Speaker 1 (00:00):
[inaudible 00:00:01] for scientific cooperation between countries.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
… two, one, zero, liftoff, liftoff. Americans West off Americans return to to space as Discovery clears the tower.
Speaker 3 (00:00):
Discovery, go at throttle up.
Speaker 4 (00:00):
Discovery roger, go for deploy.
Speaker 5 (00:00):
[inaudible 00:00:19] and everybody in the shuttle program, the crew is go for launch.
Speaker 6 (00:00):
Copy, that [inaudible 00:00:23] orbit.
Speaker 5 (00:00):
We have followed in their footsteps to get up where we are today.
Chelsea Ballarte (00:40):
Good afternoon and welcome to NASA's Johnson Space Center here in Houston, Texas. I'm Chelsea Ballarte. Joined here today by the crew of NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 Mission launching to the International Space Station. No earlier than July 31st. Here on my left, I have Zena Cardman, commander of the Mission, Mike Fincke, the pilot, and we have our mission specialists, Kimiya Yui and Oleg Platonov. We're going to be hearing from the crew in just a little while, but first I want to do some housekeeping. We've got media here with us in the room, we've got them on the phone bridge, and as well as social media using #AskNASA. So if you're on the phone, please go ahead and press 1 to enter our question queue. And if your question has already been asked, feel free to press 2 and then that will exit you from the question queue. On social media, we're looking out for your questions using # AskNASA. So we will get those started in just a minute. But first, let's hear from the crew.
Zena Cardman (01:38):
Thank you. Good afternoon and welcome to everyone. It's wonderful to see those of you here in the room with us and welcome to everyone joining us remotely online. I just want to say thank you so much for being here. It's my privilege to be here with my crewmates from Crew-11. We have been training together since roughly September of… We were all in the unique position of actually training with previous crew assignments. What that has meant for us is an incredible bond that is rooted in gratitude and resilience. It's been such a pleasure to train with this crew. I cannot tell you enough how meaningful it is to have a crew that is as kind and as thoughtful and as wonderful as they are incredibly technically competent, incredible astronauts, cosmonauts coming from multiple agencies, many different backgrounds. They make my job very, very easy as commander. I do want to spend a few moments passing it off to my crewmates for them to say hello as well.
Mike Fincke (02:37):
Thanks, Zena. Wow, it's hard to follow that. So as we saw in the opening remarks or opening montage, we're coming up on 50 years of international space cooperation with Apollo-Soyuz or Soyuz-Apollo. And 25 years later this year for continuous human presence aboard our beautiful International Space Station. And that's a tribute to humans working so well together. And I'm personally looking forward to going back to the International Space Station and I'm looking forward to Zena and Oleg for the first time and flying with my good friend Kimiya Yui-san. We have a really exceptional crew here and I'm looking forward to riding on a dragon.
Kimiya Yui (03:26):
Okay. Oh, Zena-san, Mike-san already explained everything, so not much to add actually, but I'm so grateful to be here and will be able to fly with great crew members. I believe this is one of the best crew members, so we will definitely enjoy our light and also long duration mission on ISS. And actually, yeah, it's very hard to believe actually Zena-san, Mike and Oleg-san, he's the first rookie, they are so capable and Mike-san has a lot of good experience, various kind of experience. So last mission was 10 years ago, so I'm very looking forward to going back to my home, ISS. Thank you.
Oleg Platonov (04:15):
Hello everybody. I am Oleg Platonov and I will be a mission specialist for our Crew-11. And first of all, I'd like to say this will be my first flight in the space and I'm so glad to be here at NASA and I'm really happy to be in our crew and I'm looking forward to have this flight because, as I have already said, this is my first flight and I am very excited this flight. I hope we will have a great time on ISS and we will do a lot of useful and necessary job, necessary work on ISS and a lot of useful research. And also I'd like to say thank you, my crewmates for everything. You help me every time. And also I really appreciate my instructors in NASA, in Russia, my teachers who gave me knowledge, who gave me skills, and I'm very excited to see us in space as soon as possible and on time. Thank you.
Mike Fincke (05:42):
[foreign language 00:05:43]
Chelsea Ballarte (05:44):
Thank you so much for those opening remarks. We're going to go ahead and take some questions here in the room. When you ask your question, please state your name and media affiliation. Do we have questions here in the room?
