Thomas Marshburn

Space has a smell. And I don't mean inside the space station.

When a visiting vehicle docks with the space station, there is 'space' between the two vehicles. Once the pressure is equalized and the hatch is opened, you have this metallic ionization-type smell. It's quite unique and very distinct.

It really does take your breath away. You open that hatch and you look at the Earth -- it's one of those times in your life that you will remember forever. I had a ball of emotions -- nervous, excited, intense, focused -- you have a job to do and you have to contain your emotions to get the job done. Fortunately, we spend a lot of time training and the training kicks in so we can go out, get the job done, and come back safely.

The easy answer is that you miss your family and being with them. There's not something that's really at the top of the list of things you miss in space. It's the little things you miss often. Fresh fruit. The ability to take a shower. It's the little things that take some getting used to.

It's quite a thrill. It's a bit of a relief, too. You spend 2 and a half years building up to this point. There's a always a chance you might not get to go. You might get injured, you might get sick, you may not do well on a phase of the training and be replaced. So when we finally launch, it's a sense of relief to finally be going.

We've often been asked a lot about the movie Gravity. And one of our responses still is that we haven't seen Sandra up here and we'll continue to look.

It's heavy -- so it's hard. The human body adapts pretty quickly to changes like that, so within a few days I was feeling much better and within a few weeks I wasn't noticing any impacts.

Beef enchiladas. I was also a fan of apricot cobbler.

Good question. Unless I could take my family with me (and I'm quite confident that my wife doesn't want to go), I wouldn't want to live permanently in space. Earth is a good place to be.

Yes, you dream while you sleep. I don't generally remember my dreams on Earth, and I don't remember my dreams in space. I do know I dream about being on ISS now, even when I'm awake.

The weights you use for things like squats actually goes up, since you aren't lifting your body weight. So you have to add that to your lifts in space.

Interestingly, in testing before and after spending time in space, I squat roughly the same. So the regimen is important to maintain that.