And was I writing space opera? This is a conversation my editor, my agent, my cat and I had many times over the ensuing months. Current wisdom is that the book isn’t space opera.

Research. Yeah, I did the reading, as they say. I can only conclude that space is weirder and more frightening than science fiction prepares you for. One thing that came out of that research loud and clear is that space is always trying to kill you, which is where the saying “Space is the Brink of Death” came from. In space, you’re always on the verge of dying.

I found out that space smells like barbecue, that astronauts may hide mental disturbances so that it doesn’t disqualify them from flying, that the first astronauts thought orbiting the Earth was beneath them since many were test pilots and you don’t actually fly the space capsule, meaning there was little difference between them and Laika the space dog. That the expulsion of astro-urine is a beautiful sight when you’re in orbit. That astronauts are freakishly cool under pressure (you can check out the telemetry from Apollo 13).

There are four kinds of stressors in space: physical, mental, interpersonal and habitability. I had to introduce all of these in my novel. I had to remind myself that the book was not about space travel. It was about a murder in a closed environment. When I lost my way, which happened frequently because I love facts and digressions, I reminded myself what this book was: a murder mystery of sorts.

But still, science fiction lied to us. Between 44 and 67 per cent of astronauts experience space motion sickness on their first flight. Duties and actions have to be scheduled and controlled because the normal cues (sunrise/sunset, temperature, circadian rhythms, actions of other people) are gone and this can cause a whole raft of problems. Sleep problems can lead to errors that might cost lives. Overworking can cause errors just as much as boredom can.

The best data we have on psychological adaptations to long-duration spaceflight comes from long-duration Russian missions. They identify four stages, the early two of primary adaptation that coincides with the time needed for physiological microgravity adjustment, which takes about six weeks. Stages three and four include sleep disturbances, irritability, excitation, agitation, lack of self-control and even euphoria. There are issues with… well, sex. There’s an issue about crew size and odd versus even numbers. There are issues with cultural differences. Any negative personality traits get heightened. Spaceflight is wild. This may be due to spaceflight being rare. After a thousand years of routine interplanetary trips, maybe humanity will grow used to it and a jaunt to the moon will be like taking a night train.

The weirdest thing I came across had to do with the psychological effect of not seeing Earth any more, which can possibly lead to psychotic symptoms.