--- description: Kjell Lindgren will spend five months in space title: Astronaut Talks About Going to Space for the First Time image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b7bf070ba346815/69885c110b72e3ebcc6e50af/kjell-lindgredn-going-to-space.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Space](/tag/space/) ## Space Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Exclusive: Astronaut Talks About Going to Space for the First Time  by [Jonathan Woods](/author/jonathan-d-woods/)  ## Jonathan Woods Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 22, 2015 7:31 PM CUT  NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren boards the Soyuz TMA-17M rocket before its launch to the ISS, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, 22 July 2015\. EPA/YURI KOCHETKOV NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren boards the Soyuz TMA-17M rocket before its launch to the ISS, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, 22 July 2015\. EPA/YURI KOCHETKOVYuri Kochetkov—EPA  by [Jonathan Woods](/author/jonathan-d-woods/)  ## Jonathan Woods Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 22, 2015 7:31 PM CUT Today is a big day for American astronaut Kjell Lindgren. He’s going to space for the first time. TIME spoke with Lindgren just days before he left the United States for the launch in Kazakhstan. “I’ve been counting down the days to the launch ever since I got assigned,” he said. “You start to have very real thoughts about what it means to climb into a rocket, to launch into orbit, and spend the next five months on the space station.” Lindgren is board certified in emergency medicine and aerospace medicine. When he’s not training to spend time in space, he is also a husband and father of three. He recently started an [Instagram account](https://instagram.com/astro%5Fkjell/ "undefined") where he’ll be posting updates from his mission. You can [watch the launch live on Time.com](http://time.com/3967715 "undefined") starting at 4pm EST Wednesday. _TIME is following the yearlong mission between American astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, who are nearly four months into a yearlong mission aboard the international space station._ [_Click here to watch the series_](http://time.com/space "undefined")_, or watch Episode 1, “Leaving Home,” below._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3967756/kjell-lindgren-astronaut-space/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3967756/kjell-lindgren-astronaut-space/"},"headline":"Exclusive: Astronaut Talks About Going to Space for the First Time","datePublished":"2015-07-22T19:31:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:28:54.067Z","description":"He'll be in space for five months","url":"https://time.com/3967756/kjell-lindgren-astronaut-space/","keywords":["Space","international space station","rocket"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b7bf070ba346815/69885c110b72e3ebcc6e50af/kjell-lindgredn-going-to-space.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jonathan Woods","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jonathan-d-woods/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b7bf070ba346815/69885c110b72e3ebcc6e50af/kjell-lindgredn-going-to-space.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren boards the Soyuz before launching to the ISS, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on July 22.","caption":"NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren boards the Soyuz before launching to the ISS, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on July 22.","creditText":"Yuri Kochetkov—EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3967756/kjell-lindgren-astronaut-space/","name":"Exclusive: Astronaut Talks About Going to Space for the First Time"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A Year in Space - Ep.1: Leaving Home","description":"A Year in Space - Ep.1: Leaving Home","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/6ookw4W2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2021-03-11T18:13:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6ookw4W2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3967756/kjell-lindgren-astronaut-space/","duration":"PT13M31S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3967756/kjell-lindgren-astronaut-space/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```