I recently had the chance to speak with Stéphane Sebile, who I’d met a few years ago in Paris, and now has a very nice space blog at http://spacemen1969.blogspot.com/ He asked me to dig way back into the memory banks and recollect my thoughts on my first trip into space. After dusting off the cobwebs, this is what I had to say:

Q : How many years were you connected to the space program before your 1st flight?

A : I was very fortunate to wait just 2 years from selection to first flight — the first year spent as Astronaut Candidate, and then almost immediately transitioning to STS-66 training (including two of my Class of 1992 crewmates, Joe Tanner and Jean-Francois Clervoy).

Q : How did you feel prior the flight ?

A : I felt well trained, but somewhat apprehensive before my first flight. I wanted to perform well, and there were so many unknowns: how would I feel? Would I have Space Motion Sickness? You can only simulate so much on Earth — so the first time in space is a very big life experience.

Q : What kinds of sensations did you experience during the take-off?

A : I was on the flight deck in the MS1 seat, so I had a great view out the forward AND overhead windows. I remember having a mirror positioned on my knee, and I was therefore able to see the waves crashing on the beach below as Atlantis performed its roll maneuver to a heads-down position — and then noting the clouds getting progressively smaller as we rushed to space. Lots of vibration and adrenalin these 8.5 minutes…

Q : What does weightlessness feel like, and what did you think about during the flight?

A : Weightlessness is a beautiful sensation, very similar to being submerged on a SCUBA dive with your buoyancy compensator perfectly adjusted, such that you neither float up nor sink down. Pushing off with fingertips allow you to fly like Buzz Lightyear wherever you desire, and the views are more beautiful than any photo can capture. I concentrated on doing the best very job I could, but also thought about home quite a bit: I wanted to memorize the experience, such that I could share the experience with my family and friends.

Q : What were some of the problems you encountered and how did you fix them?

A : Most of my missions were ”textbook”, thankfully, although they were complicated operations. The one significant exception was during STS-120, when we had to go out and repair a live solar array. There’s some additional information on my website, http://www.parazynski.com. I’m very proud of how the entire team, Mission Control and our on-orbit crew, handled the very serious challenge before us.

Q : What did you eat, and did it taste real?

A : I’ve always had a great appetite, so the ”camping” rehydratable food was just fine; we also had a Frenchman aboard, so we had a few treats from France to round out our menu. On my subsequent flights I always had International Partner astronaut with me, so I’ve dined on French, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Spanish and Canadian specialties in space…

Q : What was Re-entry like?

A : Reentry on STS-66 (my first flight) was very eye-opening, as I was on the middeck with Ellen Ochoa with just a wall of lockers in front of us. We had M&M’s with us, and would toss them gently upwards and try to guess the g-level we were experiencing. The guys on the flight deck would tell us we were almost always right on… And then slowing down through the speed of sound, the whole vehicle vibrated like a train running out of control, thankfully smoothing out shortly thereafter. We felt really heavy, almost like a 100 year-old man, having to carry our body weight and spacesuit for the first time in 11 days…

Q : Were you glad to be back on Earth, or did you feel you could have spent the rest of your life up there?

A : I loved space, and would be thrilled to go back. That said, everything and everyone I love was back on Earth — So I couldn’t have stayed up there forever. I was anxious to get back home and share the experience with others!