AK i Ho shied Ho she'd Hoshide
Akey aki Hoshide.
>>> Station this is Houston.
Are you ready for the event?
>> Houston, we are ready.
>> Ryan's world this is mission
control Houston.
Please call station for a voice
check.
>> Hello, Ryan, can you hear me?
>> Yes.
Cool!
>> Hi.
>> Welcome to the international
space station.
THANK YOU FOR JOINING US.
>> Thank you for having us.
We are so excited.
>> Glad to meet you guyS.
>> Glad to meet you guys.
>> Thank you for taking your
time out.
>> I am megan.
This is our station commander
aki.
>> Hi.
Nice to meet you too.
>> This is so cool.
>> Did you have to practice
that?
>> No, we get to fly around like
that all day long.
We have been here a few months
and are starting to get pretty
good at it.
>> Can we just start answering
questions?
>> Okay.
Thank you so much.
We have a few questions to ask
you.
I will let Ryan start the
question.
>> Okay, so, when did you first
want to become an ASTRONAUT?
>> Well, Ryan, I first started
thinking about being an
ASTRONAUT when I was a toon
ager.
My dad was in the navy.
The navy base shared a runway
with a NASA center where
ASTRONAUTs would come and train
and practice landing the space
shuttle in a SIMULARITY there.
That is the first time I had
seen ASTRONAUTs and it looked
like they had a cool job and I
thought how can I get a job like
that?
>> Wow.
Impressive.
>> Yeah.
>> I have a question.
First of all, I'm so exciteED TO
talk to because I'm Japanese
too.
[speaking in Japanese]
My question is: I know the
space station is very far away,
how long did it take you guys to
travel to the space station?
>> That's a very good question.
Actually the space station is
only about 400-kilometers above
the earth's surface.
It's not really far.
Megan has the globe.
This is 400-kilometer, not
really that much.
That much higher than the earth.
It's not that far.
When we launch it takes about
eight minutes to get into space,
into orbit.
We call space above
100-kilometer above the earth.
After that it took us about 23
hours, almost a day to dock to
the international space station.
Some come to the station
quicker, maybe in six hours or
so.
Hopefully in the future it will
be a shorter trip.
>> Thank you.
>> I did not know that.
>> Ryan?
>> So how can me and my friends
become ASTRONAUTs?
>> That's a great question.
The way that aki and I became
ASTRONAUTs we went to school for
a long time.
High school and then college.
We studied math or science or
ENGINEERing.
For me it was ENGINEERing and I
went to graduate school and I
have a PH d in oceanography.
Most ASTRONAUTs chosen to
becomast nates have a background
of studying science, math or
ENGINEERing and some experience
working in that field.
That's true for both aki and
myself.
We were chosen for our nations
to train and fly on spacecraft
to come here to the
international space station.
There are other people flying on
different vehicles going to
different altitudes and get
experience in micro gravity.
To come and live and work Aboard
the international space station
right now the path involves
WORKING FOR your national Space
Agency and getting selected to
become an ASTRONAUT.
>> That is good information.
Maybe some people watching the
stream will become ASTRONAUTs.
>> For sure.
>> That's how you become
ASTRONAUTs, guys.
>> How do you sleep there
without floating all around
space?
>> That's a good question.
If we slept on a bed like on the
ground everything will float.
You will lose your blanket and
your pillow and you will be
floating somewhere else, right?
What we do is we sleep in
sleeping bags.
The sleeping bag itself has
a couple of strings attached to
it.
We attach our sleeping bags to
the wall.
In megan's case, she has in her
room on the ceiling.
Her bed would be on the ceiling.
You mine is on the deck side on
the floor.
I attach my sleeping BAGOT
floor.
We all have individual rooms.
It's very small.
It is the size of a phone booth.
We have some privacy there and
spend our own time there.
>> Oh, wow.
You are sleeping BACKWARDs or is
there such a thing as BACKWARDs
or forwards in space?
>> There STPH-FPBT a different
if how you feel whether on the
ceiling or floor.
