AN INTERVIEW WITH AN ASTRONAUT

Italian Paolo Nespoli, 54, spent 174 days in space across two missions, travelling into Earth’s orbit on both NASA’s Space Shuttle and the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. We asked what it was like to live in space and more in our exclusive interview.

1) ....................................................................................................

I was selected fairly young and got to fly after just nine years of training, which is a short time to wait actually. People asked if I was scared but I wasn’t really. I’d trained so much. But the first couple of minutes in the space shuttle is frightening because it really shakes you.

2)  ....................................................................................................

I didn’t mind it so much in space, but my body felt really old when I came back to Earth; the gravity was so intense. I was fine in space, but I’m not a superhero. The micro-gravity environment does a lot to your body. You lose a lot of calcium in space; your bones and muscles can get quite weak.

3)  ....................................................................................................

We’d do about two hours of physical fitness every day. By doing two hours of exercise every day for six months, I came back with more muscles and less fat than I had when I left.

4)  ....................................................................................................

I loved taking pictures, looking at the Earth and discovering it. It was very enjoyable. You just go to the window and there you have it – a great and gorgeous view. In the beginning, you try to figure out where you are without using the software that tells us our location, but little by little, you start to realise what’s going on. By the second/third/fourth months, you look out of the window and you know where you are.

5)  ....................................................................................................

Well, it depends. If you are above an ocean, for example, which happened often, it doesn’t look like you are going very fast. But if you want to take a picture of something specific, then you understand how fast you are travelling. For example, if you see the moon and you like it, you’d better take that picture in the next ten seconds, otherwise, it’s gone.

6)  ....................................................................................................

Well, if I had a choice, I would love to go up for another mission. I feel now that I know what’s going on up there, so I would love to do things differently, pace myself better, and enjoy things a bit more. At this point I would like to go up again and I’m ready if they offer me a chance again, but if not, I have been to space and I have been so lucky to realise a dream I’ve had since I was a kid, and I’m very grateful for that.