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Traveling for work will take on a new dimension for astronaut��Steve Swanson��(EngrPhys’83) who will travel 240 miles into space and spend six months on the International Space Station next year.

Swanson — who has traveled to space in 2007 and 2009 for a total of four weeks — will be a crew member of two overlapping space station missions starting in March 2014.

On his space adventure Swanson will live with five others while serving as flight engineer on��Expedition 39��and then as station commander on��Expedition 40. He will work 12-hour shifts most days, splitting his time between research experiments and station maintenance.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” he told the��Daily Camera, noting his favorite space meal is thermostablized crawfish étouffée. “It’ll be like moving to a new country for six months, only higher up.”

����ֱ��-Boulder scholar-in-residence and Roubos Chair��Jim Voss��(MAero’74, HonDocSci’00) also has traveled to the space station. In 2000 he helped construct the station aboard the��Atlantis��and in 2001 was a member of the second crew to live aboard it on the��Expedition 2��mission.

Six Facts about the International Space Station

1. Orbits 240 miles above Earth
2. Size of a football field
3. Has had 204 visitors
4. Weighs 861,804 pounds, equaling about 320 cars
5. Has two bathrooms, a gymnasium and 360-degree window
6. Contains eight miles of wire that connects the electrical power system

Source: NASA