1 00:00:01,919 --> 00:00:04,319 Hello, and welcome to the Physics World Stories 2 00:00:04,319 --> 00:00:04,819 podcast. 3 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:08,080 I'm Andrew Glester. And back in 2022, 4 00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:09,619 the European Space Agency 5 00:00:09,919 --> 00:00:12,719 announced its first new recruits to the astronaut 6 00:00:12,719 --> 00:00:14,675 program in thirteen years. 7 00:00:15,375 --> 00:00:18,494 Among those new astronauts was Rosemarie Coogan, an 8 00:00:18,494 --> 00:00:18,994 astrophysicist 9 00:00:19,535 --> 00:00:20,035 born 10 00:00:20,414 --> 00:00:21,475 in Northern Ireland. 11 00:00:22,975 --> 00:00:25,535 Now deep into her training, Rosemarie and her 12 00:00:25,535 --> 00:00:26,035 colleagues 13 00:00:26,494 --> 00:00:28,814 are slated to go to space to the 14 00:00:28,814 --> 00:00:30,089 International Space Station 15 00:00:30,390 --> 00:00:32,090 between 2026 16 00:00:32,149 --> 00:00:33,289 and 2030. 17 00:00:33,829 --> 00:00:35,450 With that mission on the horizon 18 00:00:36,070 --> 00:00:38,390 and a potential mission to the moon with 19 00:00:38,390 --> 00:00:41,190 the Artemis missions in the future, I managed 20 00:00:41,190 --> 00:00:43,670 to grab half an hour with Rosemarie among 21 00:00:43,670 --> 00:00:45,605 her busy schedule of learning 22 00:00:46,385 --> 00:00:49,185 Russian, going into the pool in Houston, Texas 23 00:00:49,185 --> 00:00:51,984 that the astronauts use to train for space 24 00:00:51,984 --> 00:00:54,065 walks when they are at the International Space 25 00:00:54,065 --> 00:00:54,565 Station, 26 00:00:55,185 --> 00:00:57,344 and everything else that is involved in her 27 00:00:57,344 --> 00:01:00,469 training. And I began by asking her whether 28 00:01:00,469 --> 00:01:03,609 this had always been something that she'd hoped 29 00:01:03,750 --> 00:01:06,069 to do. I think I I started thinking, 30 00:01:06,069 --> 00:01:08,390 oh, maybe I'll become an astronaut already when 31 00:01:08,390 --> 00:01:11,030 I was absolutely teeny tiny. I can't even 32 00:01:11,030 --> 00:01:13,450 remember really when the idea was kind of 33 00:01:14,524 --> 00:01:16,125 when it first came to be. As long 34 00:01:16,125 --> 00:01:17,884 as I can remember, I've always wanted to 35 00:01:17,884 --> 00:01:19,564 be an astronaut. I mean, I was interested 36 00:01:19,564 --> 00:01:21,084 in lots of other things. There's a lot 37 00:01:21,084 --> 00:01:22,444 of cool jobs out there, a lot of 38 00:01:22,444 --> 00:01:24,284 things that I think are are really important. 39 00:01:24,284 --> 00:01:27,004 But, yeah, always growing up, I thought, yes. 40 00:01:27,004 --> 00:01:29,380 Of course. Being an astronaut would be one 41 00:01:29,380 --> 00:01:31,560 of the the best things I could do. 42 00:01:32,900 --> 00:01:34,340 And it it it was always kind of 43 00:01:34,340 --> 00:01:35,780 something in the back of my mind in 44 00:01:35,780 --> 00:01:36,359 a way, 45 00:01:36,819 --> 00:01:39,719 because I didn't really see the opportunity 46 00:01:40,180 --> 00:01:42,180 exactly how that path would go. So I 47 00:01:42,180 --> 00:01:44,694 really kind of occupied myself with following other 48 00:01:44,694 --> 00:01:45,994 things that I love, studying 49 00:01:46,694 --> 00:01:48,155 science, studying space. 50 00:01:48,774 --> 00:01:49,435 And then, 51 00:01:50,614 --> 00:01:52,555 I think I must have been 30 52 00:01:52,935 --> 00:01:55,379 when the call for applications came out, 53 00:01:55,939 --> 00:01:57,700 and it was just really lucky that it 54 00:01:57,700 --> 00:01:59,140 was kind of the right time in my 55 00:01:59,140 --> 00:02:00,840 career, the right time in my life. 56 00:02:01,140 --> 00:02:03,219 And then the opportunity came up from ESA, 57 00:02:03,219 --> 00:02:05,060 and I went for it. So, you know, 58 00:02:05,060 --> 00:02:06,579 it's it's always in the back of your 59 00:02:06,579 --> 00:02:08,739 mind. When you were thinking, I'm gonna do 60 00:02:08,739 --> 00:02:11,884 astrophysics, was it sort of thinking maybe one 61 00:02:11,884 --> 00:02:14,044 day there might be a call for ESA 62 00:02:14,044 --> 00:02:15,805 astronauts? Or were you just thinking, do you 63 00:02:15,805 --> 00:02:17,344 know what? Space. I'll do that. 64 00:02:17,965 --> 00:02:20,044 If I'm being honest, I just I just 65 00:02:20,044 --> 00:02:22,044 wanted to study space. You know, of course, 66 00:02:22,044 --> 00:02:23,485 it'd be great to be an astronaut, but 67 00:02:23,485 --> 00:02:25,664 particularly when I was making those decisions, 68 00:02:26,819 --> 00:02:29,539 the profile of an astronaut was was a 69 00:02:29,539 --> 00:02:31,699 bit narrower, we can say. You know, this 70 00:02:31,699 --> 00:02:34,180 selection of ESA astronauts, we've really seen it 71 00:02:34,180 --> 00:02:37,060 kind of broaden to to scientists rather than 72 00:02:37,060 --> 00:02:39,379 people who are kind of necessarily pilots or 73 00:02:39,379 --> 00:02:39,879 so. 74 00:02:41,305 --> 00:02:43,545 So, really, I just thought, you know, I 75 00:02:43,545 --> 00:02:45,305 would love to learn more about space. I'm 76 00:02:45,305 --> 00:02:46,625 gonna go for that. And, of course, you 77 00:02:46,625 --> 00:02:48,425 know, you always stay open to anything and 78 00:02:48,425 --> 00:02:50,745 everything that can come your way on your 79 00:02:50,745 --> 00:02:52,125 on your path. Yeah. 80 00:02:52,510 --> 00:02:54,590 You are a physicist. Can you tell us 81 00:02:54,590 --> 00:02:56,849 what you studied when you were studying physics? 82 00:02:57,150 --> 00:02:58,430 Yeah. So I did my, 83 00:02:58,909 --> 00:03:01,969 I did a master's degree at Durham University 84 00:03:02,670 --> 00:03:04,050 in physics and astrophysics. 85 00:03:04,510 --> 00:03:06,189 So it did have a little bit of 86 00:03:06,189 --> 00:03:07,409 a slant on astrophysics, 87 00:03:08,594 --> 00:03:10,594 but it was essentially a physics degree. And 88 00:03:10,594 --> 00:03:11,954 in the final year or so, I thought 89 00:03:11,954 --> 00:03:13,555 that's the kind of direction I want to 90 00:03:13,555 --> 00:03:14,454 specialize in. 91 00:03:14,834 --> 00:03:16,514 And then I went on to do, a 92 00:03:16,514 --> 00:03:19,094 second masters and a PhD in more research. 93 00:03:19,634 --> 00:03:22,250 So that was specializing just in astrophysics and 94 00:03:22,250 --> 00:03:24,349 mainly looking at distant galaxy evolution. 95 00:03:24,810 --> 00:03:27,129 So looking first at how you see galaxies 96 00:03:27,129 --> 00:03:29,370 at very short wavelengths in gamma rays, very 97 00:03:29,370 --> 00:03:30,830 energetic parts of galaxies, 98 00:03:31,129 --> 00:03:33,389 and then later on for my PhD looking 99 00:03:33,715 --> 00:03:35,794 at kind of how galaxies interact with each 100 00:03:35,794 --> 00:03:38,594 other in different environments using all different telescopes 101 00:03:38,594 --> 00:03:41,155 and different wavelengths. Yeah. What what did you 102 00:03:41,155 --> 00:03:41,655 find? 103 00:03:43,155 --> 00:03:45,894 Well, it's it's really interesting because, a galaxy 104 00:03:46,435 --> 00:03:47,174 by itself, 105 00:03:47,709 --> 00:03:50,289 we can say, with no other galaxies nearby, 106 00:03:51,469 --> 00:03:53,709 creates stars often in a a very kind 107 00:03:53,709 --> 00:03:56,430 of steady, predictable way. But when you get 108 00:03:56,430 --> 00:03:58,430 lots of galaxies in a galaxy group or 109 00:03:58,430 --> 00:04:00,830 a galaxy cluster, they start to interact with 110 00:04:00,830 --> 00:04:03,169 each other, and that can really they can 111 00:04:03,444 --> 00:04:05,365 interact with each other's gas, and that's what 112 00:04:05,365 --> 00:04:07,044 makes stars. And you can get these kind 113 00:04:07,044 --> 00:04:08,745 of star bursts, it's called. 114 00:04:09,444 --> 00:04:10,665 So I found that fascinating. 