What’s it like going on a spacewalk?
It’s perfectly appropriate to call it spacewalking – we all do – but when we are in earth orbit, outside on a ‘spacewalk’, we’re actually crawling hand-over-hand using handrails on the outside of whatever we happen to be working on. We’re not truly walking, but it is an incredible human experience. I think it is the greatest job in the universe to be outside in your own personal ‘spaceship’ with just a thin visor between you and the enormity of the universe. you have to have on your back – or surrounding your body – everything that a Space Shuttle has in terms of systems to sustain you there. you need oxygen delivery, carbon dioxide removal and temperature control and protection from the vacuum of space. you need radios, tV cameras, battery power, cooling and lighting; you need a computer to see what is going on with your spacesuit and tools on the front of your suit. there’s even a little jet backpack on your back that will enable you to fly yourself to safety if you were to float free from the space station. So I really think it is a dream to get a chance to go outside on a spacewalk.
“We have fossils that show evidence of life within a few hundred billions of years”