Interview with Julie Hopkins

19 February 2014

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When Julie Hopkins watched her husband, Mike, go up into space for the first time ever last year, she was so nervous that she felt like she couldn’t breathe for two minutes.

Recalling her roller coaster of emotions as she proudly stood a mile from the rocket’s launch pad, the mum of two says watching him leave the Earth was one of the most surreal experiences of her life.

Explains Julie: “It’s hard to put into words how I felt but when you have been together as long as we have, to see him go up in the rocket into space was pretty awesome. It was also very surreal. Ever since I met him, this was his goal.

“As the rocket went up, you could feel it rumbling and for the first two minutes, I felt like I couldn’t actually breathe. That’s never happened to me before. But I didn’t cry.

“I just watched the rocket go up and it felt like an eternity but once it disappeared and I had got over the shock of ‘oh gosh there he really goes’, I was like ‘go, go, go’.

“I was just as excited for him as he was.

“No matter what the dangers are, it’s brilliant that people can do something they love.”

Laughing, Julie admits she finds it weird herself thinking about the fact that Mike is not on the same planet as her and the couple’s two sons, Ryan, 15 and Lucas, 12. “It really is hard to think that my husband is actually out in space,” she adds. “Of course I think about the dangers. But we have talked about it together.”

Julie – who has lived all over the world with Mike including Houston, New Mexico, Italy and Canada - stresses she has never once asked her husband to quit his dream to work as an astronaut. Formerly in the military for the US before his mission to space became a reality five months ago, Mike first told Julie he wanted to be an astronaut when they met at college (The University of Illinois) where he played American football and Julie was a member of the Illinettes, who performed at major sporting events. Julie was 19 at the time and the nurse says she simply laughed when he announced what he would love to do.  “We have been married for nearly 20 years and together for 25,” she explains. “He did work in the military and that is not a safe job either. I have always supported him because this is what he has always wanted to do.”

Nor have the couple ever rowed about the fact he has chosen to leave Julie and their children for long stretches of time. “We have a lot of respect for each other,” she says. “What really attracted me to Mike was the fact he is such a humble person. He has a great heart and he is very appreciative of everything I do whilst he is away.”

So how has Julie coped since Mike jetted off into space five months ago? It’s the longest time the couple have ever spent apart but Julie says it has been far easier than she feared.

They speak once a day over the phone and at weekends, they communicate via a video conference call. Over Christmas, Mike was able to call his family a few extra times.

“I think it has been easier because the kids are older,” she says. “But there have been a few times where I have thought ‘am I making the right decision?’ with the kids. I have had some tough decisions to make and I haven’t been able to ask Mike.

“Not being able to speak to Mike when I want to has definitely been the hardest thing about him being in space. I don’t have my partner there to bounce off and that’s hard. I remember on one occasion when my son had got concussion and I wouldn’t let him go to an event with some of his friends.

“He was so mad at me and I kept thinking ‘oh gosh am I doing the right thing?’ Then there are other times when the kids win an award and you wish he were there to see the excitement.

“But I have got a busy job myself and that’s kept me going. I have been so busy with the kids too.

“I have learned to adapt and it has gone so much faster than I thought it would. “

In a month’s time, Mike will return to Earth. The children are, she says, hugely excited. “They are doing pretty well but they are so excited about him returning,” adds Julie.

“I would like to have a party but I know he will not be quite ready to have any major function going on when he first gets back. It will be weird for him adjusting back to life and it will be interesting for me to see how he does adapt as it is different for everyone.”

She bursts out laughing as she admits: “But it will be nice to say ‘here I don’t want to do the yard anymore, it’s yours!”

Fully prepared for Mike to want to go back into space when he returns, Julie smiles as she confides she definitely does not yearn to join him on a mission. “He says it is a fun thing to do but I don’t want to do the rocket stuff,” she adds. “I would like to go for a ride, snap my fingers and be there and then snap my fingers again and be home.

“I am sure I will have lots of questions when he gets back but for me, it is about supporting Mike. I am very proud of him.”

 

ENDS

CREDIT: “Live from Space season airs on Channel 4 in March 2014”