TWEETING ASTRONAUT ORBITS INTO R-FH
U.S. Army Colonel and NASA astronaut Douglas Wheelock stopped by R-FH Tuesday morning after spending six months in outer space. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
There are certain aspects of sailing through outer space that Hollywood chooses, perhaps wisely, not to include in blockbuster portrayals of life in the ether.
There’s the blistering heat, sometimes reaching temperatures upwards of 350 degrees, which can really put a damper on a six-hour space walk; the food, which Colonel Douglas Wheelock says tastes more like heated plastic; and then there’s the absence of a bathing facility, which, if you’re like Wheelock, who recently returned from a six-month voyage in space, can make the return to Earth all that much sweeter.
“When they popped open the hatch, I said, ‘you guys smell really good,'” said Wheelock, who stopped in at Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School Tuesday to talk to students about his astral travels. “They said, ‘it’s called soap.'”