Personal data: 51 years old, married, one daughter, Christy, age 20.

Previous life: Army colonel

Backup career choice: teacher

Irony of life: ”When I went to Russia for the first time, I went there as an Army officer who had spent my entire career thinking of Russians as my enemy and planning to meet them on the battlefield some day. And that was the only way that I’d ever thought I’d meet them. After going there and making some close friendships, I have been turned around. I have a completely different view of the Russian people.”

Impression during preview mission to station: “It’s very nice there. It’s not noisy. It’s not unpleasant at all.”

Enjoys: tools. “I like working with them. In the space station, the one that got us going the most was the power tool. We really enjoyed bringing it out and playing Tim the Tool Man.”

Will miss: flying his airplane.

Contemplating: taking along War and Peace to read in space.

Who gets the bedrooms: “It doesn’t really matter that much. Those spaces are fairly small. I think the third person will probably wind up with a better space wherever they are.”

Russian greeting: “I like the word for ‘hi’ — privyet — and I say it a lot.”

Favorite space food: irradiated beefsteak with either a spicy horseradish or taco sauce wrapped up in a tortilla.