We TKESZignate the ceiling, the
however, ad.
My feet are toward the deck.
He can put his feet on the Aft
side and it doesn't feel
different to him whether his
feet are on the ceiling or
floor.
We FOR a free fall around the
earth and it didn't feel
different any way we turn.
We get to use all the available
space.
If aki was working and I neat
needED TO get past him I could
move past him without asking him
to move.
We can make use of all the space
available, which is great.
>> Is it called outer space
because it is out of the
ATMOSPHERE and there is a lot of
space?
>> There is a lot of space.
Really a lot.
We are so close to earth, we
have a big window LOOKING
down-to-earth.
We can't see the earth as
a sphere.
We see the space and see
blackness of space.
If we had a window on the top
today, we only have a couple, we
can see the universe.
It is just pitch black.
It is humongous.
>> What happens in you spill
a drink?
>> So, we brought Along a drink
bag to show you.
Aki has punch in the bag and it
comes up as powder.
We have a water dispenser we can
use to put water in the bag.
Aki has put a straw in there to
get liquid out.
There are neat things liquid
will do in this micro gravity
environment.
You can drink it straight out of
a straw like on earth.
He will put pressure on the bag
and show you how the liquid
moves in micro g.
It is pretty cool.
We'll try not to make a big mess
here in the Japanese experiment
module while we do this with the
red licks WEUD.
>> What?
>> Wow!
>> He has released a sphere of
juice.
You can have a lot of fun with
your beverages.
He is actually blowing on that
sphere from below to get is it
to move around and he will drink
it before it hits the wall and
makes a big splash.
It is like a shark coming up
from below to get to bubble of
punch.
>> Thank you for showing us.
>> You walk on the ceiling? OH!
>> Megan will demonstrate for
us.
Can she walk on the ceiling in
space?
Whoa.
She can.
[LAUGHING]
If you want to walk you have to
have gravity, right?
Once you touch the surface you
will start flying or floating.
In our case we have things
called hand rail.
We use those to keep our body in
a certain position.
Megan was using the hand rails
to put her feet under it and
walked using the hand rails.
>> What are some food you guys
miss eating because you are in
space?
There is limited food you can
bring up there.
>> You're right, we have
actually our food lab works hard
to provide a variety of food.
IT is important for NUTRITIONing
and it's how we Gother to enjoy
each other's COMPANY and enjoy
time as a crew having din are
together and food can be an
EMOTIONAL thing for people.
We like to have variety of
foods.
These are diHYDRATed berries.
We can put water into the pack
to reHYDRATE the berries and
give it 20 or 30 minutes and cut
it open and eat it with a spoon.
You are right, for me there are
a lot of foods I miss at home.
Some of those foods are mostly
fresh foods.
Tomatoes or apples or oranges,
cados.
Thing you keep in the fridge,
cheese and yogurt, hummus.
Ice cream.
We do occasionally get
a delivery've ice cream I am
told.
I haven't seen it YET.
When the cargo comes they bring
samples.
If they come up empty they will
puts a little ice cream in there
for us.
Hoping to see ice cream with the
NEXT vehicle.
Aki has candy treats to show
you.
They are a nice familiar thing
from home as well you might
recognize.
>> Boing.
YAY!
Cool.
Does all the food that goes into
space have to be DEHYDRATed?
>> That's another great
question.
We have different varieties of
foods.
We have the DEHYDRATed food and
food that has been heat treated
to be shelf stable.
It is like canned food but am
California us up in pouches
instead of cans because it is
light weight.
We have chicken fajita or
chicken with peanut sauce.
What are some of your TPAEURTS?
>> One of my favorite is shrimp
cocktail.
We like spicy food or salty
food.
We have some salt shakers.
It is not a powder, it's liquid.
If you shake it, it will float
all over the place.
>> Interesting.
Liquid salt.
>> There is a limit how long you
can stay on the space station?
>> Yes, there is.
It has to do with ASTRONAUT
health right now.
