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yes thankfully it's tethered so station

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this is Houston are you ready for the

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we are ready for the start of the event

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kgo-tv this is Mission Control Houston

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please call station for a voice check

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TV we hear you loud and clear space

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station over that's great so I guess I

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start the first question is for Dawn you

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were in space six months and now since

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December so tell us what it's like to be

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it it's like it's a difference between

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going on a sabbatical and going on a

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vacation if you do a short space flight

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like a shuttle spaceflight you're you're

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up there for maybe two weeks on a

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mission that's a long mission and that's

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kind of like a the same amount of time

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is what you take for a vacation even

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though there's a lot of work it's not a

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vacation and and staying up here for six

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months at a time you get to really know

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the feel of the place you get acclimated

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to the weightless environment and you

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can really roll up your sleeves and get

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some work done and it sounds like you

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have done just that we want to see and

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just happen to have it available here

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and I've already put a little tea in

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this one and I'm going to hand it to

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Andre and the key to these kinds of cups

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and now I'm going to put a little tea in

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you

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and a normal cup of course will not work

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in a weightless environment the liquid

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would just stay in the bottom of the cup

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and then when you move the cup the

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liquid would splash out and make a mess

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but but this cup because of its shape

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and it has a cross-section kind of like

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an airplane wing and that acute angle a

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lap makes a channel where capillary

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forces will move the fluid up that

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channel and just Park it next to the lip

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and then the shape of the meniscus

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controls the liquid so you can move it

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around and not splash so now you could

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just put your lips up here on the lip

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and you could take a sip so Andre and I

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will just do a little toast let me get

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so so these cups even even though you

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win it you wouldn't drink out of these

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cups all the time but we're up here for

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for many holidays and and and other

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occasions and it's kind of nice to be

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able to drink in a manner that's not

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unlike what human beings are used to

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drinking on earth when we go into a

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weightless environment where we don't

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have to suck all our fluids out from a

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bag through a straw ten-four on that

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next questions for Andre so you they say

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dreamed of being an astronaut since you

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were a teenager but you went to medical

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well actually it has to save origin I

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was I caught some science fiction books

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for my grandmother and in there there

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were also some some planets where I did

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a lot of biochemical research very

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futuristic and so I have the same source

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as the dream to become an astronaut and

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astronauts come from all disciplines

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there at the technicians and engineers

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the pilots medical doctors scientists so

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actually it's not such a strange choice

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and with that background what have you

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learned or what are you looking to learn

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about like the human body and how it can

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endure space missions and long spacious

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space missions like this of course the

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human body is not really made to be in

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this condition we have to deal with with

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several short-term issues like a fluid

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shifts and especially in the beginning

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of the flight space motion sickness and

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then later on we have problems with a

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big muscle muscle loss and bone loss

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emit radiation and these are very

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challenging topics how to deal with

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those we're training a lot to to keep

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the bone mass in order and these are

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things that we can also use for four

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people on ground the population is

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growing older and older so this might be

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fair useful information and I like to

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add a little bit to that life evolved on

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earth with all kinds of changing

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environments temperatures change

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pressures changed the chemical

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environment changed acid base except

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gravity gravity has been held constant

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for billions of years as if we have

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evolved in the tenderest of incubator

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and now by going into an orbital

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environment we can reduce the magnitude

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of the local gravity by a factor of a

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million and this gives an amazing

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laboratory environment to study life

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itself and how it operates it's a new

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experimental knob to vary and the fact

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that a complex organism like a human

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being can come here where we've changed

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an environmental factor by a million and

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we could still basically operate I find

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to be amazed

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zeen one more quick question for Andre

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and I want to ask you both about the

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mission to Mars but well Andre two

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things one can you pronounce your last

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name for me so I get that correct and

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also it sounds like you're going to be

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up there longer than expected little a

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yeah first my name is gopis gopis which

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in English would be Cooper and well it's

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indeed a bit longer it's six weeks

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longer but actually three weeks because

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we launched it at three weeks delay and

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yeah it's so special appear I don't mind

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to stay a bit longer okay and then you

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can each answer this but it looks like

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because of budget cuts the Obama

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administration is saying no to the

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mission to Mars for 2016 and 18 a lot of

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scientists are disappointed how do you

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actually I haven't been following the

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politics since I've been up here and and

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I've heard a little bit about this but I

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haven't really read any of the details

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about what's going on so so I'm going to

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have to plead ignorance to the details

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of this I do think that doing creative

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and far-reaching exploration is a metric

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for how viable your society is viable

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societies societies that are setting the

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pace for what's happening in the world

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these societies are the kind that

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explore and so this is a facet of

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American culture that we do not want to

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Andre it's not your budget I realize but

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do you find exploration on Mars to be

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well actually a lot of these these

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missions are international and also for

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the poor European Space Agency of course

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the cancellations of programs where you

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sighs and falls are of course

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disappointment but are pretty sure that

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this is all temporarily because we will

