Jamey Simpson has some advice for any 10-year-olds whose mothers are blasting off from Baikonur Cosmodrome,the massive Soviet-era space complex in Kazakhstan. Acquire a hat as large and as furry as possible. Learn to love table tennis,which will consume many hours while your mother runs drills inside the spacecraft. And do not under any circumstances even after the fire and thunder of blastoff fill the sky participate in any toasts involving single-malt Scotch. Jamey,a fourth grader from Massachusetts,was killing time before dawn on Saturday at a division of the Central Scientific Research Institute of Machine Building,waiting to say hello to his mother,Catherine G Coleman. She was 218 miles above western Africa,waiting to board the International Space Station for five months of scientific experiments. Jamey has grown up among astronauts. He is capable of moving with great speed and agility through mission control to get to the buffet table. Space training is so familiar to him that during a recent visit to the cockpit of an airplane,he asked the captain if it was possible to go weightless. (Its called floating the stewardess, his father,the glassmaker Josh Simpson,said helpfully.) Jamey offered these thoughts from the Fishbowl,a room that faces screens showing the view from the Soyuz space capsule. When they say,OK,in about four hours somethings going to happen, and then,when it finally happens,its like,one little tiny thing, he said. For Jamey,his mothers training has meant long and difficult separations. He barely got a chance talk to her the four days he was in Baikonur,he said,because the crew was kept in isolation to avoid exposure to infection. Jamey hugged his mother once or twice,quickly,behind a tree. When the Soyuz achieved orbit,the grown-ups were so relieved that they proposed a toast; Jamey,allotted a thimbleful of whiskey,required emergency treatment with candy. He described his feelings as sort of disappointed and a little excited. For the next five months,he will watch for her from his tree house at home. The space station is pretty obvious. Its the brightest light in the sky. Suddenly the room went silent. The Soyuz crew was close to the space station. Then it docked. Three hours later,Jamey said a few words to Coleman over a video link I miss you a lot,and Ill take care of Dad. She should have gotten a better haircut,because her hair was going whoop, he said.