One of the wonderful things our
earth ATMOSPHERE does for us is
it filters out radiation we
would experience living in
space.
Here we are exposed to higher
radiation levels than if we were
protected by earth's ATMOSPHERE.
To protect our long-term health
they limit the Amounts of times
and how frequently you can live
in space.
We have a great team of folks on
earth that track that for us.
When you are eligible they make
sure enough time has passed
before you come out into this
environment again.
>> What is the coolest or
weirdest thing you have done in
the space station?
>> Let me think.
I guess, yeah, so you know, the
Tokyo olympics is coming up very
soon, tomorrow I think.
We thought why don't we have
a sport event on orbit?
All seven of us got together
representing our own countries
did some sport events that we
can only do on orbit in micro
gravity.
We did long jump.
We tried to go as far as
possible without touching the
wall, the floor or the ceiling.
If we touch, you are out.
That was a lot of fun.
>> That does sound fun.
>> Who won?
How do you use the bathroom or
shower in space?
>> Well, the sad news is we
don't have a shower in micro
gravity.
You can imagine the water would
just go in all directions where
in earth it will come and fall
down over your body.
We don't have that here.
What we do to get clean is use
a wet towel basically.
The bathroom is also a little
tricky without the help of
gravity.
What we have is basically
suction that helps pull
everything away from our body
when we push it out.
We have a tube for urine and
a special toilet seat for
everything else.
>> Wow.
>> You guys get to TALK to your
family at home?
>> Yeah.
As a matter of fact all the
technology we have we can
e-mail, we can call home.
Every week we have a TV
conference so we can see each
other.
That really helps because you
want to keep in touch with your
family and friends and
understand what is going on on
earth.
We are living up here and
enjoying it and doing great
stuff.
At the same time we miss our
families as well.
>> Of course.
I am secure they miss you too.
-- I am sure they miss you too.
You don't get to write physical
mail, just video conference or
e-mail.
All digital.
>> That's right.
What we can send down is all
digital.
We occasionally get care
PACKAGEs.
When a vehicle comes up we'll
get a few smallitious tems from
home.
I have gotten letters and cards
from loved ones at home, which
is really wonderful.
>> Great.
Thank you.
>> Can you play ON-LINE video
games?
>> Good question.
I think there are some games on
our computers.
I have never played with it.
ON-LINE might be a little tough.
You have to be constantly in
COMMUNICATION, right?
We do have COMMUNICATION but
sometimes we have dropouts.
It will be tough doing ON-LINE
games.
>> On your off time what do you
do to pass the time or have fun?
>> That's a great question.
We are all a little different.
Do you want to show what is in
there?
A lot of folks up here enjoy
sports and THEY HAVE sports
ITEMs as they like to watch
sports.
I like to read books want all of
us enjoy LOOKING out the window,
of course.
Sometimes we put up a projector
and screen and watch movies
TOGETHER on the weekend.
There are a variety of things we
can do to have fun.
We had an olympics games and
that was fun to get everyone
together and have silly sports
together.
Aki is showing you from some of
the toys we have on board to
invent our own games.
>> I love just floating around.
>> Oh, look.
>> A penguin.
Cute.
>> Is it cold or hot?
>> Inside the space station the
temperature and humidity is
controlled.
It is maintained as
a comfortable temperature.
You look at us we FOR short
sleeves and pants.
When we work out we change into
short sleeve T-shirts and shorts
and work out.
It is very comfortable inside.
Outside it is really, really,
really cold in the darkness, in
the shadow.
It's really, really, really hot
in the daylight.
You have that contrast right
there outside.
>> I think we are out of time.
I want to say thank you so much
for taking the time out to
answer these questions for us.
>> Thank you so much.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you so much, guyS.
>> Nice meeting you.
>> Thank you very much.
Thank you for joining us.
It was a lot of fun for us too.
>> Thank you.
>> Station this is Houston.
That concludes the event, thank
you.
>> Thank you to all participants
from Ryan's world.
Station we are now resuming
operational audio