Will Robinson-Smith (05:59):
Hi, Will Robinson-Smith with Spaceflight Now. Good to see you all today. Maybe just going down the row, can you talk about some of the personal effects that you're going to be bringing with you on station and the reason that you've chosen them, given that you have a limited capability to bring personal effects? Thanks.
Zena Cardman (06:17):
Yeah. For me, many of the things that I'm bringing are photographs, whether that's photos of people who are meaningful to me, family members and friends, or photographs that we're carrying for our team members, just as Oleg said and his introduction, our training team and our instructors and the flight controllers who keep us safe while we fly are so important to this mission. I am also in the… position of having a lot of my stuff on ISS already from my previous training with Crew-9. My father passed away about a year ago, and I'm very much looking forward to reuniting with some cards they sent.
Mike Fincke (06:55):
As for me, I mentioned earlier that we're a whole bunch of milestones coming up. I've been married to my beautiful wife for 25 and a half years, and what I'm bringing up is she's of Indian origin and her part of India from the state of Assam, we wear Gamosas, which is like a silk scarf. And I brought one on my previous two, three missions, three missions, and so I'm going to bring another one. So knowing I'll carry the blessings of the Indian side of my family.
Kimiya Yui (07:28):
For me, just like Zena-san, I am actually bringing a lot of pictures, of course my family members and also my friends and also my colleagues. And I'm really looking forward to take some picture from space and yeah, give it back to the important people for me. Thank you.
Oleg Platonov (07:50):
I also took with me a few pictures, photos and couple toys for my children and nothing something special and only things which will be remind me about Earth, my family, and about my background.
Mike Fincke (08:15):
I'm bringing a picture of Oleg.
Oleg Platonov (08:18):
Thank you, Michael.
Chelsea Ballarte (08:24):
Go ahead.
Mark (08:25):
Oh, thank you Mark [inaudible 00:08:28] Aviation Week & Space Technology. I believe this is for Mike. You've, among your crew, flown the most on the space station and you'll be aboard when you reach the 25th anniversary of constant crew. And I'm just wondering from your perspective, when you started out, did you think that would happen or you wanted it… I'm not sure what your perspective is, but what do you think that is in terms of an accomplishment and historical significance?
Mike Fincke (09:02):
Thanks, Mark. I could probably go on for a half hour [inaudible 00:09:07] but really in short, I was in the astronaut class of 1996. Such famous luminaries as Peggy Whitson, who's currently in space, Don Pettit who just came back. And during that time we didn't have a space station, we were just building it. Part of my first job as a astronaut was to help work with our newly partnered Russian folks. So I was in the FGB, Functional Cargo Block before it flew. Same thing with service module. And so I remember when Space Station was just pieces here on the ground and I cannot say how amazed and proud I am of human beings from all over this planet working together pretty darn well to build this International Space Station, 25 years of continuous human presence. Even though we've had interesting small hiccups along the way, we've done really super well.
(10:04)
We were worried about all these EVAs we were going to do to take to build it, and we did and nobody got hurt and we have a beautiful space station. I'm very proud of our space station. I know it's coming near its time, but this is something I think that humans should just really remember of all the cool things we can do when we work together constructively. I can go on, but that's the short answer, sir.
Chelsea Ballarte (10:30):
We'll take our next question from right up here in the front.
Richard (10:32):
Okay, Richard [inaudible 00:10:34] Newspaper and this question is for Zena and Oleg being that this is your first flight, what's helped you the most prepare for this?
Zena Cardman (10:39):
Oh, my goodness. Well, we have incredible teams who train us for all of the technical side, but I have to say that getting to train with teammates like Kimiya and Mike who have this incredible experience, who have flown before, who have trained and flown on multiple different vehicles, having that different
Zena Cardman (11:00):
Perspective, different approaches to spaceflight. How we solve these problems together has been incredibly valuable. Their friendship and their mentorship have both made the difference for me.
Mike Fincke (11:12):
Right back at you.
Speaker 7 (11:24):
Well, I hope that you will understand me. I'll speak Russian because I want to say a few words in my native language.
