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okay jeff so first question for you is

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um

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uh how long have you been back on u.s

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soil um maybe just kind of tell me how

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how long it's been

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i've been back on u.s soil for a week

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now landed last week tuesday night in

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central kazakhstan and i was back here

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in houston

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landing at ellington field about 24

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and you know just kind of talking about

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the different number of space flights

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that you have bet that you have taken uh

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what is it like up in space maybe just

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talk about the experience uh what's been

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the worst and maybe the best experience

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for you

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well uh yeah i've been up there four

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times now over many years the first time

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was in 2000

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uh in every flight that i've been on was

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dedicated to the space station the last

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three flights were long duration flights

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on the space station

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each of a duration of about six months

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or so

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so over those flights i had the

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opportunity to

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to see the space station in its

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different phases of assembly

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all the way from early on when it was

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just two modules before expedition one

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got there

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and then subsequently about halfway

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through the assembly

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then when we were finishing up the

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assembly and now when it's in full

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utilization mode and really seeing the

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science and the laboratory work

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and the studies of us frankly uh just

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taken off the way i had always hoped it

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would be uh you never get tired of being

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up there uh the uh the view of the earth

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from that vantage point is just

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um and you after all these years that

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you've been doing this do you still get

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nervous uh when flying up or um i guess

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coming back down to

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earth i wouldn't say that i get nervous

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but we're all very much aware of the

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risks involved we're very much aware of

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the effort put in by the team the

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international partnership to mitigate

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those risks

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to understand when we find things that

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are wrong or of issue

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which we do periodically the teams do a

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very good job of addressing those things

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to get it corrected so that we continue

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to mitigate the risk

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so i wouldn't say i get nervous i

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most of us do take those major

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significant phases of flight like

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getting there and getting back very

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seriously and it's not over till it's

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over and even though you you're

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approaching the end of a six-month stay

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on board the space station you always

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have that

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deorbit burn and the entry and the

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landing under parachute in front of you

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and you never cease to take that

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seriously so it's not over until it's

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over and you're

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motionless on the ground and then you

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can consider

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and speaking about kind of the the

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health aspect of it

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does being in space affect your health

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or have you

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specifically studied that area when

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you're up in space

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we're all guinea pigs when we're up

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there so we spend a significant amount

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of time participating in experiments

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that study the effects on the human body

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and that's both pre-flight work as well

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as in flight and now in post flight in

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fact the last week

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most of my time has been spent

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taking medical related data

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from my body to try to

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quantify the effects of this uh flight

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well we're up there generally we're all

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we all stay very healthy we uh go into

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quarantine before launch

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so we're not going to get the normal

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flus or viruses or

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bugs of different sorts onboard space

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station

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so we're in a very clean environment up

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there and generally we stay healthy

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and when are you planning on coming back

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to winter wisconsin

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i don't know yet the the dust has to

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settle now as i kind of get

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re-acclimated to being just back on the

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earth

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spend some time with my family here

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in houston

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but i'm sure i'll get up to wisconsin at

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least uh within the next year and a half

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or so usually it works out very well to

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go up there in the springtime before

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school is out so i have the chance to to

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talk to students in the area uh so

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knowing the schedule now in the next six

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or eight months

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it's unlikely i'll get up there although

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it's possible uh that's why i think

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and speaking about kids i guess what is

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your advice for for people or children

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who want to pursue a career in astronomy

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and becoming an astronaut

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well what i tell young folks is to

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pursue the passions that develop

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for them you know what areas uh attract

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their interest uh where are their

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talents uh

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what opportunities do they have

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uh you hear we all hear it often said

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that you can be anything you want to be

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and in my opinion that's that's really

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not true we have to have certain

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abilities um we have to develop passions

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uh to to be motivated to work hard

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towards something and then of course the

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doors have to be open uh we have to gain

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the opportunities to do that so if a

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young person especially or a person of

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any age has an interest in science

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engineering technology i say pursue it

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with all your gusto

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work hard and then be ready when the

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opportunities open up to enter the doors

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for those opportunities and continue to

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to nurture those passions and interests

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and and use those gifts that you have to

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thanks again chef and thanks for this