1 00:00:01,033 --> 00:00:03,900 [music playing] 2 00:00:17,166 --> 00:00:22,666 - So welcome to the 2015 NASA Ames Summer Series. 3 00:00:22,666 --> 00:00:27,000 Space biology is important for many reasons. 4 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,566 It informs our human-exploration missions. 5 00:00:30,566 --> 00:00:33,500 It informs astrobiology. 6 00:00:33,500 --> 00:00:36,566 It informs our life support in space 7 00:00:36,566 --> 00:00:41,966 and it informs how we function here on Earth. 8 00:00:41,966 --> 00:00:45,133 Most importantly, space biology is a science 9 00:00:45,133 --> 00:00:47,000 that looks at the mechanisms 10 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:51,300 of biology, or life. 11 00:00:51,300 --> 00:00:54,666 Space biology is also an integral part 12 00:00:54,666 --> 00:00:58,733 of NASA Ames research. 13 00:00:58,733 --> 00:01:04,033 We would not be able to do the science that we want to do, 14 00:01:04,033 --> 00:01:05,400 or advance it, 15 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:11,400 without astronauts doing the research in space. 16 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:13,833 But astronauts are more than just the people 17 00:01:13,833 --> 00:01:15,833 who do the experiments in space. 18 00:01:15,833 --> 00:01:19,266 They have a life that we could learn 19 00:01:19,266 --> 00:01:23,166 and inspire to do and follow. 20 00:01:24,533 --> 00:01:26,533 Today's talk, entitled 21 00:01:26,533 --> 00:01:31,700 "Rats, Folks, and Jellyfish: Studying Life in Space," 22 00:01:31,700 --> 00:01:36,700 will be given by Astronaut Dr. Rhea Seddon. 23 00:01:38,833 --> 00:01:43,200 Rhea began her career by receiving a degree-- 24 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:45,833 a Bachelors of Arts in Physiology-- 25 00:01:45,833 --> 00:01:49,733 from UC Berkeley in 1970. 26 00:01:49,733 --> 00:01:52,500 She followed that with a medical degree-- 27 00:01:52,500 --> 00:01:54,266 an MD degree-- 28 00:01:54,266 --> 00:01:57,166 from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine 29 00:01:57,166 --> 00:02:02,533 in 1973. 30 00:02:02,533 --> 00:02:05,000 After completing her degrees, 31 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,566 she went and followed and did both an internship 32 00:02:07,566 --> 00:02:10,400 and a residency in surgery, 33 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:13,300 completing the residency in 1978, 34 00:02:13,300 --> 00:02:16,966 whereupon she joined NASA as an astronaut. 35 00:02:16,966 --> 00:02:20,600 She was one of the first six women 36 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:24,266 to enter the astronaut program. 37 00:02:24,266 --> 00:02:29,100 She's a veteran of three shuttle missions-- 38 00:02:29,100 --> 00:02:35,100 STS-51-D on Discovery in 1985; 39 00:02:35,100 --> 00:02:40,266 STS-40, which also stands for SLS-1, 40 00:02:40,266 --> 00:02:43,800 Space Life Sciences 1, 41 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:45,900 where she was a Mission Specialist 42 00:02:45,900 --> 00:02:48,933 in 1991 on Columbia; 43 00:02:48,933 --> 00:02:52,633 and then STS-58/SLS-2, 44 00:02:52,633 --> 00:02:57,666 Payload Commander this time, on Columbia. 45 00:02:57,666 --> 00:02:59,633 That's quite an achievement, 46 00:02:59,633 --> 00:03:02,333 both being a doctor and astronaut, 47 00:03:02,333 --> 00:03:04,966 but she didn't stop there. 48 00:03:04,966 --> 00:03:07,166 So in 2010, 49 00:03:07,166 --> 00:03:10,166 she got a certificate in Creative Writing 50 00:03:10,166 --> 00:03:13,266 from the Middle Tennessee State University. 51 00:03:13,266 --> 00:03:15,033 So you would think that, after all that, 52 00:03:15,033 --> 00:03:18,733 you would just retire from going to school. 53 00:03:18,733 --> 00:03:21,933 She finished that, and then put that into action 54 00:03:21,933 --> 00:03:24,366 and wrote a book and published it. 55 00:03:24,366 --> 00:03:26,033 So with that, please welcome me-- 56 00:03:26,033 --> 00:03:32,033 join me in welcoming astronaut Dr. Rhea Seddon. 57 00:03:32,033 --> 00:03:33,833 [applause] 58 00:03:33,833 --> 00:03:36,833 - Nicely done. 59 00:03:38,533 --> 00:03:41,033 Thank you, Dr. Cohen. 60 00:03:41,033 --> 00:03:44,666 As you can tell, it's been an amazing life. 61 00:03:44,666 --> 00:03:46,366 And people say, 62 00:03:46,366 --> 00:03:48,600 "How in the world did you go from this to that 63 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:49,800 to this to that?" 64 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:53,233 And, you know, for me, 65 00:03:53,233 --> 00:03:56,466 it's interesting to ponder that, 66 00:03:56,466 --> 00:03:58,900 when you get to be my age, 67 00:03:58,900 --> 00:04:01,000 and you begin to think about, 68 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,033 "Well, what happened that made me do those things?" 69 00:04:04,033 --> 00:04:07,833 I can remember being a small girl 70 00:04:07,833 --> 00:04:12,266 in the backyard of a small town in Tennessee, 71 00:04:12,266 --> 00:04:15,100 and my father said, "See?" 72 00:04:15,100 --> 00:04:17,333 And there was Sputnik. 73 00:04:17,333 --> 00:04:20,066 So even at 11 years old, 74 00:04:20,066 --> 00:04:22,100 I knew that that was the beginning 75 00:04:22,100 --> 00:04:25,400 of something awesome for my generation. 76 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:29,500 It was the beginning of the Space Age. 77 00:04:29,500 --> 00:04:32,200 And of course, there didn't seem to be 78 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:34,400 any place for me in that. 79 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:36,033 They weren't even flying humans yet. 80 00:04:36,033 --> 00:04:38,866 And even when they began to fly humans, it was only men. 81 00:04:38,866 --> 00:04:42,566 It was only pilots-- only test pilots. 82 00:04:42,566 --> 00:04:44,533 But I was interested in science, 83 00:04:44,533 --> 00:04:48,900 and was fascinated by the human body. 84 00:04:48,900 --> 00:04:53,033 And so, when I finished high school, 85 00:04:53,033 --> 00:04:55,900 I thought, "Well, what is the best university 86 00:04:55,900 --> 00:04:59,033 in the United States in the life sciences?" 87 00:04:59,033 --> 00:05:01,966 And it was this strange place called Berkeley. 88 00:05:01,966 --> 00:05:05,133 Now, I have never-- I had never been to California. 89 00:05:05,133 --> 00:05:11,133 But I applied and was accepted in 1965. 90 00:05:11,133 --> 00:05:14,200 And for those of you who are old enough to remember, 91 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:16,400 that was an interesting year. 92 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:18,800 That was the Free Speech Movement. 93 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:22,033 And that morphed into the anti-war movement 94 00:05:22,033 --> 00:05:27,066 and the People's Park movement and free love and drugs. 95 00:05:27,066 --> 00:05:29,066 And there I was in the middle of it. 96 00:05:29,066 --> 00:05:30,333 I sort of felt like-- 97 00:05:30,333 --> 00:05:33,300 later on, when I watched the movie "Forrest Gump"-- 98 00:05:33,300 --> 00:05:36,366 just kind of like, "Here I am," and "Why am I here?" 99 00:05:36,366 --> 00:05:39,566 But I certainly got a good education at Berkeley, 100 00:05:39,566 --> 00:05:41,100 both in physiology 101 00:05:41,100 --> 00:05:43,666 and in life in general. 102 00:05:43,666 --> 00:05:45,766 But I was one of the few people 103 00:05:45,766 --> 00:05:48,333 at the time that was majoring in Science. 104 00:05:48,333 --> 00:05:51,766 Women just didn't do that, particularly women that I knew. 105 00:05:51,766 --> 00:05:54,966 Luckily, I had some good mentors along the way. 106 00:05:54,966 --> 00:05:57,466 But as I was finishing Berkeley, you know, 107 00:05:57,466 --> 00:06:00,733 I thought, "I'd really like to go to medical school." 108 00:06:00,733 --> 00:06:01,833 But you can imagine, 109 00:06:01,833 --> 00:06:02,933 coming from Tennessee, 110 00:06:02,933 --> 00:06:04,800 my first couple of years at Berkeley, 111 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:06,233 I struggled to keep up 112 00:06:06,233 --> 00:06:08,833 with all of the rest of the people who were pre-med. 113 00:06:08,833 --> 00:06:12,233 About a third of the class started as pre-med students, 114 00:06:12,233 --> 00:06:13,566 so there was a lot of competition. 115 00:06:13,566 --> 00:06:14,933 My grades weren't great. 116 00:06:14,933 --> 00:06:18,133 I joined the Pre-Med Club, 117 00:06:18,133 --> 00:06:20,366 and the advisor kept saying, "You know, 118 00:06:20,366 --> 00:06:21,566 if you don't bring your grades up, 119 00:06:21,566 --> 00:06:23,066 you'll never be able to get into school." 120 00:06:23,066 --> 00:06:25,066 And of course, getting into the California schools 121 00:06:25,066 --> 00:06:29,100 was close to impossible unless you had a 3.98. 122 00:06:29,100 --> 00:06:30,766 When I applied to medical school, 123 00:06:30,766 --> 00:06:33,133 I had a 3.25. 124 00:06:33,133 --> 00:06:35,100 My last two quarters were straight As, 125 00:06:35,100 --> 00:06:37,366 and apparently that counted for something. 126 00:06:37,366 --> 00:06:38,966 And it certainly counted for something at 127 00:06:38,966 --> 00:06:40,833 The University of Tennessee, 128 00:06:40,833 --> 00:06:42,100 where not too many students 129 00:06:42,100 --> 00:06:44,166 were applying from Berkeley, as you can imagine, 130 00:06:44,166 --> 00:06:47,433 but Berkeley had such a great reputation. 131 00:06:47,433 --> 00:06:49,566 But they were not taking very many women 132 00:06:49,566 --> 00:06:50,933 in medical school back then. 133 00:06:50,933 --> 00:06:54,633 It's hard for young women today to realize that 134 00:06:54,633 --> 00:06:57,333 women were just not being taken into those fields. 135 00:06:57,333 --> 00:06:59,633 But the University of Tennessee, the year I applied, 136 00:06:59,633 --> 00:07:02,366 decided that they were gonna take a lot of women 137 00:07:02,366 --> 00:07:05,900 because there was a big push to train more women doctors. 138 00:07:05,900 --> 00:07:09,400 So in a class of 100, they took six women. 139 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:12,066 That was a lot. 140 00:07:12,066 --> 00:07:15,366 But, you know, it took hard work, 141 00:07:15,366 --> 00:07:16,700 it took dedication, 142 00:07:16,700 --> 00:07:19,433 and it took fitting in with a group of men 143 00:07:19,433 --> 00:07:22,533 and learning to work with men 144 00:07:22,533 --> 00:07:24,100 and with male professors. 145 00:07:24,100 --> 00:07:26,566 There were very few female professors. 146 00:07:26,566 --> 00:07:29,466 There were a lot of nurses that helped along the way-- 147 00:07:29,466 --> 00:07:32,466 nurses who hoped that women would succeed in medicine. 148 00:07:32,466 --> 00:07:34,133 So I was fortunate to-- 149 00:07:34,133 --> 00:07:36,400 that that was part of my background, 150 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:40,466 learning to work with all kinds of people. 151 00:07:40,466 --> 00:07:42,600 My skills, my talents, 152 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:47,833 my interests fell into the world of surgery. 153 00:07:47,833 --> 00:07:49,833 And if it was strange to have a woman doctor, 154 00:07:49,833 --> 00:07:53,633 it was even stranger to have a woman surgeon. 155 00:07:53,633 --> 00:07:57,400 But I applied to the university program and was accepted, 156 00:07:57,400 --> 00:07:59,166 and was the only woman 157 00:07:59,166 --> 00:08:02,366 they'd ever had in the surgery program. 158 00:08:02,366 --> 00:08:04,033 But again, lots of hard work, 159 00:08:04,033 --> 00:08:06,666 lots of people who wanted me to succeed. 160 00:08:06,666 --> 00:08:09,466 And I was successful in that. 161 00:08:09,466 --> 00:08:13,533 And so I was gonna go be a rich surgeon, you know? 162 00:08:13,533 --> 00:08:14,866 That was my future, you know? 163 00:08:14,866 --> 00:08:19,100 I loved it, and so that's what I was gonna do. 164 00:08:19,100 --> 00:08:20,766 One of the professors 165 00:08:20,766 --> 00:08:22,066 that I worked with said, 166 00:08:22,066 --> 00:08:24,300 "You should come out to my flying school. 167 00:08:24,300 --> 00:08:25,833 I have a flight school out here. 168 00:08:25,833 --> 00:08:27,266 You'd love to learn how to fly." 169 00:08:27,266 --> 00:08:29,633 And I thought, "I'm gonna be like him and have a airplane 170 00:08:29,633 --> 00:08:31,433 when I'm a rich doctor." 