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international space station this is

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yes i am

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c-span this is mission control houston

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station this is c-span how do you hear

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c-span station

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we go in five four

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three

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two

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joining us from the international space

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station is commander stephen swanson who

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is currently on board commander swanson

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thank you very much

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commander swanson if we wouldn't mind

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tell us a little bit about the current

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activities of the international space

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station how many members of crew do you

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good question we have six crew members

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up here right now

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three russians

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two americans and one german

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mostly we do is science up here we have

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over 170 experiments going on right now

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but also we have to maintain the station

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and keep it running smoothly and

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commander with the science experiments

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that you're currently conducting can you

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tell us a couple of things generally

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what areas do they fall into

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and why is it that these need to be

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yeah so they vary tremendously we have

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outside the alpha magnetic spectrometer

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which is looking for dark energy and

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dark matter

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something that we're trying to figure

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out just the basic physics of how

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our universe came to

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be

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from that we also go all the way to

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human research on our bodies

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how do we change

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in the microgravity environment

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can

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specifically our eyes our muscles our

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bones and we're looking at details about

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that and that can have applications all

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on earth on people with different

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diseases have the same kind of reactions

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we just get to see it at a more rapid

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pace up here and that's pretty much for

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all the science the idea here is uh

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things change up here enough that people

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can analyze

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how different uh

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pieces or or science uh objectives uh

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change in this microgravity environment

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it's just different than on earth and

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that gives them another data set to look

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at to compare to and that is gives them

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so

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commander because you're up there in

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microgravity talk a little bit about the

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the extent of the science is it are we

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talking basic research or advanced

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well it's most i mean i i feel

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advanced research is looking for dark

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energy there's also advanced research we

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do in combustion and cancer research

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we're looking at t cells but there's

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also just basic science research we're

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trying to understand certain uh basic

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physics properties and all sorts of

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other things so it is both there's just

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so much science going on it's just

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uh the

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experiments that you conduct how many

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are nasa

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sanctioned taxpayer-funded how many come

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from private sources

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experiments that you take on from other

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you know i don't really know the numbers

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but they're right there definitely come

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from different areas

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we do have some nasa ones we have some

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actually from the european space agency

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we have some from the japanese space

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agency we have some from the russians

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and then we have a whole

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group called cases which takes in

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science experiments from all over the

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u.s and combines them into

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a sort of a group from that area and

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they get to fly also on board too so

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it's a it's a whole bunch of different

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places that i know our science com our

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experiments come from i just don't know

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you spoke about life

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in microgravity i suspect and you kind

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of address this the toll it takes on a

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body could you give our folks an example

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of what it's like being you there living

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in an atmosphere without gravity and if

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you can move around a little bit just to

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yeah that's a good thing you know first

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of all you can see anything you hold

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just floats when you let go of it and

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that is good and bad one it doesn't drop

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to the ground but the bad thing is if i

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don't watch this in about 10 seconds

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it's going to float off and i'll

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probably take me another hour to find it

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so that's the negative of that but

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you're right moving around is also very

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much fun so i'll give you a quick

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yeah i'm not a gymnast on earth so i so

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this is the only place i get to do that

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how long did it take you to get the use

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of that do you hit your head and things

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oh definitely at the beginning

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it's definitely more difficult we have a

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little competitions now and it's the

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idea is you have to get the rotation

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without any side movement and then you

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can see how many rotations you can do

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before you hit something so that's a

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give our viewers a sense of how large

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the station is we're only seeing a small

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portion of it but what are we talking

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well it's about the volume of a 747

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really and so it's quite big it's quite

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large it's uh about 250 feet long and at

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certain spots it's maybe 130 40 feet

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wide at certain spots so it's actually

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quite quite big for volume wise it's

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only six people up here so it's not like

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you're crowded up here at all

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so you said there were six people uh

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again from different uh countries

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working together on this what's it like

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what's the working relationship like

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it's a very good working relationship up

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here

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um we've trained together beforehand as

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a crew and so we got to know each other

