Premium summer big reads: A year in space and weed-infused beer

Astronaut Scott Kelly's feet as the International Space Station orbits over the Bahamas, December 26, 2015. Photo / Scott Kelly/Nasa via The New York Times

The New Zealand Herald is bringing back some of the best stories of 2019 from our premium international syndicators, including The New York Times, Financial Times, The Times of London and Harvard Business Review.

Merry Christmas. This afternoon while you slip into a food coma, catch up on Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly's photos from space, a Silicon Valley billionaire's big gamble, a sailing boat crewed by toddlers, the man who proposed 14 times and surfing in Ireland.

Scott Kelly spent a year taking photos in space. They're beautiful

In orbit aboard the International Space Station, astronaut Scott Kelly wasn't just gathering data for Nasa's Twins Study.

He aimed his Nikon D4 camera toward the windows of the space station's cupola or — his preferred spot — a porthole in the floor of a laboratory module.

The New York Times looks back at the photographic results.

A frozen lake in the Himalayas, seen from the International Space Station, January 6, 2016. Photo / Scott Kelly/Nasa via The New York Times

Silicon Valley billionaire takes a gamble on weed-infused beer

When Brendan Kennedy gave up a career in finance to gamble on the commercial potential of legalised cannabis, everyone thought he was crazy. Now his company is valued at $3.7 billion.

His next big idea? Weed-infused beer.

Rhys Blakely of The Times talks to Kennedy about what it's like to be one of the first people to become a billionaire, legally, from selling weed.

Brendan Kennedy gave up a finance career in Silicon Valley to take a gamble on the world of legalised cannabis. Photo / Getty Images

Sailing in treacherous waters to Alaska. With toddlers for crew

With a barely-4-year-old and a not-quite-2-year-old, in a 32-foot boat sailing up the Inside Passage, a family discovers the best rewards are those never imagined.

"We are adventurers. We are also parents. It's a dilemma we all must face: how to reconcile our many different identities into a life that feels true, and good, and, in the end, responsible."

Caroline Van Hemert shares her family's remarkable journey with The New York Times.

Dawson and Huxley sailed with their parents up the Inside Passage to Alaska. Photo / Caroline Van Hemert Instagram

She said Yes. Fourteen times

In 2018, at a park bench near the Museum of Natural History, he got down on one knee and proposed. She said yes.

Over the next six months, he proposed again. And again. 14 times in total. Each time with another engagement ring.

Alix Strauss shares the heartwarming story of Tanya Pushkine and Paul Luykx.

Paul Luykx and Tanya Pushkine, after their wedding ceremony at Brooklyn Winery in New York. The two met through a dating website in 2016. Photo / An Rong Xu, The New York Times

Ireland takes on Hawaii as big surf capital of the world

In the 1970s and 80s, California surfer and writer Kevin Naughton and photographer Craig Peterson travelled the globe "Endless Summer"-style searching for perfect waves.

When they arrived in Ireland there was a sense of disbelief that perhaps of all places, it was here they had found what they were looking for.

The New York Times goes chasing waves in Ireland.

A surfer rides the waves off the Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry. Photo / The New York Times