When Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk was strapped inside a tiny Soyuz capsule on his way to the International Space Station in May 2009, his mind drifted back to a movie he saw in his youth. <\/p>\n
In 2001: A Space Odyssey, there is a scene with a shuttle craft from Earth carrying an international crew approaching an orbiting space station. Strauss's Blue Danube waltz is playing in the background. <\/p>\n
\"Here I was doing something very similar to what I saw in that movie 20 or 30 years ago, so I felt like the world was unfolding as it should and also that I was very fortunate to be doing this,\" Thirsk recalled recently. <\/p>\n
Thirsk, the first Canadian to take part in a long space mission, was looking back at his own experience in anticipation of Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield's launch for the ISS today. <\/p>\n
\"It's a once-in-lifetime opportunity to fly up to the station,\" Thirsk says. \"Not very many Canadians have the chance to do that. I felt very grateful.\" <\/p>\n
It is a pretty select club those who have lived aboard the 12-year-old ISS, in its orbit roughly 400 kilometres above the Earth. Hadfield, in fact, will become its first Canadian commander in March. <\/p>\n
Thirsk remembers every moment of his \"wonderful experience\" with pride. <\/p>\n
When he floated through the hatch to enter the station, other crew members were waiting, their cameras flashing. <\/p>\n
\"It felt like I was entering inside a Salvador Dali painting because the station was just so surreal compared to the spacecraft simulators that I'd trained in for the previous two and a half years.\" <\/p>\n
Simulators are orderly and clean. The space station less so. <\/p>\n
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What is it like to live on the International Space Station?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk was strapped inside a tiny Soyuz capsule on his way to the International Space Station in May 2009, his mind drifted back to a movie he saw in his youth. In 2001: A Space Odyssey, there is a scene with a shuttle craft from Earth carrying an international crew approaching an orbiting space station. Strauss's Blue Danube waltz is playing in the background Continue reading