Oleg Platonov (11:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (11:50):
True, this is going to be my first flight, but I've had training before. Before, I was assigned as part of [inaudible 00:11:58] mission, and I trained with Aleksey Ovchinin and Tracy Caldwell Dyson.
(12:14)
I was a backup crew member back then, but I spent about 18 months training.
(12:29)
And so I had a full understanding of how the systems works, how vehicles fly, what's happening in space.
(12:40)
And I want to pay homage to my instructors and to my crew members to Zena, to Mike, to Kimiya. They allowed me into the new secrets and updates, so I can promise that I will not let anyone down.
Chelsea Ballarte (13:17):
We'll take our next question here in the room.
Marcus Hervey (13:20):
Hi. I'm Marcus Hervey from Astropreneurs. Interested in the different types of team building activities you participated in preparation for this mission, please. Thank you.
Zena Cardman (13:31):
Yeah, I can start. A lot of it is really just spending time together. Much of our training is at other facilities off-site from Johnson Space Center, and of course half of our crew aren't based here in Houston full-time. We spend a great deal of time training together in Hawthorne, California with SpaceX and also abroad with our [inaudible 00:13:52] Japanese Space Agency and in Russia with Roscosmos. So we get to have time together where we're not only training, but then we can spend our evenings together, exploring the town, exploring the city, just building a bond of friendship in addition to the technical challenges of getting ready for space flight. And I think all of us having done training with previous crews, had opportunities to do training like NOLS with the National Outdoor Leadership School. We all come in with a really solid skill set of how to work together when the stakes are real.
Chelsea Ballarte (14:25):
I'm going to go ahead and take a question on the phone. I know we've got a big list on there. We'll start with Josh Dinner with Space. com.
Josh Dinner (14:33):
For doing this. I have a bit of a logistics question. Probably for Zena or Mike. You have a particularly long transit to the station, 35 hours from launch to rendezvous. Are there any new contingency procedures in place if docking is delayed beyond your 40-hour window? And then for everybody regarding in the 25th anniversary of continuous human space flight, what does that milestone mean for each of you? How did the board for that anniversary shape the legacy you hope to leave with this mission?
Zena Cardman (15:02):
Sure, I can take the first half and then I'll pass it along. As far as the long phasing, we are within our limits for phasing. On the way there was, we would choose a different launch date, and this is a combination of human comfort, but also the consumables within the vehicle. We've got a lot of flexibility in those limits because we're also keeping track of our needs for the downhill. We have to get to the space station, but we also need to get home again. So there's plenty of flexibility built in, and we have great teams of people who are making sure that we stay within those limits.
Mike Fincke (15:35):
And we'll be happy to be in space.
Zena Cardman (15:36):
That's exactly right.
Mike Fincke (15:39):
International Space Station.
Zena Cardman (15:40):
Please.
Mike Fincke (15:41):
Yeah, I think I already kind of answered that. I'd like to give the time to my colleague from Japan.
Kimiya Yui (15:46):
Oh, okay. Thank you.
Mike Fincke (15:47):
And Russia.
Kimiya Yui (15:48):
Yes. So for me, International Space Station is kind of a symbol for the humanity of unity or cooperation. Unfortunately, right now, I think if we look at the news, a lot of news about divide or conflict, but ISS is completely different, completely opposite. We actually, each country has different culture or language, history, but we actually respect each other differences and actually working together and get really great result. So I think this is a very, I mean, hope for the humankind. We can do this. We should remember this great result.
Chelsea Ballarte (16:40):
We're going to continue on with our phone bridge and go to Marcia Dunn with the Associated Press. Marcia, do we have, you? You might be muted. All right, well, we can come back to you, Marcia. Let's go instead to Robert Perlman with collectSPACE.
Robert Perlman (17:09):
Hi, thanks for taking my question. Mike, you mentioned the 50th anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project next week, and you and Kimiya are perhaps old enough to remember the mission. I wonder if you have any particular memories as that mission unfolded as you were kids and watching it. And then for Zena and Oleg, how do you think the legacy of that mission still holds up at 50 years, given that as the ISS comes to [inaudible 00:17:40] so seemingly does the cooperation between Russia and the U.S. in space?
Mike Fincke (17:45):
Robert, hi, Mike Fincke here. I was eight years old, so you guys can do the math.
