“We’re back, baby,” shuttle pilot Mike Kelly said quoting his brother Scott, during Tuesday’s interview from the International Space Station.

For those who have keep up to date with space travel news this week, what a wonderful week it has been. I always wished I was born 25 years earlier so I could be there to witness the first moon landing in 1969. There was no World Wide Web until 1990 so people had to crowd around televisions to watch the event.

The other night whilst browsing through the NASA site, I discovered that the crew of STS-121 were about to embark on the first spacewalk of their mission. I launched NASA TV and watched the first hour or so of the walk – LIVE! I was hooked. I felt like a child again. A child who wanted to be an astronaut.

It felt quite incredible to witness the event, listen to their conversation and watch them slowly move across the ISS. Whilst they moved about on my screen, I realised they were just outside my window, 354kms away.

Whilst not completely out of the clear, it looks like NASA is beginning to recover from the Columbia tragedy in 2003. NASA has spent $US1.3 billion making the shuttle safer. Once complete, the IIS is expected to have cost more than $US100 billion. What benefit does this investment provide to our life here on earth?

With water being such a scarce resource, pushing the boundaries of space travel has forced us to come up with new ways to recycle and develop self-sufficient living in an environment where nothing naturally grows.

The Marshall Space Flight Center is currently developing a Water Processor Assembly (WPA) as part of the US Enhanced Crew Life Support System. This system will reclaim waste waters from fuel cells, from urine, from oral hygiene and hand washing, and by condensing humidity from the air. It will produce recycled water that will be cleaner than what we drink presently on Earth.

It’s still a very long way away, but hopefully we will see some good come out of this in our lifetime. Until then, I’ll continue to watch those lucky few as they experience what must be one of the most amazing views you could see.

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