about the loudness of the water when you are in the shower or
when you are standing next to an average dishwasher (not the fancy
silent ones).
If the sound of the space station doesn’t distract you from
your work, maybe the smell would. Retired NASA astronaut Scott
Kelly, who spent an astounding 520 days, 10 hours in the ISS,
likened the station smell to a jail, a “combination of antiseptic,
garbage, and body odor. Mostly it’s just exercise clothes people
wear for a couple weeks without washing.”^9 This is partly because
when you are on the ISS you only change your socks and underwear
every other day, and shirts and pants every ten days (if you’re
lucky). Plus if there is an odor there’s really not anywhere for the
smell to go. It’s not like you can open a window.
Sounds awful. Lots of technical precise work to do, the hum
of an eternal dishwasher and a lingering waft of 10-day old gym
shorts. It makes traveling in coach seem luxurious. Who would
crave, let alone sign up for this type of adventure? It’s just the
environment that high sensation-seekers like Olathe can handle.
Dr. Olathe MacIntyre is a scientist working with Science
North’s planetarium and space exhibits. Dr. MacIntyre is
a biologist whose expertise is on growing plants in low-pressure
environments – like the Matt Damon character in the book and
movieThe Martian. She’s just the person you want to talk to if you
want to grow a salad on Mars.
Those who know Olathe might not be too surprised she was
interested in living in space. Inspired by her mother’s science
fiction collection featuring books by Arthur C. Clarke and Ursula
K. LeGuin, Olathe has always dreamed of being an astronaut and
she’s had experiences to prepare her. She lived in Alaska for two
years and spent a year on crab fishing boats, like the ones featured
in Discovery’sDeadliest Catch.^10 She works well in dangerous envir-
onments. I asked her if she ever felt like she was in danger.
“In danger?” She pondered for a moment almost as if she
had to think about what the word meant. “Well, that’s one of the
things about me. I have a high threshold for not sensing being in
danger. I worked up in Alaska for two years on fishing vessels as an
on-board marine biologist also known as a ‘fish cop.’ It’s a very
intense environment. One of the first things you have to get used
to is the motion. The first vessel I was on was actually a floating
factory ship that had a crew of 150 men, mostly ex-convicts. On one
boat you literally had to hold your plate and your cup when you127 / All in a Day’s WorkDownloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Access paid by the UCSF Library, on 11 Nov 2019 at 14:18:48, subject to the Cambridge