This month I’ve been lax on blogging, and a little bit lax on writing, as life has grown increasingly chaotic. I’ve been busy helping my wife prepare for her trip to Mars.
That’s right. Mars.
My wife is a simulated astronaut for the upcoming HI-SEAS Mars simulation mission. She and the rest of the crew will spend a year on a cold red-rock slope, living in a solar-powered dome, never stepping outside without an EVA suit. It’s all part of NASA-funded research to study the conditions and crew dynamics of long missions in space.
She can explain it better than I can, of course. Here she is giving a radio interview, and here’s her blog, chock full of info on life and hijinks on sMars or preparation thereof. You can also follow her twitter feed at @humansareawesme.
Her blog has lots of great info for science fiction writers: you will find no better expert on Earth on the space-age challenges and surprises of living in an isolated human habitat beyond the edge of human civilization!
By the time you read this, she’ll be on her way to California and Hawaii for pre-mission training, and then the airlock will seal on the 28th. I’m going to miss her enormously during her year on Mars, but we’ll have ways to keep in touch while she’s gone. Besides, I always wanted to marry a Martian.
I say that last bit flippantly, but reveals a fundamental truth. I married her because she reaches for the stars, more literally than most of us can imagine. I wouldn’t have it any other way.