(17:51)
I remember I was outside with my younger brother, sister and I ran inside to go watch it on TV because I knew it was something really cool, and I knew that at that time I wanted to be an astronaut. And I will say it made a really huge impression on me to see some people from Soviet Union, which at the time we were not very good friends with in the middle of the Cold War, and then these brave American astronauts. And yet they got along really well and cordially and with friendship.
(18:22)
And since then I've had a chance to meet a lot of the Apollo-Soyuz crew, including Tom Stafford and Alexei Leonov and it was like my childhood heroes. I got to meet them and be a colleague for them. In fact, Leonov even once said, after talking to him for a few minutes, he said, "Wait a second, you're not Russian." It's like, "No, sir." So it's a really good memory, but it made a big impression, not just on me, but the rest of the world, that if Soviet Union and United States can work together in space, then maybe we can work together here on Earth too. Yeah, you're much younger than me.
Kimiya Yui (19:00):
That's right.
Mike Fincke (19:00):
So I'm interested to see what you have to say.
Kimiya Yui (19:02):
Actually, I cannot remember that, but yeah, but actually I read that about that in the book when I was in elementary school and I was so surprised actually. During that time, Cold War, so we are really afraid, actually. We may end up like a nuclear war or something like that, but actually at the time, United States and also Soviet Union worked together and get great results. So I was so impressed. I was very little child, but so impressed.
Chelsea Ballarte (19:39):
Okay. We'll take our next question from Ryan Caton with NASASpaceflight.com.
Ryan Caton (19:45):
Hey, everyone. Thanks for doing this. It's great to see you all. For Mike and Kimiya, Mike, you've obviously been involved in the development of Starliner for quite some time. You've flown Shuttle, you've flown Soyuz. Kimiya, you've flown Soyuz. Are there any interesting differences that you two have noticed with the training for Crew 11 aboard Dragon? Thank you.
Mike Fincke (20:06):
So do you want to start and I can finish?
Kimiya Yui (20:09):
Please.
Mike Fincke (20:09):
Okay, so Dragon, it's my fourth spacecraft if you don't count the space station to learn how to fly and SpaceX has done a great job. The differences, every spacecraft is different. First one to learn to fly really was Soyuz, so then Shuttle, but Starliner too. But Dragon is unique and different. The control interface for the commander and pilot is touch screen. We have a lot of insight and I was very happy to see how much situational awareness we can build as flyers. It's a very automated and automatic spacecraft, so we can see the things happening. We don't have as much, what do you say, control sticks to fly. But we have a manual flying capability. So I was really extremely excited to be put on a Dragon crew and learned how to fly from Zena. And our instructors at SpaceX. We're grateful to Paul and the rest of [inaudible 00:21:16] for teaching us. And boy, I really like, I can't wait to fly in Dragon.
Kimiya Yui (21:21):
Yeah, yeah, actually Mike and experienced a lot and actually quite different, of course, Soyuz and also SpaceX Crew Dragon, but I like both, actually. Both good. Concept is different, but both good, so I really want to fly. I mean, looking forward to fly with Crew Dragon, but also want to fly with Soyuz again. So both good.
Marcus Hervey (21:47):
We'll take another question on our phone bridge. Let's go back to Marcia Dunn with the Associated Press. Marcia, we have you this time?
Marcia Dunn (21:54):
Yes. Hi. Sorry about that. I hit the wrong button on the phone. Two of you had your lives disrupted
Robert Perlman (22:00):
… disrupted and put on hold because of the Starliner trouble, Zena and Mike, how difficult was it to deal with all of that and how much commotion did it cause, not just for you, but for the entire astronaut corps?
Zena Cardman (22:14):
Yeah, that's a great question. From my perspective, if I think about it only as an individual and how it affected me, yes, of course it was an unexpected change. But spaceflight is not about me or about any individual, it's about what we can do together. None of us can do this by ourselves. I had many hopes for Crew-9, but my only [inaudible 00:22:38] was to do everything in my control for a safe splashdown of Crew-9. And we did that together. That is the most important thing. And now I have the opportunity to train this wonderful, amazing crew. Life is a journey, it takes many turns and I'm just grateful to be here.
