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The mission hasn't changed in 25 years.

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It's to get to the space
station, conduct research and come home.

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How we’re going to do that
is going to look a little bit different.

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Alex and myself are going to launch
with two empty seats,

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so we've got room for Butch and Suni
to join us once we get there.

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They've been on orbit months already,
and one of the biggest challenges

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ahead for Alex and I, one of 
the most exciting aspects,

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is how are we going to integrate
into their crew and get to work on

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the space station doing the research
and performing the spacewalks

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and the station upgrades and helping us
continue that mission of discovery.

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The International Space Station
is this unique place

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that we have built
over the course of a decade,

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with 100 launches and 100 spacewalks
to assemble it on orbit.

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It lets us remove gravity
from all of our science experiments.

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You've all seen video of balls of water
floating around and morphing,

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and we can do that with other materials
and see what properties

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we aren't able to see when gravity
just squashes everything flat.

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That knowledge
helps us make life better on the ground.

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I've had the privilege of spending more
than 200 days on the International Space Station,

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and what is crystal
clear to me is how important

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the international
is in the International Space Station.

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Together, we accomplish more than 
we could by ourselves.

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Together we tackle all the problems

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that that dynamic nature of space
throws at us.

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The more we explore,
the more we try to overcome

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all those challenges
of living in weightlessness,

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in a high radiation environment,
and how to counteract those things,

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the more we learn about
how the human body works,

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but a long duration
mission is something really to cherish

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because it's a unique opportunity
to let your body fully adapt.

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And then at some point, you reach
this kind of steady state where you are

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working and living in space,
and that's your normal.

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Spaceflight is hard,
it's dynamic, it's unpredictable.

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But that's no different than the way
it's always been.

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And just being able to watch the agency
navigate those decisions

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over the last several months and balance
the risk and the safety of the crew

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has been phenomenal.

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And what is crystal clear
in that entire process is the commitment

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to making sure that when we launch crews,
we're going to bring them home safe.

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I'm excited to get back to the space
station.

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I'm excited to be part of Expedition 72,

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so we can get to work,
because that's what this is all about.

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It's about exploration, exploring

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the human body, exploring
Earth, exploring the universe.

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It's about discovery. It's about learning.

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It's about how do we imagine
the impossible? And make it possible?