mission control files, declassified

Commander Graham "Gravy" Pickering

New Zealand's first, only and most emotional astronaut.

Gravy grew up on a dairy farm outside Te Awamutu and built his first rocket out of a calf feeder and some optimism. He went on to log 311 days in orbit. None of them were as hard as living with Sputnik.

Sputnik is a ginger tabby from the Hamilton SPCA. For 11 years she treated the laundry basket, the spare bed and one very expensive Persian rug as her personal facilities. Gravy tried everything. YouTube. A cat whisperer from Taupō. A NASA grade flowchart laminated and stuck to the fridge.

Then, at 6.14am on a Tuesday, Sputnik strolled out the cat flap, dug a neat hole in the silverbeet, did her business, covered it up and came back in for breakfast.

Gravy has not taken his space suit off since. He says it is "for the occasion". His wife says it is starting to smell. Every card in The Astronaut Collection is one of the missions that got him there.

Shop the missions