171 00:08:31,433 --> 00:08:35,200 So I asked my father for flying lessons, 172 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:36,700 and he gave me flying lessons, 173 00:08:36,700 --> 00:08:39,100 and I got my private pilot's license. 174 00:08:39,100 --> 00:08:42,333 And then, all of a sudden, rather serendipitously-- 175 00:08:42,333 --> 00:08:45,266 if you read my book, you'll see how strange this was-- 176 00:08:45,266 --> 00:08:49,033 I found out that there was going 177 00:08:49,033 --> 00:08:54,133 to be a selection for space shuttle astronauts. 178 00:08:54,133 --> 00:08:58,466 Well, people kind of didn't even know in 1977 179 00:08:58,466 --> 00:09:01,633 what the space shuttle was going to be. 180 00:09:01,633 --> 00:09:03,200 But I wrote for an application, 181 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:06,166 just to see whether or not I met all the criteria 182 00:09:06,166 --> 00:09:08,700 to apply, and I did. 183 00:09:08,700 --> 00:09:12,066 You had to be at least five feet tall, 184 00:09:12,066 --> 00:09:14,633 and I made that by two inches. 185 00:09:14,633 --> 00:09:16,766 And you had to be in good health. 186 00:09:16,766 --> 00:09:18,933 They perf--you had to have a bachelor's degree, 187 00:09:18,933 --> 00:09:20,800 preferably an advanced degree, 188 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:23,700 and preferably experience in your field. 189 00:09:23,700 --> 00:09:25,666 And they took my residency-- 190 00:09:25,666 --> 00:09:28,233 my four years of residency--as experience. 191 00:09:28,233 --> 00:09:30,066 I thought it was more school, 192 00:09:30,066 --> 00:09:32,366 but they thought it was experience. 193 00:09:32,366 --> 00:09:36,700 So I applied to the space program. 194 00:09:36,700 --> 00:09:40,733 Lo and behold, in the summer of 1977, 195 00:09:40,733 --> 00:09:44,400 I was called to Houston for an interview. 196 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:47,133 And, um-- 197 00:09:47,133 --> 00:09:51,500 they were going to interview 220 people, 198 00:09:51,500 --> 00:09:55,433 and in groups of 20. 199 00:09:55,433 --> 00:09:56,866 And I asked, 200 00:09:56,866 --> 00:10:00,200 when they called, "Well, how many actual people applied?" 201 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:02,300 If you counted all the military applications, 202 00:10:02,300 --> 00:10:03,966 there were 10,000 people. 203 00:10:03,966 --> 00:10:05,400 So I felt like, 204 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:07,100 "Man," you know, 205 00:10:07,100 --> 00:10:08,833 "If nothing more happens, 206 00:10:08,833 --> 00:10:11,433 I made the cut down to 220." 207 00:10:11,433 --> 00:10:13,533 Went down to Houston for a week, 208 00:10:13,533 --> 00:10:16,366 and it was the first group of Mission Specialists, 209 00:10:16,366 --> 00:10:19,633 or non-pilots, that were being interviewed. 210 00:10:19,633 --> 00:10:22,133 And so Monday morning was when my-- 211 00:10:22,133 --> 00:10:23,733 we went on Sunday. 212 00:10:23,733 --> 00:10:26,400 We were gonna have a week of interviews and physical exams. 213 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:30,766 My interview was scheduled for 10:30 on Monday morning. 214 00:10:30,766 --> 00:10:34,466 In looking back at the records, I was the first woman 215 00:10:34,466 --> 00:10:37,533 that they ever interviewed for the astronaut program. 216 00:10:37,533 --> 00:10:40,366 The first two groups had been all male pilots. 217 00:10:40,366 --> 00:10:43,266 So that was an honor in itself. 218 00:10:43,266 --> 00:10:45,133 I made it through the physical exams, 219 00:10:45,133 --> 00:10:47,900 the psychological and psychiatric exams, 220 00:10:47,900 --> 00:10:50,600 the claustrophobia exam-- 221 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:52,200 many, many different things-- 222 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:55,233 and sort of went home with lots of souvenirs, 223 00:10:55,233 --> 00:10:58,200 'cause I figured, "I'm gonna have souvenirs of this." 224 00:10:58,200 --> 00:10:59,900 Well, you know, 225 00:10:59,900 --> 00:11:03,066 in January of 1978, the call came, 226 00:11:03,066 --> 00:11:06,166 and said, "Are you still interested in this job?" 227 00:11:06,166 --> 00:11:08,100 And of course I was. I wasn't-- 228 00:11:08,100 --> 00:11:09,333 it was like coming to Berkeley. 229 00:11:09,333 --> 00:11:11,100 I wasn't really sure what I was getting into, 230 00:11:11,100 --> 00:11:13,533 but it sounded like the most fascinating thing 231 00:11:13,533 --> 00:11:15,566 that a person could do at the time. 232 00:11:15,566 --> 00:11:17,600 And so I joined the Astronaut Corps 233 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:22,433 and started work with NASA in July of 1978. 234 00:11:22,433 --> 00:11:24,733 So I'm gonna tell you a little bit about that. 235 00:11:24,733 --> 00:11:27,233 In that class, they took 35 astronauts, 236 00:11:27,233 --> 00:11:29,800 and six of us were women. 237 00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:30,966 The women who had been 238 00:11:30,966 --> 00:11:32,600 interviewed all thought that they would take 239 00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:33,700 one or two women, 240 00:11:33,700 --> 00:11:34,833 but not six. 241 00:11:34,833 --> 00:11:36,133 So we were delighted 242 00:11:36,133 --> 00:11:37,266 that there were the six of us. 243 00:11:37,266 --> 00:11:38,400 We were very different. 244 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:40,100 We came from different parts of the country. 245 00:11:40,100 --> 00:11:43,666 We had different backgrounds, all in science-- 246 00:11:43,666 --> 00:11:47,233 Astrophysics, Geology, Engineering, Biochemistry, 247 00:11:47,233 --> 00:11:48,500 Medicine. 248 00:11:48,500 --> 00:11:49,933 But we formed a bond, 249 00:11:49,933 --> 00:11:51,933 as you can imagine. 250 00:11:51,933 --> 00:11:53,933 We were afraid they were gonna wash us out, 251 00:11:53,933 --> 00:11:56,100 that they would put barriers in our way 252 00:11:56,100 --> 00:11:59,000 that would see that we didn't get to succeed. 253 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:02,400 But we were willing to support each other 254 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:04,100 and to go through this together, 255 00:12:04,100 --> 00:12:07,233 and it turned out that we all had a chance to fly. 256 00:12:07,233 --> 00:12:10,466 So it was a great group to be a part of. 257 00:12:10,466 --> 00:12:13,333 You can see I'm the runt of the litter. 258 00:12:13,333 --> 00:12:16,600 And, in fact, it wasn't as hard being female. 259 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:18,033 It was really hard being little, 260 00:12:18,033 --> 00:12:19,066 'cause there were a lot of things 261 00:12:19,066 --> 00:12:21,033 that NASA hadn't thought of-- 262 00:12:21,033 --> 00:12:24,100 couldn't accommodate a 5'2" female. 263 00:12:24,100 --> 00:12:27,566 The height requirement, I think, for the men, was 5'6". 264 00:12:27,566 --> 00:12:29,066 And so there was a lot of equipment 265 00:12:29,066 --> 00:12:31,633 that they forgot didn't fit a 5'2"-- 266 00:12:31,633 --> 00:12:34,266 but, again, you work that out. 267 00:12:34,266 --> 00:12:37,300 For the first few years I was at NASA, 268 00:12:37,300 --> 00:12:38,533 the shuttle wasn't flying. 269 00:12:38,533 --> 00:12:41,200 Remember, I was accepted in 1978. 270 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:43,900 The shuttle didn't fly until 1981. 271 00:12:43,900 --> 00:12:47,033 But I was anxious, besides all of the training 272 00:12:47,033 --> 00:12:48,800 that I was going through, 273 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:51,233 to get involved in some of the Life Sciences 274 00:12:51,233 --> 00:12:55,033 and the medical operations-- 275 00:12:55,033 --> 00:12:58,366 experiments and tests that were being done. 276 00:12:58,366 --> 00:13:00,700 And so I jumped at the chance 277 00:13:00,700 --> 00:13:02,966 of flying on the zero-g plane. 278 00:13:02,966 --> 00:13:04,933 This is a large commercial airliner 279 00:13:04,933 --> 00:13:06,266 that's been cleaned out. 280 00:13:06,266 --> 00:13:08,833 The inside is cleaned out, so it's an open space. 281 00:13:08,833 --> 00:13:11,666 It flies up and down like a roller coaster. 282 00:13:11,666 --> 00:13:13,333 At the top of each parabola, 283 00:13:13,333 --> 00:13:15,500 you get 30 seconds of weightlessness. 284 00:13:15,500 --> 00:13:18,133 And so, if you can take all of the things--the processes 285 00:13:18,133 --> 00:13:19,933 and the experiments that you want to do-- 286 00:13:19,933 --> 00:13:22,233 break them down into 30-second segments, 287 00:13:22,233 --> 00:13:24,566 you can practice being in zero-g. 288 00:13:24,566 --> 00:13:26,800 And that was as close as we could get, 289 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:28,633 while we were still here on Earth. 290 00:13:28,633 --> 00:13:30,566 So here we are, trying to develop a way 291 00:13:30,566 --> 00:13:32,966 to do CPR in weightlessness. 292 00:13:32,966 --> 00:13:35,266 For those of you who've taken CPR, 293 00:13:35,266 --> 00:13:36,500 you know that one of the things 294 00:13:36,500 --> 00:13:37,933 you have to do to pump the heart is, 295 00:13:37,933 --> 00:13:41,300 you have to put your weight on that chest to push the heart. 296 00:13:41,300 --> 00:13:43,333 How do you do that in weightlessness? 297 00:13:43,333 --> 00:13:45,400 And so we were working that out. 298 00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:47,266 It was lots of fun. 299 00:13:47,266 --> 00:13:49,366 It gave me the best experience 300 00:13:49,366 --> 00:13:51,333 I could get, at the time, 301 00:13:51,333 --> 00:13:53,666 of being weightless. 302 00:13:53,666 --> 00:13:57,633 Luckily, I did pretty good jobs and was assigned to crews. 303 00:13:57,633 --> 00:13:59,900 This is STS-51-D. 304 00:13:59,900 --> 00:14:04,466 I'm proud to say the Commander of that flight, Colonel Bobko, 305 00:14:04,466 --> 00:14:06,066 is here today to watch, 306 00:14:06,066 --> 00:14:08,900 and he's gonna keep me straight if I say the wrong thing-- 307 00:14:08,900 --> 00:14:10,200 come up afterwards, 308 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:12,166 and say, "Your commander says you got that wrong." 309 00:14:12,166 --> 00:14:14,933 So, Bo, I hope you enjoy the talk. 310 00:14:14,933 --> 00:14:16,366 Here we are. 311 00:14:16,366 --> 00:14:18,766 We actually ended up training for-- 312 00:14:18,766 --> 00:14:20,000 we had four different crews 313 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:21,700 in training for four different flights-- 314 00:14:21,700 --> 00:14:23,266 had four different patches-- 315 00:14:23,266 --> 00:14:26,233 because our flights kept being cancelled or postponed. 316 00:14:26,233 --> 00:14:29,166 But we eventually were able to get off the ground 317 00:14:29,166 --> 00:14:31,800 in April of 1985. 318 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:34,800 Strange to think it was 30 years ago, Bo. 319 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:36,933 We haven't gotten a day older, have we? 320 00:14:36,933 --> 00:14:38,533 We had a great time. 321 00:14:38,533 --> 00:14:41,933 It was primarily a flight to launch a couple of satellites 322 00:14:41,933 --> 00:14:44,233 and do some orbiter testing, 323 00:14:44,233 --> 00:14:46,200 but they did put some science onboard 324 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:49,700 for the scientists that we had. 325 00:14:49,700 --> 00:14:51,700 Here I am. This is weightlessness. 326 00:14:51,700 --> 00:14:54,466 It's a joy, but it takes some getting used to. 327 00:14:54,466 --> 00:14:56,566 And that's really what I'm gonna talk to you about today. 328 00:14:56,566 --> 00:14:59,200 I'm not gonna tell you all of the data results 329 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:03,133 from all our tests and research and our experiments. 330 00:15:03,133 --> 00:15:05,300 I'm gonna tell you about the challenges 331 00:15:05,300 --> 00:15:08,933 of doing life-sciences research in space. 332 00:15:08,933 --> 00:15:10,466 And that's one of the things 333 00:15:10,466 --> 00:15:13,533 that astronauts really were there for, 334 00:15:13,533 --> 00:15:15,966 was helping scientists translate 335 00:15:15,966 --> 00:15:17,633 what they had done in the lab 336 00:15:17,633 --> 00:15:20,700 into something that could be done in flight. 