Without gravity, ‘it’s easy to get lost’
LONGUEUIL, QUE .• During his first days in the microgravity of space, David Saint-Jacques was transported back to his childhood, the Canadian astronaut told reporters Monday.
It was not the feeling of gazing at the heavens in wonder he was talking about but the sensation of hanging upside down at a playground as blood rushes to your head.
“I’m a little bit congested here, like most people are, because the gravity is not there to pull blood down into your legs,” Saint-Jacques explained Monday over a video link between the International Space Station and Canadian Space Agency headquarters.
“Your body has to adjust to that, so initially you have kind of a big red puffy face …. Do you remember as a child hanging from the monkey bars in the park, how your head kind of puffs up? That’s kind of how you feel constantly initially, and then it normalizes.”
The astronaut, who arrived at the International Space Station Dec. 3, said there have already been plenty of breathtaking moments. The first sunrise from orbit after he blasted off was “quite an emotional moment,” he said.
“I looked out the window and this little blue crescent started to get brighter and brighter and I realized, ‘Wow, this is actually the curve of the earth,’ ” he said.
He said he has begun to “dabble” in Earth photography, including photos of his hometown. Saint-Jacques was born in Quebec City and raised in the Montreal suburb of St-Lambert.
“It’s very touching, and it’s very humbling, and it makes you want to go back to Earth and help make it better.”
The last Canadian astronaut to visit the space station was Chris Hadfield in May 2013.