A Transcendental Moment -- Not

Rookie astronaut Garrett Reisman was sort of expecting a transformation of human spirit when he finally got to orbit and took his first look at the majesty of Earth in its global, planetary context. Nice idea, but it never happened.

"My fundamental outlook hasn’t changed," the 40-year-old Reisman told a reporter on Tuesday as he prepared to leave the International Space Station after a three-month mission.

"I don’t mean to rain on anybody’s parade, but I was kind of thinking that when I first saw the Earth out the window it may be a real transcendental moment.

"I got to tell you that it was beautiful -- I’ve never tired of looking at the Earth -- but it was similar to what I’ve seen from high-altitude airplanes. I didn’t have a sudden urge to hold all my crewmembers’ hands and sing Kumbaya, which I thought maybe might happen to me."

Reisman may be a realist, but he's also a romantic. He told the press yesterday he could state in two words what he was most looking forward to about coming home: Simone Francis, his wife.

"I talked to her last night on our IP telephone from up here and she was furious with me for embarrassing her like that," Reisman added today. "But the truth is, when I look out the window at the planet and I look down at all the people down there, I'm usually just thinking about just one of all those billions of people. And that's definitely who I'm looking forward to seeing the most."

Thanks for sharing the love, Garrett.

Caption: He will hug, but apparently not from seeing the Earth. That's Reisman in the middle, his replacement Greg Chamitoff on the left, and Discovery astronaut Mike Fossum on the right.