Next week, three astronauts are scheduled to blast off aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. They'll eventually arrive at the International Space Station, where they will live and work for the next six months.
One of those astronauts is Tim Peake — the first Briton to go to space in 20 years, and the first British astronaut officially registered with the European Space Agency. During his stay, Peake will maintain the research laboratory, perform hundreds of experiments, and will even run the London Marathon using the space station's zero-gravity treadmill.
Peake will be the first official British astronaut to visit the space station
The ESA is, rightly, building hype for Peake's historic stay on the space station, recording heartfelt well-wishes from the likes of his fellow countryman Peter Gabriel.
The agency even went so far as to solicit a message from Pat Monahan, a San Francisco native and lead singer of the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award-nominated band Train. His video, which you can watch above, is a bit short — Monahan's a busy man after all! But it's clear just how much his passion for Peake's upcoming feat eclipses the fact that he clearly just learned about Peake's upcoming feat.
So I just want to offer a suggestion to Monahan and the ESA: when Peake lands in six months, the agency should give Monahan a chance to follow up with Peake to ask him how his historic space station stint went. I've even taken the liberty of providing both parties with few questions, just for starters:
- Did you sail across the Sun?
- Did you make it to the Milky Way, to see the lights all faded, and that heaven is overrated?
- Did you fall from a shooting star, one without a permanent scar, and did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?
- Did the wind sweep you off your feet?
- Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day, and head back to the Milky Way?
- Did Venus blow your mind?
- Was it everything you wanted to find?
- And did you miss me, while you were looking for yourself out there?
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