Space influences our daily lives, whether we like it or not. From weather forecasting to GPS, it wouldn’t be easy (or even safe) to live in the modern world without it. Communicating the importance of what goes on above our heads is not always easy. Luckily, we got the chance to talk about it with an expert: the European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Luca Parmitano.
The European Space Agency is now 50 years young, and as part of this important celebration, we had the chance to catch up with Parmitano. We had burning questions about his experience in orbit, from actually getting ready to spending a total of just over a year in space.
Parmitano was the first Italian to be the commander of the International Space Station (ISS) and conducted six extravehicular activities (EVAs). One of the reasons he’s famous is due to a malfunction of his suit during one of those EVAs. The suit’s filter had clogged, and water started to accumulate in the helmet. Parmitano risked drowning hundreds of kilometers above the nearest body of water. However, this negative experience did not at all temper his enthusiasm for EVAs.
“[Experiencing space outside the ISS] was pretty freaking awesome if you ask me,” Parmitano told us in our exclusive interview. “As a young kid dreaming of being an astronaut, the image of an astronaut was either somebody flying a spacecraft or somebody in a white spacesuit outside doing something. I was so excited, and I felt so privileged that I was going to have a chance to do it; I have to say I still feel the same way. It’s an amazing privilege, not every astronaut gets to do a spacewalk!”
Parmitano describes the difference between being in the ISS and on a spacewalk as the difference between experiencing a tropical reef in a large aquarium or scuba diving. It is a whole different feel if you are truly immersed in the elements.
Astronauts are certainly the celebrities of the space industry, but it was on one of these spacewalks that Parmitano did something nobody had done before in an EVA: he took a selfie.
I’ve never done that, I’m probably going to screw it up but I’m going to give it a chance anyway. Because, why not…
Luca Parmitano
The word selfie is believed to have been created in Australia in the early noughties, but it was only added to the dictionary over a decade later. When it became Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year in 2013, news outlets looked for the best-known selfies shared online. Parmitano had taken an incredible one just months before, on July 9, 2013.
“I used the word and I published it online. It was me with the background of the Earth and in the most uncommon place to take a selfie,” Parmitano told IFLScience. “The point was not to talk about me but to say to those people who are looking on social media about cool news: ‘hey, we have astronauts on the ISS; there is an ISS; there’s a small community of people that live and work up there!’”
Luca Parmitano’s space selfie.
Image Credit: ESA
One might think that being an astronaut and reaching internet fame with a selfie gives Colonel Luca Parmitano enough cool points to last him a lifetime. But he is even cooler than that! How many people could say they have DJed a thousand-strong party in Ibiza? Not many. But only one did it from space!
“When they offered me the opportunity to do a DJ set from space I thought: ‘Well, I’ve never done that, I’m probably going to screw it up but I’m going to give it a chance anyway. Because, why not…’,” Parmitano told IFLScience. “If I have 5,000 people that have never heard of the space station once in their life, and for just five minutes somebody tells them there is a space station, there are people working and operating 400 kilometers [248.5 miles] above your head consistently for 25 years. You didn’t know that, but now you do, and here’s some music!”
With Parmitano, we talked about his training in space but also his experience under the waves with the NEEMO mission, something that you can catch in the interview above and, in the context of other explorers and astronauts, in our latest podcast episode of The Big Questions.
At 50, ESA is not being too nostalgic about the past but pushing hard toward the future. Following the success of its brand new rocket, Ariane 6, last summer, ESA is looking ahead as missions travel to their targets, such as Hera and JUICE, as well as others that are under construction, such as PLATO and LISA, which will revolutionize planet hunting and gravitational wave observations.
It’s not just robotic missions. Parmitano is just one of the extraordinary astronauts of ESA, a group that was expanded just a few years ago, and it also includes the first parastronaut to begin building a more accessible space. But the colonel stressed that if they get to space, it is only thanks to everyone who works at ESA.
We want the best and brightest people to work with us to create a future where science, technology, and exploration make life better on Earth.
Luca Parmitano
“We don’t get to do anything on any of the incredible things that we get to do by ourselves. We are put up there by scientists, engineers, medical personnel, communication personnel, safety experts, people that work on our food, people that work on the transportation, people that work on our facilities, people that clean our facilities,” Parmitano explained.
“For all of those who are fascinated with space, we have space for all of them in the European Space Agency, regardless of their background. We want the best and brightest people to work with us to create a future where science, technology, and exploration make life better on Earth.”
We wish ESA a very happy birthday, and we look forward to the next 50 years!
Source Link: Space Selfies & DJing A Party From Orbit – How Astronaut Luca Parmitano Brought Space To Earth
