Cosmonauts in orbit have ice cream but crave meat

For some children in Moscow, their first day in school was even more memorable than normal: they had the chance to meet a cosmonaut and talk to him about his time in space.

The question-and-answer session with Oleg Kotov, a member of the latest space mission, took place at Moscow's Cosmonautics Museum on Tuesday.

When asked whether he missed ice cream on the mission, Kotov said that the cosmonauts had ice cream at the space station, but what he really craved was a steak.

“I was looking forward to every delivery from Earth, looking forward to parcels from my friends and relatives with something tasty,” he recalled. “Because, you know, space food is okay, but you get bored with eating the same stuff every day. And I was dreaming of a juicy steak, of real meat, and of being able to eat soup with a spoon, not a straw.”

Kotov, who has been in orbit twice and carried out three spacewalks, shared with his audience how he felt the first time in weightlessness.

“I was quite busy at the beginning, making sure the flight was going all right, but when I finished, I threw a book – it floated. I threw a pencil – it floated. I looked around – everything was floating. So I knew that everything was really all right,” Kotov told the kids.

He also gave the children several useful tips on how to become a cosmonaut.