Space Station commander Dan Burbank relaxes aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit/NASA
Dreaming in space is like dreaming on Earth — except when it’s not.
Two of the station’s newest tenants fielded the question Wednesday during a series if interviews with Space.com and Fox News.
“My dreaming is exactly like on Earth. They have not changed in my case,” explained Andre Kuipers, a European Space Agency astronaut who reached the station just before Christmas in a Soyuz spacecraft he shared with American Don Pettit and Russian Oleg Kononenko.
“On Earth, I often dream about flying,” said Pettit. “Now that I’m up here and flying, I dream about walking. I guess it just shows that even in your dreams, there is a certain measure of discontent.”
Don Pettit, Oleg Kononenko and Andre Kuipers , pictured left to right, days before their launching from Kazakhstan. Photo Credit/NASA
Pettit, who is starting his second long duration stay aboard the station, didn’t elaborate.
The newcomers joined the station’s Expedition 30 commander Dan Burbank, also of NASA, cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Anton Shkaplerov as their Russian Soyuz spacraft docked on Dec. 23.
The holidays offered some unexpected surprises, including a dramatic view of the Comet Lovejoy as it grazed the sun in late December.
“It was spectacular,” said Burbank, who captured some spectacular imagery of Lovejoy. “It was just one of those cases where we were very lucky to be in a certain position at a certain time.”
All of station the astronauts said the view of Lovejoy has increased their desire to look down at the Earth and out at the universe from their Cupola observation deck.
Comet Lovejoy during encounter with the sun. Photo Credit/Dan Burbank/NASA
“I would say it’s breathtaking,” said Burbank of the views. “It’s really not comparable with anything else short of going outside and doing a spacewalk.”
However, with the holiday season in their rear view mirror, Burbank and his colleagues are making software upgrades to the station that will expand their abilities to monitor science experiments and preparing for the arrival of the first U. S. commercially re-supply mission.
The SpaceX Dragon capsule with supplies is tentative scheduled for aFloridalift off on Feb. 7. The astronauts are prepared to grapple the capsule as it rendezvous with the stations Canadian built robot arm.
They will use the arm to berth the Dragon capsule to the station’s U. S. segment.
“We are excited,” said Pettit. “Anytime you have a visiting vehicle coming up, that is an exciting day.”