Mike Fincke (22:55):
And yeah, we were very surprised and we were joyed when we got to Starliner up into space and our friends Butch and Suni docking to the Space Station, and then things changed. I had already been training for Starliner 1 with Kimiya-san and he moved over to Dragon and then I chased after him on this mission. And it's often said that it's not when you fly, but with whom you fly. And it worked out super well. And then Oleg came and joined us and it was complete. This is, again, a great crew, and Starliner changed a lot in our office. Starliner is really important that we have more opportunities and more capabilities to fly into space, and that's why the Commercial Crew Program is still working hard with Boeing to get Starliner to be a viable transportation system up and down to the Space Station, and we are wishing them luck.
Chelsea Ballarte (23:55):
All right. We'll take our next question with Nikio, with NXK.
Speaker 8 (24:01):
Thank you for doing this. My questions for Kimiya-san. So you will be welcome by Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi when you arrive at ISS next month. So can you please talk a bit about how you plan to carry on his work as a Japanese astronaut? Thank you.
Kimiya Yui (24:19):
Okay. Thank you for the good question. Yeah, I'm very looking forward to actually, yeah, meet with him. He's one of my best friends and also he actually doing great job on orbit. That's actually big pressure for me. Yeah, he actually is my hurdle, but I just want to continue his way to do the job. That way, actually, the ground team will be much easier to continue actually ISS operations. But I'd like to also change a little bit more, like I just want to use my ability to consider ground people, then I hope ground people like me more than Takuya-san. Probably that's impossible, but I'll try. Thank you.
Chelsea Ballarte (25:09):
We'll take our next question from Manuel Mazzanti from Exploración Espacial.
Robert Perlman (25:17):
Thank you so much. My name is Manuel Mazzanti from Exploración Espacial. Congrats on the upcoming mission. During the previous call, we heard that NASA is working on extending the crew rotation missions from six to eight months. I think I missed the why, maybe you can clarify that to me. And a question for Zena or Mike, what would you think are the pros and cons of being two more months in space? Thank you.
Zena Cardman (25:46):
From my perspective I can't wait to be in space and two extra months would be a gift. Yes, we're baseline for six months right now with the ability to extend that pending further analysis of our Dragon spacecraft. For me, it would be an absolute privilege to stay for even longer.
Mike Fincke (26:03):
Yes, I'm looking forward to spending six months with you all along with the Soyuz crews on both sides of our mission. It's going to be a great and successful, a lot of accomplishments. But to be honest, if [inaudible 00:26:19] my wonderful family, whom I love very much, I'd probably stay up there longer than [inaudible 00:26:26]. In other words, I wouldn't want to have to come back, except that I really, really like my family. So that's the only honest that I'll miss my family. But I have my family here also. And however long they have us there, we're going to do our very best and enjoy it. Every day would be a gift.
Chelsea Ballarte (26:44):
And we'll be following along. We'll take a question from David Kerley with Full Throttle.
David (26:51):
Thank you very much. Mike, a little more pointed question. You were really invested in the Starliner, the call comes, do you want to move over to Crew-11 and the Dragon? Excuse me. Did you have any conversations with yourself and do you think you may still get a chance to fly Starliner?
Mike Fincke (27:12):
Talk about pointed questions. So I think my good friend and commander Zena-san said it best, we're here to help serve what our country needs or individual countries. And if NASA needed me to fly Starliner, I tried to be the best Starliner person I could be. And they asked if I could support Zena and be her pilot for Dragon and I said yes, because that's what we needed. And boy, that was the right answer. So yeah, will I ever get a chance to fly Starliner, I'm one of three certified qualified pilots for Starliner, Butch and Suni are the other two. So if I were ever offered a chance and that's what the country needed, it'd be hard to say no. And go Starliner, right?
Chelsea Ballarte (27:59):
All right. I'm going to switch over to a social media question before moving back into the room here. I think this question is going to be for Mike and Kimiya, as seasoned flyers. B on X asks, what's one food item each crew member can't live without on Station?
Kimiya Yui (28:16):
[inaudible 00:28:19].
Mike Fincke (28:20):
Since you did that, I'm going to answer that. You like vegetables?
Kimiya Yui (28:23):
No.
Mike Fincke (28:25):
No, no. My favorite space food is tortillas. We brought them up as we're learning to fly in space here from Texas and a tortilla is a perfect plate and you can put all your food on. So they're sending extra tortillas and I'll share them with my friends.
