Astronaut Kelly’s Daughter: A Birthday With My Dad in Space

In a few days I will have reached the six-month mark of seeing my dad off on his greatest adventure. Some might say that it is the ultimate adventure, but to my dad and our family, it’s just another day of him at work.

You see, my dad is an out-of-this-world dad. Literally—he is out of this world. He is currently living and working aboard the International Space Station. Many of you know and hear about him as Astronaut Scott Kelly, the American Astronaut testing the limits and capabilities of the human body living and working in space for one year.

To me, he is just “dad,” and in a few days, I will turn 12, and my dad will mark his halfway point of his journey. We will celebrate our events by having dinner together via teleconference. It’s not much, but it means the world to me.

I usually spend a better part of my summer break with my dad at his house. I could not stay at his place this summer, and I’m not so sure I would be up to it. It does look like fun floating around and spinning from one end of the space station to the next, but he works a lot, and I think I would have gotten in the way.

Summer did make the past three months go by pretty quickly, but the next three months will be a challenge. I will miss spending part of the holidays with my dad. This part is when having a dad with a cool job stinks.