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Rolling Dice in Orbit and Other Adventures of a Newly-Arrived Astronaut

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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

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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.

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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.)

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:

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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.

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Still haven't found your new wallpaper background? Maybe his end-of-day photos will appeal to your not-so-inner space geek:

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Perth, smothered in clouds. Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman

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Our planet is an ocean with a few chunks of land for contrast. Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman

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Proving the planet is round, with a 12mm lens. Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman