‘The next astronaut on the moon will be a woman’ – Telegraph.co.uk

Just over a week ago, two US astronauts - Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken - were blasted up to the International Space Station (ISS) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The moment was significant - the first time that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had lifted off in collaboration with a private company (SpaceX), and the first time astronauts have been launched upwards from American soil since 2011.

A ground-breaking (or, perhaps, exosphere-clearing) situation. Nonetheless, both men will have to go some way to match the achievements of Steve Smith. Now retired, he is one of NASAs most experienced alumni, having flown four Space Shuttle missions between 1994 and 2002, and logged almost 50 hours of space-walks - a total that puts him on the all-time Top Ten duration list of those who have mastered that particular skill.

Seriously ill when he was 15, Smith was unable to follow the most conventional path to being an astronaut, the military - instead taking an engineering route towards his extraterrestrial ambition. His responsibilities on his quartet of Space Shuttle flights were largely mechanical - servicing the Hubble Telescope in 1997 and 1999, and helping to install a section of the ISS on his final assignment beyond the demands of Earths gravity.

He turned 61 last year, but is as enthralled as ever by the worlds beyond our world. Here - in an interview conducted before the pandemic - he talks about the likelihood of humans on Mars and the moon, the dawn of space tourism, and why vomit is an astronaut thing

You had an engineering brief on your Shuttle missions. Did you feel extra pressure because you were responsible for the nuts and bolts on some very serious hardware?

Yes. When we were fixing the telescope, I was very worried about making a mistake. They told me before we launched that it was worth six billion dollars. That added some pressure. Although its unfair - I think - that the spacewalker gets so much praise. It took everybody in the spacecraft - and thousands of people on the ground - to do that job on Hubble. Sure, its the space-walkers who go outside - but in the end, its a team approach.

What exactly were you doing when you were servicing the Hubble?

Oh gosh, about 25 things. The first mission was basically taking out broken components and putting in new ones. But on the second, in 1999, the telescope was dead when we got there. Three of the six gyroscopes had failed - so that was a Save The Hubble mission.

We were meant to launch in early December, and they kept delaying, delaying, delaying. We ended up being in quarantine at the Kennedy Space Center for 17 days rather than four. The problem was that we were going into space when everyone was worried about Y2K and the Millennium Bug. They ended up saying they were going to cut the mission short; we were going to land by December 30th, no later. We lost a space-walk because of that. Of course nothing happened. I didnt think it was an issue. But better safe than sorry.

Were those spells in quarantine tough?

No, they were awesome. Youre away from everything. No more cutting your lawn. We didnt have internet banking back then - so no more bills to pay. Very few people can come to see you. Just your spouse, basically. I always enjoyed it. Theres a private nine-mile government beach at the Space Center which no-one else can go to. Its a good life.

You worked on the ISS as well. Was that trickier than working on the Hubble?

No, it was easier. By then, they had more experience in designing and building things, so the ISS was easier to work on. Things were bigger and more accessible. Whereas its tiny inside the Hubble. Youre wearing this 300-pound suit, but you cant really see whats behind you, so you have to be very careful when you move, hoping not to break anything.

You flew on three different Space Shuttles. Did you have a favourite?

No. They were all special, and all the crews I flew with were fun. I guess my second Hubble mission [on Discovery] was a big deal. The telescope has an aura when youre up close to it. Its a time machine - what it shows doesnt exist anymore. Its a picture of what the stars looked like 14 billion years ago - it takes that long for the light to get here.

How did it feel to space-walk for the first time? Were you nervous?

They always assign a veteran to you. So [fellow NASA alumnus] Mark Lee was with me. Hed already done a space-walk. I was confident - because I was with him. But yeah, theres always the worry that youll do something wrong, or lose something. You know - whoops, damn, there goes a $700,000 drill. In terms of it being frightening, I did make a mistake. I put my head out and went oh my gosh, its beautiful. What Mission Control heard was Oh my gosh!. Apparently, I paused. So for a moment, people were worried.

Do you miss the buzz of being in space?

Oh yes, absolutely. I probably still dream about it a couple of times a year. Ill wake up in the morning and Ill be so happy. Because in my head, Ive just done another space-walk.