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continue to explore the universe and be

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it nationally or internationally so I

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have optimistic and I'll see these

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missions in the future happening for

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sure gentlemen those are all of my

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questions for you this has been really

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cool and amazing for me I appreciate it

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anything else you want to add or say it

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the International Space Station is an

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amazing place to work and explore and

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it's very much on the frontier much like

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explorations of centuries past and

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people may not think about space as

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being a frontier but it really is the

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the answers are not in the back of the

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book and we discover things that that we

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can't just look in the back of the book

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and and and figure out what's going on

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we have to go huh and and sort out the

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solution ourselves and and it really

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doesn't get any better than that when

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you're living on a frontier and in fact

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that's one of the reasons why we go to

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frontiers is to to learn new things so

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Space Station it's an amazing place to

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be it's something we should all be proud

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last thoughts Andre yeah well I'm here

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now for for half a year and it's it's

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really a place that I could be longer

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even it's a special place an

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international the place which is very

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nice to work with all the different

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nationalities here and all the different

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ground stations and this is something i

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like very much we are now in lowered

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orbit and i hope really in the future

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that this kind of missions million to

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gentlemen thank you both very much you

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station this is Houston ACR that

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concludes the kgo-tv portion of the

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event please stand by for a voice check

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from ABC Radio Network hello station

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this is ABC Radio News in Washington DC

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ABC radio in Washington DC Andy we read

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you loud and clear thank you gentlemen

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thank you for taking time to talk with

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us waiting about and watching what you

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do there is fascinating too many folks

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on earth and in the United States many

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people don't realize the value of what

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you are doing there can you explain dr.

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CalPERS and dr. Pettitte can you explain

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to folks here on earth who are facing

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tremendous budget problems why it is

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what you're doing is so important to

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those of us here on earth yes well Space

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Flight is it's not something that is

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standing alone what we're doing here is

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research that is done by institutes and

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universities on ground these scientists

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are doing all kind of research that that

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brings us further that gives us more

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knowledge and technical applications and

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some of the end some of the aspects of

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their research can only be done in

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microgravity conditions and that's why

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we have this fantastic facility up here

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to support all the scientists on the

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ground so it's not something that is let

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the people that are only doing space

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research it's part of their of the

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general research which gives us all this

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this extra knowledge and applications

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doctor and I'd like to add to add to

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that about the value of doing research

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much a research in the here and now does

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not give you a tangible result the

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result doesn't doesn't come forth for

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maybe 5 10 15 years in the future

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sometimes even more it's like planting

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trees you plant this little seedling and

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you don't get any shade for 20 years and

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and research is much like that another

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aspect we're exploring we're living and

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working in a frontier

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unlike any other place on the planet and

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exploring as a society I think isn't as

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a metric for the viability of your

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country when countries decide they don't

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want to explore any more when they can

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when they focus all their resources on

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themselves for themselves in the here

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and now that sets you in a different

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category then than societies and

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countries that continue to explore and

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you can look at the history of what's

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happened on planet earth and you can see

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which countries are defining what's

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going on and and these countries

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continue to explore so so we need to

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continue to explore space in this epic

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of time happens to be the premier

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frontier this question for dr. Pat it

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how is the the fact that we no longer

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have space shuttle flights coming to you

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that you have to rely on other countries

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how has that affected what you do on the

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space station there any concerns about

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well we're reliant on the Russian space

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vehicle so use now to get cruise up and

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down from space station and so they are

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the ones that run that program and and

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they're the ones that that when there's

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a technical issue they have to be they

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have to be the ones that solve it and so

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we stand by and wait for them to figure

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out what the issues are so so if you

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don't have your vehicle then you can't

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you can't call the shots anymore it's

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sort of like if you have a colony across

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the ocean but you don't have any ships

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but you want to maintain the colony you

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have to rely on those that have the

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ships and we as America are in the

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process of making a new vehicle which is

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a real good thing it's unfortunate that

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we we stopped flying the old vehicle

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before we had a new vehicle operation on

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and I understand some of the reasons for

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that and it is what it is so

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we will we will have another vehicle

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sometime in the future and and when we

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do it will add to the robustness of our

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space program gentlemen for both of you

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when when we were all children in the

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60s and 70s we were just energized by

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the space program now you are doing this

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research and some of its extraordinary

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but people don't know what it is and

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NASA is a little more out of the public

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eye how do you get that excitement back

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for students for children for people in

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this country so that they buy into the

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exploration well one thing I I don't

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think the excitement is gone

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particularly when you talk to children

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more children now want to be astronauts

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and president united states and add kids

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in particularly are really excited about

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space so when i talk to kids anywhere

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from K through university level they all

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want my job and of course I tell them

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you have to study math and engineering

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and and science if you want to do my job

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and you can still see that there are

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some bright eyes in the audience so so I

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don't think the enthusiasm for the

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younger generation has waned at all one

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thing i will say space station is a

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laboratory we're doing science and

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science in the process of being done is

