Transcript of Hudson Memorial School ARISS Contact
Hudson Memorial School held our ARISS Crew Contact with Astronaut Serena Aunon Chancellor on Friday, December 7th. Here’s a transcript of our student’s questions and Serena’s answers.
- How do astronauts train and prepare before going into space?
- “Good question, actually, so what occurs is about 2 years prior to the flight, and even more before that when you first come into the astronaut corps, we do a lot of training on space station systems, using a robotic arm, and even doing space walks and then we learn about all the experiments right before we go into orbit.”
- Do you have regular physical check-ups and or vaccinations to stay healthy in space?
- “Yes we do, actually, it’s probably the most extensive physical check-up you’ll ever have and we get more vaccinations than anybody else will ever have. Our physical exams every year last about two days! Probably doesn’t compare much to the one hour you guys spend at the doctor’s office, but they try to keep us really healthy before we come up here.”
- To help us understand the scale of the ISS can you compare it to the size of something on Earth?
- “It’s actually really big, the modules themselves are about the size of a 5 bedroom house, and then the truss itself is the length of a football field so I can work almost all day in one module and not see the rest of the crew for that day at one time – it’s that big. So we definitely don’t feel cramped up here.”
- What does it feel like exiting the atmosphere?
- “It’s amazing. When our rockets lit and we knew those engines were going, we knew we were going somewhere really, really quickly, and it was the most amazing feeling to feel that thrust, take that rocket off and last about 8 1/2 minutes before we reached orbit
- Looking down from space what landmarks and countries do you wish you could visit?
- “Honestly one of the most beautiful continents I’ve been able to view from up here really well is Africa. Crossing over the Sahara desert causes this lead glow that we see throughout the space station. Someplace I haven’t been to and would love to go visit.”
- With space being mostly blackness and stars, what is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen in space?
- “Honestly, it’s the Aurora, seeing the Northern Lights. The green, the pink, the purple…those lights are alive. They are dancing around and you could stare at them for a good 15-20 minutes and never, ever get tired of watching them.”
- How long have you been a licensed Amateur Radio Operator and do you use your license for any other communications besides ARISS?
- “I’ve been a licensed radio operator now for probably about a year and a half in preparation for this space flight and I’ve only had the chance to use it up here in the space station and I’ve really enjoyed doing that, including just making random contacts across the United States and other countries and so I’m hoping to get to continue that after the mission.”
- What is your daily routine?
- “So we work about 12 hours a day. We get up about 6:30 in the morning, start work at 7:30 and end work at 7:30 at night. During that time period, we have about 1 meal. We spend about 2 ½ hours exercising to keep our bones and muscles strong. We spend a lot of time with maintenance of space station systems. We also do experiments. We did some experiments this past week looking at Parkinson’s Disease and trying to find a cure for Parkinson’s Disease by growing protein crystals up here. Every day is different. That’s the best thing.”
- Is sleep more comfortable in space than on Earth?
- “Honestly, I sleep very, very well up here. I slept in till about 10:30 this morning, which is very nice because it’s very dark inside your crew quarters. It’s very quiet. It’s about the size of a phone booth. Our little crew quarters is like our little bedroom. But I sleep really well up here.”
- We learned there are 16 sunrises and sunsets in one day in space. About how long does it take you to adjust to the time switch?
- “There are a lot of sunrises and sunsets every day up here. We don’t feel it. I feel like my body follows a normal clock. We operate on GMT, Greenwich Mean Time, which is like London Time, and at night, once 9 or 10 rolls around, we all get tired. Although the station sees all the sunrises and sunsets, we aren’t necessarily looking out the window and seeing all of that every time. I will say it is one of the most beautiful things that we get to view up here from the space station.”
- What is the best part about living on the ISS?
- “That’s easy and that is floating everywhere. Float to get up, float to go to work, float to go exercise…everywhere we go, we can turn somersaults. We can flip. It almost becomes very natural, like this is how the body should always be moving.”
- Do you ever regret your decision to leave Earth?
- “No, absolutely not, because the chance to get to see Earth from this vantage point has been amazing and the opportunities up here have been amazing. I worked really hard and a really long time to get here. I actually don’t regret it. I believe you need to go through life not regretting anything at all because it makes you who you are.”
- What is the most commonly occurring error on the ISS?
- “Honestly it’s an error caused by humans. So we follow procedures very tightly, but if one day you’re a little more tired than the next and you don’t read things closely and pay attention to all the details, you can easily make a mistake. The systems run pretty well, but it’s usually the humans running the systems that can make the errors. So we always try to be very careful with all our procedures.”
- What will be the first signs of the ISS finally expiring and what procedures will take place at this point?
- “Honestly, I don’t know that we’ll see those signs. The ISS is staying pretty elevated. We perform a lot of daily maintenance and upkeep on a majority of those systems, so we don’t see that from up here. I think the ISS would last a long time, but at some point, we need to push towards going to the moon and Mars, which we’re preparing for right now. So as far as what would actually happen to the ISS, I think that remains to be seen. Could parts of it still be used? I think so but people are still making those decisions.”
The students of Hudson Memorial School would like to thank you for talking to us today.
Dan, AC1EN
