Reid Wiseman’s first few days in space are proving downright entertaining. Wedged between physically adjusting to microgravity and being plastered against the cupola windows planet-watching, Wiseman managed to send home a photo for any geek with a private dice collection.
This one is just for us board game players, table top strategy gamers, and D&D fanatics whose dice collection behaviour borders of hoarding. Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman
Somehow, I don’t think rolling dice for cool vs. stinky chores is particularly effective in microgravity.
Remember how I said Reid Wiseman is making me so happy with his giddy space-tweeting? Still true. To continue Reid-watch 2014, his first full workday in microgravity was frustrating, with awkwardly crashing into walls, nausea, and sore feet.
Getting better at floating. Still knocking stuff off walls. Tops of my feet hurt since we hook them under handrails to stabilize.
— Reid Wiseman (@astro_reid) May 30, 2014
One of Wiseman’s experiments this mission is to run on a treadmill. I’m betting he’d be more excited if that was a great view in front of him instead of all that equipment, but alas, the station does need to put a high priority on function over form. (Don’t fret; he was feeling much better the following day.)
First run done – heels were tingling, food bouncing in stomach. Yuck! pic.twitter.com/769xbAaJxl
— Reid Wiseman (@astro_reid) May 31, 2014
Despite the most cheerful grumbling ever, his the end-of-day picture-tweets indicate Wiseman managed to find his inner joy by plastering against the cupola windows again, waving hello to his parents, sightseeing, and marvelling at our pale blue dot of ocean and cloud:
My parents were waving in Maryland at sunrise, so I took a picture of them. pic.twitter.com/kLnaP93Wqz
— Reid Wiseman (@astro_reid) June 1, 2014
Capetown and almost all of South Africa. Beautiful! pic.twitter.com/ONcdz82HOb
— Reid Wiseman (@astro_reid) May 31, 2014
Just as fun as the constant stream of eyecandy is his choice of photography topics — offering a weather forecast for Santos, Brazil, selecting a tropical vacation-destination, ogling rocks, and spotting former field sites. He’s even jumping into more terrestrial hashtags, watching the World Cup with the greatest seat above-Earth, although it is a rather oblique view of the stadium.
Cloudy skies over Sao Paolo. #worldcup pic.twitter.com/mCMWsua0UF
— Reid Wiseman (@astro_reid) May 31, 2014
Still haven’t found your new wallpaper background? Maybe his end-of-day photos will appeal to your not-so-inner space geek:
Perth, smothered in clouds. Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman
Our planet is an ocean with a few chunks of land for contrast. Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman
Proving the planet is round, with a 12mm lens. Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman
