I’ve been back on Earth for three days now and my quarantine period is already ending tomorrow (Thursday, October 15). I have both feet firmly on the ground but half of my head is still in the stars. And so, I used my last day in Star City to write my blog, something I wanted to do while I was in space but which turned out quite impossible because of my schedule and technical reasons. I’m really sorry for this delay but I’ll try to tell you all about my adventures since the last time I wrote.

On Wednesday, September 30, after a restful sleep (I have to say, this surprised me a bit), I got up at 4:00 a.m., all ready for this great day that started, however, with a not very pleasant medical consultation. Without going into detail, let’s just say that the purpose of this consultation was to make sure that we weren’t going into space with too much solid matter, since we would be jammed for 2 days in a very small module… Gee, the things we put up with to go into space!

I then took a shower and a doctor disinfected me with alcohol. He even disinfected my head, which gave me a little alcohol buzz as a bonus! We then put on our training suits and headed for breakfast. I wasn’t really hungry so I didn’t eat very much, but Max and Jeff ate like bears!

After breakfast, we went back to our rooms to pack up the remaining personal items to take on our trip. I have never packed my bags with such concentration!

Once our bags were ready, we got together with our spouses and a few officers to raise a glass of champagne to the mission’s success. After this ritual, we each signed the door of our room and an Orthodox priest sprinkled us with water. A sort of space baptism ceremony perhaps?

We left what had been our home in the last months to get on the bus that would take us to the preparation site and… to my kids and all my gang, all wearing a clown nose! What a wonderful surprise! This added a splash of colour to the environment, since the sun wasn’t even up yet...

However, we witnessed a magnificent sunrise on our way to the site. According to tradition—once again—we were shown a short video prepared by our friends and/or our family for each one of us. It was a very moving, sweet moment—and funny too!

When we arrived on the site, we had to remove our clothes and put on what I guess we could call a medical bra (!) along with our flight suit. We then did our leak check in front of the media and our friends and family who watched behind a glass panel. We talked with them for a moment, said our last goodbyes and, once again, stood before the officers. Emotions were running high. We returned to the small living room, raised another glass (we just dipped our lips) and said our official goodbyes facing the officials. Happily, all my gang was wearing a clown nose so I was able to quickly spot them in the crowd! Everything went by so fast… We got on the bus, headed for the spacecraft… It was all very moving.

As we got closer to the spacecraft, it seemed to grow in front of our very eyes. We made one last stop for the final “terrestrial pee” in the spot where Gagarin started this tradition. Jeff and Max went but I had taken care of this, so to speak, just before putting my flight suit on so I didn’t really need to go… which meant that it took a bit longer for me, but I didn’t want to miss out on this ritual! Then, in quick succession, we hopped on the bus, arrived at the site, embraced our doctors and climbed up the stairs of the spacecraft’s scaffolding, singing what had become our training song: Mammy Blue. We waved to everyone one last time, nervous, excited and very emotional.

A tiny elevator took us up (luckily, there wasn’t a fourth astronaut with us!) and we were helped into our capsule. We then settled ourselves into our seats and started a series of preliminary checkout activities including computer and leak checks, etc.

To prepare ourselves mentally, we listened to some 45 minutes of music we had chosen and almost drifted into a meditative state! And so, we “meditated” right up until the countdown: 5… 4… 3… 2… 1 minute… then seconds, then LIFTOFF! We felt the motors vibrating and heard the rumble but the cabin is tightly closed so it was more like a dull noise. I had witnessed a liftoff before, so I can safely say that, from the inside, you hear almost nothing.

We felt ourselves being lifted into the air but it was all very smooth. For 9 ½ minutes, we experienced the various separation stages. Thanks to his experience, Jeff was able to guide us well. What was amusing was that each time he said such and such a step would take place in 10 seconds, it happened 5 seconds earlier!

If I had to describe to you how I felt as the spacecraft went upward, I would have to say that the feelings were more emotional and spiritual than physical.

During the last separation stage, we distinctly heard the disconnection and, quite unexpectedly, our little stuffed animal began to fly! Our limbs felt light all of a sudden—we were weightless! We looked at each other and did a high-five! :) I quickly looked out the window and saw a marvellous and very round ball: WOW, what a magnificent site! The sky is not the limit.

After a few minutes, I saw the Earth and an almost full Moon, and we began our orbit. We stayed in our seats for a few more hours then moved over to our cabin on the other side. We removed our flight suits and, at that moment, I lived my first period of adaptation—the hardest one for me up until then—and threw up what I had eaten and drank. This lasted a few seconds then I felt different, and everything went well after that.

During these two days in orbit, we slept, ate (we had quite a lot of fun with the food!) and prepared ourselves to increase our altitude in order to dock to the ISS. Whenever I could, I looked out the window.