So When I Was Inside The Space Station, One Of My Favorite Things To Do Was Go In The Cupola, Which Is

"So, I think we're studying them simply because they're fascinating.  This is how a lot of pure science is motivated.  What are the questions about the world around us that fascinate us, and for me at least black holes is at the top of that list.  If we're looking for more technical applications, like is it going to make the next new cell phone work better?  Probably not.  

But a hundred years from now we really never know where some of these pure science ideas are going to go.  For example, if you think about electricity and magnetism and quantum mechanics a hundred years ago, similairly in the pure pure science realm and now they dominate every aspect of our lives."

Why are we studying them? What’s purpose of this field for us on earth?

“So, I’m a theoretical physicist, so frankly I haven’t discovered anything in my life, but I have made a handful of predictions.  One of those having to do with black holes is-has to do with the way the light gets bent by the black hole–the extreme gravity of the black hole–so you can get light bouncing back and forth across an accretion disk due to the extreme gravity of the black hole. 

NASA is actually working right now on building a new x-ray telescope that can measure this effect, the extreme light bending by the black hole.  So hopefully in the next few years we will be able to make that discovery and prove that prediction correct.”

What is the most interesting fact that you discovered about Black Holes? And what is the one you would most want to find out?

Yeah, so the human body changes a lot when you're in space. There's things that happen like fluid shifts, since you don't have gravity drawing the fluid down into your legs, all that fluid shifts upwards.  And the body can adjust to this, it does this by just getting rid of the excess fluid.  When you come back to Earth, however, you're a little bit dehydrated.  So one of the things we do is get fluid in right away.  

Another thing that's concerning is things like bone loss aor muscle loss, so what we do to prevent most of that on board is actually just work out a lot.  We have a device called ARED, which is a Resistive Exercise Device, and we have a whole gym's worth of weight-lifting exercises.  We do that, we do running, and we do cycling.  And that can counteract most of the muscle loss and the bone loss we see on board.  We're really successful in returning astronauts in pretty good health these days.

Is your health affected from being in outer space?

So a lot of the research that we do on board the International Space Station has a relationship to an Earth-based disease.  For example, we worry about bone loss; that's got a relationship to things like osteoporosis on the ground.  All of the things we need to do to keep the human body healthy in a confined environment in the long term we're learning about on the International Space Station.

The things that we do on our six-month missions would build into year-long missions, would build into even longer term missions, for example going to Mars.  So we need to know about things like radiation and the effect on the human body, bone loss, how people are going to be able to work and live together in a confined isolated system for so long.  How we're going to get enough nutrition and getting the right balance of nutrients in a really long duration mission.  And then also, how are we going to keep people healthy?  What kinds of medicines can survive that long in space and how do you treat any illness or injury that occurs?  

So all of these things are actively being researched on board the International Space Station and a lot of them have a component to human health on Earth as well.

How could your research in diseases help missions to the Moon, Mars and other places in our solar system?

“So, if the sun were just an isolated black hole with nothing around it, we would see nothing.  If we knew exactly where to look–which we would, because we’re pretty good astronomers–and we could map out the solar system, we’d know there’s something in the middle of the solar system that’s causing all of the gravity and the orbits of the planets.  If we looked right at that, we’d actually see some really cool gravitational lensing effects, and you’d see these arcs of light around the invisible black hole called the Einstein ring.”

What do *you* think is inside a black hole? Or If they sun was a black hole what would we see in the sky? Thanks!

Ah, that's a really good question!  I think I would say, study as much as you did, but also try to have a little bit of fun.

Hey, Kate! What would you say/what advice would you give to your younger self? ✨

"Short answer: No.  Long answer: Definitely no."

Science fiction sometimes makes it seem like it’s possible to live in a black hole. What is the truth behind this?

Working at NASA has been an extraordinary experience and I have a lot of memories I can tell you are my favorite.  But there's one in particular that stands out above the rest.  

I was a new flight director, only been in the office for two years, and we were executing the STS-120 mission, where we were taking these solar arrays that are in blankets, and you put them up on board the space station and you unfold them like an accordion.  

As we were unfolding one of them, we saw it rip.  And by the time that the power discipline expert could make the array stop, we had a huge tear inside the solar array.  After several meetings, it became clear that we were not going to be able to undock the shuttle in that configuration and we had to figure out a way to fix the solar array.

At that time I was working at what we called a team four.  So three teams used to support the shuttle mission, but we always had a fourth team waiting in the background for something to go wrong.  So at that point we called together a meeting and a young engineer showed up who was about 24/25 years old.  And [he] said "Flight!  I have a solution!"

So he walks into my meeting with this. [holds up object] And I said, "what is that?"  

And he says, "It's a cufflink, Flight, and I made it out of spare parts that are available to the astronauts on the space station. And if you take this and you weave it through some of the holes and you pull it tight, we'll be able to secure the solar array."

And so sure enough, we were able to take this cufflink and a couple more like it, and put one of our tallest crew members on board a stacked set of robotic arms and he installed a cufflink.  And that cufflink is there today and keeps the space station solar array structurally sound.  So best moment ever.  You never know what a 24/25 year old can accomplish.

What has been the best memory you have so far at NASA?

"I think the coolest black hole fact is that if the closest black hole to Earth were actively accreting today, it would give us enough x-rays to give every single person on Earth a chest x-ray every ten minutes."

What’s your favorite black hole fact that you like to share with people?

The CAPCOM is the person in mission control that talks to the crew.  They are responsible for translating all of the discussions and events that occur on the flight loop and mission control into actions and summaries that can be easily understood by the crew.

They are also there to be the advocate for the crew in those discussions in mission control, since the crew can't be there themselves.  So the CAPCOM is really a bridge between what we view as ground mission control and the crew on board.

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The flight director is the single authority in mission control.  That person is also responsible for the actions and activities that occur at all of the other mission control centers across the world in support of the International Space Station.  You always have to have one boss and that flight director in Houston is it.

We are responsible for the safety of the crew.  We are responsible for the integrity of the spacecraft.  And we are responsible for the successful execution of the mission.  So any decisions that need to be made in the real-time environment fall under the flight director's authority.

What responsibility and duties does your job include?