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hi guys welcome to mission control

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houston i'm kelly humphries and this is

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veteran astronaut mario renko we are

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ready for your questions

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all right do you want the students to be

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hi this is mrs sukumar from bedford high

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school

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do you want me to um ask the questions

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one at a time or do you want the

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students to be asking a question

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uh we'd love to hear directly from the

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students but they do need to speak up so

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we can hear the voices and i want to

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make sure they know that mario knows new

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jersey he went to rutgers university and

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uh is originally from new york so he

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knows your area

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very nice so let's uh start with brandt

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wilson he's a great 11 student he's a

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junior at our school

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how long have you been

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how long have i been in space uh i i had

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done three missions uh the first one was

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1991 on sts-44 that was with the space

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shuttle and then i did two more space

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shuttle missions uh in 93 and in 96 and

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the total time among all missions

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uh is was about 21 days total which now

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it

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days compared to what the guys spend on

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okay that's that's a great question and

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just a reminder be please get to the

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microphone and speak up so we can hear

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you it's a little hard

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sure um the next question is from brian

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mclachlan he's a great um night student

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he's a

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freshman

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all right brian's not here but i'm gonna

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ask the question that brian had asked on

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his behalf his question is how is space

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always expanding and where does it

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how and why is space expanding and what

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is it expanding into that is a great

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question that i don't think we know the

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answer to at this point uh space is is

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as far as we have sensed with our uh

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hubble space telescope and other uh

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orbiting observatories like the

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gamma-ray observatory

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we know that there are objects that we

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can see

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uh and sense uh out 13 billion light

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years

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from earth so and that's really the

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extent of of the known universe the

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objects in within that space that the

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known universe are expanding away from

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each other into

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uh distances farther than uh the 13

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billion light years now remember a light

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year is about 6 trillion miles so i said

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13 billion times 6 trillion so that's

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the distance to the farthest known

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extent of the universe at least today

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and that's a darn good question and

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maybe brian will be able to to become

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the scientist that figures that out

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you know the other part of that is what

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exactly is in all of that space and one

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of the experiments on the international

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space station the alpha magnetic

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spectrometer is doing sifting through

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the various cosmic rays and particles

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that come

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to earth to try to identify a little bit

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more about things like matter antimatter

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and this theoretical dark matter

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that we believe exists because we can

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indirectly sense it but we don't have

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any direct measurements of that

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and so it's a really interesting

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experiment and having the space station

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orbiting the earth

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provides us the power to operate that

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outside the earth's atmosphere and look

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more at what is in between the matter

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and we're ready for your next question

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and i'm sorry we're not able to hear

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i'm sorry you may want to check your

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microphone and verify that it's in a

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and why you're doing

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and while you're doing that let me

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comment about what uh kelly had just

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said and that is with uh the dark matter

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uh

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construct a a thing called dark matter

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and that's because

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uh for example the milky way galaxy our

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own galaxy has matter in it and it is

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spinning around in a disc like fashion

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but the rate of spin

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is is such that the centripetal

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acceleration outward that would throw

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uh the the objects within the galaxy

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like the ball at the end of a string

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when you let go of the string they would

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fly outward and not stay as part of the

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galaxy but there's enough gravity within

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that uh galaxy to hold everything

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together but the the matter and the mass

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that we know of in the objects that we

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can see is not enough to do that so

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they've invented dark matter

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to try and

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solve the equation so it makes sense so

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there's something there we just can't

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sense it and we don't know uh what it is

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now there is some uh there are things

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out there called rogue planets that are

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like the earth or jupiter that do not

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revolve around the star so they would be

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dark planets that we can't see so maybe

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there's that's one maybe that's one

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possibility that's not so exotic that

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that would account for that extra mass

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okay i'm hearing that we may have gotten

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the audio connection fixed you want to

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try another question guys yes we do

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that's about we can hear you now

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yeah how do you feel in space do you

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feel more inspired and at ease or do you

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become cynical

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uh good question i i actually it's the

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it's the former i i feel very inspired

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and and uplifted and uh and the reason

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for that is when you're in orbit around

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the earth you can see most of the earth

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and indeed some of the earlier

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astronauts who traveled farther away

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from the earth like those that went to

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the moon could see the entire earth at

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one time and it is so spectacularly

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beautiful and majestic and and likewise

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when you look out into the universe you

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see the stars and

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and the celestial sky in in much more in

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a much more vivid fashion and and and

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your being among them uh that in that

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setting just is is very exhilarating and

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and inspirational and and and actually

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we had talked earlier kelly and i about

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uh some of the work we were doing uh

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here at nasa that that is related to