337 00:15:20,700 --> 00:15:25,333 This is the American Flight Echocardiograph machine-- 338 00:15:25,333 --> 00:15:26,600 the first time 339 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:28,800 that we were able to look inside the human body, 340 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:30,933 at the heart, using ultrasound 341 00:15:30,933 --> 00:15:33,900 to look at what happens to the heart and blood vessels 342 00:15:33,900 --> 00:15:35,666 when you go into weightlessness. 343 00:15:35,666 --> 00:15:37,366 This is the middeck of the shuttle, 344 00:15:37,366 --> 00:15:40,500 and there were a number of small middeck experiments 345 00:15:40,500 --> 00:15:42,100 that NASA put on board, 346 00:15:42,100 --> 00:15:44,966 mostly to look at operational issues-- 347 00:15:44,966 --> 00:15:47,400 operational meaning 348 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:49,000 things like your heart, 349 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:50,466 your blood flow. 350 00:15:50,466 --> 00:15:53,866 And so this was an experiment that was put on board for me, 351 00:15:53,866 --> 00:15:57,366 and that I had trained on a lot on the ground 352 00:15:57,366 --> 00:16:00,933 and thought I knew what I was doing 353 00:16:00,933 --> 00:16:03,000 until I set up the equipment. 354 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:05,100 And you can see the problem here. 355 00:16:05,100 --> 00:16:06,933 Everything goes haywire. 356 00:16:06,933 --> 00:16:09,133 It won't lay down 357 00:16:09,133 --> 00:16:10,233 like it does here on the ground. 358 00:16:10,233 --> 00:16:11,466 You've got all the wires. 359 00:16:11,466 --> 00:16:12,933 You've got your equipment floating away. 360 00:16:12,933 --> 00:16:15,866 Your checklist has to be taped to the wall. 361 00:16:15,866 --> 00:16:18,200 You have to get it all set up. 362 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:19,433 And you have to get used 363 00:16:19,433 --> 00:16:22,700 to the fact that that's gonna happen. 364 00:16:22,700 --> 00:16:26,266 So this was great experience for me on my first flight. 365 00:16:26,266 --> 00:16:28,333 Here we are, doing that experiment, 366 00:16:28,333 --> 00:16:30,600 and it almost looks like we're standing on the ground, 367 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:33,033 but we have our feet in foot loops on the floor 368 00:16:33,033 --> 00:16:34,466 to stabilize ourselves. 369 00:16:34,466 --> 00:16:37,366 Here I am with Jeff Hoffman, looking at his heart. 370 00:16:37,366 --> 00:16:39,900 You can tell how tall and thin he is. 371 00:16:39,900 --> 00:16:42,066 His heart's right there for me to look at. 372 00:16:42,066 --> 00:16:45,900 But lo and behold, his heart swung out a little bit. 373 00:16:45,900 --> 00:16:47,933 It was in a different place in weightlessness, 374 00:16:47,933 --> 00:16:49,633 and so I had to fish around for it. 375 00:16:49,633 --> 00:16:51,700 But you can see we're a little bit better organized. 376 00:16:51,700 --> 00:16:54,566 And the way you can tell that this picture was taken in space 377 00:16:54,566 --> 00:16:57,233 and not on the ground is the bumper stickers in the back. 378 00:16:57,233 --> 00:16:59,433 We liked to advertise our schools. 379 00:16:59,433 --> 00:17:01,166 Jeff went to Amherst. 380 00:17:01,166 --> 00:17:02,933 I went to the University of Tennessee. 381 00:17:02,933 --> 00:17:05,200 And we tried, when we were taking nice pictures, 382 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:07,266 to bring back home, to slap those on the wall. 383 00:17:07,266 --> 00:17:09,300 We obviously didn't do that in training. 384 00:17:09,300 --> 00:17:11,800 They do let you take a few things with you 385 00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:13,700 when you go into space, 386 00:17:13,700 --> 00:17:17,833 just so it looks like you're really in flight. 387 00:17:17,833 --> 00:17:19,400 Lots of good information 388 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:21,933 came back on four subjects during this flight. 389 00:17:21,933 --> 00:17:24,233 We even trained one of our Payload Specialists 390 00:17:24,233 --> 00:17:26,766 to do some studies on motion sickness. 391 00:17:26,766 --> 00:17:28,400 This is Senator Jake Garn. 392 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:30,933 He's the first politician in space. 393 00:17:30,933 --> 00:17:32,733 He was a senator from the state of Utah. 394 00:17:32,733 --> 00:17:36,933 A lot of controversy about flying politicians, 395 00:17:36,933 --> 00:17:39,333 but Jake got a lot of experience here. 396 00:17:39,333 --> 00:17:42,100 You can tell that he was very suited 397 00:17:42,100 --> 00:17:46,166 to doing the brainwave test, by his hairline. 398 00:17:46,166 --> 00:17:49,200 That's why we told him that that was the one he needed to do. 399 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:51,933 But looking at space motion sickness-- 400 00:17:51,933 --> 00:17:55,200 the press sort of had a heyday with making jokes 401 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:58,900 about poor Jake doing motion-sickness studies, 402 00:17:58,900 --> 00:18:00,466 getting sick in space. 403 00:18:00,466 --> 00:18:02,266 He's a pilot. He'd never been sick. 404 00:18:02,266 --> 00:18:06,100 But anyway, Garry Trudeau did a series in "Doonesbury" 405 00:18:06,100 --> 00:18:09,666 calling him "Barfing Jake Garn." 406 00:18:09,666 --> 00:18:12,900 And he did really well in space, barfing. 407 00:18:12,900 --> 00:18:17,500 But he certainly did a lot of work for us. 408 00:18:17,500 --> 00:18:19,900 And later on, in some of NASA's dark days, 409 00:18:19,900 --> 00:18:23,333 it was very helpful to have him representing us 410 00:18:23,333 --> 00:18:25,066 in the Congress. 411 00:18:25,066 --> 00:18:26,600 And he was very well-respected 412 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:28,366 because he had been there and done that. 413 00:18:28,366 --> 00:18:29,933 So here's Jake. 414 00:18:29,933 --> 00:18:31,000 But you can see he's got to put 415 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:33,600 all of his equipment in a place, 416 00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:36,700 stabilize himself, in order to get the good science. 417 00:18:36,700 --> 00:18:39,666 So it can be done by private citizens, 418 00:18:39,666 --> 00:18:42,666 but it works a little bit better when you do it with people 419 00:18:42,666 --> 00:18:44,866 who know the science. 420 00:18:44,866 --> 00:18:46,600 I was fortunate. 421 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:47,866 About that time 422 00:18:47,866 --> 00:18:51,300 I was assigned to another space-shuttle mission. 423 00:18:51,300 --> 00:18:55,433 It was called Spacelab Life Sciences 1. 424 00:18:55,433 --> 00:18:59,100 The life-sciences Spacelabs were not operational issues. 425 00:18:59,100 --> 00:19:00,566 They were research missions. 426 00:19:00,566 --> 00:19:04,600 And NASA sent out announcements of opportunity to scientists 427 00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:07,566 all over the world to propose science. 428 00:19:07,566 --> 00:19:09,766 Lots of proposals came in. 429 00:19:09,766 --> 00:19:12,900 A few were selected for flight. 430 00:19:12,900 --> 00:19:16,066 Certainly--I think even some of our experimenters 431 00:19:16,066 --> 00:19:19,333 and our research scientists are here today to hear the talk. 432 00:19:19,333 --> 00:19:21,766 Very complex mission-- 433 00:19:21,766 --> 00:19:23,300 an integrated mission-- 434 00:19:23,300 --> 00:19:24,633 the Spacelab missions 435 00:19:24,633 --> 00:19:26,666 that had flown before had a little of this science, 436 00:19:26,666 --> 00:19:27,866 a little of that science. 437 00:19:27,866 --> 00:19:29,233 This was the first time 438 00:19:29,233 --> 00:19:32,933 a mission had been dedicated entirely to life sciences. 439 00:19:32,933 --> 00:19:35,766 And so, we could test many different systems 440 00:19:35,766 --> 00:19:38,300 and see what was going on inside the human body. 441 00:19:38,300 --> 00:19:39,600 Doesn't help to look at your heart 442 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:41,866 if you don't know what your kidneys are doing, 443 00:19:41,866 --> 00:19:43,433 what your blood-pressure-regulation 444 00:19:43,433 --> 00:19:46,933 system are doing, what's going on with your metabolism. 445 00:19:46,933 --> 00:19:48,633 So it was a wonderful mission. 446 00:19:48,633 --> 00:19:54,366 It was the mission that I came to NASA to fly. 447 00:19:54,366 --> 00:19:57,133 We had our crew picture done. 448 00:19:57,133 --> 00:19:59,833 We were three physicians there in the front row, 449 00:19:59,833 --> 00:20:01,333 and Millie's a biochemist. 450 00:20:01,333 --> 00:20:04,800 She's from out this way--an invaluable member of our crew. 451 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:06,600 And we're getting ready for our flight. 452 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:08,066 We're wearing the big orange suits 453 00:20:08,066 --> 00:20:09,600 that were worn after the Challenger. 454 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:11,700 This was in 1991. 455 00:20:11,700 --> 00:20:14,900 And we're all looking very formal in our-- 456 00:20:14,900 --> 00:20:18,300 in our attire, in our formal picture. 457 00:20:18,300 --> 00:20:20,900 The crews, of course, like to have a little fun. 458 00:20:20,900 --> 00:20:22,766 And in the not-NASA archives-- 459 00:20:22,766 --> 00:20:24,566 you will probably never see this next picture, 460 00:20:24,566 --> 00:20:27,033 but I'll show it to you. 461 00:20:27,033 --> 00:20:30,133 Here we are goofing off. 462 00:20:30,133 --> 00:20:32,766 We decided we were the perfect M.A.S.H. unit. 463 00:20:32,766 --> 00:20:35,566 You can see Hawkeye and Trapper John. 464 00:20:35,566 --> 00:20:38,300 You can see Father Mulcahy, Hot Lips. 465 00:20:38,300 --> 00:20:41,866 And being named Rhea, I had to be Radar, of course. 466 00:20:41,866 --> 00:20:43,400 And none of the men, 467 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:46,966 for some reason, wanted to be Klinger, the cross-dresser. 468 00:20:46,966 --> 00:20:49,300 And so Drew Gaffney drew the short straw, 469 00:20:49,300 --> 00:20:50,900 and he got to wear the dress. 470 00:20:50,900 --> 00:20:53,066 So we did have a little bit of fun with it. 471 00:20:53,066 --> 00:20:55,133 But it was a great crew. 472 00:20:55,133 --> 00:20:57,866 I'm gonna show you, for the second life-sciences mission-- 473 00:20:57,866 --> 00:21:00,600 I had gained a lot of experience on the first one. 474 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:02,366 I volunteered to make the second one 475 00:21:02,366 --> 00:21:04,700 because I thought we could make it more efficient, 476 00:21:04,700 --> 00:21:06,233 and we had learned a lot 477 00:21:06,233 --> 00:21:08,566 about doing all of these science experiments 478 00:21:08,566 --> 00:21:09,966 all clumped together-- 479 00:21:09,966 --> 00:21:13,733 how to coordinate everything and make sure the data was good. 480 00:21:13,733 --> 00:21:16,133 And so I volunteered for this mission. 481 00:21:16,133 --> 00:21:18,533 It was the first time that I had worked with Ames, 482 00:21:18,533 --> 00:21:19,833 I think. 483 00:21:19,833 --> 00:21:23,666 They were in charge of the non-human experiments-- 484 00:21:23,666 --> 00:21:25,366 the animals, the jellyfish, 485 00:21:25,366 --> 00:21:27,666 the things that we flew that were not people. 486 00:21:27,666 --> 00:21:29,133 They were managed here. 487 00:21:29,133 --> 00:21:32,766 And I got to know an awful lot of just great people out here, 488 00:21:32,766 --> 00:21:35,433 so anxious to be a part of this grand endeavor, 489 00:21:35,433 --> 00:21:37,300 and worked so hard 490 00:21:37,300 --> 00:21:41,866 to make sure that everything that we wanted to do got done. 491 00:21:41,866 --> 00:21:43,266 Again, a great crew. 492 00:21:43,266 --> 00:21:47,033 We had three Payload Specialist candidates that trained with us. 493 00:21:47,033 --> 00:21:49,766 One flew, Dr. Marty Fettman-- 494 00:21:49,766 --> 00:21:51,466 the first veterinarian in space, 495 00:21:51,466 --> 00:21:53,866 because we were gonna carry animals on the mission, 496 00:21:53,866 --> 00:21:55,766 and it was helpful to have him there 497 00:21:55,766 --> 00:21:58,700 to represent the animals. 498 00:21:58,700 --> 00:22:02,733 And Dr. Larry Young 499 00:22:02,733 --> 00:22:06,400 and Dr. Jay Buckey trained with us--didn't make the flight, 500 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:09,500 but they were representing us in the Payload Control Center 501 00:22:09,500 --> 00:22:11,900 on the ground, an invaluable resource. 