ARRIVAL

摘要

We're perfectly aligned with the docking port, slowly but surely approaching the ISS, when I allow myself a quick look outside. The moment isn't chosen randomly: I'm looking for the space station. Not the indirect, black-and-white image from the cameras. I want to see it with my own eyes, in color. Ill never be able to see the whole thing, but I'm waiting for part of it to appear in my window. Some of the veteran astronauts have told me to look for it in the last 40 meters. I've loosened the straps as much as I can and I'm floating over my seat. When I turn towards my window, the first thing I see is one of the small solar panels on our Soyuz. Nothing new there: I've seen it before, but something draws my attention to the edge of my peripheral vision. I turn my head slowly and feel a jolt of astonishment and joy. Maybe my pent-up emotions are bubbling over. Maybe my tiredness is finally getting the better of me. Maybe it's simply that I wasn't prepared for such sudden beauty. "Oh my god!" I exclaim, and Anton [Shkaplerov] immediately orders me to be quiet. He's right, of course. The radio transmitter is on, and on Earth they cannot know that everything is fine, that there isn't any problem-other than an overabundance of happiness. The space station is right there, outside, mighty and resplendent, lit up with orange light, warm and alive, in which its huge solar panels seem to burn, incandescent. When I turn to look outside a few seconds later, the orange blaze has disappeared. The space station is now bathed in a cold, metallic light-and then it's swallowed up by the darkness. Another orbital night has begun. I realize that I've just had my first glimpse of my new house....