A Maryland resident and father of two is getting ready to take a trip into outer space as part of the next mission to the International Space Station.
Reid Wiseman, a Cockeysville, Md., native, will be blasting off in two and a half weeks and is now awaiting the trip in Star City, Russia, CBS Baltimore reported.
When he heads to the ISS in the scheduled May 28 launch, he and the rest of the crew will be 220 miles above the Earth's surface.
The Navy commander described his feelings about the upcoming trip with, "Overwhelmed, completely overwhelmed."
Wiseman has served five deployments, spending time in both Iraq and Afghanistan, when he flew F-18s in combat, CBS Baltimore reported.
"It's a great feeling to be at the end of this journey and look back at how fantastic this road has been to get here. It's been exciting every stop of the way for me," Wiseman told the outlet.
The father of two has been officially preparing for the trip since he was accepted into NASA astronaut training in 2009, but in a way, he started back in high school when he luckily studied Russian.
While Wiseman thought he would be leaving earlier, the wait hasn't diminished his family's anticipation.
"They thought I would leave tomorrow and this was two and a half years ago, so the full comprehension is not quite there, but now my older one is eight and a half and she understands, and she's really excited about it," Wiseman told CBS Baltimore.
His wife and two daughters will be in Russia to see him off prior to the launch. During the six-month trip in space, Wiseman is scheduled to help with at least two space walks outside the ISS to fix equipment.
Besides his family, Wiseman will be staying in touch through Twitter, posting updates for his 16,700 followers.
See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?
