What You See When You Are Floating in Space
ESA astronaut Pedro Duque from Spain kept a journal during his recent trip to the International Space Station. He discovered that ballpoint pens do indeed work in space (and the Russians have known it for years) and that one can sail through the Northern (or, in the case of his flight path, the Southern) Lights.
Man, this must have been something. From his journal entry of 24 October:
"Too weird to be clouds. As you get closer it turns into more and more brilliant gauze veils, which form curtains coming up from the ground. Another turn of the spacecraft and you see them again, you are almost above them. The curtains get more and more defined - they are striped and reach very high, even higher than the spacecraft. You go straight towards them, and you can’t avoid feeling somewhat uneasy - will this be dangerous?
"When you enter them, all the curtains next to you start to light up and change shape, as if you were walking among sunny window blinds. The phenomenon lasts for one minute, then two, even three, and nothing unusual can be felt, the spacecraft goes on with its very soft trip along the rail of its orbit. When you leave behind this phantasmagoric image and face the blackness again you feel relief, but also a sense of loss."