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very well and we still work together on

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a daily basis and we have really no

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issues i mean yes there's always

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cultural differences but we've learned

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those we've learned how to get around

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any issues and so we're all good friends

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now up here and it seems to go quite

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smoothly

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commander here on earth there are

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current issues concerning tensions

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between the united states and russia you

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have three russian cosmonauts on board

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do those issues get discussed on board

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and do you get any discussions about

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yes they do get discussed just like any

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news event that comes on we will discuss

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it

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understand all that we also understand

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it doesn't affect our work and our

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relationship with each other we're

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always friends and so it really doesn't

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what are the nature of the discussions

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oh that's a good question it varies

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depending of course on the topic but on

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say the the u.s russian relations we uh

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just could delve into you know more in

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the politics of each country and and uh

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and

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break it down that way you can kind of

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see what's going on a little clearly a

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little more

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clearly the science side commander for a

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for instance if russia decided once at

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one point because of relations here they

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wanted to pull back on work of uh the

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space station how is the united states

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affected by that and what goes on and

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how is the science experiments affected

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well right now the science is pretty

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much separated between the

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u.s side or since the u.s

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which includes

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the european european space agency

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jackson canada

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all those and then the russian side so

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the science is somewhat separated

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however we do require the

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russians for us to get up here and to

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get back down right now hopefully in a

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few years we won't need that but right

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now we need that to

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happen and that is probably the biggest

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deal right there and if we can't get up

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commander you can move around if you

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wish if you're tired holding that

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position if you want to take the the mic

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with you um as far as manning and

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staffing the station um many of much of

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that now depends on commercial aircraft

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uh commercial spacecraft what's been the

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experience with these commercial

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spacecraft staffing and supplying the

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right now they're just supplying the

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station

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and uh we're very happy that we have uh

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american cargo vehicles coming up it's a

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great uh advancement these are good

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vehicles

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so it does offload our dependence upon

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russia

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and other countries for that

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so we are happy about that and we are

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definitely looking forward to the next

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development when we do get to do crew on

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an american vehicle and that will change

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our dynamic quite a bit

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but for right now it's just uh the cargo

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coming up and uh matter of fact

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hopefully we'll have one here in less

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than a month to come up here and give us

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some new food and new science to work on

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uh as far as you said the the next step

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what's involved in the next step and how

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oh sorry yes the next step well the next

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step is actually proving out the vehicle

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is safe for

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uh humans which are we have a few

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companies now who are bidding for that

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uh opportunity right now and uh once

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they start into their project the end of

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that project hopefully by 2017 we will

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have a manned test of an american

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vehicle at that time and they'll

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probably do one test flight and maybe

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just station maybe not

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but then the next one from then on we'll

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start being rotating crew members on the

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how much input do you and the other crew

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members have

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to these private companies how is it

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well i personally don't have input but

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our astronaut office and nasa does have

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input and so

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i believe it's received quite well from

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talking to the folks who do that work

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and

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because these companies want to

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succeed they want the contracts and they

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want to build a good vehicle they really

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do and so they do listen and they try to

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make the best vehicle they can of course

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it is a cost analysis

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going on at the same time so they can't

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build you know the most luxurious

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cadillac out there however they build a

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commander you talked about moving

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forward these dates of 2017 that you

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talked about as far as the station

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itself how long is it going to remain

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that's a good question right now i

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believe it's done paper to 2024

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and that's just more to certify the life

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of certain components and also for the

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resupply missions for certain things

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so it could it could go longer if we

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wanted it all depends on where we want

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uh what do you mean by that

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well if we want to go the nasa budget is

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limited and there is a you know a

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portion of it goes to space station and

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keeping it running and so if we also

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have a different

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task that we want to take on say going

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to the moon or mars or an asteroid or

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wherever it happens to be and we might

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not be able to do both at the same time

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given how

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what's the role of the station in future

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all right now i think what i mean for

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helping out our future space flight the

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station is a test bed we test all sorts

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of things out up here you know right now

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we have a recycling system for water

