Axiom-2 private astronaut addresses haters, internet trolls

Axiom-2 pilot John Shoffner recently returned to Earth after spending 10 days in orbit on the International Space Station. He said he learned a lot and is excited to share his passion for space exploration with young people. “I have dreamed of space since I was a young boy. The space race was starting in the 60s when I was growing up and it was easy to be captivated by it and I certainly was. So I spent literally my entire life thinking about what it would be like to be in space, to go to space,” he said. Shoffner said he trained for up to two years to prepare for the incredible adventure, but liftoff was a little different than he expected. “At the moment of liftoff, which was a bit surprising, it wasn’t this big explosive blast and lots of G-forces,” he said. “It was this very initially gentle lift, where we felt the entire vehicle begin to rise. It later accelerated and got a little more dramatic, but those beginning phases, I’ll never forget those.” Once he got to space and looked back at Earth, he was in for another surprise. “It’s just now revealing itself to me,” he said. “I’m just now able to talk about it. It’s funny because as a new astronaut onboard the station one of the first things I wanted to do was hurry into the cupola, drop myself in there, look out over the planet and prepare to be moved and amazed and it was truly beautiful to see the Earth sliding by underneath endlessly, but this breakthrough moment didn’t happen right then and I was a little disappointed. ‘So, maybe I’ll come back a little later on,’ and it wasn’t quite that thing. But I can tell you that after returning (to Earth) it’s slowly bringing itself to me. It’s unfolding itself in a way that I could not have imagined. It’s causing me this sense of longing to go back to it and be able to speak to it. This overview effect is real, but it just does not happen on a schedule. It happens to you as an individual in a way that is familiar and comfortable to you.” Shoffner has only had his feet back on Earth for a short time but would be e