Baltimore Astronaut May Be The Most Popular Man Off The Planet
BALTIMORE (WJZ)—Baltimore astronaut Reid Wiseman arrived at the International Space Station less than two weeks ago, but he's already the most popular guy on-board-- at least on Twitter, where he has more than 70,000 followers who can't get enough of his photos of planet Earth.
Mary Bubala has more on his out-of-this-world journey.
Snow-capped volcanoes in Chile, deserts in Egypt, even the first Vine video taken from space showing a sun that never sets--they're just a few of the images making Wiseman one of Twitter's shining stars.
"The view out the window is way beyond what I ever dreamed it would be," Wiseman said.
One of his favorite photos, of the northern coast of Australia, was taken just Monday.
"We just looked down and the way the clouds and the red desert met the ocean, from up here, the view was absolutely spectacular, and it's burned in my mind," Wiseman said.
Wiseman has taken it one step further, with images ranging from the mundane to the creative. His most re-Tweeted image thus far? A simple red die floating in space with Earth as its backdrop.
"I don't know why that picture worked so well. It's just really neat to see that crisp red die against the blackness of space with Earth under it. But it's in the completely foreign environment, and I think that's why this picture is so spectacular," Wiseman said.
With infectious enthusiasm, Wiseman lives the life at zero gravity that most only dream about.
"As a kid you always want to float everywhere you go, and up here it's just no problem. You just float on over to the bathroom, float on over to the window, float on down to the dinner table. Really it's better than you could ever think," Wiseman said.
He's hoping his rare perspective will once again get people talking about the wonderment of aerospace.
"Everything is just unusual up here: The view, the living, the way we work, the way we eat, and if I can just capture a little of that and spark some imagination back in the world and in the U.S. in particular then that's mission accomplished for me," Wiseman said.
Wiseman's mission goes on for the next six months. In that time he will do at least two spacewalks outside the ISS to make repairs.
The ISS now has six astronauts on board.
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