Oh, For The Year To Come In 2020, What I'm Mostly Looking Forward To Is New Opportunities To Explore.

I think some of the greatest things that we can take a look at what we're currently doing in space and see that future generations are really going to appreciate is all of the science that we're doing on board the International Space Station. So I was lucky enough to participate in just a few of those science experiments.  We did about a hundred different science experiments that I actively participated in on board, two hundred total.  

And I think that's just adding to the knowledge about how the human body works in microgravity, and also how we're going to explore, both in lower orbit and then beyond deep space exploration.  So all of these little bits of scientific inquiry add up to really a big body of knowledge, and I hope that's the legacy of the International Space Station and NASA's work in space.

Hii! I'm unsure if you've been asked this before, but I'd like to give it a shot anyway. What's the greatest legacy you hope to leave to the future generations? Whether it's one of the things you've accomplished already or are hoping to accomplish yet. Thank you very much!

"Every job that I have had here, I have had to overcome challenges in order to succeed in it. Whether it's somebody telling me I can't be a flight director because I've never been a flight controller.  Or I can't possibly manage a significant amount of budget and personnel because I've never been a low level line manager before.  

And my--the way I live my life is you never know until you try.  And a lot of people that take on these jobs are never fully prepared when they first start.  But as long as you are fully prepared to acknowledge where you fall short and willing to go off and seek help from people who are masters in those areas, then you will succeed."

What challenges have you overcame to get to the job that you have now? Love from Ireland ❤️

I thought, um, I actually thought The Martian was pretty good.  They do a good job there of kind of showing the challenges of working in a space environment: some of the isolation, how do you troubleshoot problems, the kind of interactions that crews would have.  I think that's a movie that captures somewhat the feel of space exploration.

What popular film is the closest to reality for you?

So this was a really neat project.  This was a partnership with hospitals all around the world, and there are kids that are in the cancer units in these hospitals.  And as part of their care they do art therapy.  So they paint, they draw, and they get to express themselves.  

So part of the project was that each kid got a little patch, and they got to paint or draw or color whatever they wanted.  They then sewed all of these patches together to make this space suit, and we got to fly it to the space station.  So it was really neat--all these children got to see their work flown in space.  

But it's so colorful because each individual patch represents a little artist's contribution.  And so I got a chance to meet some of these kids and hang out and do some art with them and it was so incredible.  It was just really a joy to see.

Why's your suit so colorful?

Other than flying in combat in my military days, I would say my time at NASA when I've been exploring--probably the scariest time that I had was taking off in the ER-2 behind me on the island of Oahu off a cliff into the ocean of Kaneohe Bay.  

And the reason for that is it climbs up so steep on initial take-off that at night you just go into pitch black, and all you can see is dark sky and dark water, so you can't tell what's what.  And that gets a little unnerving for about the first minute or two of the flight until you know your way up and away from the water.  Otherwise it's a little disorienting and you could be diving into the water.

Have you ever been scared while flying? What was the event that scared you the most?What's your favorite plane to fly?

"So most of the descriptions that I've seen about black holes in science fiction get it pretty close to reality outside of the event horizon.  Inside the event horizon we don't really know what's going to happen, so a lot of science fiction writers also kind of have fun with it and do whatever they want.  

In terms of outside of the event horizon, I think the most striking effect is that of time dilation, how time slows down as you get closer and closer, but still on our side of the event horizon.  And this was of course one of the major plot drivers of the movie Interstellar, so I thought that was really cool."

Out of all the theories and fantasies created around blackholes, which of them, in your opinion, do you think could come closest to reality?

So one of the things I didn't know about being an astronaut was all of the different kinds of skills we need to learn.  You come in and you're kind of a baby astronaut trainee, and they teach you things about like how to fix the electrical system and the plumbing on the space station.  You need to learn how to train in dangerous environments.  We learn how to fly airplanes.  We learn how to do spacewalks underwater.  

So one of the most surprising things was just the variety of skills we need in order to be successful expedition pioneers on board the space station.

What's something you didn't know about being an astronaut before you actually became one? Do you have any words of advice for young astronauts?

Yeah, flying's great.  It's a completely different sensation.  You know, you can compare parts of it to things like riding a bicycle, skateboarding, surfing, things like that - even skydiving.  It's a real feeling of freedom when you're actually controlling *makes wing gestures* the aircraft flying through the air - a little bit like a bird. 

And that's an amazing privilege to have, and it's really a nice opportunity to get up there and maneuver in three dimensions - really four dimensions if you consider speed - through the earth's atmosphere.  I absolutely love it.

How does flying feel?

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?

In my 28 years here, I've been able to participate in a lot of exciting missions, but out of all of the future missions we have planned the one I'm looking forward to the most is being a part of boots on the moon in 2024.

What future missions are you looking forward to the most?