The astronauts of space shuttle Discovery have thanked NASA for inadvertently giving them a day off, since bad weather forced them to touch down a day late. The astronauts said they had spent the extra day looking out of the window. "The crew of STS-114 thanks you for a great day off," mission specialist Stephen Robinson told flight controllers on Monday.
You can imagine a similar appreciation had the train drivers of London’s Silverlink Metro line been granted a day off and the chance to sample the views as they passed Willesden Junction in the guise of a passenger, can’t you?
Still, it’s not all bad for London’s train drivers. "I wish I could come back up here whenever I wanted," Discovery’s commander Eileen Collins said. With Silverlink train drivers no doubt enjoying free train travel on days off, they wouldn’t even have to fork out the price of the return ticket to Willesden Junction to go back there whenever they want – talk about perks.
[Image: Astronaut Soichi Noguchi, STS-114 mission specialist representing Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), uses a still camera through an aft cabin cargo interface window on the Space Shuttle Discovery. Source: NASA. Hint: You’ll need a longer lens than that to get Willesden Junction full frame. ]