You flew between the two Space Shuttle disasters [Challenger in 1986; Columbia in 2003]. Was that risk of death always on your mind, or could you push it away?

It was always somewhere on my mind, but it didnt really make me think twice. For a few reasons. One is, youre selfish and you want to do it. In some ways, its selfish to be an astronaut. The second is, you dont think its going to happen to you. Its that human defence-mechanism. We all do the same thing when we get on a plane. The third is that we now have astronauts involved in everything. If something is going wrong, you hear about it. That was one of the lessons from Challenger - when the astronaut office didnt know some of the recurring issues. Leading up to Challenger, the O-rings between the segments on the rocket booster were getting burned, but we kept flying. Oh, we made it, its OK, lets fly again. If wed had an astronaut involved, that might not have happened.

I did write letters to every family member before I flew. I gave them to a friend, with the agreement that they would deliver them if I died. They said three things. One: Im sorry. Two: That I still supported the [space] programme. Three, to my wife: Get married again.

Was your wife comfortable with your career?

Yeah. But she was rare. Astronauts spouses have a whole spectrum of feelings about it. Peggy and I had lots of discussions about why I was doing it. She was always part of it.

Does it feel strange to be back at Kennedy Space Center on the tourism side [Smith is one of the retired astronauts you can meet at the facilitys visitor complex]?

No, it feels good to be home. The tourism facilities have become so much more sophisticated. I think the Shuttle Simulator seats 30 people. And its right next to the real one. Atlantis is right there. People love space - Im not surprised [the Center] is popular.

Does the Shuttle Simulator come close to the real thing?

It does. Its pretty amazing. I dont know how they did it. Its really quite close. Apart from the vomiting.I felt fine for the first 93 minutes of my first flight. And then I threw up.

Is vomiting an inevitable part of the process?

Well, it wasnt just the first flight. I threw up, I would say, 100 times in four flights. Your body just isnt built to deal with zero-gravity. But theres no way of predicting how someone will handle it. Someone who gets car-sick all the time can be fine in space - or the opposite.Im fine in cars and on rollercoasters, but space is a different matter.

Will we see proper space tourism in the next 10 years? And will it ever get beyond the billionaire level in terms of affordability?

Yes and yes. Its within a couple of years for the wealthy. Were talking in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, but a lot of people can pay that. I think they already have 3,000, maybe 5,000 people signed up. But if you look at the long picture, it will be just like aeroplane flight. Everybody will be doing it. Likely 100 years from now, maybe even 50.

But is it really feasible for everyday travellers to go to space? Do people underestimate whats involved?

Obviously, yes. But tourists wont have to undergo the procedures I did. They will have professionals on board, kind of like tour guides, so they wont need to understand exactly how it all works. It wont take much training. With the Virgin Galactic flights, hardly any at all. Theyll tell you how to act in zero-gravity, what to do if you have to throw up, what to do if you need to go to the bathroom But yes, people do underestimate what it takes.

There is new talk of going to Mars. When will that happen? The next 10, 15 years?

Probably not. Were on track for the moon again. The next astronaut on the moon will be a woman, I think. Mars is difficult stuff. I dont think we [NASA] will do it by ourselves. Its going to need to be an international effort. Thats the only way to reach Mars. But Im 100 per cent sure it will happen. Maybe its 50 years from now. I think the current goal is the 2030s - thats pushing it. Mainly because the single weakest component is the human. The spaceships will be ready, but as it stands, the radiation will kill you on the way there.

We will either have to go there faster, or come up with medication that heals your body as you get radiation damage. Its going to be Star Trek-type stuff. But I do think the first person to walk on Mars is already alive - perhaps its a baby, perhaps its a five-year-old.

Would you like to have gone to Mars yourself?

As a young person, yes. As a father, its hard to imagine being gone for two-and-a-half years to do anything. Your priorities change in life, of course. I would have loved to go to the moon, though. That would have been awesome. I love watching those Apollo movies.

Steve Smith is part of the Astronaut Encounter team at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex (kennedyspacecenter.com). Tickets from $30 (24) per adult; $25 (20) per child 3-11.

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'The next astronaut on the moon will be a woman' - Telegraph.co.uk