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that in terms of uh taking images of the

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all right next question um next question

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is from michael holmes uh he's a

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freshman and his question is

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what do you use to work out in space

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oh good question and you really need to

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work out in space uh

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i'll answer the the question let me just

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say firstly that

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on earth gravity is working on us all

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the time and for example like my heart

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is pumping blood right now

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up against gravity to my head to keep me

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conscious so i don't keel over in the

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chair

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and when gravity is removed the heart

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doesn't have to work so hard yet when i

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come return to earth it has to go back

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into that environment so we need to stay

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conditioned because muscles that you

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don't use as everyone knows tend to grow

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weaker so we need to maintain at least

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the level of strength that we had when

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we left the earth and we use

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devices such as ergometers and

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treadmills and and cycling machines and

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bungees uh in a fashion that are all uh

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designed using uh springs and and the

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like to mimic uh gravity for example if

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i'm running on a treadmill uh there are

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bungee cords holding me to the treadmill

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such that i can actually run on the

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treadmill and and and it works and and

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then uh

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we use uh bungees and stuff and spring

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like things to to mimic weight lifting

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and the like so we try to do and there

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are many devices that have been

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developed to to help and facilitate that

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exercise protocol

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and just to add on to that

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there are

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bone density loss is another important

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thing when you do the long duration

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stays in space and so doing this kind of

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exercise puts

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force onto your bones in the same way

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that you would put force on your heels

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when you walk and that helps keep the

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bones strong which is a really important

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thing and research into that is also

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helping us solve problems that people

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have on earth like osteoporosis

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some of your grandparents may have

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experienced that and have it's too easy

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to break a hip or whatnot because of

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that and some of the research in space

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is helping us apply what we're learning

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there uh two diseases we have here on

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earth and so that's another part of

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exercise on orbit because these folks

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all come stay up there for about six

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months and then they've got to re-adapt

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to being on gravity when they get home

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and in the case of osteoporosis it

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happens if we don't exercise we tend to

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develop those symptoms in the very short

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period of time in a matter of weeks and

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months so we can study that

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whereas normally on a person on earth it

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would take a lifetime before they

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develop any symptoms so we have a very

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accelerated laboratory in which to

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develop drugs and protocols to to maybe

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address that and that's what kelly was

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talking about and nutrition too because

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they're learning that nutrition and

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exercise and combination have a really

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important effect on how well you're able

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to keep fit aboard the space station i'm

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next question

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um i'm john gilbert i'm a senior i

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wanted to know how did your navy career

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prepare you to be an astronaut ah good

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question uh i my my navy career uh i was

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a meteorologist oceanographer and i was

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watch officer

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in the navy and the scientific part of

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my background the meteorology

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oceanography

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helped with my ability to understand all

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of the technical parts of

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what is needed to operate in space

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orbital mechanics and the like so i have

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a very

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rigorous

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engineering scientific background

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the navy portion of it is the crew of a

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ship uh much uh like the crew of a

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spaceship uh is is based in operations

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and and it's very similar when you're

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operating on board a ship or a submarine

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to when you're operating in a spacecraft

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as a crew you learn to operate as a team

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you learn your systems on the ship and

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and indeed many of them uh

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actually they're all the same as say

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that uh for example there's

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environmental systems on the ship as

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there are on the spacecraft so uh some

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of the hardware is different and how it

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is it functions is different but the

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principle and and why it's there uh is

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basically the same so it's it's a very

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very close one-to-one relationship

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between operating in a naval environment

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as a space environment and interestingly

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enough one of the crew members on the

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space station right now also is a navy

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next question

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i'm sean i'm in uh 9th grade and i my

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question is what made you want to be an

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astronaut

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well i've always had a uh

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a desire to to learn new things and and

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to understand uh the universe uh what's

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out there uh but very specifically when

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i was very young at age five years old

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the first uh satellite went into orbit

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sputnik and then uh shortly thereafter a

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few years later uh the first human

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beings uh yuri gagarin and alan shepard

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went into orbit around earth and

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uh i knew then that's exactly what i

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wanted to do and i feel very very

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fortunate and and privileged to have had

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the opportunity to do so and i'm very

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lucky to be here sitting uh talking to

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go ahead yeah what do you think is your

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most significant accomplishment in all

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your space missions as an astronaut

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my most significant accomplishment the

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most memorable one uh was the one on my

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second mission was when i uh did uh a

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spacewalk

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and and honestly i i guess the the

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the most significant accomplishment uh

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is is in my on my last mission is we had

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a number of technology development

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experiments on board that spacecraft

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both on the uh on the shuttle and others

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that we put overboard and we tested uh

