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>> Hi, everybody.

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I'm NASA's Josh Byerly here in
Mission Control, and I'm joined

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by my friend Chris Edelen,

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who is actually the
Expedition 34 Lead Fly Director,

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and that means he's
got a fairly busy job

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over the last five months or so.

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But Chris is, you know,
we're getting ready to wrap

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up Kevin Ford, Evgeny
Tarelkin, and Oleg Novitskiy.

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You know, the time's almost
done onboard the Space Station.

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So talk a little bit about
what this crew has done and,

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you know, what you
have been up to.

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>> Chris Edelen: Okay.

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Well, it's been a
very busy increment.

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The focus has been primarily
on research and utilization,

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putting the Space
Station to work.

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In fact, the primary
focus of the crew

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and their motto is
reflected in their crew patch

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"from the Earth, for the Earth";
and that reflects their desire

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to leave the confines of the
Earth's gravity field to get

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above the atmosphere and
to live and work in space

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and to conduct research that
not only advances the agencies'

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exploration goals but also
benefits all of humanity.

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>> Josh Byerly: So talk about,
they set a record -- right --

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for number of hours spent
working on science utilization.

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Talk a little bit about
what they've done and some

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of the big things
they're worked on.

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>> Chris Edelen: Okay.

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Yeah, and that's right.

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We've -- we're on track to
set a record for total number

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of utilization hours,
and that's NASA speak

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for scientific experiments
and research.

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>> Josh Byerly: Right.

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>> Chris Edelen: And we also
set a record for one time hours

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in a specific week; so that
really shows how the station

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program is maturing and we're
reaching the point we've gone

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from a focus on assembly
operations now to utilizations

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so that the taxpayers get a
return on their investment

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for the -- for the cost
of building station.

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So again, we're -- we're
learning how to more effectively

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and efficiently operate the
station's systems to free

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up more time for research.

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I'll give you a couple
specific examples

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of some exciting
experiments that are going on,

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onboard the station right now.

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One of them is called
CSLM, that's Coarsening

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of Solid Liquid Mixtures; and
that's an experiment that flew

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up on the Spacex Dragon.

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And here you can see Chris
Hatfield working on CSLM

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in the microgravity
science glove box.

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This is -- this is a
material science experiment

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that examines how
molten metals solidify,

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and in the solidification
process and dendrites are formed

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in the coarsening
of the minerals.

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And the dendrites are -- they're
little tree-shaped structures,

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microscopic structures in the
crystal; and they affect the --

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the physical properties,
the strength

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and the density of the material.

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So on Earth it's -- there are
various processes at play,

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such as sedimentation
and convection;

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but we can eliminate those
effects by, you know,

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casting this metal on orbit.

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So that -- that's the
goal of CSLM is to --

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to do the casting without those
interfering effects of gravity,

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and then take the -- the
resulting materials back

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to Earth and examine them

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so that we can better
understand how to --

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how to make metals such as
engine blocks or turbine blades.

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If we better understand
the physical processes

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of coarsening, we can
build better materials.

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>> Josh Byerly: There's some
fish onboard too, aren't there?

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>> Chris Edelen: That's right.

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We flew up 32 Medaka fish on
the 32S Soyuz back in October

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with -- with the crew,
and they were living

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in the aquatic habitat
facility in the Japanese module.

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>> Josh Byerly: Which
is like an aquarium.

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>> Chris Edelen: That's right.

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It's a high-tech space aquarium,

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and so this is a
Japanese experiment.

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The -- it's -- the acronym is
most for Medaka osteoclast.

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And the purpose of
the experiment is

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to study how the bones are built
and destroyed in zero gravity

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without the effects
of Earth's gravity.

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The osteoclast control the
building up process of bones,

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and so -- so by studying
this in 0G,

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we can better understand
what genes and --

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are at work in the production
and destruction of bones

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and how removing
gravity can effect that.

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And, of course, we want
to understand these things

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so that -- so that we can keep
our crews healthy during long

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duration space flight.

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But there's all kinds of
benefits and applicability

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to Earth for people
with osteoporosis

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and other bone diseases

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to better understand
the basic processes

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of how osteoclasts
and osteoblasts work.

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>> Josh Byerly: So
why don't we look

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at the five months you've been
the lead fly director for 34.

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Has it been busy?

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Has it been -- I mean, has
it gone by pretty quickly?

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How has it been?

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>> Chris Edelen: It's
gone by more quickly

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than I thought it would.

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>> Josh Byerly: [laughter]

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>> Chris Edelen: And, in fact,

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the crew has said the same
thing, that each week seems

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like about a day
because it just flies by.

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They're very busy onboard, but
things have gone very smoothly.

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We've been able to accomplish
all the research objectives

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that we wanted to.

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We've had a total of 166
experiments on this increment,

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with over 400 principle
investigators.

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>> Josh Byerly: Wow.

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>> Chris Edelen: So we've gotten
a lot of good science done; and,

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again, that was the
primary goal;

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and so it's very gratifying
to have completed that.

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>> Josh Byerly: So
last question for you.

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You know, as you look
back on the five months

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that you spent working on
this unit, what's been sort

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of the biggest -- what do you
think is the biggest thing

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that you're proud of -- most
proud of; and then what's been,

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like, the biggest
surprise you've had?

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>> Chris Edelen: Okay.

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Well, the thing I'm most
proud of is my team.

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>> Josh Byerly: Yeah.

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>> Chris Edelen: Not
only the guys on orbit

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that have done just great work,

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but the people here
to the ground.

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As Increment Lead Flight
Director, I've been privileged

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to work with a team of
lead flight controllers,

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some of which are here
in Mission Control,

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others are in Palla's
Operation Center in Huntsville,

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and the other international
partner control centers

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around the world.

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So that's been -- that's been
the most gratifying part is just

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being part of just an excellent
team that has the same vision

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to advance the calls of
human space exploration.

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>> Josh Byerly: Yeah.

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Well, Chris, thank
you for your time.

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You know, if you want to
learn more about everything

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that Expedition 34 has
worked on, you can also log

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on to the NASA website at
www.nasa.gov slash station.

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Take a look at Ford and
Tarelkin and Novitskiy,

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and also take a look at what's
ahead for the crew that's coming

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up at the end of the month

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that will join Expedition
35 in progress.

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Of course, they've got a ton
of science going on as well.