HELLO AND WELCOME ABOARD THE INTERNATIONAL
SPACE STATION.
I'M NASA, ASTRONAUT, AND MEGAN MACARTHUR.
ALONG WITH MY CREW MATE, SHANE KIMBROUGH,
WE ARE GETTING READY FOR THE SPACEX 23 CARGO
MISSION COMING UP SOON.
AND WE'RE VERY EXCITED.
IT'S GOING TO BE KEEPING US PRETTY BUSY.
HEY MEGAN, LET'S GO SHOW THEM AROUND THE SPACE
STATION A LITTLE BIT, AND WE'LL SHOW YOU WHERE
SOME OF THESE EXPERIMENTS ARE GOING TO BE DONE.
WELCOME TO THE EUROPEAN MODULE CALLED COLUMBUS.
THIS IS WHERE A LOT OF THE SPACEX 23 EXPERIMENTS
ARE GOING TO HANG OUT.
ONE OF THOSE IS CALLED APEX-08, WHICH IS GOING
TO STUDY THE RESPONSE TO STRESSORS AT THE
GENETIC LEVEL OF PLANTS.
NOW THEY'RE GOING TO BE REALLY SMALL PLANTS IN
PETRI DISHES THAT WE'RE GOING TO EVENTUALLY PUT
INTO THIS FACILITY HERE.
THAT'S CALLED VEGGIE.
IT'S A VEGGIE PLANT GROWTH FACILITY.
ON MY LAST FLIGHT I GOT TO GROW LETTUCE IN HERE
AND WE GOT TO ACTUALLY HARVEST THAT AND EAT IT.
SO THAT'S PRETTY COOL.
NOW, ONE OF THE THINGS WE'RE TRYING TO DO
IS TO LEARN HOW TO ENGINEER PLANTS TO GROW
BETTER IN MICROGRAVITY.
AND WHAT WE LEARN FROM THAT WILL BE ABLE TO
HELP US IN THE FUTURE IN SPACE TRAVEL, BUT ALSO
HELP PEOPLE ON EARTH GROW THINGS BETTER.
NOW, THIS ISN'T THE ONLY FACILITY WE HAVE ON
THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION TO GROW THINGS.
WE HAVE AN ADVANCED PLANT HABITAT AND
CURRENTLY WE'RE GROWING CHILI PEPPERS IN
THERE, WHICH WE HOPE TO HARVEST TOWARDS THE
END OF OUR MISSION.
SO NOW WE'RE IN THE US LABORATORY, WHICH
IS CALLED DESTINY.
AND THIS IS ONE OF OUR MAIN AREAS FOR
CONDUCTING SCIENCE ON THE INTERNATIONAL
SPACE STATION.
ONE OF THE THINGS THAT MAKES THE INTERNATIONAL
SPACE STATION, SUCH A VERSATILE RESEARCH LAB
ARE THE EXPRESS RACKS.
THERE'S A COUPLE OF THEM RIGHT HERE OVER MY HEAD.
AND THE COOL THING ABOUT THESE IS THAT
IT ALLOWS DIFFERENT RESEARCHERS FROM AROUND
THE WORLD TO SEND UP THEIR OWN PAYLOAD.
AND THE EXPRESS RACK PROVIDES THE POWER
AND DATA, UM, COOLING, WHATEVER THAT PARTICULAR
PAYLOAD NEEDS.
ONE OF THE NEW FACILITIES THAT WILL BE COMING
UP ON SPACEX 23 CARGO MISSION IS CALLED
THE FARADAY RESEARCH FACILITY AND IT'S ABLE
TO HOUSE FOUR DIFFERENT EXPERIMENTS AT ONCE.
THREE OF THEM WILL HOUSE SMALL ORGANISMS.
THE FOURTH EXPERIMENT WILL BE A MEDICAL
EXPERIMENT TO LOOK AT REMOTE CONTROLLED
DELIVERY OF MEDICATION.
SO THAT WILL BE AN INTERESTING TECHNOLOGY
DEMONSTRATION AS WELL.
AND WE'LL BE ABLE TO INSTALL THAT FACILITY
INTO ONE OF OUR EXPRESS RACKS HERE
IN THE LABORATORY.