I think NASA has
learned a ton from the
International Space Station program,
primarily how to live and work in space
continuously for over 20 years.
when I think about what NASA has learned, that's most important to me,
it's really that we can grow plants pretty normally in space
for me, from the engineering side,
what we've really learned is
how do you keep a really, really complex machine working continuously?
Those are questions that we need to answer to make it to Mars.
The far off destinations and the space station
has been really important for helping us get there.
I think NASA has learned
from the ISS program that there are
significant benefits and creating partnerships with different countries
We created a world renowned laboratory that has had discoveries
that have yielded things
that we could have never imagined.
And we did this with
industry and international partners from across the globe.
The greatest single thing
that we've learned on the space station
is to grow and eat our food.
NASA's learned a tremendous amount
from the International Space Station
build in construction, not only from a technological perspective,
but from a human side as well.
The integration of medicine and behavioral health and performance
that helps us to set the stage for subsequent lunar missions
and long duration exploration missions.
NASA has learned so much
from the space station
program and the ISS,
we've learned about how to live and operate in space.
We've learned how to do research and microgravity technology development
NASA has learned from the ISS
what humanity is capable of.
They've been able to see
what the human body is able to do while living and working in space.
It's the stepping stone to the moon, and it will take us eventually to Mars
and beyond.
From the access program,
NASA has learned what happens to the human body
when you live in microgravity.
Really make sure things are ready to go for long duration flight.
On the space station.
I think what the biggest thing we've learned
is that we don't know everything.
There's always something else to learn
and it
sometimes is the fundamental science
that we're doing from physics to biology to material science.
And sometimes it's how to get good at long duration spaceflight.
Moving from shuttle to space station,
going from short
duration to long duration.
We discovered many, many things that we didn't even know
were risks of spaceflight.
A great example is the Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome
or SANS, eyeballs change shape, they change function.
We had no idea that would happen until we got to the space station.
Yeah, I think the most important thing
that NASA has learned from the ISS
is that the international
collaboration that it requires to get the mission done
is one of the best things we have learned from this program.
I think one of the things that people
don't think about is how challenging
it is to do the operation for the space station.
Working with the crews on orbit every day and then integrating that operation
across all the international partners and then doing it seamlessly
is pretty amazing.
We've learned to trust each other, work along together,
and all for the benefit of humanity.
Building the station and then on board, we have learned to work
with partners, partners that build
their modules in their places.
And we built our modules.
And those modules never met here on Earth.
They met in space and they fit perfectly well. Why?
Because we worked on the ground as a team.
We collaborated and that is what space station is all about.
It's humankind. It's all of us.