Gul in Space

Richa Jha

Tomorrow is my birthday,
A day of special fun
I want the stars to wish me
The moon too, and the sun.

I wake up in the morning
And look at what I see!
A rocket waiting outside;
I try and hide my glee.
The rocket is all fired up,
My bags are packed and full.
'Whoosh!' it roars and shoots up,
I’m Astronaut Madam Gul!
My cat, she shakes and trembles,
My head spins round and round.
In just a few minutes,
We are way above the ground.

Six hours later, here it is
My new home in outer space
They call it Space Station;
Hello, you beautiful place!

Boing! we go from step to step,
I hardly feel my legs.
Before we even know it,
We turn down on our heads!
And then begins the floating,
To the left and to the right.
Drifting through the air we go,
And twisting to the side.

Oops! My bag turns upside down
And out come two jalebis.
Samosas that I packed so well,
I think they’ve all gone crazy!
They bump around and float across,
The crumbs and icky juice.
I'll stick to labelled packets,
Of these special space foods.

My hair is all so sticky,
The clothes are such a mess.
My cat, she tries to lick me clean;
A bath will work the best.
But here’s a little secret,
There are no taps in space.
I wet this towel just a bit
And wipe it on my face.
Then squeeze some shampoo in my hair
And rub it through and through.
A final proper wiping,
My hair looks clean and new.

I get into my space suit
For a very special day.
Come and join me in the fun,
It’s space walk all the way!
Step by step I go outside,
A slow and dangerous crawl.
It’s dark and cold and quiet,
I’m connected to the walls.
The stars are shining clear and bright
They look so big and near.
The moon just smiles and seems to say
'Happy Birthday, Gul dear.'

It’s time for me to head back in
And get some cosy rest.
The space walk was so tiring;
That was scary, but the best.

This is where I need to sleep,
My bed for next few days.
What fun it is to squeeze right in
And strap myself in place.
I wake up after some time,
No minute we can waste
But first I go and brush my teeth
And swallow all the paste!

I want to speak to Ammi,
My laptop's strapped in place.
'Hello, who’s that?' she screams from there,
'I’m Gul from outer space!'
I tell her of the things I’ve done,
Of magic that is space.
Of how the earth looks far from here,
Of this Station’s funny ways.

I live in space for two full months,
It’s time to head back soon.
Far away we hear some child
Wish for journeys to the moon.
Raise your hand if that is you
And keep your bags all checked.
My cat and I return tonight,
It’ll soon be your turn next.

Did You Know?
- You need to sit inside a rocket to go into space. There are different kinds of rockets, but the most common one is the kind that Gul and her cat go in. The rocket takes them to the International Space Station (ISS), which is Gul’s home in space for two months. They use a spacecraft called Soyuz to return to Earth from the ISS.
- There are spacecrafts that go from Earth to ISS carrying specially packed food and water, and other things that astronauts need to live there. Gul has to be careful with the use of water inside the space station. Every drop is precious.

- Gul and the other objects inside the ISS float like balloons. Anything that is not strapped down will float because they appear to become weightless in space. This happens because the space station itself and everything inside it are falling very fast towards Earth all the time. It is this falling with speed that makes Gul feel weightless. But if they are falling, why doesn’t everything not crash on to Earth? That’s because our planet is round, and as the ISS and everything inside it falls down, down, down, the Earth’s surface curves away from them and they never reach the ground.
- There are no taps inside the ISS because water cannot flow down in a weightless environment. So Gul has to use a special shampoo that does not need to be rinsed off, and she also swallows her toothpaste. If Gul leaves a water bag open by mistake, drops of water will start floating all over the space station and combine to form a big ball of water.