[Regardless of what he means by different, it still sort of feels like a compliment. It kind of makes her want to find out what it would've been like, piloting those ships with someone like him.]

Nope! First time ever was waking up on the Station. There were some satellites back home, and at one point the human race traveled in space, but our military was ground-based. I don't know if they even considered space--they were really tunnel visioned.