always a beautiful
modeled pastel blue or black, and the sun is very indistinct and indirect. You
know it’s day and you know it’s night, but you can never feel the sun. You only
see that it’s daytime somewhere else. Really, it’s sort of like watching the
sun on television or something. It’s just not the same. I’m very much looking
forward to feeling the sun on my skin."
Cool, huh? He missed our sun, something a lot of us are
probably complaining about right now, and something we tend to take for
granted.
Such a great artical!!!