When he left the spacecraft, he said, he began to understand the importance of the mission: 340 days on a 15-year-old space station which is a million pounds, the size of a football  eld, with the space, some say, of a six-bedroom house.

As he left the spacecraft, he said, the importance of the mission began to sink in: 340 days on a 15-year- old space station which is a million pounds, the size of a football  eld, the internal volume, some say, of a six-bedroom house.