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sort of boring it's kind of like

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watching a rider sitting at his

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typewriter typing up his latest novel it

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goes pretty slow and you read a little

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bit over your shoulder and you don't

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quite figure out what the story is and

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and it's kind of boring however when the

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novel gets written then it could be

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exciting and captivate your attention

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and science is a lot like that in the

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process of doing page like this morning

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I was doing combustion experiments we

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are working on flames and and if you

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watch the video of that and put you to

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sleep but if you look at the science

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behind it it's really really exciting to

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look at what happens with combustion in

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a weightless environment so so when the

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story is told it will be exciting but

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the process it's boring well can I

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follow up with that in and

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ask you a question about the isolation

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of being on the space station you are

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looking at this beautiful earth every

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day out your window and yet you can't

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touch it and you have to wait months to

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well actually you're not so isolated we

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are in constant contact with the ground

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be it on a professional level of course

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with reduced in Huntsville and the other

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centers but also on a private level we

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can talk about families we can we can

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make our phone calls and we even have

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video context so we can see the families

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once per week so I don't feel isolated

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at all I feel really connected to the

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planet although I'm out of it so I can I

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can easily switch my Mountain my mind

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and I can be I can feel that I'm really

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outside the planet and in space and then

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the next moment I can feel very attached

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to the beautiful planet down below or

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above depending on how I look out of the

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window and dr. Bennett how do you deal

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with the isolation of being away with it

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actually I agree with Andre we don't

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feel like we're isolated up here we

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don't feel like there's any any form of

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isolation because we we're at constant

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contact with the ground I I send emails

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to my boys and my wife every day and we

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have video conferences we've got an

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internet telephone and and we could call

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whenever we have the right kind of K you

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ban coverage so so I don't really feel

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isolated I felt more isolated when I

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spent two months in Antarctica then I do

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here on the space station and gentlemen

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I've always wanted I've always wanted to

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ask this question of astronauts what is

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it like to be weightless all the time

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being weightless is one of the enjoyable

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aspects of being up here it's something

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that you can't do on the surface of

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Earth being weightless is is is just out

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of this world now that's definitely

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something you cannot do on the planet

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here dr. CalPERS other nights it's

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really a pleasure to be weightless and

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it's even it makes your space station

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four times as big because your eyes are

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the dominant factor so whatever you look

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at that's the ground meaning that you if

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you if you want to change of scenery you

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00:20:32,540 --> 00:20:31,020
just take another place and then you

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have a new space station it's really

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nice so what is next for the space

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program here what is it that that people

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here in the United States who are again

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dealing with the original question about

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budgets can get excited about and say

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wow this is something we're going to

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look forward to well

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part of it is just we we have a program

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to reap the rewards you gotta roll up

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00:21:04,590 --> 00:21:03,160
your sleeves that do a lot of detailed

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00:21:06,360 --> 00:21:04,600
work and that's what we're doing right

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00:21:08,820 --> 00:21:06,370
now in terms of the science on space

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00:21:10,230 --> 00:21:08,830
station and you know the space station

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00:21:11,970 --> 00:21:10,240
the space program is not about

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00:21:14,580 --> 00:21:11,980
entertainment it's not really about

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00:21:17,850 --> 00:21:14,590
wowing the public the space program

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00:21:20,010 --> 00:21:17,860
itself is about exploration it's about

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advancing our knowledge and sometimes

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this comes very slow and like I said

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before sometimes it could be a bit on

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the boring side so so I think the

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fundamental thing to to plant in your

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mind is the space program is not about

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entertainment and there are aspects

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about the space program that are

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entertaining there are aspects about the

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space program that hold your interest

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but the fundamental purpose is to do

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this detailed exploration this detailed

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advancement of our knowledge whether

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it's in low-earth orbit like we're doing

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now or whether it's going back to the

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moon or going to Mars or doing a

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00:21:58,250 --> 00:21:55,540
near-earth object like an earth-crossing

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00:22:01,650 --> 00:21:58,260
asteroid it doesn't matter these are all

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00:22:05,220 --> 00:22:01,660
aspects of exploring space and there's

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00:22:08,970 --> 00:22:05,230
all kinds of benefits and knowledge to

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be gained by doing these and the process

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00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:11,260
is going to be slow and sometimes it

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will be exciting sometimes it will be

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00:22:20,130 --> 00:22:16,480
boring but the purpose is not about

435
00:22:22,110 --> 00:22:20,140
entertainment doctors thank you so much

436
00:22:28,470 --> 00:22:22,120
for your time for talking to ABC Radio

437
00:22:35,250 --> 00:22:31,350
it's been a pleasure you've asked really

438
00:22:36,870 --> 00:22:35,260
good questions I appreciate you and your

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00:22:41,700 --> 00:22:36,880
listeners taking an interest in our

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00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:41,710
space program a station this is Houston

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00:22:51,190 --> 00:22:49,210
Thank You kgo-tv an ABC radio network