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In February 2016, Astronaut Scott Kelly decided to send an e-mail to my father, writer Tom Wolfe, of the International Space Station (they then spoke over the phone too). Kelly wanted to thank him for "The Right Stuff", my father's 1979 book on America's first space program, which inspired his career as an astronaut, Mr. Kelly told me.
Mr Kelly, now 54, was at the end of a one – year mission at the space station. On his return to Earth, he met my father, who died in May, for a few meals and asked him for advice on how to write his experience. "Start at the beginning," my father tells him.
Mr. Kelly took it to heart. Last year he published a memoir entitled "Endurance". Last week, he published "Infinite Wonder," which illustrates his year in orbit with a series of vivid photographs that he took from Earth below her.
Mr. Kelly has been in space four times, starting in 1999 with a Discovery Shuttle pilot mission to serve the Hubble Space Telescope and ending in 2016 with his trip to the International Space Station. During his career at NASA, he spent a total of 520 days in space, record for a US astronaut (broken since) when he retired from space flight in 2016. He holds still the American record for the largest number of days spent in space at one o'clock. time – 340.
His exploits were both mental and physical. On his last mission, he spent two weeks in an underwater laboratory at Key Largo and spent about a week in a Wyoming ice cave. He regularly met a psychiatrist with whom he spoke every few weeks from the space station. "I really think I have developed a talent for living in an uncomfortable environment," he says. "That's not to say that I like flying economy class with an airline," he jokes, "but I can do it if I have to do it."
As a child, while growing up in West Orange, NJ, Mr. Kelly and his twin brother Mark (also an astronaut and husband of former Arizona congressman, Gabrielle Giffords) were energetic and rebellious. "We had two speeds, fast and stop," he says. His father was a policeman and his mother became one too.
Mr. Kelly first read "The Right Stuff" during his studies at the Maritime University of New York State University, where he earned a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1987. "This was not just an exciting adventure, "he wrote. memory. "It was more like a plan of life."
Kelly took pictures to help scientists observe environmental changes and document natural disasters.
Photo:
Winni Wintermeyer for the Wall Street Journal
He joined the Navy, where he served as a fighter pilot and test pilot until NASA chose him as an astronaut in 1996. "I have never felt more rewarded at the time. work … only when I did something that had very serious consequences. correctly, "he says.
In the space, he learned to operate in weightlessness. Whenever he made a movement as small as that of pressing a button, he had to anchor himself with a foot or toe and secure objects such as forks and knives with Velcro . A liquid that would normally have settled in the lower part of his body accumulated in his head, giving him an uncomfortably full sensation in his skull.
But none of this prevented him from marveling at the view below. He began seriously photographing the Earth from space in 2010, during a 159-day flight, looking for ways to support himself and his camera without gravity as the space station crossed the planet in a speed of 17,500 km / h. "I had to do a regular and fast panning of the camera when the shutter was released, otherwise the image would be blurry and fuzzy," he writes. He used a 800mm long lens with a 1.4x magnifying zoom, and then a color enhancement software.
During his last mission, he took pictures to help scientists observe environmental changes and document natural disasters. The photos in his new book range from veined landscapes of Egyptian deserts to vibrant blue and green Bahamas. "I really liked taking these pictures … it gave the Earth an aspect of abstract art," he says.
He took most of his photographs to have fun. During the football season, he tried to take pictures of stadiums during games and managed to get his picture taken at the Super Bowl 50 in California. He also shot in places where people were missing.
He made several dangerous space sorties to repair parts of the space station, putting him in danger of losing his temper as he struggled to disguise himself in his unsightly costume. He says the worst part of his trip has been to receive bad news from Earth. In 2011, he had two months left on his 159-day mission when he learned that his sister-in-law, Mrs. Giffords, had been shot at an event in Tucson. At first, he learned that she was dead. a few hours later he discovered that she had survived. From space, he led a moment of silence for his crew and flight control centers around the world.
Since he's retired, Mr. Kelly has spent most of his time writing and delivering speeches, which he finds sufficient to keep him occupied for the time being. He and his wife Amiko decided to leave their home in Houston and travel to hotels, on Airbnbs and sometimes in a tent or yurt, especially during their visit to Everest base camp. He has two daughters from his previous marriage.
Mr. Kelly thinks that someday we will be able to travel half the world in 45 minutes, going back briefly in space and going down, and he thinks the human movement on Mars is "inevitable" . go? "Yes," he said without hesitation.
On the phone, with Mr. Kelly, I remembered a line that was one of my father's favorites. Instead of saying goodbye, he liked to say, "Keep flying!" – a slogan from a 1941 recruiting announcement for the aviation cadet program. True to himself, when he received this surprising e-mail from space, he thanked Mr. Kelly for "writing this terrifying message downstairs" and signed, "Keep them in orbit!
Write to Alexandra Wolfe at [email protected]
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