‘Fantastic time.’ Here’s what Tri-Cities astronaut will remember about her months in space

Richland astronaut Kayla Barron would love to do it all over again as she prepares to depart the International Space Station for Earth later this month.

The Richland High graduate has spent more than five months in space, conducting research, admiring the views of Earth and going on two spacewalks outside the station.

“The spacewalks were absolutely incredible,” she said Friday in a NASA news conference held in anticipation of the SpaceX Crew 3’s return to Earth within the next couple of weeks.

It was one of the top items on her wish list when she left Earth on Nov. 10.

“We had a fantastic time out there doing some amazing work, looking down on our beautiful planet,” she said.

On Barron’s spacewalks she and another member of her crew replaced a faulty communications antenna mounted outside the space station and prepared equipment for upcoming solar array upgrades.

All four members of the crew she traveled with to the space station got to float outside the space station during their stay.

Three were space rookies, and veteran astronaut Tom Marshburn said watching them go out the hatch for their spacewalks was emotional for him.

“I had a hard time getting any work done. I was going window to window to watch them and make sure they were OK,” he said.

The spacewalks will be good preparation as NASA prepares to send a new generation of explorers to Earth’s moon, Barron said.

She’s been selected for the Artemis team as NASA prepares to establish a long-term presence in a base camp on the moon.

Team members will support the mission, either from Earth or traveling to the moon. NASA plans to land the first woman and first person of color on the moon.

Space station life

Also onboard the space station are Russian cosmonauts who the NASA crew sees daily.

Relationships remain collegial and friendly, despite the war in Ukraine, and the two crews often share meals and a movie on the weekends, Marshburn said.

“We rely on each other for survival,” he said. “It is a dangerous environment.”

Barron said she was well-trained for her first space mission, but she still needed to learn to adapt.

“You can intellectualize the experience of living and working in microgravity, but until you experience it you don’t really know what it is going to be like,” she said.

She felt the pressure of a busy schedule when she arrived with many tasks to accomplish.

Doing things for the first time always takes longer and there were growing pains, she said.

“You know I let go of this microphone and that’s cool,” she said, as the microphone floated in front of her. “But if I look away for too long it’s going to disappear and now it’s lost and I have to look for it.”

Return to Earth

As Barron prepares to return to Earth, she said she’s most looking forward to seeing family and friends who supported her as she became an astronaut and then during her stay at the space station.

“And of course, we’re starting to think about all the things we might want to eat and drink when we get home,” Barron said.

The crew has all missed nature and gravity, the astronauts said.

“I miss our planet. I miss being tucked up under the clouds and feeling the rain that’s coming from above and feeling my toes in the grass and sand,” Marshburn said.

But Barron also was already sounding wistful about ending her time on the space station.

“And when I look back on the things we’ve had the honor and privilege to be a part of the last five months, it gives me goosebumps every time I think about it,” she said.

This story was originally published April 17, 2022 at 5:00 AM.