Bill McArthur
Talk about an office with a view.
Bill McArthur
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Discovery mission specialist Bill McArthur is about to encounter the ultimate astronaut experience: Floating outside the shuttle while his mother ship cruises above Planet Earth at five times the speed of sound.
During two of four planned spacewalks on the STS-92 mission, the homespun North Carolina native will help hook up the first piece of the International Space Station's girder-like metal backbone and deploy the outpost's main communications antenna.
The much-coveted job calls for the veteran astronaut to stand on the end of the shuttle's 50-foot (15-meter) robot arm so he can be hoisted to the top of the 13-story station - a perch that will give him an unrivaled view of both the planet and deep space.
"I've been thinking about being just being lifted to the middle of nowhere. I bet it's going to be an interesting - a very interesting experience," McArthur said recently in an interview with SPACE.com.
The first-time spacewalker expects the view to be "spectacular."
"It just has to be," said McArthur.
"Everything I've seen from space has been really awe-inspiring. It doesn't matter whether you're looking out at the stars, or you get to see the moon, or you look down on Earth," he added.
"The entire physical experience of being in space - from feeling weightlessness, to the sounds, to the sights - it all vastly exceeds what you imagine."
And despite the demands of the job at hand, McArthur promises not to squander the opportunity.
"We will make time to look around," he said.
McArthur, 49, is a U.S. Army colonel making his third shuttle flight. He and crew mate Leroy Chiao are responsible for outpost assembly work scheduled on the first and third of the four spacewalks planned for the mission.
A native of Wakulla, North Carolina, McArthur is married and has two daughters. The Master Army Aviator has logged more than 4,000 flight hours in 37 different aircraft. Total time in space to date: 22 days, four hours, 44 minutes and 45 seconds.
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