How a Nat Geo photographer discovered to stay on Mars

It additionally helped that we had particular person dorm rooms that we may sleep in—they had been very small, very skinny partitions—however we did have a door that we may shut. I believe having the ability to have alone time, however then additionally having the ability to spend time collectively as a crew was a pleasant steadiness.

You had been taking photographs in a spacesuit—what was that like?

It was extra bodily demanding than I anticipated it to be. When we’re on EVAs [space walks, or extra vehicular activity], anytime we had been outdoors of the habitat, we needed to be in a spacesuit. That meant anytime I used to be documenting researchers, I used to be additionally in a spacesuit. And the bubble for the helmet goes thus far in entrance of your head which you could’t maintain something near your eye. It was so brilliant outdoors through the day that it was arduous to generally even see the again of my display.

A variety of occasions it virtually felt like guessing on the footage I used to be taking; even making an attempt to get focus could possibly be actually difficult. I might try to deliver the digital camera near my face and simply ram it into the swimsuit and I saved pondering, ‘Oh, I’m going to dent these suits. They’re going to have a camera mark across the front.’ Fortunately, that did not occur.

I wore every thing I wanted as a result of I could not have a backpack with any digital camera gear. Everything that I needed to carry was in a waist belt. With the digital camera weight, plus the spacesuit, I used to be in all probability carrying 50 kilos on me. And I could not see the waist belt after I appeared down due to the helmet, so I needed to do every thing by contact.