502 00:22:11,900 --> 00:22:13,633 They had trained. They knew all the things 503 00:22:13,633 --> 00:22:16,833 we were gonna do and really represented the crew 504 00:22:16,833 --> 00:22:19,833 in the Payload Control Center. 505 00:22:19,833 --> 00:22:22,800 And, of course, we had to have an informal picture. 506 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:24,900 And we thought, "Okay, what are we?" 507 00:22:24,900 --> 00:22:27,000 We are going to stay in space 508 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:30,100 for longer than any other mission had stayed. 509 00:22:30,100 --> 00:22:33,366 And we had so much crammed on board that we had to stow. 510 00:22:33,366 --> 00:22:34,433 We had to train on-- 511 00:22:34,433 --> 00:22:36,300 we had to know where it was. 512 00:22:36,300 --> 00:22:38,666 I mean, what did this feel like? 513 00:22:38,666 --> 00:22:42,533 Well, it sort of felt like a family camping trip. 514 00:22:42,533 --> 00:22:45,266 So here are the happy campers. 515 00:22:45,266 --> 00:22:47,800 I hadn't realized till I looked at this picture 516 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:51,066 how many hairy chests there were on this flight, 517 00:22:51,066 --> 00:22:54,100 but here we are having a good time with some of our science 518 00:22:54,100 --> 00:22:55,333 and some of our camping gear. 519 00:22:55,333 --> 00:22:57,933 But again, crews always enjoy 520 00:22:57,933 --> 00:22:59,400 having a little fun. 521 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:00,866 And you train for so long, 522 00:23:00,866 --> 00:23:03,600 under such amount of stress, 523 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,333 that it's good to have a chance to laugh every once in a while-- 524 00:23:06,333 --> 00:23:08,666 mostly at yourself. 525 00:23:08,666 --> 00:23:10,433 This is Spacelab. 526 00:23:10,433 --> 00:23:12,300 Spacelab was a working laboratory 527 00:23:12,300 --> 00:23:13,733 that sat in the cargo bay-- 528 00:23:13,733 --> 00:23:15,333 at the back of the cargo bay-- 529 00:23:15,333 --> 00:23:17,100 about 15 feet in diameter, 530 00:23:17,100 --> 00:23:18,600 23 feet long, 531 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:19,900 and a working laboratory 532 00:23:19,900 --> 00:23:21,800 where you could put all your lab stuff. 533 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:23,833 The middeck of the shuttle--very cramped, 534 00:23:23,833 --> 00:23:25,500 and it's living quarters, 535 00:23:25,500 --> 00:23:28,933 so it was very helpful to have lots and lots of room. 536 00:23:28,933 --> 00:23:31,033 And when you're on the ground, and you're looking at this, 537 00:23:31,033 --> 00:23:33,066 and everything is neat and put away, 538 00:23:33,066 --> 00:23:36,633 you think, "We've got lots of room to do this." 539 00:23:36,633 --> 00:23:39,266 Well, it fills up fast. 540 00:23:39,266 --> 00:23:41,633 And it fills up in many dimensions. 541 00:23:41,633 --> 00:23:42,633 Imagine if you-- 542 00:23:42,633 --> 00:23:44,066 if we in this room 543 00:23:44,066 --> 00:23:46,600 could use all the real estate that's up above us. 544 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:49,333 We're using maybe 1/3 of the space in here. 545 00:23:49,333 --> 00:23:50,800 There's a lot more real estate. 546 00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:53,033 And that's what we had to learn to do 547 00:23:53,033 --> 00:23:55,333 when we were in the Spacelab. 548 00:23:55,333 --> 00:23:57,800 You see Millie up here? 549 00:23:57,800 --> 00:23:59,433 We had lots of stowage. 550 00:23:59,433 --> 00:24:02,533 We learned how to hook our feet on the handrails 551 00:24:02,533 --> 00:24:03,900 and open up this, 552 00:24:03,900 --> 00:24:06,500 and it was a great place to stow. 553 00:24:06,500 --> 00:24:08,133 On the ground, it was kind of a pain 554 00:24:08,133 --> 00:24:09,166 to get stuff out of there, 555 00:24:09,166 --> 00:24:11,500 but in space, it worked well. 556 00:24:11,500 --> 00:24:12,966 Lots of checklists, 557 00:24:12,966 --> 00:24:15,500 lots of things out 558 00:24:15,500 --> 00:24:16,866 that we needed to leave out, 559 00:24:16,866 --> 00:24:19,500 'cause we were gonna do something later that day, 560 00:24:19,500 --> 00:24:22,900 lots of people back in there-- 561 00:24:22,900 --> 00:24:24,266 who's that? 562 00:24:24,266 --> 00:24:27,166 Anybody know? 563 00:24:27,166 --> 00:24:28,833 Looks terrible. 564 00:24:28,833 --> 00:24:30,233 Not space motion sickness. 565 00:24:30,233 --> 00:24:31,700 That's Resusci Annie. 566 00:24:31,700 --> 00:24:33,933 We did some tests of doing CPR. 567 00:24:33,933 --> 00:24:35,866 Remember the one that I did early on? 568 00:24:35,866 --> 00:24:37,600 We took Resusci Annie with us 569 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:39,966 to do a little bit more formal studies there. 570 00:24:39,966 --> 00:24:42,600 But again, 571 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:45,633 learning to do it in a very different environment. 572 00:24:45,633 --> 00:24:48,700 The scientists know how to do it in their lab. 573 00:24:48,700 --> 00:24:50,933 They have no idea how they're gonna do it up there. 574 00:24:50,933 --> 00:24:53,000 And that's the role of the astronauts. 575 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:56,100 And that was part of the fun that we had-- 576 00:24:56,100 --> 00:24:58,800 trying to think about "how are we gonna do this?" 577 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:00,700 and "what's it gonna look like?" 578 00:25:00,700 --> 00:25:02,800 and "what are we gonna do if it doesn't act that way 579 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:03,966 when we get there?" 580 00:25:03,966 --> 00:25:07,200 and figuring it out to get the job done. 581 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:08,466 Many, many experiments-- 582 00:25:08,466 --> 00:25:10,366 a lot of people counting on us. 583 00:25:10,366 --> 00:25:12,400 The scientists said, "You are our eyes 584 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,500 and our hands in space," and we took that responsibility 585 00:25:15,500 --> 00:25:17,566 very seriously. 586 00:25:17,566 --> 00:25:20,366 Just to show you, this is one blood draw. 587 00:25:20,366 --> 00:25:22,766 We did metabolic experiments. 588 00:25:22,766 --> 00:25:25,400 And we had four subjects, 589 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:27,800 and we were gonna have to do-- get up in the morning, 590 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:28,833 before we ate breakfast, 591 00:25:28,833 --> 00:25:30,366 and draw blood samples. 592 00:25:30,366 --> 00:25:33,966 We'd injected tracers, and this is it all set out. 593 00:25:33,966 --> 00:25:35,066 We had trained. 594 00:25:35,066 --> 00:25:36,366 We had planned. 595 00:25:36,366 --> 00:25:39,433 And we worked out that this was the most efficient way 596 00:25:39,433 --> 00:25:44,433 to put the most stuff in one small container, 597 00:25:44,433 --> 00:25:45,600 and here it is. 598 00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:47,000 This is four subjects. 599 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:49,000 You can see, we all had different colors. 600 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:50,533 You may not be able to see it, 601 00:25:50,533 --> 00:25:53,000 but the colors here-- 602 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:55,766 they're red, orange, green, 603 00:25:55,766 --> 00:25:57,233 and purple, I think. 604 00:25:57,233 --> 00:25:59,200 Each crew member had a different color. 605 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:03,166 So our tubes were color-coded, our-- 606 00:26:03,166 --> 00:26:04,800 Everything was color-coded 607 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:08,366 with our specific color, 608 00:26:08,366 --> 00:26:11,033 so that when it came back, we knew that that was Ray's blood, 609 00:26:11,033 --> 00:26:13,566 or Millie's blood, or somebody else's blood. 610 00:26:13,566 --> 00:26:16,333 So this was all laid out for us. 611 00:26:16,333 --> 00:26:18,833 And, you know, it looks complex. 612 00:26:18,833 --> 00:26:20,400 It was even complex 613 00:26:20,400 --> 00:26:23,133 when you had to use this stuff. 614 00:26:23,133 --> 00:26:25,900 This is a blood draw using that tray. 615 00:26:25,900 --> 00:26:28,933 And look what's going on here. 616 00:26:28,933 --> 00:26:30,666 Millie's the subject. 617 00:26:30,666 --> 00:26:33,466 She's having her blood drawn by Drew. 618 00:26:33,466 --> 00:26:36,500 She's holding the blood that has been drawn already. 619 00:26:36,500 --> 00:26:40,866 He draws the blood and hands it to her. 620 00:26:40,866 --> 00:26:43,900 Jim is pulling out the tubes next. 621 00:26:43,900 --> 00:26:46,566 He's looking at the colors, the time, 622 00:26:46,566 --> 00:26:48,133 which one of the blood draws is it, 623 00:26:48,133 --> 00:26:50,566 and hands it to Drew to draw the blood. 624 00:26:50,566 --> 00:26:52,166 Now, it's really helpful 625 00:26:52,166 --> 00:26:54,166 to have plenty of help when you're doing this. 626 00:26:54,166 --> 00:26:56,366 The other thing that's going on here 627 00:26:56,366 --> 00:26:58,333 that maybe is a little bit more subtle is, 628 00:26:58,333 --> 00:27:00,300 they can cross-check each other. 629 00:27:00,300 --> 00:27:03,066 If Drew was trying to pull those things out, 630 00:27:03,066 --> 00:27:05,466 he might pull the wrong thing. 631 00:27:05,466 --> 00:27:07,133 But Jim pulls out the tubes, 632 00:27:07,133 --> 00:27:08,333 he looks at them, 633 00:27:08,333 --> 00:27:10,966 and then Drew, before he draws the blood, 634 00:27:10,966 --> 00:27:12,133 gets to look at them again. 635 00:27:12,133 --> 00:27:14,266 So that's called cross-checking, 636 00:27:14,266 --> 00:27:15,500 and it's really helpful-- 637 00:27:15,500 --> 00:27:16,900 certainly in medicine, 638 00:27:16,900 --> 00:27:19,600 for instance, if you're gonna get a pint of blood-- 639 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:21,800 that two people look at that and cross check 640 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:23,566 and make sure you're getting the right stuff. 641 00:27:23,566 --> 00:27:25,900 Or if somebody's going to operate on you, 642 00:27:25,900 --> 00:27:29,000 it's nice to have somebody there that's gonna cross check 643 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:30,766 to make sure you're the right person, 644 00:27:30,766 --> 00:27:32,266 and the right procedure's being done. 645 00:27:32,266 --> 00:27:34,266 So cross-check is one of those things 646 00:27:34,266 --> 00:27:36,800 that's a very nice life skill and something 647 00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:38,133 that we learned how to do, 648 00:27:38,133 --> 00:27:41,433 so that we didn't mess up when we got to space. 649 00:27:41,433 --> 00:27:43,166 I have to tell you a little story. 650 00:27:43,166 --> 00:27:45,133 As we're going out to the launch pad 651 00:27:45,133 --> 00:27:47,666 for this mission, the Chief of the Astronaut Office 652 00:27:47,666 --> 00:27:49,800 has to get off the bus before we go out to the pad. 653 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:53,566 And he said, "I would like you to all bow your heads 654 00:27:53,566 --> 00:27:55,900 so I can say a prayer before I get off the bus." 655 00:27:55,900 --> 00:27:57,266 And we all thought, "Okay." 656 00:27:57,266 --> 00:27:58,933 We very somberly-- 657 00:27:58,933 --> 00:28:02,000 and his prayer was the astronaut's prayer: 658 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:04,133 "God help you if you screw up." 659 00:28:04,133 --> 00:28:08,133 So we remembered that. 660 00:28:08,133 --> 00:28:11,033 For the next few days, that was our mission-- 661 00:28:11,033 --> 00:28:12,966 to do that. 662 00:28:12,966 --> 00:28:15,266 And scientists, when they propose experiments, say, 663 00:28:15,266 --> 00:28:16,433 "This is really gonna be easy, 664 00:28:16,433 --> 00:28:19,300 because I just want them to draw some blood 665 00:28:19,300 --> 00:28:20,933 and collect some urine." 666 00:28:20,933 --> 00:28:22,266 Now, if you're part of 667 00:28:22,266 --> 00:28:23,466 an experiment like that on the ground, 668 00:28:23,466 --> 00:28:25,366 that's not a big deal. 669 00:28:25,366 --> 00:28:27,400 You go in the bathroom, you collect urine. 