Spaceman: An Astronaut's Guide to Quarantine and Social Distancing

As a veteran of two NASA space flights no one knows more about social distancing than Mike Massimino pictured at top It39s something he experienced firsthand and well before it became a societal requirement Massimino the first person to tweet from space and author of SPACEMAN An Astronaut39s Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe is just one of the many esteemed names appearing in the Science Channel special Hubble Thirty Years Of Discovery airing this weekend a celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of NASA39s groundbreaking Hubble telescope The twohour special recalls the remarkable story of one of the greatest and most influential pieces of technology ever made and is something Massimino will be watching at home as he experiences selfisolation on earth quotThere are a lot of comparisons going to space to what we are all now experiencingquot he explained in an exclusive interview with MediaVillage quotWe went into quarantine the week before each flight as we didn39t want to get sick which was a major concern The first thing was just trying to stay healthy or we couldn39t have gone into space and done our job Now it39s a much more serious outcome but there are parallels in the sense of washing your hands staying away from people and keeping a distance Those are things we39d practice before our flightsquotThe other part of this the isolation of being alone we learned you can39t control that But if you can try to embrace it In space you39re having wonderful and extraordinary experiences but you miss things at home like your daily routine and family All you can really do is make the best of it Staying fit and maintaining morale are also really important as are all the things we practiced for expeditions on earth to get used to this sort of thingquot Massimino admitted the best way to cope with isolation is quotmaintain a schedule keep up with good hygiene be good to yourself and exercise All are important factors in mental wellbeing But most of all take a moment to enjoy the beauty around you In space you could do that through a windowquot he said quotEarth is a beautiful planet so go outside keep your distance and all of those things just don39t forget we have a beautiful place to live on Also having meaningful work is important It might be different from the way you were doing it a couple of months ago but even a hobby is meaningfulquotAnother thing Massimino finds meaningful is this Science Channel special He told me that everything from Hubble39s inception to creation makes for fascinating television quotIt39s really well done and along with five other astronauts involved I was delighted to be part of itquot he shared quotIt doesn39t look at it just from an astronaut39s perspective it also covers the science and engineering what Hubble can do and how when it finally did launch it couldn39t see very well They had to create glasses more or less to correct its visionquotquotI believe the telescope is the greatest piece of scientific technology ever builtquot he added quotIts discovery potential can39t be matched by any other telescope Looking at the universe through the atmosphere is almost like looking at something from underwater it39s all blurry Having Hubble above the atmosphere made everything clear and that was the dream of astronomers for years It won the Nobel Prize for its discovery of dark energy and has shown the beauty of what39s out there for everyone to enjoyquotBeyond its discoveries Hubble is a testament to engineering The fact it hasn39t been serviced in 15 years and continues to survive is astounding However with the Space Shuttle program permanently suspended Hubble39s future is unknown quotIt39s most likely game over should something happen to itquot Massimino explained quotThere are no planned servicing missions but we are flying spaceships again shortly so we39ll have the capability to fly to a low orbit and beyond I don39t think it39s totally impossible for us to go back although there is no fundingquotHe continued quotIf it were to have a failure it would stay in orbit but wouldn39t be useful as a science instrument There is a contingency plan to rescue it so it wouldn39t just fall to earth A rocket motor would be launched with people on board to guide it back to earth although a lot of it would burnup on reentry and end up in the oceanquotShould things come to that Massimino is ready to volunteer admitting quotI dream about going back up there and I39d love to do itquot In the meantime the first person to ever tweet from space is sharing his own journey to becoming an astronaut via a new book aimed at young readers entitled SPACEMAN The True Story of a Young Boy39s Journey to Becoming an Astronaut an adaptation of his earlier best seller quotIt covers things I learned in my education and my dreams of wanting to be an astronautquot he shared in closing quotI was rejected three times so I talk about teamwork what it39s like working on the telescope my mistakes and how important it is not to give up Both the book and this special are bursts of inspiration when we all need it mostquotClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Spaceman: An Astronaut's Guide to Quarantine and Social Distancing

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