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in in orbit alongside the space shuttle

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and

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in that sense is is is those technology

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development experiments were pushing the

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boundaries of what our capabilities are

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to explore space so i guess that

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in my mind would be something that that

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if we can move to a a an area where we

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can uh explore it more efficiently and

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and go farther out into space is is

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something that i hope uh

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continues and i think some of those were

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directly applicable to the space station

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development weren't they uh actually uh

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yes we had uh uh attitude control uh

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satellite is called the satellite test

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unit it was a device uh that we tried to

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use the forces in earth orbit to control

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the attitude of this uh of the

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spacecraft and and in a sense they do

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that a little bit with the with the

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space station uh we've got gyros that

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move

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uh through angular momentum that can

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torque the space station around uh we

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also have thrusters but we don't use

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those that often and we try to keep the

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space station in an equilibrium point

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where we don't have to use the gyros

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even but uh

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all three together hold the spacecraft

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where it needs to be

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great

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another question

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um

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how does your body shift the gravity to

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no gravity and how do you feel

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well uh the body does a number of

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reactions when you get into a

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space and you're in orbit and and the

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gravity vector is removed primarily and

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and and we had already discussed uh some

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of that with the the bone density loss

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the muscle uh toning loss but uh the

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most immediate reaction that one feels

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is a fluid shift and and again i'm

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sitting here or if i'm standing up uh

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gravity is working to hold my bodily

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fluids the bloods and and in in my legs

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and and arms if i have my arms at my

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side uh when you remove the gravity that

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there tends to be a fluid shift out of

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the legs into the chest cavity and the

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head and if you look very carefully at

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some of the pictures of the astronauts

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in space they do look a little puffy a

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little more full than they do on the

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ground

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and that is because of that fluid shift

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now the a consequence of that fluid

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shift is what we call space adaptation

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syndrome uh

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it's not the same as but it's not very

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much different as it's hard to describe

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as as when you if if you go aboard a

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ship and you have a tendency to be

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seasick

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it is it is a similar reaction uh but

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but not exactly and and you tend not to

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feel very comfortable you got this uh

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maybe a headache uh you might have some

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nausea it depends on the individual uh

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and what what's the good news is is that

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goes away after a few days the body

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adapts you tend to uh

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you know

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not notice it anymore an analogy i would

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draw is if you ever had a tooth filled

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you know with cavity and you had a

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filling done or you had work done on

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your teeth

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you know the first day or two that

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you've had that filling you tend to

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notice it but then after a few days or

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three days

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you don't notice it anymore

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you get used to that feeling and it's

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it's sort of the same with space

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attitude

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okay another question

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um

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my name is brian brooks i'm in ninth

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grade i'm a freshman and i wanted to

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know what does open space smell like

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did i get that right

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smell what does space smell like that's

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a darn good question actually uh the the

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direct answer is

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nobody knows because space would not

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have smell if you're outside because

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it's a it's basically a vacuum and

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there's no way to sense odors because we

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need atmosphere and air for to pass over

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our nostrils to have a sense of smell

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having said that there is a sense of of

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of odor in space and and that tends to

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be

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like uh new car smell if you get into a

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new car everybody most people like the

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smell uh you take it in and that is from

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the outgassing of the materials

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of which the car is made and depending

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upon the spacecraft in the case of the

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space shuttle

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i was not aware of that you know you

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kind of get used to it because you

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operate in in a similar environment in

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simulators you actually train in the

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space shuttle uh at times before launch

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so you're in the real vehicle

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and uh you're also in the in inside your

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suits at times and

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and what i noticed one time after being

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removed from the space shuttle after

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several years i got back inside of one

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and what what struck me was the odor the

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the the smell of the the the space

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shuttle itself is that the that combined

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uh collective of outgassing from the

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materials in the space shuttle in at

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least in the case of the space shuttle

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and

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it

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actually give us a sense of

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of orientation uh for from a sense of

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smell perspective now you're a veteran

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spacewalker i understand there is a

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special smell that comes with coming

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back in the airlock after a spacewalk

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for some folks yes it it when you come

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back in and pop your helmet off again

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it's that it's that that

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odor of the spacecraft that that that

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hits you that that uh it it's it's like

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a sense of home i mean if you walk into

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various uh retail stores or somebody's

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00:19:04,070 --> 00:19:01,840
home there's a slightly different

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characteristic odor and that and and

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that's you know if it's your home and

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that's this and if it's something wrong

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or different then you'll notice it

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okay well i understand that's all the

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time we have for today we want to thank

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you folks for being with us today uh and

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thank you mario for joining us and

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answering the students questions we hope