670 00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:29,766 How do you collect urine in space? 671 00:28:29,766 --> 00:28:31,233 Many people don't know that-- 672 00:28:31,233 --> 00:28:32,766 you know, 673 00:28:32,766 --> 00:28:35,100 there's a problem with that, if it says--you can imagine. 674 00:28:35,100 --> 00:28:38,333 We use airflow to pull waste away from the body. 675 00:28:38,333 --> 00:28:40,066 The air comes under the toilet seat, 676 00:28:40,066 --> 00:28:44,433 and it pulls the urine into the toilet. 677 00:28:44,433 --> 00:28:45,900 We have a funnel that we can put-- 678 00:28:45,900 --> 00:28:47,666 that goes down the tube. 679 00:28:47,666 --> 00:28:49,400 How are you gonna get a urine specimen? 680 00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:51,566 How are you gonna measure the volume of urine 681 00:28:51,566 --> 00:28:53,900 that a subject puts out during the day? 682 00:28:53,900 --> 00:28:55,666 A special piece of equipment 683 00:28:55,666 --> 00:28:58,633 was designed, called the Urine Monitoring System-- 684 00:28:58,633 --> 00:29:00,266 pulls the urine in, 685 00:29:00,266 --> 00:29:03,133 centrifugally separates 686 00:29:03,133 --> 00:29:05,766 the urine from the air. 687 00:29:05,766 --> 00:29:07,566 It can measure a volume, 688 00:29:07,566 --> 00:29:10,233 and it can pull a specimen out here. 689 00:29:10,233 --> 00:29:14,066 We all had our color-coded tubes that it was pulled into 690 00:29:14,066 --> 00:29:15,266 and put it in here. 691 00:29:15,266 --> 00:29:18,266 So a very simple thing to do on the ground, 692 00:29:18,266 --> 00:29:20,300 a very complex thing to do on orbit, 693 00:29:20,300 --> 00:29:21,733 and to do it correctly. 694 00:29:21,733 --> 00:29:23,566 And so, again, 695 00:29:23,566 --> 00:29:26,533 science was easy for some of the scientists, 696 00:29:26,533 --> 00:29:28,600 and they couldn't understand why it was gonna be so hard 697 00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:30,233 when they got into space. 698 00:29:30,233 --> 00:29:34,066 But there were things like that that had to be accommodated. 699 00:29:34,066 --> 00:29:35,533 How do you weigh yourself in space? 700 00:29:35,533 --> 00:29:38,733 Oh, you know, you tell a subject, "Go weigh yourself." 701 00:29:38,733 --> 00:29:40,500 This is how you weight yourself in space. 702 00:29:40,500 --> 00:29:43,366 This is the Body Mass Measuring Device. 703 00:29:43,366 --> 00:29:45,966 You sit in this chair, strap in, 704 00:29:45,966 --> 00:29:47,766 release a spring, 705 00:29:47,766 --> 00:29:51,333 and the heavier you are, the slower the spring rocks 706 00:29:51,333 --> 00:29:52,433 back and forth. 707 00:29:52,433 --> 00:29:54,400 The computer can calculate your weight. 708 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:56,900 So, a simple thing done on the ground, 709 00:29:56,900 --> 00:29:59,533 a very complex thing done on orbit. 710 00:29:59,533 --> 00:30:03,633 And we had to learn how to do this to do it accurately. 711 00:30:03,633 --> 00:30:06,966 And operationally, you know, you practice things on the ground, 712 00:30:06,966 --> 00:30:08,900 and then you get into space, 713 00:30:08,900 --> 00:30:10,733 and you can't quite do them the same. 714 00:30:10,733 --> 00:30:13,700 This is looking at blood flow to the leg. 715 00:30:13,700 --> 00:30:16,033 There's a problem when astronauts stand up 716 00:30:16,033 --> 00:30:18,800 after they get home, sometimes they get lightheaded. 717 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:20,200 The idea was, 718 00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:22,800 maybe the blood is not getting back to the heart as well. 719 00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:24,266 So this is an experiment. 720 00:30:24,266 --> 00:30:27,233 Usually, in this, the subject's lying down when you do that. 721 00:30:27,233 --> 00:30:29,933 But look how much easier it is to do this here, 722 00:30:29,933 --> 00:30:31,533 and do it this way. 723 00:30:31,533 --> 00:30:33,566 But sometimes you have to do it a time or two to say, 724 00:30:33,566 --> 00:30:35,233 "Hey, you know, it works better this way. 725 00:30:35,233 --> 00:30:36,733 I just put my subject up there, 726 00:30:36,733 --> 00:30:38,800 and the operator'll be down here next to all the equipment." 727 00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:39,833 Works much better. 728 00:30:39,833 --> 00:30:41,233 So operationally, 729 00:30:41,233 --> 00:30:44,066 sometimes you have to not only have different equipment, 730 00:30:44,066 --> 00:30:46,533 but have a different way of thinking 731 00:30:46,533 --> 00:30:49,633 about what's possible. 732 00:30:49,633 --> 00:30:52,500 We also--this is an experiment 733 00:30:52,500 --> 00:30:54,266 that put pressure or suction 734 00:30:54,266 --> 00:30:56,966 on the blood pressure censors in the neck, 735 00:30:56,966 --> 00:30:59,933 to see whether or not the heart responded-- 736 00:30:59,933 --> 00:31:01,700 whether that was one of the problems 737 00:31:01,700 --> 00:31:05,033 with dropping blood pressure when you got back, 738 00:31:05,033 --> 00:31:07,366 if those reflexes got out of shape. 739 00:31:07,366 --> 00:31:09,333 But, as you can imagine, you 740 00:31:09,333 --> 00:31:12,533 have to worry about the safety of experiments like this. 741 00:31:12,533 --> 00:31:13,733 You know, "I'm gonna mess 742 00:31:13,733 --> 00:31:15,833 with your blood-pressure receptors, 743 00:31:15,833 --> 00:31:17,666 and it's gonna do something to your heart, 744 00:31:17,666 --> 00:31:19,533 and you're gonna have to monitor"-- 745 00:31:19,533 --> 00:31:22,166 what do we do if you have a bad reaction to that? 746 00:31:22,166 --> 00:31:25,433 So there was a lot of planning for worst-case scenarios. 747 00:31:25,433 --> 00:31:26,466 You know, "What are we gonna do? 748 00:31:26,466 --> 00:31:27,966 How will we recognize it?" 749 00:31:27,966 --> 00:31:30,066 And then, "How do we deal with it, when we're in space?" 750 00:31:30,066 --> 00:31:32,433 Luckily, nothing happened, but, again-- 751 00:31:32,433 --> 00:31:35,966 the exercise of proving to our safety organization 752 00:31:35,966 --> 00:31:38,866 that it was safe to do this. 753 00:31:38,866 --> 00:31:41,133 This is how we did exercise in space. 754 00:31:41,133 --> 00:31:43,300 And tell you a little bit about that--we were wondering, 755 00:31:43,300 --> 00:31:45,033 "How much exercise could you do? 756 00:31:45,033 --> 00:31:48,400 What was your intake of oxygen, output of CO2?" 757 00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:49,566 You know, "What does that look like?" 758 00:31:49,566 --> 00:31:51,500 So here I am on a bike, 759 00:31:51,500 --> 00:31:54,033 but it looks a little odd. 760 00:31:54,033 --> 00:31:56,000 What is this? 761 00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:58,500 There's a similar one on the other side. 762 00:31:58,500 --> 00:32:00,900 You can imagine, if you're sitting on a bike 763 00:32:00,900 --> 00:32:02,533 bolted to the floor, 764 00:32:02,533 --> 00:32:05,033 and you start pushing the pedals, 765 00:32:05,033 --> 00:32:06,800 you're gonna go the opposite direction. 766 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:08,700 So you have to have something to hold you down. 767 00:32:08,700 --> 00:32:11,800 Those are shoulder boards that hold you down to the bike, 768 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:13,733 so you could do the exercise. 769 00:32:13,733 --> 00:32:16,600 One thing that we had not thought of 770 00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:17,833 for this experiment-- 771 00:32:17,833 --> 00:32:20,600 because you went to maximal exercise. 772 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:22,133 So the guys are there and, 773 00:32:22,133 --> 00:32:24,300 you know, they're big mooses. 774 00:32:24,300 --> 00:32:26,200 They're doing big-time exercise, 775 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:28,000 and they start to sweat. 776 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:30,066 If you ever sweat on the bike in the gym, 777 00:32:30,066 --> 00:32:31,066 it goes on the floor, 778 00:32:31,066 --> 00:32:32,233 and you clean it up afterwards. 779 00:32:32,233 --> 00:32:33,500 Where does it go? 780 00:32:33,500 --> 00:32:35,100 It blobs up. 781 00:32:35,100 --> 00:32:36,500 And here you are, 782 00:32:36,500 --> 00:32:37,933 you float by, 783 00:32:37,933 --> 00:32:40,566 and there's this giant blob of sweat 784 00:32:40,566 --> 00:32:42,400 hanging off the back of this guy. 785 00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:44,600 So he had--we had to have helpers 786 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:46,066 to go around with a towel 787 00:32:46,066 --> 00:32:49,100 and keep the sweat in one place. 788 00:32:49,100 --> 00:32:51,700 Another thing that I'm often asked, 789 00:32:51,700 --> 00:32:54,266 especially by kids-- 790 00:32:54,266 --> 00:32:58,733 "You ever see any UFOs or aliens in space?" 791 00:32:58,733 --> 00:33:01,566 And I said, "No, I haven't." 792 00:33:01,566 --> 00:33:03,900 But, quite frankly, 793 00:33:03,900 --> 00:33:06,333 occasionally we catch them 794 00:33:06,333 --> 00:33:08,866 and see them in pictures. 795 00:33:08,866 --> 00:33:12,800 What is this? 796 00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:14,166 That's an alien. 797 00:33:14,166 --> 00:33:15,366 That's a crew member. 798 00:33:15,366 --> 00:33:17,566 He just kind of looks weird in that picture. 799 00:33:17,566 --> 00:33:19,833 And people say, "What is that?" 800 00:33:19,833 --> 00:33:22,766 That's our alien. 801 00:33:22,766 --> 00:33:24,766 This is doing a lung-function test. 802 00:33:24,766 --> 00:33:27,233 Dave Wolf is breathing on this machine 803 00:33:27,233 --> 00:33:29,400 to look at how your lungs function. 804 00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:31,466 Again, easy to do on the ground, 805 00:33:31,466 --> 00:33:34,000 uses a gas called argon. 806 00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:36,800 There are other things on there--gases, 807 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:40,233 or liquids that turn to gas, like Freon in the freezers. 808 00:33:40,233 --> 00:33:42,666 One of the things you had to prove was that, 809 00:33:42,666 --> 00:33:45,033 if all that gas leaked out, 810 00:33:45,033 --> 00:33:48,800 it would not reach a dangerous concentration 811 00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:50,233 in the Spacelab. 812 00:33:50,233 --> 00:33:52,000 And so that was one of the other things 813 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:53,100 that we had to worry about. 814 00:33:53,100 --> 00:33:55,966 How little gas could you use? 815 00:33:55,966 --> 00:33:59,466 How to keep your subject safe-- 816 00:33:59,466 --> 00:34:01,900 this is a subject doing a vestibular test, 817 00:34:01,900 --> 00:34:02,966 rotating in the chair. 818 00:34:02,966 --> 00:34:04,466 But you can see, he's blindfolded. 819 00:34:04,466 --> 00:34:05,600 He's strapped in. 820 00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:07,533 If something happened-- an emergency happened-- 821 00:34:07,533 --> 00:34:09,600 he gets disoriented doing this. 822 00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:11,100 How do we get him out of there safely? 823 00:34:11,100 --> 00:34:13,200 So things that you frequently don't have 824 00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:15,033 to worry about on the ground, 825 00:34:15,033 --> 00:34:17,766 you have to think about when you get up there. 826 00:34:17,766 --> 00:34:19,566 Jellyfish. 827 00:34:19,566 --> 00:34:22,100 The title of the talk talked about jellyfish. 828 00:34:22,100 --> 00:34:24,766 Interesting that we took some flasks of jellyfish, 829 00:34:24,766 --> 00:34:26,533 we injected them with hormones. 830 00:34:26,533 --> 00:34:29,700 Jellyfish start like these little polyps. 831 00:34:29,700 --> 00:34:31,733 They get some thyroid hormone, 832 00:34:31,733 --> 00:34:32,900 and they strobilate. 833 00:34:32,900 --> 00:34:34,900 They turn into little sections. 834 00:34:34,900 --> 00:34:36,533 And they float free. 835 00:34:36,533 --> 00:34:38,700 And they form statoliths that are kind of 836 00:34:38,700 --> 00:34:40,233 like the otoliths in your ear-- 837 00:34:40,233 --> 00:34:42,066 little stones that tell them 838 00:34:42,066 --> 00:34:43,900 where up and down are and whether they're moving. 839 00:34:43,900 --> 00:34:46,533 The question is, did they develop them in space? 