Only one thing was missing from the packing list of Europe’s first space station commander: a second-hand suit.
Samantha Cristoforetti was en route to the International Space Station last April on a special recreational mission: to Cosplay (opens in new tab) as the famous flight attendant from 2001: A Space Odyssey. (In the 1968 film, the unnamed character played by Edwina Carroll inches around a space station hatch until it is fully inverted (opens in new tab) in the camera’s field of view.)
To recreate the attendant’s Pan-Am costume, Cristoforetti required a full-length white body suit topped with a snow-colored cap. “This is something I wouldn’t normally buy for myself,” Cristoforetti told Space.com during a post-flight press conference with other SpaceX Crew-4 members on Thursday (October 20). “But it seemed a perfect fit for this need.”
The beautiful film replica was a demonstration of the teamwork Cristoforetti inculcated during their brief command of space station activities along with their six-month Expedition 67/68 orbital mission, which ended Oct. 14.
“You have to use the time you have with these guys well to make them succeed,” the European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut said of her two-week stint in charge of up to 10 people, inclusive overseeing lunar science for the Artemis program and two manned spacecraft arriving or departing.
Related: Amazing photos of SpaceX’s Crew 4 mission
To bring the ‘2001’ vibe together, a SpaceX training technician helped Cristoforetti figure out how to hang himself upside down with Velcro, and Russian cosmonaut Sergey Korsakov procured a Velcro-attached hatch on his country’s side of the space station, where Cristoforetti did the could do walking around.
After filming in orbit, ESA video experts on the ground edited the raw footage into a rhythmic march timed to the fanfare opening of Also Sprach Zarathustra, composer Richard Strauss’ 1896 orchestral composition that any space enthusiast would instantly associate with “2001.” connects.”
The cosplay Cristoforetti did in Orbit this year (she also played characters from the 2013 film Gravity and the 2005 TV series Battlestar Galactica) has pushed her out of her comfort zone as she says she has Seen “about 15 movies” in her life. However, the film “2001” is an exception.
On photos: Making of 2001: A Space Odyssey
“I actually watched [that] several times and I enjoy and appreciate it very much as a work of art and as something that has really impacted our visual imagination in relation to space,” she said. “It’s decades old now, but it doesn’t feel old. It feels very, very current and priceless.”
Cristoforetti stressed that in space, the mission of staying safe, doing science and maintaining a 20-year-old space station comes first. But the first person to create a Space TikTok added that every moment she has left to reconnect is great for public engagement — and for team building.
Related: Europe’s first female space station commander says the ‘Space Ninja’ crew is ready to come home
That’s because crew engagement is key to orbital productivity. To boost both, NASA astronauts flying with Cristoforetti on the Crew 4 mission bonded over foodie moments. Cristoforetti, an Italian, provided “a plethora of olive oil” to improve the preparation of meals in orbit, according to Crew 4 pilot Bob Farmer, who admitted to loving the cuisine her country is famous for: “I think , I was kind of a lasagna mostly guy,” he said.
Mission specialist and first-time aviator Jessica Watkins discovered that everything in a tortilla “got at least 10% more delicious,” including a burger patty combo she invented that contained macaroni, cheese, and “just a dollop of barbecue sauce.” The “Watty Burger,” as her Crew 4 members called it, “kind of became a thing.”
Crew 4 starship commander Kjell Lindgren had such a craving for Watty burgers that “I became notorious for putting more food in a tortilla than was probably prudent or possible,” he recalled. “One night Bob witnessed a three-decker – I put an extra page in it – and he claimed I dislocated my jaw to eat.”
Growing food also brought the astronauts together, with the crew leaving behind tomatoes for the newly arrived SpaceX Crew-5 team to enjoy. But Lindgren said there’s one mystery he hopes to solve before he returns: the wavelength of the Pepto Bismol-colored light in which the crew’s peas, tomatoes and onions bask.
“It was pink. Very pink. I definitely knew when the lights were on because the whole Columbus module was glowing pink,” joked Lindgren. But whatever the wavelength, the ultra-rosy light did just the right thing: “The smell of the plants was absolutely amazing.”
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook.
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