Kimiya Yui (28:42):
For me, any Japanese food, not vegetables. Yeah, any Japanese food is very important. Not for only my favorite, but everybody likes it. So whenever actually anybody help my job, I just try to provide my Japanese food as a gift. So yeah, that's also very important. Once I give that to everybody, yeah, everybody happy to help me. So that's kind of very important. Japanese food.
Chelsea Ballarte (29:10):
Sounds like a plan. We'll take our question from right here in the room.
Will Robinson-Smith (29:15):
Yes. Thanks for allowing a second question. Maybe first to Zena and Oleg referring back to Robert Perlman's question about the future in space for the US and Russia now that the ISS is coming to an end, but then to Mike and Kimiya, given that you're going back to space and obviously very excited to do so. What's something that maybe you didn't get the chance to do in your first three go around, your first go around that you're especially hoping to tick that box this time around, or maybe do again because you missed it so much? Thanks.
Zena Cardman (29:50):
For me I was born into a world that already knew this partnership and I've never known life without it. It's amazing to think about. There are adults now who have never known a world without continuous human presence in space, that's amazing and makes me just so excited to see what happens in the coming decades, generations to come. I look forward to perhaps having the opportunity to flying Soyuz with Oleg as my commander. That would be incredible. And even at the end of the International Space Station's timeline, this is a partnership that becomes friendship and family that I will have forever… One of my favorite things in the world is my cosmonaut colleague referring to me as Zena-san. What a beautiful representation of this crew that we have.
Oleg Platonov (30:42):
Well, as soon we will celebrate 50th anniversary of Apollo CEU's flight or CEU's Apollo flight, which was the first international flight.
(31:21)
After that, we had a Mir-Shuttle program then ISS. And during these 50 years, this international cooperation has proven to be very effective and I'm hoping that in the future we will have more joint programs and we will explore space and conduct experiments not just for one country but for all humankind.
Chelsea Ballarte (32:07):
Thank you. I'm going to switch over to a social media question now. This one is for Mike. Jim Reed on X asks, how many ham radio contacts does Astro Iron Mike think he will make on the space station?
Mike Fincke (32:24):
So amateur radio aboard the International Space Station is a really great way for us to interact with fellow humans from space to earth and earth to space. On my first mission I was able to talk to all seven continents and I'm looking forward talking to more of my fellow earthlings from space. I think I'll have to schedule the amateur radios on board from my colleagues here who are also going to really enjoy the chance to talk to folks from all over the
Mike Fincke (33:00):
… world. So thanks for that question. It just reminded me, yeah, that's what I'm looking forward to, too.
Chelsea Ballarte (33:07):
We're going to head back to the phone bridge now, going to Maximilian Kent with Dean Daley. Phone bridge, if Maximilian can be moved up.
David (33:22):
Yeah.
Chelsea Ballarte (33:22):
Okay, go ahead with your question.
David (33:25):
Hi, thank you. I just wanted to ask all of you guys, what is it personally that made you guys say yes to the mission? I know that some of you have gone again. This is not your first time. But also with that, what part of who you are make space flight something you feel like you're called to do?
Zena Cardman (33:46):
I can start and we'll go down the line. For me, I grew up with an interest in science and exploration. In college, I had the great opportunity to do a lot of research in remote locations, places like Antarctica or offshore on ships, and I grew to love the operational side of it and the teamwork side of it.
(34:05)
I wanted to join NASA and human space flight for the opportunity to take part in something that's greater than I could possibly do on my own. This collaborative spirit and interaction that I get internationally is one of the most meaningful aspects.
(34:19)
For Crew 11, specifically, it was a no-brainer. I can't imagine saying no to that opportunity. Just it's a dream come true for even [inaudible 00:34:28] for spaceflight, and it's hard to imagine that it's really actually on our doorstep.
Kimiya Yui (34:32):
[foreign language 00:34:36]
Mike Fincke (34:32):
[foreign language 00:34:36].
Kimiya Yui (34:37):
Yes. So I was a little boy, I really liked watching stars, and I did wanted to become an astronaut or astronomer. Then actually I decided to go to military and became a test pilot. I think space flight very much to the test pilot job. So I think … I hope I can work properly and contribute to the space program for this mission as well. Thank you.