840 00:34:46,533 --> 00:34:49,166 And they did. That's obviously hardwired into the-- 841 00:34:49,166 --> 00:34:50,500 into their DNA. 842 00:34:50,500 --> 00:34:52,366 They swam in circles up there, 843 00:34:52,366 --> 00:34:53,566 but they could swim just-- 844 00:34:53,566 --> 00:34:56,233 just nicely when they got back down. 845 00:34:56,233 --> 00:34:58,900 So a simple experiment, 846 00:34:58,900 --> 00:35:01,933 but it was fun to do, and fun to watch the little jellies 847 00:35:01,933 --> 00:35:04,166 swimming in their little flasks. 848 00:35:04,166 --> 00:35:07,066 We took animals into space for the first time-- 849 00:35:07,066 --> 00:35:08,233 lots of rats. 850 00:35:08,233 --> 00:35:10,933 They had flown in sealed containers before. 851 00:35:10,933 --> 00:35:13,566 This was the Research Animal Holding Facility, 852 00:35:13,566 --> 00:35:16,233 a massive project by the Ames folks. 853 00:35:16,233 --> 00:35:19,833 The first time the Research Animal Holding Facility flew, 854 00:35:19,833 --> 00:35:22,100 it didn't function very well. 855 00:35:22,100 --> 00:35:24,000 The airflow was not very good, 856 00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:26,266 and some of the air came out. 857 00:35:26,266 --> 00:35:27,800 And when your commander 858 00:35:27,800 --> 00:35:30,266 is sitting up in the cockpit, 859 00:35:30,266 --> 00:35:33,800 and he looks up, and he says, "Oh, shit," 860 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:35,233 and that's what it is, 861 00:35:35,233 --> 00:35:38,533 because it's come out of the animal cages, 862 00:35:38,533 --> 00:35:42,033 the people back in Mission Control get a little freaky. 863 00:35:42,033 --> 00:35:45,300 And so the animal cages had to be redesigned. 864 00:35:45,300 --> 00:35:47,233 We didn't think we would have them for this mission, 865 00:35:47,233 --> 00:35:51,566 but because we were delayed by Challenger, we-- 866 00:35:51,566 --> 00:35:53,000 they were redesigned in time. 867 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:54,833 Thank you, all you wonderful Ames people 868 00:35:54,833 --> 00:35:56,433 that work so hard on this. 869 00:35:56,433 --> 00:35:59,033 We flew them on SLS-1 as a test. 870 00:35:59,033 --> 00:36:00,500 We're pulling them out. 871 00:36:00,500 --> 00:36:04,566 We got a permission to pull them out of the holding facility. 872 00:36:04,566 --> 00:36:05,833 The animals were healthy. 873 00:36:05,833 --> 00:36:07,366 The cages were working well. 874 00:36:07,366 --> 00:36:11,066 We pulled them out, took them over to a workbench 875 00:36:11,066 --> 00:36:13,466 to see how the animals reacted to weightlessness. 876 00:36:13,466 --> 00:36:14,533 They didn't get aggressive. 877 00:36:14,533 --> 00:36:15,633 They were easy to handle. 878 00:36:15,633 --> 00:36:18,600 And that was a good thing for SLS-2, 879 00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:21,366 because we did animal dissections for the first time. 880 00:36:21,366 --> 00:36:22,766 And you can imagine-- 881 00:36:22,766 --> 00:36:25,333 if you remember your freshman or sophomore biology class 882 00:36:25,333 --> 00:36:27,666 and dissecting a frog or dissecting an animal, 883 00:36:27,666 --> 00:36:30,633 imagine planning to do that in weightlessness. 884 00:36:30,633 --> 00:36:32,766 A lot of stuff about the animals themselves, 885 00:36:32,766 --> 00:36:34,900 the tissues that we had to save, 886 00:36:34,900 --> 00:36:38,633 the fixatives we had to put them in, the instruments 887 00:36:38,633 --> 00:36:41,433 we had to use, the time constraints that we had-- 888 00:36:41,433 --> 00:36:44,100 and we practiced, and practiced, and practiced, and practiced, 889 00:36:44,100 --> 00:36:46,566 thanks to the amazing people 890 00:36:46,566 --> 00:36:49,366 here at Ames that helped us plan that and do that, 891 00:36:49,366 --> 00:36:51,133 put all the stowage for us. 892 00:36:51,133 --> 00:36:53,300 And they breathed a sigh of relief 893 00:36:53,300 --> 00:36:54,500 when we voiced down, 894 00:36:54,500 --> 00:36:55,700 "We did six animals, 895 00:36:55,700 --> 00:36:57,533 and we got all the tissues that we meant to." 896 00:36:57,533 --> 00:36:59,400 So it was amazing. 897 00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:01,766 We wanted to compare the reaction of the rats 898 00:37:01,766 --> 00:37:03,166 in space to people, 899 00:37:03,166 --> 00:37:06,533 to see whether or not they were good models for humans. 900 00:37:06,533 --> 00:37:08,633 So a very, very important part 901 00:37:08,633 --> 00:37:10,766 of what we were doing on this mission. 902 00:37:10,766 --> 00:37:12,566 When we come back to Earth, you know, 903 00:37:12,566 --> 00:37:14,366 you're above the atmosphere when you start out, 904 00:37:14,366 --> 00:37:15,966 and when you enter the Earth's atmosphere 905 00:37:15,966 --> 00:37:17,900 and you hit all the air molecules, 906 00:37:17,900 --> 00:37:19,333 it heats up the shuttle. 907 00:37:19,333 --> 00:37:21,966 You have to be protected from that heat. 908 00:37:21,966 --> 00:37:23,666 And this is what it looks like. 909 00:37:23,666 --> 00:37:26,033 And the folks at Ames Research Center 910 00:37:26,033 --> 00:37:28,766 were in charge of the thermal protection system. 911 00:37:28,766 --> 00:37:31,600 And we owe our lives to the people that designed 912 00:37:31,600 --> 00:37:35,466 this remarkable system of insulating blankets, 913 00:37:35,466 --> 00:37:37,033 reinforced carbon-carbon, 914 00:37:37,033 --> 00:37:41,033 and all the tiles that fit on the bottom of the shuttle. 915 00:37:41,033 --> 00:37:44,100 And this is what it looks like when you're in the midst 916 00:37:44,100 --> 00:37:45,333 of that fireball, 917 00:37:45,333 --> 00:37:48,000 and you realize how much your life 918 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:51,033 depends on that system. 919 00:37:51,033 --> 00:37:52,066 I'll read a little book-- 920 00:37:52,066 --> 00:37:54,600 a bit out of the book. 921 00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:57,433 "After a successful deorbit burn, 922 00:37:57,433 --> 00:38:01,100 the orbiter flipped over so that its nose was forward again. 923 00:38:01,100 --> 00:38:04,200 The nose had to be cocked up about 40 degrees, 924 00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:06,566 so the heat shield tiles on the underbelly 925 00:38:06,566 --> 00:38:09,033 would get most of the heating during reentry. 926 00:38:09,033 --> 00:38:11,633 As we sank deeper and deeper into the atmosphere, 927 00:38:11,633 --> 00:38:14,300 an orange glow began to appear out the windows. 928 00:38:14,300 --> 00:38:17,566 Behind my head, heated air molecules struck the tail 929 00:38:17,566 --> 00:38:20,666 and created bright flashes of light on the backs 930 00:38:20,666 --> 00:38:22,633 of Bryan and Sid's helmets. 931 00:38:22,633 --> 00:38:25,800 We were in a thin-skinned protective cocoon in the midst 932 00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:29,033 of a fireball as hot as the surface of the sun. 933 00:38:29,033 --> 00:38:31,766 If there were any breaks in our vehicle's skin, 934 00:38:31,766 --> 00:38:33,766 we'd soon be incinerated." 935 00:38:33,766 --> 00:38:35,700 So you really think about 936 00:38:35,700 --> 00:38:38,600 the people who are looking out for you 937 00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:41,466 and who have done remarkable things like this. 938 00:38:41,466 --> 00:38:45,233 And so, again, thank you to the Ames folks. 939 00:38:45,233 --> 00:38:47,366 You always hope that you have as many landings 940 00:38:47,366 --> 00:38:48,466 as you do take-offs. 941 00:38:48,466 --> 00:38:50,200 And I was fortunate that I did. 942 00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:52,300 This is my last landing. 943 00:38:52,300 --> 00:38:54,266 Instead of getting out and kicking the tires, 944 00:38:54,266 --> 00:38:56,900 we had to move into a people mover to get back to the lab, 945 00:38:56,900 --> 00:39:00,066 because we had normal testing before we left, 946 00:39:00,066 --> 00:39:01,200 we were tested in flight, 947 00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:02,600 and then they wanted to see 948 00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:06,200 how we adapted to getting back to Earth. 949 00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:08,500 So it was wonderful. 950 00:39:08,500 --> 00:39:12,600 What great experiences I had, and how fortunate I was 951 00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:16,000 to be able to do all these rather unusual things. 952 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:18,566 I wanted to capture those things. 953 00:39:18,566 --> 00:39:20,133 I put them down in a book. 954 00:39:20,133 --> 00:39:21,633 It's not a great work of literature, 955 00:39:21,633 --> 00:39:23,133 but it is a simple story 956 00:39:23,133 --> 00:39:27,000 of what it's like to go from being a little girl in Tennessee 957 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:28,466 to getting to go to space-- 958 00:39:28,466 --> 00:39:31,033 and having kids along the way, 959 00:39:31,033 --> 00:39:32,966 marrying a fellow astronaut, 960 00:39:32,966 --> 00:39:35,200 getting to be an astronaut's spouse, 961 00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:36,866 and doing great things. 962 00:39:36,866 --> 00:39:40,733 The logo on the left is the astronaut symbol, 963 00:39:40,733 --> 00:39:42,300 slightly modified, 964 00:39:42,300 --> 00:39:45,533 and it is my-- the logo for my book. 965 00:39:45,533 --> 00:39:47,466 So, again, I appreciate your being here, 966 00:39:47,466 --> 00:39:48,966 and we'll do some questions and answers, 967 00:39:48,966 --> 00:39:49,966 if we have time. 968 00:39:49,966 --> 00:39:50,966 - Yes. 969 00:39:50,966 --> 00:39:52,300 - All right. 970 00:39:52,300 --> 00:39:54,700 [applause] 971 00:39:59,700 --> 00:40:00,766 - Thank you, Rhea. 972 00:40:00,766 --> 00:40:02,533 If you have a question, please 973 00:40:02,533 --> 00:40:05,533 raise your hand, wait for a microphone to come to you, 974 00:40:05,533 --> 00:40:06,866 and ask your question. 975 00:40:06,866 --> 00:40:08,666 And then return the microphone. 976 00:40:08,666 --> 00:40:10,500 Thank you. 977 00:40:14,666 --> 00:40:16,066 - Thank you, Dr. Seddon, 978 00:40:16,066 --> 00:40:17,800 on behalf of the astronauts 979 00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:20,433 and women and kids of all ages. 980 00:40:20,433 --> 00:40:22,800 You really are quite the inspiration. 981 00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:24,533 I didn't have a question, 982 00:40:24,533 --> 00:40:26,233 but I just wanted to congratulate you 983 00:40:26,233 --> 00:40:27,300 on your induction 984 00:40:27,300 --> 00:40:29,633 into the Astronaut Hall of Fame 2015. 985 00:40:29,633 --> 00:40:30,733 - Thank you so much, Yvonne-- 986 00:40:30,733 --> 00:40:32,066 appreciate that. 987 00:40:32,066 --> 00:40:34,933 [applause] 988 00:40:37,066 --> 00:40:38,333 - It was quite an honor. 989 00:40:38,333 --> 00:40:42,133 You know, I heard a talk recently by an astronaut scholar 990 00:40:42,133 --> 00:40:45,466 who talked about the value of recognition. 991 00:40:45,466 --> 00:40:47,800 You know, when you think you're doing a pretty good job, 992 00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:48,933 you're not really sure 993 00:40:48,933 --> 00:40:51,866 until somebody rewards you in some way 994 00:40:51,866 --> 00:40:53,166 or mentions you in some way. 995 00:40:53,166 --> 00:40:55,466 So I always try to remember that, 996 00:40:55,466 --> 00:40:57,700 to tell people how much we appreciate the things 997 00:40:57,700 --> 00:40:59,733 that they've done for us. 998 00:40:59,733 --> 00:41:02,433 Other questions? 999 00:41:02,433 --> 00:41:04,700 - You talked a little bit about some things 1000 00:41:04,700 --> 00:41:08,000 that are more complicated in space than they are on Earth. 1001 00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:09,866 Is there any one thing 1002 00:41:09,866 --> 00:41:12,633 that scientists usually fail to think about 1003 00:41:12,633 --> 00:41:14,433 when they're thinking about space experiments, 1004 00:41:14,433 --> 00:41:17,633 or something that you thought was interesting? 1005 00:41:17,633 --> 00:41:21,966 - Hmm. 1006 00:41:21,966 --> 00:41:23,700 I guess, you know, 1007 00:41:23,700 --> 00:41:26,866 one of the easiest things to do in space is to-- 1008 00:41:26,866 --> 00:41:28,033 is to move around, 1009 00:41:28,033 --> 00:41:30,066 'cause you fly everywhere. 