This is a surreal question to ask, but how did it feel once you left the Earth?
It’s a strange feeling. I can’t quite explain it, but it took me a little bit by surprise. When my arms started floating, I was so confused as to what was happening. It’s like you know what to expect, but then you’ll never really know what to expect until you experience it because such an odd feeling that you can’t really replicate it on Earth as well. It feels almost as if you’re in the water but without the water tension. So you’re floating, but you still have a lot of control of your body and it’s not any harder to move around or anything like that. It’s just a feeling of freedom and more space.
How nice was it to have your mum by your side throughout this process?
It was great. It was definitely an emotional experience as well, having my mum there for something so huge. It was definitely very comforting to have her there and inspiring to be able to do this with someone that you love so much and someone that you look up to so much.
Do you think that women and girls will be inspired by what you and your mum achieved?
I really do hope so. I’ve already been getting some messages from people who are younger than me asking about the experience and saying how inspired they are. And I am honestly just hoping that this experience inspires others to take themselves seriously – to take their dreams seriously.
Has the experience helped you take your dreams seriously?
It’s definitely woken me up a little bit and gotten me out of the mindset of the ‘I wish I could’ and put me in the mindset of ‘I can do this.’
I know that I’ve been really worried about how life is going to go and where I need to be and what I need to be doing, but it’s inspired me to also just be like, ‘This is the only life that I get, and I need to live it to the fullest.’ And so it’s really helped me to stop worrying about the smaller things, the smaller problems that I make so big and just appreciate what I have and what I can do.
How important is it to see women represented in scientific fields, especially astrophysics?
We need diversity in all fields… in everything. I honestly think that it shouldn’t depend on your gender; it should just depend on how much you know and what you can do, your abilities and stuff like that because we have some extremely smart women out there and given the chance they could also change the world.
For more from Glamour UK’s Lucy Morgan, follow her on Instagram @lucyalexxandra.