Why There's an Astronaut On Your Cruise

When it comes to cruise ship amenities and programming, forget outside the box—how about out of this world? Yes, even the sky is no longer the limit for the cruise industry, as they increasingly turn an eye toward outer space with a series of "cosmic cruises," touting onboard programming and lectures on astronomy and space travel, and with guest speakers ranging from astronomers to astrophysicists to—yep—actual astronauts.

But why? The parallels between the exploration of both unknowns, for one. Veteran NASA astronaut and author Dr. Tom Jones may have four space shuttle missions and three spacewalks under his belt, but he'll soon be headlining Silversea and Crystal Cruises as a special guest lecturer. "One of the few regrets of spaceflight is that the spectacular view of planet Earth from orbit makes one realize the impossibility of ever seeing every interesting corner of it in a human lifetime," Jones tells Condé Nast Traveler. "Earth is a water planet, and exploring it by an oceangoing vessel gives me a sense of the sheer size of Earth, with the opportunity to experience and learn something new about our home every day."

Cruises intrinsically carry a lot of appeal for would-be stargazers, too: Cruisers, after all, are out in the middle of the ocean, under the starry night skies, and far away from land-based light pollution. In certain cases, itineraries are even synced up to coordinate with special cosmic events, especially with solar eclipses or the Northern Lights phenomenon. On board, guests might expect to interact with the astronauts or other guest speakers throughout the course of a lecture series, cocktail receptions, aforementioned sky-gazing sessions, and Q & A sessions. In short, if you've ever wanted to meet an astronaut, this is your big chance.

Here's a breakdown of some of the out-of-this-world offerings coming up this season:

Silversea Cruises

Cruisers can meet Dr. Jones aboard Silversea's 16-night sailing from Tokyo to Hong Kong in October 2016 (note: it's currently wait-list only). The line also offers a couple of notable sailings this year to Canada and New England, or the Mediterranean with featured guest speaker Bill Rothschild, a space travel expert and engineer who serves as a consultant to NASA; as well as some half-dozen sailings in the Caribbean or Alaska with astronomer Dr. Norman Caisse, who worked on NASA projects like the Apollo missions and is an active participant in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) program.

Crystal Cruises

Dr. Jones will also be sailing aboard a two-week-long North Sea Circle voyage in July, from Amsterdam to London with stops in Norway, Scotland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands en route. Jones isn't just a one-off: The line occasionally features astronauts and astronomers as part of its guest speaker-anchored Crystal Visions Enrichment Program.

Princess Cruises

Princess Cruises, which has also hosted a couple of astronauts on board over the years, more recently launched a new Stargazing at Sea program, developed in partnership with the Discovery network's Science Channel. All Princess voyages now feature an appointed "stargazing specialist," who leads guests on top-deck stargazing sessions to identify constellations and recount their lore. Recent voyages have featured Science Channel TV host and astrophysicist Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi, while all ships' in-room programming features an exclusive series of his lectures on astrophysics.

Cunard Cruise Line

Cunard Line joins the ranks here, too, by offering the occasional astronaut-helmed sailing (they've hosted Buzz Aldrin in the past) via its Cunard Insights onboard enrichment/guest speaker program. The line also claims the only ship (the Queen Mary 2) to have a full-size planetarium on board, where constellation shows are presented in partnership with the U.K.-based Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). In fact, most transatlantic sailings feature an RAS astronomer on board to lead guests on stargazing sessions from deck, with the aid of high-tech telescopes and binoculars.

Next October, Cunard is also hosting a World Space Week transatlantic voyage in celebration of the United Nations' World Space Week. Guests who sign up for this sailing will be able to hobnob with—and sit in on lectures from—the likes of space experts like astronaut and former shuttle pilot Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman; Charles Barclay of the RAS; Stephen Attenborough, the commercial director of Virgin Galactic; and Ken Taggart, NASA historian.

Quark Expeditions

As one might expect of far-flung-inclined travelers like astronauts, they're drawn to itineraries that require some semblance of an expedition. Enter Quark Expeditions, which will host its first featured astronaut, Canadian spaceman Col. Chris Hadfield, on one of its upcoming summer voyages through the Canadian High Arctic, aboard the legendary Russian icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov. Hadfield will present his science-based variety show Generator on board, which showcases science, music, and comedy, during the course of the round-trip voyage through little-visited and remote pockets of Greenland and the Arctic. Hadfield, for his part, says these types of cruises offer just the right amount of adventure: "Space exploration is quite possibly the most complicated task that humans have ever achieved," Hadfield tells Condé Nast Traveler. "Cruising is, by definition, meant to be relaxing. I'd say as a passenger, you'd probably prefer that your ocean voyage be as little like space travel as possible."

Hurtigruten Cruises

Hurtigruten will likewise play host to an astronaut for the first time next year, with Dr. Norman Thagard—the first American cosmonaut, and a veteran of five space flights—serving as the featured speaker on a March 2017 voyage between Kirkenes and Bergen in Norway. Part of a series of enrichment-minded voyages focused on astronomy and the Northern Lights, Hurtigruten also hosts 2016 voyages with special guest astronomy scholars and space-scientist lecturers like Dr. John Mason and Ian Ridpath. "This has drawn a wide range of passengers interested in the sky and the sciences," says Hurtigruten's North American marketing director, Cathy Swift. "Is there anyone who has any curiosity who isn't interested in finding out what it is like to space walk, or what the Earth looks like from the space station?"

Thagard has his own reasons for being excited, too—after all, one of the biggest regrets of his time in space was being so busy in the space station lab on a 1980s mission that he missed an opportunity to see the Aurora Borealis from above. "I've never seen it from the ground," says Thagard, "and this is one of the major reasons for doing this trip in March." He shouldn't be disappointed: In fact, Hurtigruten is so confident in the likelihood of a sighting that they actually guarantee guests a glimpse of the phenomenon on their 11-night Northern Lights voyages, and any cruisers who don't catch the aurora can get a free future cruise as compensation. "It's actually more impressive from Earth, based on the pictures I've seen," says Thagard.

Ah, well. At least that's one small consolation to the rest of us hopelessly Earth-bound folks.

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