Like millions of others around the world, I was glued to the screen watching the launch of the SpaceX rocket and the beginning of its journey towards the International Space Station. There’s something about space travel that creates a childlike excitement in us: so fascinating and unknown that it feels almost unreal that these astronauts would soon be in space. It’s no wonder children dream of becoming astronauts, arguably one of the coolest jobs in the world. It was this childlike wonder that I gleefully took the challenge of trying to dock the SpaceX to the ISS on a realistic simulation.
The SpaceX simulation uses the same interface as on the actual shuttle, so this was my time to find out if I could be a real astronaut or not. I put the Armageddon soundtrack on to help get me in the zone, and slowly, so painfully slowly, I led the SpaceX towards the ISS. That is until the point in the picture above – I couldn’t hit the target, the shuttle started to go everywhere, I was coming in too fast, and yep, I crashed it. Astronaut dream crushed.
This was so much fun, and incredibly interesting! I didn’t fully understand everything, and I didn’t have the patience to try again but to say I’ve used the same interface as the real-deal astronauts feels really cool to say. I really recommend giving it a go!
New Day, New Thing 