Insa Thiele-Eich, 34, is one of two candidates who will be the first German woman to fly into space in 2020. How the astronaut from Königswinter plans to combine this with her job as a scientist and two young daughters – and how family bed, long-term breastfeeding and space preparations fit together.
By Lisa Harmann
In the run-up to our meeting, Insa Thiele-Eich, 34, asks what „time slot“ we would plan for the interview. In the end, the planned hour and a half turns into three and a half, because when it comes to heaven and earth, births and rocket launches, long-term breastfeeding and weightlessness, time becomes something relative.
In a subordinate clause, she mentions that she is not only organising her daughter’s seventh birthday party the next day, but will also be flying to Russia in the evening to begin the first parabolic flights in her three-year astronaut training. Boundaries are there to be crossed, seems to be this woman’s motto.
Now, however, she is pretty tired, because her little family is sleeping in the family bed and last night her godchild was a guest, grinding his teeth.We meet at her favourite café in Bonn. Coffee first. The barista knows her – she wrote parts of her doctoral thesis here – and conjures up a little astronaut in the milk foam.
Mrs Thiele-Eich, you want to fly into space and otherwise sleep in the same bed as your husband and daughters?
Yes, actually. It works for us as a family. I don’t do everything that is part of attachment parenting because I assume that everyone decides in the best interests of their child and their family anyway and I don’t like to dogmatically follow guides. But yes, long-term breastfeeding was also part of it for us. I would never have expected that. I thought you just stop after six months.
Is this attachment-orientated parenting compatible with your full-time job?
I started working again two months after the birth. My husband had a year of parental leave. But that’s another reason for the family bed. The children don’t see me as much during the day – and then at night two little bodies roll over to me. That shows me that it’s important that I fulfil their need for closeness at night.
Of course, my husband and I would also like to have more time to ourselves in the evenings. But unlike other mums, I can’t pick the children up from school at half past eleven, so we just do it this way.How did those around you react to your quick return to work?
With „Oh my God“. That happened a lot. I was pitied in the postnatal course, at the breastfeeding counselling session I was told that I could take out a loan instead of going to work. I had to be pretty firm when I said I would go to work full-time, breastfeed anyway, but pump. I mean: Dad was with her after all!
So it wasn’t difficult for you to say goodbye?
Well, when I went to work the first day, the mascara would have been better if it had been waterproof, and I also found pumping annoying. Nevertheless, it felt right for us overall.
Now parabolic flights, diving courses and a pilot’s licence are on the agenda …
Yes, the training will take three years. I will continue to work as a scientist, but I have reduced the number of hours. In two years‘ time, we’ll know which of us will fly and which will only be used as a backup. My father
was also an astronaut, he waited twelve years until he was finally allowed to fly into space himself. We’ll only be on the International Space Station (ISS) itself for a fortnight, so the children won’t have to do without me for too long.
During the parabolic flights, you ascend very steeply in an aeroplane and then descend again, creating a brief moment of weightlessness at the top. Doesn’t that make you feel sick?
Ah, I’ve done parabolic flights before, I can stand it well, I find it rather exciting. I wasn’t prone to nausea during my pregnancies either.
Do you actually have any guidelines, such as a ban on getting pregnant?
Nothing specific. But I don’t think now would be the most favourable time to get pregnant. In the early days with a baby, his needs take centre stage. But I’m still young, so who knows what will come after that.
Why do you want to go into space?
From scientific curiosity. I’m looking forward to the many different experiments that we can do on the ISS. For example, in biology – for example, how female hormones react to weightlessness.
So it’s not primarily about the fact that a woman urgently needs to go into space now?
In fact, I’ve always wanted to be an astronaut. I’m surprised myself that it’s still possible to be the first German woman in 2017. That’s the one part of my job that I’m happy to take on. It annoys me that when I organise a children’s birthday party with a space theme, I can only buy little male astronauts as decorations.
You want to pave the way
If I can use the attention we’re getting now to make a difference, I’ll gladly accept it. I want to teach my children that mothers can also change tyres. And that not all girls have to think STEM subjects – maths, IT, science and technology – are stupid. Because they are super exciting.
Are you taking a leaf out of Alexander Gerst’s book, who made his trip to the ISS in autumn 2014 very public?
In any case! He reached so many people with his photos and postings from space! I think that’s great, because space travel is something very emotional.
In what way?
It’s about crossing boundaries. I once read that only ten per cent of all people push their limits. So 90 per cent prefer not to. They also warned Christopher Columbus back then: Are you crazy? You’ll fall off the earth. Because back then, people still thought the earth was a disc. But, as we know: He set off anyway. There have only been 550 people in space – that’s not very many. So I think it’s important to pass on your own findings to everyone else.
Are you sometimes afraid of your own courage?Of course. You fly into space instead of mowing the lawn at home again (laughs). I also tend to organise sleepover parties for the kids during very stressful periods.
But seriously, sometimes I think how relaxing it would be not to always have new plans. But that wouldn’t be me. We try not to have the children looked after by someone else for more than 35 hours a week, and my husband has had himself transferred internally so that he can work from home more often.
We could also imagine having an au pair in the future. And we have a great network of friends: sometimes one takes the children, sometimes the other. Then you don’t have such a guilty conscience.
Are you sometimes afraid of what lies ahead?
Also. Whereby I consider fear – just like a guilty conscience – to be healthy components, it makes us check: Do I know all the risks? Have I not overlooked anything? For example, I am very careful with children in the water because I am not a lifeguard and cannot assess the risk. And I know from the history of space travel that everything is done there to learn from past mistakes.
Do you have a ritual with the children while you are travelling on business?
Yes, I always have „muffin“ with me. That’s our business trip cuddly toy, a Glubschi. When I’m far away, like the other day in San Francisco, I send photos of „Muffin“ on my mobile phone and tell the children little stories about it. The girls then send back smileys and voice messages. „Muffin“ should of course also go into space.
This interview originally appeared in the magazine Eltern Family (issue 11/2017).
