Catherine "Cady" Coleman, Ph.D. is a NASA astronaut – a veteran of two space missions, who has logged over 500 hours in space. She is assigned to the Expedition 26 crew and is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station aboard the Russian Soyuz 25 in late 2010. Below is a blog written by Cady for CNN and vetted by NASA's Astronaut Office.

The space shuttle Atlantis STS-129 lifts off November 16, 2009 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

By Cady Coleman
Special to CNN

Nothing beats watching a space shuttle launch – except being able to see it with your 9-year-old. Jamey knows that I am an astronaut, but watching a launch together helps him realize that his mom has really done THAT twice, and is getting ready to go a third time on the Russian Soyuz.

I was home in Massachusetts when STS-129 launched last Monday, and I watched the lift-off with Jamey and the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders at Buckland-Shelburne Elementary. Because I am often working during a launch, Jamey and I have never gotten to see one together, and I was pretty thrilled to have been home in Massachusetts for this one. With the upcoming retirement of the shuttle, it’s strange to realize that there aren’t likely to be any shuttle launches when I get back from my flight to the space station.

I loved seeing the launch through the kids’ eyes. We were watching the countdown, and one of them asked me to rewind the tape so that we could watch the beanie cap retract again. It took a little explaining for them to realize that this was LIVE. Those 6 astronauts are strapped into the shuttle this very minute – and that we can’t rewind! They were so excited that they kept starting the countdown early! Patience comes hard at this age, so I filled the time before launch with explanations about the engines, the tank and the boosters, and I showed them the little window on the shuttle that was mine for my first launch.

Don't Miss: Follow Cady on Twitter @Astro_Cady

Finally, came the “5-4-3-2-1 Liftoff!” that they’d been waiting for. The looks on their faces were priceless. Eyes so big – mouths wide open, and lots of great verbal expressions that I wouldn’t expect from 8-12 year-olds! The camera view from the external tank showing the Earth in the background made it clear that the shuttle was headed for space – and fast! I think it is still hard for Jamey to realize that I’ve really been there and done that!

“What was it like for you to watch a launch?” asked one of the teachers. Hmmm. I’m usually too busy at launch time to be emotionally engaged – until the very last moments before liftoff. That’s when it hits me. The realization that something very big, very significant is happening, and there is nothing I can do to change the results. It is a big deal to launch people into space on a vehicle as complicated as the space shuttle, no matter how many times it has happened in the past. I can only watch and know that the people who get the shuttle ready for launch are doing their best to get everything right. I trust them to do that. They know that somebody like me will be sitting on that shuttle, betting my life on the quality of their work. However, none of that changes how I feel when the clock counts down to T 0.

“Do you ever wonder if your shuttle is going to blow up?” asks one of Jamey’s classmates. Whew. There’s a tough question. I’ve answered it at schools before, but never when my son was in the audience. Fortunately, Jamey already understands that I think the NASA mission is so important that it is worth the risks that we take when we go to space. As I explain, I see Jamey nodding wisely in the back of the room.

The other questions were easier. “What does it feel like to be floating?” “How do you eat?” “How do you sleep?” And, of course, they asked the inevitable “How do you go to the bathroom in space?” I like to explain that we use suction to make everything go neatly where it is supposed to go, with the clear instruction that regular vacuum cleaners are not to be used to try this at home!

My friends on the STS-129 crew are working in space even as I write. They’ve docked with the International Space Station and are transferring supplies and doing space walks to store the spare parts that we might need as the space station gets older. Although they are working hard, I’m sure they are having a great time up there – floating – eating – sleeping – and all those other fun things that the kids at Buckland Shelburne are now experts on!

Goodnight from Houston!

Cady

Program Note: Watch CNN's American Morning as we follow Cady on her year-long mission to space, and check back here for blogs, photos and video updates from Cady as she documents the behind-the-scenes life of an astronaut.

Catherine "Cady" Coleman, Ph.D. is a NASA astronaut – a veteran of two space missions, who has logged over 500 hours in space. She is assigned to the Expedition 26 crew and is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station aboard the Russian Soyuz 25 in late 2010. Below is a blog written by Cady for CNN and vetted by NASA's Astronaut Office.

NASA astronaut ''Cady'' Coleman has logged over 500 hours in space.

By Cady Coleman
Special to CNN

Here’s how I look at it: The space program belongs to all of us – I just happen to be one of the lucky ones who will be sitting on top of the rocket when it launches! My name is Cady Coleman. I’ve flown twice on the space shuttle, but over the next year or so, I’ll be getting ready for a 6 month mission aboard the International Space Station. I'd like to invite you to come along with me as I get ready to launch to the ISS – on a Russian Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan in late 2010!

