A NASA astronaut
is settling back into life on Earth after a five-month trek to the
International Space Station (ISS).
U.S. spaceflyer
Clayton Anderson worked in Earth orbit for about 153 days while serving on two
ISS crews during his long-duration spaceflight. He has spent the last few weeks
undergoing physical rehabilitation to rebuild muscle mass after months of floating
in microgravity.
"I
feel really good," Anderson told SPACE.com Thursday. "I'm
starting to run a little bit and my muscles are coming back. I haven't walked
into a wall in over two weeks, so everything is going well."
Anderson,
48, launched toward the ISS on June 8 during NASA's STS-117 shuttle flight and
joined the station's Expedition 15 crew. He stayed aboard the ISS in October to
join the newly arrived Expedition 16 crew. The spaceflyer returned to Earth
aboard NASA's shuttle Discovery on Nov. 7 during the STS-120
mission.
The
spaceflight marked the first of Anderson's NASA career, which began almost 25
years ago when he signed on at the agency's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in
Houston in early 1983. After 15 attempts, he was selected to join NASA's
astronaut corps in 1998.
"I was
in space only because of the people here at JSC who helped to shape me and make
who I am throughout those 25 years," Anderson said. "It's an honor
and a privilege to be up there and represent them and the things that they're
doing."
Anderson
performed three spacewalks to support ISS construction and worked alongside NASA's
visiting STS-117, STS-118 and STS-120 shuttle crews during his spaceflight. The
station received a pair of new solar arrays, a vital connecting module and weathered
computer glitches, a ripped solar wing and other hurdles during the three
shuttle missions.
"So I
think they wanted to get me back onto the ground so some of that would stop,
and it looks like it may have worked," joked Anderson.
A native
Ashland, Nebraska, Anderson is his home state's first astronaut to fly and was
known for his sense of humor in orbit. On Halloween, he donned a black cape to
dress up as a space vampire and held daily trivia contests with Mission Control.
"I
think that's what people need to see," Anderson said. "They need to see
that we live on the station just like we live on the ground, and I didn't want
to change who I am while up there."
Aside from
readapting to Earth's gravity and rebuilding lost muscle mass, Anderson said
there are other challenges to returning to life on his home planet.
"The
hardest part is, I couldn't remember any of my passwords or how to operate my
TV or my phone, so my son had to show me all that stuff," Anderson said,
adding that he is readjusting to life with his family close by after
months communicating solely by video conference and telephone.
He also enjoyed returning
home in time for Thanksgiving to celebrate the U.S. holiday with his wife Susan,
son Cole and daughter Sutton Marie.
"I was
so tired of smoked turkey and dressing and a tortilla in space that, to have
the real thing and be there with my family was an incredibly wonderful
day," Anderson said.
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