What It's Like to Escape Planet Earth
On July 5, 2016, Kate Rubins, 38, was an earth-dwelling microbiologist with degrees in molecular biology and cancer biology studying infectious diseases. On July 6, 2016, she blasted off into space for the first time, and spent the next 115 days living and working on the International Space Station. She spoke with Cosmopolitan.com from space about her life-changing experience.
Why did you decide to go into space?
I don’t think you ever really decide that you want to be an astronaut. I put in an application and hoped for the best.
Are you ever scared?
Fear, being scared, doesn’t serve you particularly well [here]. We basically just train it out of people. When we did some training with the Navy, they flip you upside down, dunk you in a pool, and you basically drown for a couple minutes until you can rescue yourself. You do a lot of these training events to overcome your fear - we have to be able to respond to an emergency up here.
What do you miss most about earth?
I miss the smell and the sound of nature a lot. Just being able to go outside, take a walk, see trees. We’re in a controlled environment, which is truly amazing, the fact that we recycle all of our air and water. But what you do miss is all of those natural resources. The planet is beautiful.
What is the most surprising moment you've experienced in space?
It changes your perspective to be able to look out the window and see the planet. One of the thoughts that I had when I first got up here was, We really do live on a planet, and we are in a solar system, and we are flying through space right now. I mean, this is something that you know, obviously, but to see the planet - it's amazing.
What do you do in your free time up there? Any good reading material?
There are a lot of leisure activities that I do at home that I really don’t want to even do up here, because that’s time that we could be spending taking photos or seeing what’s happening in the world around us as we’re all in free fall. The entire station is in free fall. We’re constantly falling. And all of these objects are falling with me. So you end up just doing experiments about what happens to physics, what happens to biology in free fall. And looking out the window.
Does it feel like an escape?
Living up here sometimes is amazing and fascinating and completely different, and sometimes it is just as normal as you would expect on the planet. The one thing that I’m pretty glad I’m missing, frankly, is the U.S. election season. It’s a little nice to be off the planet right now. But I am looking forward to going back to earth.
Follow Emma on Twitter.
Why Millennials Want to Quit Everything
These Women Gave Up 6-Figure Salaries to Run Goat Farms
Want to Quit Your Job to Travel the World? Here’s Exactly How to Pay for It.
How One Couple Got Rid of All Their Money Worries and Work Stress
Why I Quit Everything and Started a New Life After My Husband and Father Died - and You Should Too
Don’t Like the New President? You Could Move to Another Country.
See the 16 Countries Americans Are Moving to Most
What It's Really Like to Live on a Private Island
7 Stunning Private Islands You Could Actually Buy
You Might Also Like
