Sun columnist Lorraine Kelly fulfils lifelong dream to train as an astronaut at 60 with Nasa in zero gravity
FOR as long as I can remember I desperately wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up.
I was obsessed with space and instead of pop stars on my bedroom walls I had photos of Yuri Gagarin, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
So when the team from my TV show wanted to give me a special surprise to celebrate me turning 60 at the end of this month, they organised the best ever gift.
It was the chance to fulfil a lifetime ambition and undergo actual astronaut training.
Who would have thought when my dad bought me my first telescope when I was five years old, or when we sat together enthralled watching the moon landing in 1969, that I would actually be flying to Nasa in Florida to be put through my paces?
It’s the stuff of dreams.
Before I set off on this amazing experience, I had lots of sound advice from a proper expert — the truly inspirational British astronaut Tim Peake.
For his Principia mission in 2015-16 he spent an incredible 186 days in space as part of the crew of the International Space Station, and is a European Space Agency astronaut.
YIPS OF GLEE
He’s the most terrific role model and loves to share his knowledge and experience with enthralled children and nurture their curiosity about space. They sit at his feet and soak up his stories like little sponges.
Tim patiently answered all of my questions. Like most wannabe space travellers, my main concern was to avoid throwing up at any point during the training.
I was well aware that I was going to be transported into a world of weightlessness and head-spinning simulators.
Tim told me to try to keep my head as still as possible and to keep focused on something above me and not to take my eyes off it.
He also encouraged me to have as much fun as possible and gave me a list of easy experiments to carry out.
He even gave me an ESA Principia mission badge to put on my zero-gravity flight suit. I couldn’t have had better preparation for my adventure.
First stop was Nasa in Florida and a very early start to enjoy the huge privilege of having the place to myself before all the tourists came through the gates.
They are well used to over-excited geeks at the splendid Kennedy Space Center, but I think you would have heard my yips of glee on Pluto when I was presented with a proper astronaut’s flying suit with my name emblazoned on it.
I was talked through the simulators prior to having a go and even allowed to pilot a Martian rover as well as carry out tasks in a space walk situation and a Shuttle rescue.
It was a thrill to talk to scientists doing groundbreaking work in deep space travel, and conducting experiments on how to grow food on Mars so that humans could colonise it.
Turns out the 2015 movie The Martian, in which Matt Damon’s character cleverly manages to grow potatoes in order to survive, is pretty accurate.
The passion, intelligence and curiosity of these men and women is truly remarkable and gives me hope for the future. I was honoured to be given a tour by former astronaut John Oliver (Jo) Creighton, who spent a total of 16 days in space on the Shuttles Discovery and Atlantis.
We explored the actual Atlantis Shuttle, which is housed at the Kennedy Space Center, and Jo gave me vivid descriptions of life in space and the profound effect of seeing Earth from the window of his Shuttle.
He is one of the select band of heroes who were literally able to sit back and watch the world go by.
All of the astronauts talk about how beautiful and fragile our planet looks from outer space.
From Nasa we travelled to San Francisco, and the zero gravity experience. I didn’t sleep a wink the night before and was up and ready hours in advance to be taken on board the specially converted plane G-Force One — rather ominously dubbed The Vomit Comet. Weightlessness is achieved by flying the plane — like an airliner but with no seats — through a series of parabolic arcs.
At 20,000 feet it starts to climb at 45 degrees, then at the top of the arc it starts to descend just as sharply, with its occupants experiencing zero gravity as they fall at the same rate as the plane — just like being in space. It’s a sort of roller coaster in the sky.
When you go up so steeply, G-force — or gravitational force — starts to rise and it’s like having a baby elephant slowly squatting down on your chest, then stretching out across your entire body.
You cannot move at all and are just pinned helplessly to the floor of the plane. And then slowly the elephant flies away like Dumbo and you start to feel yourself drift gently upwards.
For the first couple of times I was like a hyperactive toddler, squealing and giggling and kicking my feet in the air. This made me flail around all over the place, like an out-of-control firework.
OLYMPIC GYMNASTICS
Then I remembered all the advice to just float around and enjoy the strange feeling of zero gravity.
We had some fun trying to pour a cup of tea, and trying to gulp down the floating droplets, as well as trying to eat sweeties bobbing around in the air.
As an added bonus, because they were weightless, surely there’s no calories . . .
At one point I was performing Olympic gold medal gymnastics that would have landed me in hospital if I had attempted such head-over-heels moves on land.
I felt a little bit light-headed at times, but thankfully I didn’t disgrace myself and throw up.
It was just such a lot of fun and went by in a flash. When we had finished all I wanted to do was have another go.
I was wondering why the name tags on our flight suits were upside down, but all was explained after the flight when we wobblingly walked down the aircraft stairs.
In what was an emotional Nasa-inspired ceremony, the captain of the plane turned my badge the right way up to mark the achievement of experiencing zero gravity and joining a very elite club.
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When it was all over and I returned to the hotel — obviously still in my flight suit and cool aviator sunglasses — a lovely little old American lady was coming out of the lift and asked me if I was an astronaut.
It was one of the best moments of my life and was the cherry atop the icing of a fabulous cake and an experience I will never forget.
And I still want to be an astronaut when I grow up.
- Watch Lorraine in space on Thursday at 8.30am on ITV.
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