Oleg Platonov (35:08):
I have approximately the same story like Kimiya-san because I also was a military pilot and my dream in my childhood was to be a pilot. After that I got a dream to be a cosmonaut and now I am a cosmonaut, and after a couple of weeks, we will go to space with my crew.
Mike Fincke (35:36):
I'll just conclude quickly, though, is that I was inspired by watching people walk on the moon. I'm not sure my colleagues are old enough to remember that. That really inspired me to watch astronauts, humans walk on the moon. So as we fly aboard Space Station, we're hoping that maybe we'll be close to the Artemis II mission and seeing some more friends go around the moon. So it would be kind of almost a full circle for me, so we'll see.
Chelsea Ballarte (36:10):
All right. I've got some questions from Instagram here in front of me, and I think I might combine two of them because I think that they're a little bit related. One of them asks, "What's the morning routine like for astronauts on the International Space Station?" The other question asks, "Are you going to put hot sauce on your breakfast?"
Mike Fincke (36:30):
Kimiya-san, you remember mornings?
Kimiya Yui (36:36):
Yeah, yeah, morning. Yeah. That's actually sometimes pretty busy, sometimes we have experiments. So we have a blood sampling or a urine sampling. But usually we have enough time to prepare, request and also prepare for the briefing or starting our activities. And I really like actually hot stuff.
Mike Fincke (37:00):
[inaudible 00:37:01].
Kimiya Yui (37:00):
So, yeah, I do put sauce. I'd probably put a lot of hot sauce on my breakfast.
Mike Fincke (37:06):
You can have my hot sauce.
Kimiya Yui (37:08):
Oh, thank you.
Mike Fincke (37:08):
You're welcome.
Kimiya Yui (37:10):
Yup.
Chelsea Ballarte (37:11):
All right. We'll go ahead and wrap it up with this question that we got on Instagram as well. "What scientific research will be conducted in this mission?"
Zena Cardman (37:22):
Oh, we have so many different experiments that will be on board with us. I'll share one that I'm taking part in. It's called CIPHER, [inaudible 00:37:30] comprehensive study integrating a lot of different smaller experiments where I am actually the test subject. A lot of what we do is research on the human body. This is because we as human beings experience a lot of the same changes that immunocompromised or aging populations on Earth experience. And so, this is really not only interesting research to do as we prepare to go farther afield back to the moon for longer durations and onward to Mars, but it's also incredibly valuable for figuring things out for people here on Earth.
Chelsea Ballarte (38:07):
We'll actually take one more question here in the room.
Richard (38:09):
Richard [inaudible 00:38:10] with The Post newspaper. Again, this question is for Mike, following up with someone else asking you about ham radio. Being an operator myself from one ham to another, what do you think the importance of continuing to use the technology on the ISS, not just for the current generation, but maybe generations of potential hams to come?
Mike Fincke (38:25):
Yeah, so the International Space [inaudible 00:38:28] is really about humans in space. Especially now with the Commercial Crew Program doing so well and other opportunities, more and more people are getting a chance to fly in space. But with the amateur radio aboard the International Space Station, we're able to bring people with us, because we can't bring everybody all the time. It'd be great if we had a whole bunch of big rockets to take us.
(38:52)
But until then, we have amateur radio. We have our downlinks with our public affairs. We really try to share the adventure. A ticket to space is very expensive, but it's pretty easy to talk to your buddies aboard the Space Station or your buddies all over the planet Earth, and it's really neat.
(39:11)
I just remember one of my very first passes, we were in the service module waiting for food to warm up. I looked out the window and I said, "Oh, that looks like South Africa." I picked up the thing and all of a sudden I'm talking to a guy who's driving across a desert in South Africa, and it was … How cool is that?
Zena Cardman (39:26):
It's beautiful.
Mike Fincke (39:27):
So this is a way for people in space to connect.
Chelsea Ballarte (39:33):
That sounds amazing. Well, that is all of the questions that we have here today. So we're going to go ahead and end here. Thank you for joining us. You can keep up with the crew leading up until their launch on social media and on nasa.gov. That's all the questions we got, so we'll see you next time. Thanks for joining.