An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth summary

On a space mission, preparation is everything – no matter how intelligent or experienced the astronaut. So, during training, astronauts spend most of their days studying and simulating experiences they may never actually go through.

Simulations provide more than just practice: they frequently serve as wake-up calls. Trainers specialize in devising unpredictable bad scenarios for astronauts to work out. They practice what to do if there’s engine trouble, a computer meltdown or an explosion, to name just a few examples.

It’s always better to view criticism as potentially helpful advice rather than a personal attack. For an astronaut, criticism is a basic survival skill.

At NASA, everyone has to be a critic. When astronauts work through their simulations, dozens of people watch them, in the hope that they’ll catch any flaws. The more the astronauts are critiqued, the safer they’ll be.

Missions can last for several months. Naturally, the extended absence required for training and missions is hard for astronauts and their families.

From 2007 onward, Hadfield spent six months per year training in Moscow. He also trained in the United States, Japan, Germany, Canada and Kazakhstan. He was only home for about 15 weeks per year, and missed quite a few birthdays and holidays. He effectively became a visitor in his own home.

The International Space Station (ISS) is as big as a football field and weighs over one million pounds. It has so many modules that you can go a full day on board without seeing another person. So what does life in the ISS actually feel like?

Well, the quality of life onboard is sort of similar to that on a long sailboat trip. It’s remote and there’s no running water, because water would cohere into blobs, float away and wreck the sophisticated equipment that the ship runs on.

When astronauts have finished their missions, how do they get back to Earth? And how are their lives different once they arrive?

Astronauts return to Earth in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, but Soyuz landings are notoriously rough.