1010 00:41:30,066 --> 00:41:33,133 And so getting from place to place 1011 00:41:33,133 --> 00:41:35,366 is relatively easy. 1012 00:41:35,366 --> 00:41:39,566 So it's easy to do that. 1013 00:41:39,566 --> 00:41:42,366 I guess one of the things that the scientists often 1014 00:41:42,366 --> 00:41:44,766 forget on complicated missions like this 1015 00:41:44,766 --> 00:41:46,733 is that you have-- 1016 00:41:46,733 --> 00:41:48,366 you have four subjects. 1017 00:41:48,366 --> 00:41:49,933 You have lots of experiments. 1018 00:41:49,933 --> 00:41:51,100 And they have to share. 1019 00:41:51,100 --> 00:41:53,566 They have to coordinate with other scientists. 1020 00:41:53,566 --> 00:41:55,566 And frequently, that's a bit of a leap for them. 1021 00:41:55,566 --> 00:41:57,333 They're used to doing their science. 1022 00:41:57,333 --> 00:41:58,466 And you have to-- 1023 00:41:58,466 --> 00:42:00,666 you have to work to put everything together. 1024 00:42:00,666 --> 00:42:03,333 Certain experiments can't be done back-to-back. 1025 00:42:03,333 --> 00:42:06,633 And that integration is sometimes difficult 1026 00:42:06,633 --> 00:42:10,200 and requires a lot of 1027 00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:12,433 coordinating and compromising, 1028 00:42:12,433 --> 00:42:15,200 and so I think 1029 00:42:15,200 --> 00:42:17,066 that's one of the things that make-- 1030 00:42:17,066 --> 00:42:18,266 made it a little difficult. 1031 00:42:18,266 --> 00:42:20,300 As the Payload Commander of my third flight, 1032 00:42:20,300 --> 00:42:22,566 I got a chance to help with doing that. 1033 00:42:22,566 --> 00:42:25,366 And I think we, you know, we built a great team, 1034 00:42:25,366 --> 00:42:27,700 and we all wanted to help each other out, 1035 00:42:27,700 --> 00:42:30,000 and so, making that work 1036 00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:31,700 was one of the more complicated things. 1037 00:42:31,700 --> 00:42:34,433 People are--scientists are used to doing their science, 1038 00:42:34,433 --> 00:42:37,366 and their lab, and having all the time. 1039 00:42:39,533 --> 00:42:41,766 - Hi, Dr. Seddon. Thank you for your talk today. 1040 00:42:41,766 --> 00:42:44,633 A good number of us got to work with Bob Phillips, 1041 00:42:44,633 --> 00:42:46,566 in the years after SLS-1. 1042 00:42:46,566 --> 00:42:49,066 And so he passed a couple of years ago. 1043 00:42:49,066 --> 00:42:51,066 I'm wondering if you have a good memory 1044 00:42:51,066 --> 00:42:52,433 that you might share with us, 1045 00:42:52,433 --> 00:42:54,533 of something that--since he ultimately didn't get to fly, 1046 00:42:54,533 --> 00:42:57,800 but I know he served as CAPCOM on the mission, but-- 1047 00:42:57,800 --> 00:42:59,033 - Bob Phillips 1048 00:42:59,033 --> 00:43:02,066 was a veterinarian who trained with us for SLS-1-- 1049 00:43:02,066 --> 00:43:04,466 a wonderful, wonderful guy. 1050 00:43:04,466 --> 00:43:05,966 And we just loved him. 1051 00:43:05,966 --> 00:43:09,566 He developed a health problem during our training 1052 00:43:09,566 --> 00:43:13,333 that made him ineligible for flight. 1053 00:43:13,333 --> 00:43:17,466 And we wanted to remember him in a way-- 1054 00:43:17,466 --> 00:43:21,566 we couldn't put his name on our-- 1055 00:43:21,566 --> 00:43:23,133 our crew patch, 1056 00:43:23,133 --> 00:43:24,766 and that was unfortunate. 1057 00:43:24,766 --> 00:43:27,533 We felt--we felt he should be remembered. 1058 00:43:27,533 --> 00:43:33,366 He represented us in-- 1059 00:43:33,366 --> 00:43:36,033 in the Payload Operations Control Center. 1060 00:43:36,033 --> 00:43:38,833 Do you see the P? 1061 00:43:38,833 --> 00:43:40,433 P for Phillips-- 1062 00:43:40,433 --> 00:43:43,066 so we were happy to be able to do that, 1063 00:43:43,066 --> 00:43:45,000 and I think it was special for him. 1064 00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:46,400 And, you know, 1065 00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:49,366 he lived many, many years with that health problem-- 1066 00:43:49,366 --> 00:43:53,200 and probably wouldn't have affected his being in flight. 1067 00:43:53,200 --> 00:43:55,633 But we were sorry he didn't get to go, 1068 00:43:55,633 --> 00:43:58,333 but he was so excited about the mission itself. 1069 00:43:58,333 --> 00:44:02,733 So thank you for mentioning Bob. Wonderful guy. 1070 00:44:02,733 --> 00:44:05,566 - You have been such a trailblazer 1071 00:44:05,566 --> 00:44:08,166 and accomplished so much in your life. 1072 00:44:08,166 --> 00:44:11,133 What is your next goal? 1073 00:44:11,133 --> 00:44:14,033 - I mentioned that I had married 1074 00:44:14,033 --> 00:44:15,633 a fellow astronaut-- 1075 00:44:15,633 --> 00:44:18,566 Captain Hoot Gibson, a pilot astronaut. 1076 00:44:18,566 --> 00:44:20,400 He commanded four shuttle missions. 1077 00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:22,933 He flew as the co-pilot on his first one. 1078 00:44:22,933 --> 00:44:25,166 I would love to write his book. 1079 00:44:25,166 --> 00:44:26,566 It is a totally different book. 1080 00:44:26,566 --> 00:44:29,200 It's the pilot's side of things. 1081 00:44:29,200 --> 00:44:34,200 But, just as I served as his spouse during his missions, 1082 00:44:34,200 --> 00:44:37,900 he served as my spouse during my missions, 1083 00:44:37,900 --> 00:44:40,266 and has many funny stories about it. 1084 00:44:40,266 --> 00:44:42,766 Bo can tell you that he's quite a character. 1085 00:44:42,766 --> 00:44:46,900 One of his flights was known as Swine Flight. 1086 00:44:46,900 --> 00:44:48,600 They--if you read the book, 1087 00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:50,366 they all snorted at pretty girls. 1088 00:44:50,366 --> 00:44:52,933 Of course, that wasn't politically correct, 1089 00:44:52,933 --> 00:44:54,366 but they did it anyway, 1090 00:44:54,366 --> 00:44:57,500 and so they were known in the office as Swine Flight. 1091 00:44:57,500 --> 00:44:59,400 But they--he made it fun. 1092 00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:00,733 And, as I mentioned, 1093 00:45:00,733 --> 00:45:03,866 if you can have a crew get together and have fun 1094 00:45:03,866 --> 00:45:06,433 in the midst of all this stress, it's wonderful. 1095 00:45:06,433 --> 00:45:08,933 So I think that's my next one. 1096 00:45:08,933 --> 00:45:10,733 I'm hoping that he'll let me do it. 1097 00:45:10,733 --> 00:45:15,033 I learned a lot by doing this first one. 1098 00:45:15,033 --> 00:45:16,166 We have a question down here? 1099 00:45:16,166 --> 00:45:19,300 Have you got one back there? 1100 00:45:19,300 --> 00:45:22,033 - Hi, thank you very much for the talk. 1101 00:45:22,033 --> 00:45:26,033 In the cramped conditions of the middeck and the Spacelab, 1102 00:45:26,033 --> 00:45:28,866 how did you avoid--or what were the countermeasures in place-- 1103 00:45:28,866 --> 00:45:30,966 to not, like, bump into a switch 1104 00:45:30,966 --> 00:45:33,666 or snag on a wire or something like that? 1105 00:45:33,666 --> 00:45:35,233 And did you ever mess up an experiment 1106 00:45:35,233 --> 00:45:37,233 because of something like that? 1107 00:45:37,233 --> 00:45:39,333 - I'd like to think we didn't. 1108 00:45:39,333 --> 00:45:42,300 And probably-- probably someone has. 1109 00:45:42,300 --> 00:45:44,900 The important switches are guarded. 1110 00:45:44,900 --> 00:45:48,466 There are little things around each switch. 1111 00:45:48,466 --> 00:45:51,500 And the ones that are critical-- the ones up on the flight deck 1112 00:45:51,500 --> 00:45:54,100 above the captain, the commander, 1113 00:45:54,100 --> 00:45:55,100 and the pilot's seat-- 1114 00:45:55,100 --> 00:45:57,133 all have guards down over them. 1115 00:45:57,133 --> 00:45:58,466 So, in order to activate them, 1116 00:45:58,466 --> 00:46:02,966 you have to lift the guard to move the switch. 1117 00:46:02,966 --> 00:46:05,800 Occasionally, things got kicked or bumped. 1118 00:46:05,800 --> 00:46:07,766 Everything was made very sturdy. 1119 00:46:07,766 --> 00:46:10,833 The plugs that we plugged in 1120 00:46:10,833 --> 00:46:13,633 were super heavy-duty, 1121 00:46:13,633 --> 00:46:16,433 and had to be screwed and locked in. 1122 00:46:16,433 --> 00:46:19,433 But it was one of those things that you had to worry about. 1123 00:46:19,433 --> 00:46:20,800 You couldn't just go flying around. 1124 00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:23,700 And you learned how to move smoothly and gently, 1125 00:46:23,700 --> 00:46:25,400 and watch things. 1126 00:46:25,400 --> 00:46:26,966 I think there was probably-- 1127 00:46:26,966 --> 00:46:30,533 we went back in the lab to play around one day 1128 00:46:30,533 --> 00:46:32,233 and took some pictures, 1129 00:46:32,233 --> 00:46:34,566 you know, of off-hours with astronauts, 1130 00:46:34,566 --> 00:46:35,933 and were goofing around. 1131 00:46:35,933 --> 00:46:37,800 And when we were done, 1132 00:46:37,800 --> 00:46:40,200 there was an experiment that had been turned off. 1133 00:46:40,200 --> 00:46:43,500 And we probably kicked something in that area. 1134 00:46:43,500 --> 00:46:44,800 We'll never know. 1135 00:46:44,800 --> 00:46:48,133 But I can't think of any major catastrophes-- 1136 00:46:48,133 --> 00:46:49,933 things that were broken or not. 1137 00:46:49,933 --> 00:46:52,533 Everything had to be super strong to deal--you know, 1138 00:46:52,533 --> 00:46:55,066 to keep the safety people happy. 1139 00:46:55,066 --> 00:46:56,366 Not a lot of glass to break, 1140 00:46:56,366 --> 00:46:58,666 or things that were too delicate. 1141 00:46:58,666 --> 00:46:59,833 So we had to-- 1142 00:46:59,833 --> 00:47:01,866 we had to worry about it. 1143 00:47:01,866 --> 00:47:03,333 One down here. 1144 00:47:03,333 --> 00:47:04,566 - Did you--you did a lot 1145 00:47:04,566 --> 00:47:06,066 of experiments related to weightlessness. 1146 00:47:06,066 --> 00:47:10,133 Did you do any experiments related to space radiation? 1147 00:47:10,133 --> 00:47:11,233 - Space radiation-- 1148 00:47:11,233 --> 00:47:12,366 it's kind of one of those things 1149 00:47:12,366 --> 00:47:14,166 that we worry about for going 1150 00:47:14,166 --> 00:47:16,533 into interplanetary space, to Mars. 1151 00:47:16,533 --> 00:47:19,733 And I don't think we have all the answers to that. 1152 00:47:19,733 --> 00:47:22,266 We did wear radiation monitors. 1153 00:47:22,266 --> 00:47:25,366 And so, you know, 1154 00:47:25,366 --> 00:47:28,333 we made sure that at least, when we got back, 1155 00:47:28,333 --> 00:47:31,200 they could tell us that we hadn't had a lot of radiation. 1156 00:47:31,200 --> 00:47:33,533 It was interesting-- on SLS-1, 1157 00:47:33,533 --> 00:47:36,300 we got back and we were saying hello to everybody-- 1158 00:47:36,300 --> 00:47:37,466 somebody said, 1159 00:47:37,466 --> 00:47:41,433 "Could you feel that-- that sunburst?" 1160 00:47:41,433 --> 00:47:44,166 That--those sun things-- 1161 00:47:44,166 --> 00:47:45,366 whatever it was that was-- 1162 00:47:45,366 --> 00:47:48,400 you know, they'd had a-- had a solar flare. 1163 00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:50,533 "Could you feel the solar flare? " 1164 00:47:50,533 --> 00:47:51,600 And we were going, 1165 00:47:51,600 --> 00:47:53,666 "What solar flare?" 1166 00:47:53,666 --> 00:47:55,000 And I guess the folks in Mission Control 1167 00:47:55,000 --> 00:47:57,333 decided that it wasn't gonna be a problem. 1168 00:47:57,333 --> 00:47:59,066 They didn't even tell us about it, but-- 1169 00:47:59,066 --> 00:48:00,433 and I don't think the radiation 1170 00:48:00,433 --> 00:48:03,100 that we had was that much higher. 1171 00:48:03,100 --> 00:48:04,400 I know that they-- 1172 00:48:04,400 --> 00:48:07,233 that we go back to NASA every year for physical exams, 1173 00:48:07,233 --> 00:48:09,733 and they watch astronauts 1174 00:48:09,733 --> 00:48:12,766 to see if there are any untoward effects that they can-- 1175 00:48:12,766 --> 00:48:15,133 they can say were caused by radiation. 1176 00:48:15,133 --> 00:48:18,000 But no, I didn't do any of the radiation experiments. 1177 00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:21,566 I liked life sciences instead. 1178 00:48:21,566 --> 00:48:22,566 How we doing? 1179 00:48:22,566 --> 00:48:23,700 - Good. 1180 00:48:23,700 --> 00:48:25,766 - Hi, thank you for the talk today. 