This afternoon it is time for the first Swedish woman to head into space. Yesterday Jessica Meir met with journalists at the Russian cosmodrome Baikonur in Kazakhstan.
All the astronauts are introduced and then sit behind a glass panel during the press conference. They have been isolated to protect themselves from viruses and other diseases.
Jessica Meir is both an American and Swedish citizen. Her mother is from Västerås. She is a researcher and specializes in how animals cope in extreme conditions, now she is going to perhaps the most extreme place, space.
Also on board the space capsule this afternoon is a Russian commander and an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates.
– We are the lucky ones who sit here behind the glass, are photographed and get to give speeches. But in reality it is a team effort of people in Russia, in the United States and elsewhere in the world, said Jessica Meir, who will spend just over six months in space.
The crews that Going up to the International Space Station is still the result of cooperation, even though the relationship between Russia and the United States is very bad.
In the future, President Donald Trump has also highlighted that the US's goal in space is to reach Mars, but to get there, more astronauts must first go to the moon. NASA has said that a woman will also go there.
Just before Jessica Meir goes into space this afternoon, she will sit in the space capsule and listen to music she has chosen herself.
– I have chosen music that is important to me, some of my favorite bands, some that evoke certain emotions, some that have to do with space and being an astronaut.
Source: sverigesradio.se