I think that an important part of a space mission is to share it with people around the world, and that includes sharing the training that leads up to the mission. It is easy to think that astronauts just wake up one day, throw on a space suit, climb into the nearest rocket and launch off into space. I’d like for you to understand some of the nuts and bolts of what it takes to get ready for a mission, and to know what it is like for me and my family on the personal front as well.

Watch Cady talk about life as an astronaut

The folks at CNN were having similar thoughts as they contemplated the changing face of the space program with the upcoming retirement of the space shuttle. Until the replacement vehicle is built, astronauts bound for the space station will be launching on the Russian Soyuz from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. That’s a journey that few have seen, and I’m excited to be working with CNN to make it real for you. They are planning a series of monthly updates on my training and I’ll be trying to add my perspective through blogs, photos, and video.

Through our stories on CNN and the Web site, I hope you’ll get to know my husband Josh Simpson, our 9-year-old son Jamey and my stepson Josiah. You’ll also meet a host of others that make up the village that keeps my head above water as I make my way toward the launch.

November was the formal start of my training for Expedition 26 to the ISS. I’ve already trained as Nicole Stott’s backup for Expedition 20, but now that she is safely on orbit, it is time for my crew and I to start preparing for our own mission in late 2010. I’ll be flying to the ISS in a Soyuz with Dimitri Kondratyev from Russia, and Paolo Nespoli from Italy. Dima (short for Dimitri) is the commander of our Soyuz vehicle and Paolo is flying in the left seat as the primary flight engineer. My training for the right seat of the Soyuz is significantly less than theirs, but still involves a lot of time in Star City, Russia. We have all known each other as hallway acquaintances for a few years, but now we’re a crew – and we will spend 6 months together aboard the station.

Behind the scenes: Cady's home video and a glimpse of Star City

I’m looking forward to showing you what it is like to train in Star City, where spaceflight is a way of life for most of the people that live there. I’ll also be taking you along to Japan and Germany, where we learn how to operate the modules of the space station that were built there. In addition, I’ve traveled to Canada to learn how to fly Canadarm2. This is the robotic arm that enabled us to build the international space station and that we will use to ‘catch’ our supply vehicles and attach them to the space station.

Dima, Paolo and I will join the crew of Expedition 25 to make a crew of 6 people total on the space station. Then, a few months into our mission, the Expedition 25 crew flies home, Expedition 27 comes aboard, and we have a crew of 6 again. There is a lot to learn in the next year, about the space station, the Soyuz – and about each other!

November 30, 2010 may seem like a long way away, but for me and my family – it is just around the corner! I’m hoping you will come along on this special journey. Over the next year, I’ll try to cover the things that I think are important and interesting, both technical and personal. Until launch, we’ll talk about how I get ready and then once I’m up there – we can talk about what it is really like to live in space!

‘Til next time!
Cady

Program Note: Watch CNN's American Morning as we follow Cady on her year-long mission to space, and check back here for blogs, photos and video updates from Cady as she documents the behind-the-scenes life of an astronaut.

Editor's note: This is the first in a yearlong CNN series, "Counting Down Cady," that follows NASA astronaut and mother Catherine "Cady" Coleman as she prepares for a November 2010 trip to the international space station. Watch the first "Counting Down Cady" TV segment Monday morning on CNN's "American Morning." Follow her story on the amFIX blog.

By Kim Segal and John Zarrella, CNN

Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts (CNN) – At her home in this woodsy town east of the Berkshires, Catherine "Cady" Coleman often steps outside with her husband and son to peer at the night sky.

But they're not just stargazing. They look up to catch a glimpse of the international space station as it passes 250 miles overhead.

"We watch it together," Coleman adds wistfully. " I like to think about that fact that [son] Jamey and [husband] Josh might do that when I'm up there."

That's right. A year from now, if everything goes according to plan, Coleman will blast off on a Russian Soyuz rocket for the station, where she will live for the next six months.

It's a tricky balancing act. One day Coleman is cooking dinner and picking up Jamey's toys; the next, she's a NASA astronaut in Houston, Texas, preparing to orbit the Earth at 17,000 miles per hour.

Taking on this mission to space, Coleman says, was a family decision.

"To decide to go and fly on the space station is basically a five-year commitment for me to stay down in Houston, and not live in the same place as these guys," she tells CNN.

Blog: Coleman talks about her life in her own words.

Read the full story »