Alexander Smith: The Final Expedition

Floating in zero gravity, I smiled at the camera, blissfully unaware that we were less than half an hour from the apocalypse.

“Okay,” I began, gazing into the lens of the camcorder held by my colleague, Aki, “This is my first Video Diary since arriving two days ago on board the International Space Station. My name is Max Carter, owner and chairman of Zap dotcom, guest of the European Space Agency and so-called ‘Space Tourist’. It’s always been my dream to travel into space and now I’m here, I really want everyone back on Earth to feel like they’re here with me on this fantastic adventure. Unlike the vast majority of Astronauts, I’m not a scientist or military officer, but an ordinary person. A person who has been fortunate enough to have the resources to live my dream. My webcasts won’t be the usual dry, forensic and to be honest, dull reports that we are used to seeing from NASA. Travelling into space and seeing the beauty of the planet Earth from orbit is an experience that should be full of awe and wonder. I want to share that experience with you.” Taking the camera from Aki, I aimed it through one of the small windows in the floor. The cloud swathed continent of Europe was directly beneath us.

“I’m actually only two hundred and fifty miles from my home in London. It doesn’t sound like much, but definitely looks far enough from here!” I pulled away from the window and pushed myself carefully backwards, floating away from Aki a metre or so before aiming the camera at her.

“This is Aki Takako, the representative of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Good morning Aki.”

“Konnichiwa.” She replied, smiling and waving at the camera, her other hand clinging to one of the many blue hand holds placed at regular intervals throughout the station, preventing her petite frame from floating off as she did so. Her long dark hair was collected in a pair of pigtails, which floated sideways to each side of her head. She was something of a celebrity back in Japan, particularly popular amongst young men. Publicly she played this down, insisting that though flattered she just wanted to be an Astronaut, but I suspected the level of care which went into her appearance every day suggested otherwise. “Aki is a Chemical Engineer and like me, is new to the station and at 28 is among the youngest people ever to venture into space. We are currently in the Kibo module, which means ‘Hope’ in Japanese and is the largest module on the station.” Aki swept the camera around the compartment, taking in the cream coloured boxy interior of the module with several laptops and screens fixed in place at the various workstations and experimentation racks along with the clutter of various pieces of equipment and bags and boxes strapped in place on seemingly every available surface of the walls, ceiling and floor. “You’ll have to excuse the mess, it’s the maid’s day off.” Aki smiled and rolled her eyes at me. Ignoring her, I continued. “The station is built up from several large modules which have been added over the years and joined together by smaller modules called nodes. Now I’m going to show you around my new home. See you later Aki.” She waved goodbye and turned back to the experiment rack she had been working on. I turned away and pulled myself through into the next compartment.

“This is the Harmony Node, which is basically the front end of the spine of the space station. Most of the modules are fitted in line with this one, with a few modules, like the Kibo module I was just in, arranged perpendicular to the rest of the station. Opposite the Kibo module is the Columbus Module, which is the European Space Agency’s laboratory and behind me at the end is P.M.A.2, which stands for Pressurised Mating Adaptor.” I turned the camera on myself and smiled into the lens before adding conspiratorially: “These spacemen love their abbreviations and acronyms! Basically it’s a sealed hatch for connection to visiting Soyuz spacecraft and back in the day, the Space Shuttle.” I then aimed the camera at a large hinged door in the wall before sweeping it down to the floor and up to the opposite wall and ceiling where three identical doors were located. “These are the sleeping compartments for myself and three other astronauts. Our two cosmonauts sleeping compartments are located in the Russian segment at the other end of the station.” I added sweeping the camera towards the next module which led to the rest of the station. “Right, I’m going to take you on a tour to the far end of the station and introduce you to the other four members of Expedition 79.” From there, I pulled myself through to the Destiny module where a solitary figure was working at one of the experiment racks mounted on the wall, checking data on a laptop. His feet were strapped into a pair of blue footplates on the floor, giving the impression he was standing.

“We are now in the Destiny Module, which is the US laboratory.” I commented, raising my voice above the ever present hum of the air conditioning. “This is mission specialist Major Chuck Flynn.” I added, zooming in on the stocky, balding American. “Chuck’s been here for the last three months, transferring over from the previous expedition. What are you up to Chuck?”

“Sorry Carter.” Flynn replied gruffly. “I’m right in the middle of an experiment here. If you want an interview, you need to contact NASA and arrange one through the proper channels.”

“Okay Chuck. See you later.” I propelled myself past Flynn and pulled myself through to the far end of the Destiny module, swinging the camera back towards Flynn, who had turned his attention back to his laptop. “Think someone’s floated out of bed on the wrong side.” I added quietly, before pulling myself carefully through to the adjoining Unity Node, which connected the American segment of the station to the Russian segment. I swung the camera to my left.

“We’ve got the Quest airlock to one side and…” I swung the camera to my right. “The Tranquillity Node to the other. I’ll come back to the Tranquillity Node later, as my favourite part of the station, the Cupola is through there.” I continued. “The Unity node is where a lot of our food is stored and we often congregate here for breakfast.” I swung the camera towards an open hatch to the next module, aiming the camera up to some yellow signs above it, one reading ‘Speed Limit 17500’.

“Some high quality Astronaut humour there.” I commented dryly before pulling myself through the narrow tubular Pressurised Mating Adaptor to the next compartment. The inside of the tube was ringed with a multitude of small white bags, all strapped into place, which contained the crew’s clothes, so it was a tight squeeze compared to the rest of the station. I pulled myself through into the next module.

“We’re entering the Russian segment now.” I continued my running commentary. “The FGB, or Zarya Module was the first part of the Station to be launched way back in 1998, though it’s mainly used for storage now.” I swept the camera up to the ceiling where lots of different items were strapped in place and below where a collection of large white square shaped bags were stowed and held in place with straps, criss-crossing from one side of the module to the other. Doors to various storage lockers lined each wall. I directed the camera to an open hatch in the floor.

“That’s the hatch to one of our two Soyuz capsules.” I added. “That’s actually the one I arrived in just two days ago with two of my colleagues here on the station.” I propelled myself onwards, through to the next module, Zvezda. Unlike the rest of the station, which was cream or white in colour, the interior of Zvezda was a light green colour.