1181 00:48:25,766 --> 00:48:27,500 My question is, 1182 00:48:27,500 --> 00:48:31,033 what was going through your mind on your very first mission, 1183 00:48:31,033 --> 00:48:33,133 right after the solid rocket boosters ignited 1184 00:48:33,133 --> 00:48:34,500 and liftoff occurred, 1185 00:48:34,500 --> 00:48:37,833 and you realized that you were going to space? 1186 00:48:37,833 --> 00:48:40,633 - My first thought was, "We blew up." 1187 00:48:40,633 --> 00:48:42,500 [laughter] 1188 00:48:42,500 --> 00:48:43,566 - You're sitting on the launch pad, 1189 00:48:43,566 --> 00:48:45,233 and you're looking at the sky. 1190 00:48:45,233 --> 00:48:47,533 And, of course, you're very worried about 1191 00:48:47,533 --> 00:48:49,133 whether you're really gonna get to go or not. 1192 00:48:49,133 --> 00:48:51,766 And Bo can tell you that, until the very last 1193 00:48:51,766 --> 00:48:54,500 of our launch window they said, 1194 00:48:54,500 --> 00:48:56,433 "Hey, hey, Commander, you know, 1195 00:48:56,433 --> 00:48:58,766 what's the best way to get this thing off the ground?" 1196 00:48:58,766 --> 00:49:01,766 And Bo said, "I think you could pick up the count." 1197 00:49:01,766 --> 00:49:02,833 And he said, 1198 00:49:02,833 --> 00:49:04,933 "Okay, in 30 seconds. 1199 00:49:04,933 --> 00:49:06,866 T-minus nine minutes and counting." 1200 00:49:06,866 --> 00:49:09,066 So it was, you know, 1201 00:49:09,066 --> 00:49:11,233 it was just kind of like, "Oh, we really are going today." 1202 00:49:11,233 --> 00:49:12,833 We had decided we weren't going. 1203 00:49:12,833 --> 00:49:14,066 And you're sitting there, 1204 00:49:14,066 --> 00:49:17,100 and you--and the-- when the main engines start, 1205 00:49:17,100 --> 00:49:20,600 the tip of the top of the shuttle rocks back. 1206 00:49:20,600 --> 00:49:22,233 And so you can see the launch tower, 1207 00:49:22,233 --> 00:49:24,000 and you can see that you're rocking back, 1208 00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:25,900 and you know, when you come to upright, 1209 00:49:25,900 --> 00:49:27,866 the boosters are gonna ignite. 1210 00:49:27,866 --> 00:49:29,833 And there's no way 1211 00:49:29,833 --> 00:49:32,500 for anybody to tell you what that's gonna be like. 1212 00:49:32,500 --> 00:49:35,100 There's no simulator that simulates that. 1213 00:49:35,100 --> 00:49:38,633 It really, really feels like an explosion. 1214 00:49:38,633 --> 00:49:41,200 And I was looking at my hands in my lap, 1215 00:49:41,200 --> 00:49:44,766 and thought, "I'm gonna watch my body disintegrate." 1216 00:49:44,766 --> 00:49:46,266 And luckily, I was on the flight deck, 1217 00:49:46,266 --> 00:49:48,300 and I could look at the computer screens 1218 00:49:48,300 --> 00:49:52,000 and see that we were still going in the right direction. 1219 00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:55,433 But the ride on the boosters is just incredible-- 1220 00:49:55,433 --> 00:49:59,166 lots of noise, vibration, acceleration. 1221 00:49:59,166 --> 00:50:01,300 And that first launch, 1222 00:50:01,300 --> 00:50:04,066 I think you're--there's nothing that can prepare you for that, 1223 00:50:04,066 --> 00:50:05,533 other than somebody telling you 1224 00:50:05,533 --> 00:50:08,033 it's gonna be something like you've never felt before. 1225 00:50:08,033 --> 00:50:09,566 My husband describes it 1226 00:50:09,566 --> 00:50:12,400 like it's a catapult off a carrier-- 1227 00:50:12,400 --> 00:50:14,433 you know, just an-- all of a sudden jerk-- 1228 00:50:14,433 --> 00:50:16,566 but yeah, you have to-- 1229 00:50:16,566 --> 00:50:18,466 you have to be willing to take that risk 1230 00:50:18,466 --> 00:50:22,500 and be ready to go. 1231 00:50:22,500 --> 00:50:24,733 In the back. - Hi. 1232 00:50:24,733 --> 00:50:27,266 So my question is, when you were-- 1233 00:50:27,266 --> 00:50:29,233 you were talking about, when you were a young girl, 1234 00:50:29,233 --> 00:50:32,466 you had a lot of people believe in you 1235 00:50:32,466 --> 00:50:37,433 and propelling you forward-- mentors and things like that. 1236 00:50:37,433 --> 00:50:39,800 So I'm wondering, you know, what was it that 1237 00:50:39,800 --> 00:50:41,800 made them believe in you and want to do that? 1238 00:50:41,800 --> 00:50:43,266 And, like, what young--or, 1239 00:50:43,266 --> 00:50:46,300 what advice would you have for young women who are, 1240 00:50:46,300 --> 00:50:48,633 you know, have these sorts of dreams 1241 00:50:48,633 --> 00:50:52,333 and want to be pioneers today? 1242 00:50:52,333 --> 00:50:53,766 - Well, you know, back then, 1243 00:50:53,766 --> 00:50:55,800 there were just certain things that women were supposed to do, 1244 00:50:55,800 --> 00:50:57,866 certainly in the South. 1245 00:50:57,866 --> 00:51:01,100 But luckily, my parents had some friends, 1246 00:51:01,100 --> 00:51:03,333 a couple of women doctors. 1247 00:51:03,333 --> 00:51:05,700 And they told me, you know, 1248 00:51:05,700 --> 00:51:07,300 "You can do it if you want to do it." 1249 00:51:07,300 --> 00:51:09,600 I had a father who was very supportive. 1250 00:51:09,600 --> 00:51:11,966 You know, "Of course you can do that." 1251 00:51:11,966 --> 00:51:13,000 There were a lot of dads that said, 1252 00:51:13,000 --> 00:51:14,333 "Ladies don't do that" 1253 00:51:14,333 --> 00:51:15,666 or "Girls don't do that." 1254 00:51:15,666 --> 00:51:20,266 And so I had a lot of support at home. 1255 00:51:20,266 --> 00:51:22,800 But there were just things that I wanted to do, 1256 00:51:22,800 --> 00:51:24,966 and I was gonna try to do them. 1257 00:51:24,966 --> 00:51:26,533 I always had a back-up plan. 1258 00:51:26,533 --> 00:51:30,833 If I--if that wasn't gonna work, I'd try something different. 1259 00:51:30,833 --> 00:51:33,033 But as I went along, luckily, 1260 00:51:33,033 --> 00:51:36,833 I met enough people who told me I could do it-- 1261 00:51:36,833 --> 00:51:40,000 a few people who, in subtle ways, 1262 00:51:40,000 --> 00:51:43,133 told me I couldn't do it. 1263 00:51:43,133 --> 00:51:45,733 But, when you want to do something passionately, 1264 00:51:45,733 --> 00:51:49,366 and you want-- you want to try to do it, 1265 00:51:49,366 --> 00:51:50,966 it doesn't hurt to try. 1266 00:51:50,966 --> 00:51:53,900 And that's what I tell young women. 1267 00:51:53,900 --> 00:51:55,866 Follow your dreams. 1268 00:51:55,866 --> 00:51:57,933 Reach for things that have never done before. 1269 00:51:57,933 --> 00:52:00,066 Don't be afraid to go first. 1270 00:52:00,066 --> 00:52:03,033 'Cause if you really want to do it, you'll figure out a way. 1271 00:52:03,033 --> 00:52:06,133 Or you'll figure out a way to do something similar. 1272 00:52:06,133 --> 00:52:10,300 So, you know, I encourage women who have achieved 1273 00:52:10,300 --> 00:52:14,166 to please tell young women that they can do this, 1274 00:52:14,166 --> 00:52:15,400 that they can do that, 1275 00:52:15,400 --> 00:52:16,800 that they can do what you do. 1276 00:52:16,800 --> 00:52:18,633 They can do what you wanted to do 1277 00:52:18,633 --> 00:52:21,100 but couldn't at the time. I was fortunate. 1278 00:52:21,100 --> 00:52:24,066 I was in the right place at the right time, 1279 00:52:24,066 --> 00:52:28,366 and so I think I was lucky in many ways. 1280 00:52:28,366 --> 00:52:32,566 The good Lord looked out for me, I guess. 1281 00:52:32,566 --> 00:52:34,300 Other questions? 1282 00:52:34,300 --> 00:52:37,300 - Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. 1283 00:52:37,300 --> 00:52:40,800 I think a lot of the vital-- 1284 00:52:40,800 --> 00:52:42,300 vital information 1285 00:52:42,300 --> 00:52:45,933 on the effects of weightlessness on humans 1286 00:52:45,933 --> 00:52:48,633 has been researched for many years-- 1287 00:52:48,633 --> 00:52:51,000 you know, every single-- every single mission. 1288 00:52:51,000 --> 00:52:54,133 And I think that a lot of the-- a lot of the new things-- 1289 00:52:54,133 --> 00:52:55,400 while those, you know, 1290 00:52:55,400 --> 00:52:57,600 macro-scale experiments are still occurring, 1291 00:52:57,600 --> 00:52:59,000 and should still occur, 1292 00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:02,100 a lot of the current experiments are more molecular. 1293 00:53:02,100 --> 00:53:05,433 Where do you see physiological experiments going in the future? 1294 00:53:05,433 --> 00:53:08,500 Where do you want to want to see us head 1295 00:53:08,500 --> 00:53:11,566 in biological research? 1296 00:53:12,933 --> 00:53:15,400 - You know, I think that there are so many things 1297 00:53:15,400 --> 00:53:16,633 that we could study. 1298 00:53:16,633 --> 00:53:19,566 Molecular biology is certainly one of them. 1299 00:53:19,566 --> 00:53:24,733 I think it's gonna take NASA developing the equipment 1300 00:53:24,733 --> 00:53:28,066 to allow us to do that and putting crews big enough, 1301 00:53:28,066 --> 00:53:31,333 with enough training, up there to be able to do that. 1302 00:53:31,333 --> 00:53:34,833 Those of us who worked with the animals on SLS-1 and 2 1303 00:53:34,833 --> 00:53:36,000 were very disappointed 1304 00:53:36,000 --> 00:53:39,666 when the animal holding cages and workstations 1305 00:53:39,666 --> 00:53:42,200 were defunded for station. 1306 00:53:42,200 --> 00:53:43,966 They're doing a little bit of it, 1307 00:53:43,966 --> 00:53:46,466 but not with the really sophisticated equipment 1308 00:53:46,466 --> 00:53:48,900 that we were able to use on Spacelab. 1309 00:53:48,900 --> 00:53:51,333 So I think there are many, many things 1310 00:53:51,333 --> 00:53:54,300 that could be proposed and done. 1311 00:53:54,300 --> 00:53:57,366 I think that there are animals that would be good models. 1312 00:53:57,366 --> 00:53:58,866 We can use centrifuges. 1313 00:53:58,866 --> 00:54:00,333 We can, you know, 1314 00:54:00,333 --> 00:54:02,166 put more sophisticated equipment 1315 00:54:02,166 --> 00:54:04,700 for molecular biology up there-- 1316 00:54:04,700 --> 00:54:07,000 many, many things that we can do. 1317 00:54:07,000 --> 00:54:11,366 It just depends on the funding and the will to do it. 1318 00:54:11,366 --> 00:54:13,966 I will mention that-- 1319 00:54:13,966 --> 00:54:17,233 something that you said made me think about it. 1320 00:54:17,233 --> 00:54:19,966 A lot of the science 1321 00:54:19,966 --> 00:54:21,400 that have been done on humans 1322 00:54:21,400 --> 00:54:23,066 have been done on men. 1323 00:54:23,066 --> 00:54:25,833 And on these two flights, we had men and women. 1324 00:54:25,833 --> 00:54:27,266 And we compared the data, 1325 00:54:27,266 --> 00:54:29,800 and men and women adapt to weightlessness just the same, 1326 00:54:29,800 --> 00:54:31,700 so we've answered that question. 1327 00:54:31,700 --> 00:54:33,400 I'm sure there will be subtle differences 1328 00:54:33,400 --> 00:54:34,866 that someone will be able to find out, 1329 00:54:34,866 --> 00:54:39,166 but the major things were the same. 1330 00:54:39,166 --> 00:54:42,866 Rats are good models for some systems and not others. 1331 00:54:42,866 --> 00:54:45,600 Certainly cells would be wonderful-- 1332 00:54:45,600 --> 00:54:47,466 to be able to take up cells 1333 00:54:47,466 --> 00:54:51,566 and--and do studies on them without having to fly rats. 1334 00:54:51,566 --> 00:54:54,666 But it's a brave new world out there, 1335 00:54:54,666 --> 00:54:57,300 but we have the ideas. 1336 00:54:57,300 --> 00:54:59,233 I think we have the technology. 1337 00:54:59,233 --> 00:55:03,200 We just have to have the funding to make it happen. 1338 00:55:05,733 --> 00:55:10,533 - As the commander on Rhea's first flight, 1339 00:55:10,533 --> 00:55:12,333 I had some concern that we had 1340 00:55:12,333 --> 00:55:15,366 one woman and six guys on board. 1341 00:55:15,366 --> 00:55:18,500 Well, with a strong, professional woman like Rhea, 1342 00:55:18,500 --> 00:55:22,300 those were about the right odds. 1343 00:55:22,300 --> 00:55:23,366 - Thank you, Bo. 1344 00:55:23,366 --> 00:55:25,133 [applause] 1345 00:55:29,233 --> 00:55:31,366 - Luckily, my first commander was a supporter 1346 00:55:31,366 --> 00:55:33,766 and was always encouraging, 1347 00:55:33,766 --> 00:55:37,600 and there were no major problems, were there? 1348 00:55:37,600 --> 00:55:39,400 We had a good time too. 1349 00:55:39,400 --> 00:55:41,800 Always great to have a good commander. 1350 00:55:41,800 --> 00:55:44,266 - So please join me in thanking 1351 00:55:44,266 --> 00:55:48,500 astronaut Dr. Rhea Seddon for an excellent talk. 1352 00:55:48,500 --> 00:55:49,866 Thank you very much. 1353 00:55:49,866 --> 00:55:51,200 - Thank you so much. 1354 00:55:51,200 --> 00:55:52,533 - Thank you. Thank you. 1355 00:55:52,533 --> 00:55:56,433 [applause]