The space is big. Bigger than most of us can start to imagine.

It is therefore natural that sometimes it is small things that catch the attention of those who live and work in space.

Dr. Serena Auñón-Chancellor, a graduate of Poudre High School in 1993, has been part of the International Space Station since June. Its three-member crew recently passed the 150-day mark in space.

It's over 150 12-hour workdays, floating all the time because of the station's microgravity, performing a wide variety of scientific experiments and sometimes looking out at the window for absolutely incredible views.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Auñón-Chancellor early Monday morning via Skype. Colorado readers helped by sending some questions in advance.

Among the questions: What is missing from the Earth? Does being "off-planet" have changed the way she thinks about the planet?

Of course, he misses his family first and foremost. She left Houston in April for the June launch of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Years of training preceded that.

But it also lacks wind noise and chirping birds. When friends send video clips of their kids playing, she focuses on that kind of thing as much as it does on other people.

She misses the change of season and falls in Colorado.

At the same time, she realizes how privileged and opportunistic she is to work on an amazing machine that sails 250 miles above the surface of the Earth at 17,500 mph.

The station is a manifestation of international cooperation. And it's the perfect setting for great views on a regular basis.

She can not find words to describe how it feels to watch a huge cargo vehicle approach the train station and arrive. The crew uses a robotic arm to capture the ship and park it "like a parking lot".

"I can not explain this point of view to the people on the ground, just to see this vehicle arrive and realize our capabilities here," she said. "I've been training for years and years and years, but you do not feel the real feeling of living until you're there and you see it happening."

Auñón-Chancellor, 42, wants to become an astronaut since childhood. It took interesting career changes to get there – she holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and a medical degree from the Health Science Center of the University of Texas – but she's there reached.

Life on the station has its rhythms as everywhere else. The crew members are busy all day, but they are supposed to exercise from two to two and a half hours a day to maintain their muscle strength and their bones.

They meet for lunch and dinner and watch the evening news on television. Saturday night is a movie night. Weekends also include videoconferences with family members.

Sometimes the team members gather in the dome of the station to watch the scene below, watching the meteors go by and make way for the day that gives way to the night. Lights illuminate in the landscape.

His crew must leave the station on December 20th. They will land in Kazakhstan and Auñón-Chancellor will return to Houston for physical rehabilitation. It takes weeks of work with coaches to hand over an astronaut who has experienced long-term weightlessness to fit, she said.

She hopes to return to Fort Collins in a short time to go to High School Powder and get in touch with students and teachers with whom she spoke via Skype in September. Some teachers who have taught and inspired her are still in school.

What the future holds for him more distant and the space program remain to be seen. The administration said it wants to send astronauts on the moon and on Mars.

She avoided a question as to whether she would return to the space station if the opportunity arose.

"At this point, I must tell you that I am determined to do the best job possible for this mission," she said. "We have accomplished a lot and we still have time to go. Ask me again this question in a few months; I'll let you know. "

Kevin Duggan is a columnist from Colorado. Follow him on Twitter, @ coloradoan_dugg, and on Facebook at Coloradoan Kevin Duggan.

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