I Think Some Of The Greatest Things That We Can Take A Look At What We're Currently Doing In Space And

Yes, there’s several paths to get to where I am right now and where the other researcher pilots are here at NASA.  We have some that come up through civilian flying and they’re educated in different areas.  Typically most of us have engineering or STEM related degrees in college, and usually Masters degrees on top of that. 

The flying portion, most of us actually come from a military background because that’s the best way to get a lot of intense experience very quickly.  So most of us are retired military pilots from all different services, but then we do have several pilots who have grown up flying corporate jets, larger airplanes and became test pilots for companies like, say, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, things like that.  And then they get hired at NASA based on their depth and breadth of experience.

 So several paths to get there, but these are the most common.

I want to pursue a career in aeronautics and want to get into NASA. Any advice?

The first time I saw Earth from space I couldn't even talk; I was absolutely speechless, as were my crewmates.  The three of us were just silent it seemed like for thirty seconds, it was such a beautiful sight.  And one of the things that was really interesting to me was how different it was seeing it out the window with your own eyes versus seeing the picture.  

I think I had this idea in my head that I knew what Earth looked like because you've seen so many videos, but they're all photographic images, so the dynamic color spectrum is a little bit dulled.  When you see it with your own eyes, it's so much brighter.  It's so much more vivid than I could have imagined.  It's just this beautiful blue planet.

What was your first thought when you first saw earth from space? And what realizations did you have?

I remember my first day on console as the first non-astronaut CapCom, and the very first time the crew called down. I was getting ready to key my mike and speak back up and they asked me a question, and I looked at the Flight Director beside me, he gave me a go, and I answered.  And there was a pause.  

And it was Frank Culbertson, and he called down and he was like, "Ginger!  Is it really you? Oh my gosh, it's so awesome to hear your voice!"  

So that kind of eased my tension.  The reality was the first set of crews that I wound up working with I had trained alongside for four years.  SO it was a treat to be able to be in a position where I could talk to my friends.  But I understood what they'd gone through, I understood Mission Control, and I could be their advocate in Mission Control.  And I could tell from day one that they trusted me and they were happy that I was there.

How did the crews react to you being the first non-astronaut CapCom? I understand it was quite an important thing to people that the CapCom could empathise with their experiences.

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, the interesting answer is that there probably is a black hole near the earth.  But in space terms, when we say near the earth, we don't mean really that close to the earth.  Maybe about ten or twenty light years away.  Just like the nearest stars are about ten or twenty light years away.  So the difference is that that black hole today is just sitting there, not doing anything. 

The black holes we know about are much farther away, thousands of light years away.  And they're really really bright because they're sucking in gas which gets heated up to millions and billions of degrees and shines in really bright x-rays.  So if one of those really bright black holes were one of the close black holes, about twenty light years away, it would kill us all."

What would happen if a Black hole would be near the earth? What would be the consequences to humans?

So when I was inside the space station, one of my favorite things to do was go in the Cupola, which is an area that has a whole bunch of windows.  You can actually get your whole body into the Cupola and just see the Milky Way and the universe from the Cupola.  And that was amazing.  

It was, um–you know terrifying is almost a good word because it was so awe-inspiring to just be in the universe and see the stars–but it was one of the most interesting things to do because it was always changing.  Your view was changing as you go around the planet; even at nighttime you can see different aspects of the planet at night as well. 

And so whenever I could, I would spend a few minutes when we were in a dark orbit and just try to poke my head into the Cupola and see the stars. It never got old.

What is like to be surrounded by the stars and darkness? Is it terrifying or calming?

"So I got started working on black holes my first year in graduate school.  I actually tried another research project first about cosmology, but frankly the math was just too difficult for me, so I decided to go into easier things: black holes."

I love astrophysics and especially black holes and I want to pursue a career on them, but to be honest I'm scared to be not good enough or not clever enough. How did you decide to work on black holes? How did you become the person you are today?

After serving 25 years in the Air Force, as a pilot flying a variety of different airplanes, the more and more I got into different types of missions this just became a fascinating thing looking at everything NASA does with aircraft flying in and out of the earth's atmosphere.  So the opportunity to just make flight research and earth research flying a variety of science platforms was really what attracted me to the job.

What made you want to become a pilot for NASA? What’s your favorite part of this job?

Joy is great motivator to do things to do.  And that's actually some advice that I have is whatever you're doing in life, make sure that it brings you some joy.  But there's a lot of reasons that people do things, and I think one of the really great things about being an astronaut is getting a chance to explore.  

We get to do things that are absolutely amazing.  And when we see the planet, we explore outer space, and we get to do all these things and we can come back and we can tell people about it.  So I think it's the thrill of science.  I think it's the lure of discovery.  And then the opportunity to share that with the world is really amazing.

Other than joy, why do you do the things you do?

Hi, I'm Dean Neeley.  I go by "Gucci".  I"m the deputy chief pilot at Armstrong Flight Research Center.  And I'm excited to be here and answer some questions to everybody who's calling in through tumblr here.  This is a great opportunity to share with you.

It’s kick-off time! Pilot Dean “Gucci” Neeley is reporting for duty with answers to your questions in today’s Tumblr Answer Time!