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that we're working on and so we recycle

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all our water you know condensate urine

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everything and we need that if we're

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going to go other places and that's just

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one example there's many different

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examples we have like that we're testing

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out new technologies up here that will

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enable us to go farther

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so you would say the station's needed

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that's a good question

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i'm not sure it's needed it would

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definitely be a good test bed for all

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sorts of things we can easily get things

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up and down from here

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more than you could if you're going on a

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long mission somewhere else so that's

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where you can if you want to make an

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update to your your product or your your

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equipment you can do that more easily so

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it's a great testbed

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however again though it's all about

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having a limited amount of money and

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where you want to spend your money and

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so if say by 2024 nothing's decided as

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far as the future of the station what

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well

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again that's going to be a decision uh

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for uh

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for a management you know the the

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i guess i would consider the our

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politicians and the ness administration

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uh however if it does if they decide

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that was no longer needed yes they will

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deorbit the station and it will burn up

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uh commander swanson we uh every day go

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through our normal lives here on a

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gravity atmosphere what's it like on a

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day-to-day level in a weightless

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atmosphere tell our viewers some of the

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things they might not expect about

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living in space the things you kind of

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have to overcome because of the

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yeah

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it's really the simple things that are

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much more difficult up here i mean uh

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you know you're getting up the morning

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just shaving and getting yourself ready

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in the morning i have to admit my

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commute is awful uh short it's from

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about 20 feet behind me so i don't have

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to go far but i still just little things

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like that in the morning just you don't

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have a sink to wash up in and your water

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doesn't of course run down so then you

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have to shave totally differently you

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have to brush your teeth differently

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eating is also a chore

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because everything floats again and it

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comes in packages and it all wants to go

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everywhere

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so all these little things and even

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you know tying your shoe actually ends

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up being difficult for some reason we

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use gravity to bend over to get to your

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your shoe uh you don't have that here so

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you have to be a little more flexible

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just all these little things that you

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didn't think about

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make it just a little less efficient

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to be up here however i say there are

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many benefits we do love it up here uh

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this whole the whole floating thing is

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just a very fun thing to do looking out

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the window is fantastic it just can't be

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so commander swanson though once you

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return to earth living in the

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environment you're currently living in

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that's a good question we work out two

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hours every day up here to help in that

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return and the idea is that we so our

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muscles will be strong and our bones

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will not lost any bone density and that

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way when we get back we used to really

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have to worry about what they call it

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our neural vestibular system and uh once

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that gets back under control which it

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varies

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a lot between people

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and so uh but once that gets it back

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under control

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you're still strong and your bones are

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good so it just takes about six weeks

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worth of rehab right now and you're back

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up into the 95 percentile maybe even

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higher than that how you're feeling and

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um when you return to er how long have

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i've been on board about two and a half

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your background is in computer science

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how do you end up an astronaut on a

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a good question well i did go to work

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for nasa which was a big help for me

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and and i decided that being an

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astronaut was a goal so um

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really what i also worked on was

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aircraft control systems that's where my

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main work at nasa was on and that of

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course could play into working on the

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shuttle and also then helping out and

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then i just got lucky in the selection

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process that's really there's so many

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qualified people who try to be

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astronauts it takes a little bit of luck

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00:16:50,230 --> 00:16:48,160
just to get in and i just happened to

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get a little lucky i had all the the

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requirements needed and just a little

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bit of luck and i made it

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so commander in about 30 seconds tell us

404
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about the best experience you've had on

405
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oh the best experience is uh well

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probably always looking out the window

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and the best way to look out the window

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00:17:13,270 --> 00:17:11,280
is not have a window in front of you

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that's going on a space walk and so

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that's probably the best experience

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heading out the door

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it's a it's a good time it's a fantastic

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feeling it is a little pressure uh on

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you at the same time but boy it's quite

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a experience and it's something i'm

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00:17:33,270 --> 00:17:31,029
commander steven swanson who is on board

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the international space station talking

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to us about experiences there

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my pleasure take care