Missing Home

Dinner and an announcement

You are pacing around the kitchen of your home in Huston, Texas. You are waiting for your family to arrive. You know your brother, Steven is going to be late but it bothers you how the rest of your family hasn't told you anything. You double-check the food that you are preparing. You know it's basic but it is the least you can do before you give your family the kicker of an announcement. You hear the familiar knock on the door. You swiftly answer it.

"Hello sis," You are greeted by Steven.

"Hello, Stammer. What are you doing here early?" You ask. You are impressed that he arrived before your parents.

"I found myself on the early flight," He responds. You let him in but you don't join him because you are joined by your parents. They are a little confused but they are still happy to see you.

"So what would you like to tell us?" Your dad asks.

"Well let me get dinner ready then I will tell you," You respond. You head back to the kitchen. The oven gives you a short chime that is telling you the chicken is done. You triple-check it. Two minutes later you have all of the food laid out on the table. Everyone gets to work on eating.

"So sis what's the deal with the food?" Steven asks between nibbles.

"I have been chosen as one of the crew members for another year-long mission," You reply. You can tell that you have caught the others off guard.

"As in a Scott Kelly style year-long mission?" Steven asks. You timidly nod. You get the feeling that there may be some issues with leaving your family for the duration of this mission. At least your brother would understand. After all, playing for the NHL involves staying away from family for an extended period of time.

"That's amazing," Your mum remarks. You are glad that someone is on board.

"Anyway Steve how is the pre-season going?" You decide to change the topic so something a little less shocking.

"All I can tell you is the fact that it is going," He replies. After an hour of various conversations, everyone is ready to go their separate ways. Your body is soon hit by a wave of tiredness.
"I'll talk to you after work," You see Steven off.

"See you then," He responds. It is the day after your announcement and you are awake a little too early. You decide that it would be better for you to head to work early as well. It doesn't take long for you to get ready. The good thing is there is not much traffic at five forty-five in the morning. You are soon lost in your thoughts about the crew. You know your European space agency counterpart has already had experience on the SpaceX Crew dragon but you are unsure of the others. You soon arrive at the Johnson Space Center. It doesn't take you long to find your ESA counterpart.

"Good morning Kelly," You are greeted by Matthias Maurer. You are not surprised that he beat you.

"Hello, Matthias how long have you been here?" You ask as you follow him to the neutral buoyancy lab.

"Two minutes. I haven't been waiting for long," he responds. You are both soon swarmed by technicians. They will be assisting both you and Matthias in getting ready for a mock EVA. You are glad that you are doing this now. Thankfully you know the whole process from your previous flight. You soon get into the undergarments. You do one last thorough check of the equipment before you begin the tedious task of getting the bulky suit on.

"Kelly, can you double-check that I have everything ready?" Matthias calls out from his workstation.

"Only if you can do the same for me," You respond as you head to his workstation.

"Sure thing," He replies as you basically switch workstations. You are not surprised at how efficiently Matthias got his gear ready. You give Matthias the thumbs up which means he is ready for the EVA suit. He gives you the same gesture. You start to think about how the others will be doing with the AGOS. It still feels a little odd getting the suit on even though you have done a proper EVA. You get ready to wiggle into the torso part of the suit. You hear some mumbling in German from Matthias.

"Matthias are you alright?" You ask just to make sure.

"Ja, I'll be fine," he remarks as he double-checks some stuff. After ten minutes of getting ready you are finally finished.

"This is a comms check. How do you hear me?" The voice of one of the techs sounds through the comms cap.

"Loud and clear," both you and Matthias parrot back. You soon brace yourself for the weird feeling of being submerged to simulate microgravity. After four hours in the pool, you are about to head to the cafeteria with Matthias when you are stopped.

"Guys we will be having lunch at the food lab," the next station commander, Oliver Scott grabs your attention. He is being trailed by Meko. Your JAXA counterpart. You soon make your way over to the food lab. You all sit down at the table. You are joined by an eager food specialist. She gets to work on distributing everyone's food. You are overjoyed at the fact that you got Poutine even though it is only on the menu because you are Canadian. Matthias has a similar look in regard to what he got.

"So what did you end up with?" Matthias asks.

"I got some Poutine. How about you?" You say as you carefully rip open the packet. It is a good thing that you did some EVA training beforehand.

"I got some German sausage," comes the slightly muffled response. You place a spoon full in your mouth. You are hit by the cheesy flavour. You can tell that the others are enjoying their respective meals.

"So how was the EVA training?" Meko asks.

"It was interesting. We were making sure that we could replace some electrical stuff for the solar arrays," You reply. You feel confident in you and Matthias' ability to get the tasks done. You get the feeling that you should call Steven before the next round of training.

"Are you alright?" Oliver asks.

"Yeah. I'm just debating on whether I should call my brother now or later," You respond. Ten minutes later you have all written down your feedback and you are all heading to the crew dragon mockup. You will be acting as the commander and Matthias will be acting as your pilot because you are the ones with the most experience on the crew dragon. You all take your respective seats. It feels odd having a European sitting next to you. The last time you sat in the mockup the person next to you was an American. You all get to work your various tasks. After an hour in the simulator, you have another break which you have decided to use to call your brother.

"Hello sis how is training going?" Steven opens up the conversation.

"Long," You reply. Hopefully, he doesn't hear the bother in your voice.

"You seem bothered. Would you like to tell me what's going on?" He asks. You sigh.

"Well, I'm worried about what I will miss. I know it's a pointless endeavour because I have ISS experience but it still bothers me because an awful lot happens in a year," You express your concerns. At least you know Steven will be a good listener.

"I think the only thing of any value that you will be missing is my games," Steve is half-joking and being serious.
"Come on Steve please be a little more serious," You retort. It still puts a smile on your face. You check your watch. It's time for the worst part of the job.

"Sorry but I have some press stuff to do with Matthias and Meko, my crewmates," You feel a little guilty for cutting the conversation short but at the same time, you are glad that you had the opportunity to talk to him beforehand.