115 00:04:11,284 --> 00:04:13,365 Yeah. No. It's amazing, isn't it? Did you 116 00:04:13,444 --> 00:04:15,284 like, if this hadn't come along, did you 117 00:04:15,284 --> 00:04:16,964 have something else that you were gonna look 118 00:04:16,964 --> 00:04:18,584 into afterwards? Or 119 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:22,519 It was something I was thinking about quite 120 00:04:22,519 --> 00:04:24,680 heavy at the time. This this idea of 121 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:25,500 how to 122 00:04:25,879 --> 00:04:28,519 perhaps combine what I was already doing, being 123 00:04:28,519 --> 00:04:29,419 being a scientist, 124 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:31,800 with this other side of space. I almost 125 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:34,285 think now that there's the the research side 126 00:04:34,285 --> 00:04:35,345 of space and then 127 00:04:35,725 --> 00:04:38,125 the exploration side of space, which actually focuses 128 00:04:38,125 --> 00:04:39,904 on much different types of science, 129 00:04:40,524 --> 00:04:42,524 people physically going there. And I was thinking 130 00:04:42,524 --> 00:04:44,144 about, particularly with ESA, 131 00:04:44,524 --> 00:04:47,060 looking into if I could do research there, 132 00:04:47,060 --> 00:04:48,579 if that could also expose me to the 133 00:04:48,579 --> 00:04:50,279 mission control side of things, 134 00:04:50,660 --> 00:04:53,699 the the telescopes themselves, the the missions behind 135 00:04:53,699 --> 00:04:54,199 those. 136 00:04:54,980 --> 00:04:56,740 Yeah. So I think there were lots of 137 00:04:56,740 --> 00:04:59,800 really, really interesting pathways within space and 138 00:05:00,605 --> 00:05:02,925 the the space sector. I sorry. I have 139 00:05:02,925 --> 00:05:04,605 a question which might because because I'm a 140 00:05:04,605 --> 00:05:07,245 lecturer in my, day job, and, 141 00:05:08,045 --> 00:05:09,324 I was I had a meeting with one 142 00:05:09,324 --> 00:05:11,085 of my students today, and she's doing her 143 00:05:11,085 --> 00:05:12,064 research into 144 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:15,580 the portrayal of scientists 145 00:05:15,959 --> 00:05:18,279 in science fiction with a view to how 146 00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:18,779 that, 147 00:05:19,639 --> 00:05:20,459 how society 148 00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:21,339 sees 149 00:05:21,879 --> 00:05:23,800 scientists. Right? Three science. Are you a science 150 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:24,644 fiction fan? 151 00:05:25,365 --> 00:05:27,544 Yes. Okay. Very short time. 152 00:05:28,564 --> 00:05:30,564 Okay. So she wanted me to ask you 153 00:05:30,564 --> 00:05:33,224 as somebody who is, you know, inspiring 154 00:05:33,685 --> 00:05:35,384 young people into 155 00:05:35,685 --> 00:05:37,784 space and physics and and science. 156 00:05:38,189 --> 00:05:40,610 Other people are characters from fiction 157 00:05:40,990 --> 00:05:44,110 from science fiction perhaps that inspired you when 158 00:05:44,110 --> 00:05:44,689 you were, 159 00:05:45,470 --> 00:05:47,949 younger or now even? Oh, that is a 160 00:05:47,949 --> 00:05:49,090 really good question. 161 00:05:49,629 --> 00:05:50,189 I think 162 00:05:51,125 --> 00:05:52,824 I wouldn't say there was a particular 163 00:05:53,205 --> 00:05:56,025 character that in inspired me. 164 00:05:56,805 --> 00:05:58,884 But I do love science fiction, and I 165 00:05:58,884 --> 00:05:59,545 I find 166 00:06:00,245 --> 00:06:01,764 it's it's kind of an interesting thing. I 167 00:06:01,764 --> 00:06:03,605 think particularly in my role, and I I 168 00:06:03,605 --> 00:06:05,605 think you've had some similar discussions if I've 169 00:06:05,605 --> 00:06:06,085 understood, 170 00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:08,759 some of your work as well about how 171 00:06:08,759 --> 00:06:10,779 realistic science fiction is, 172 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:13,660 how that feeds into 173 00:06:14,199 --> 00:06:17,160 our opinions on science and exploration and all 174 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:17,980 of these things. 175 00:06:18,439 --> 00:06:20,120 And I tend to be of the side 176 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:20,620 where 177 00:06:21,044 --> 00:06:23,925 I don't mind too much how realistic something 178 00:06:23,925 --> 00:06:27,685 is. I actually find that just almost everything 179 00:06:27,685 --> 00:06:29,444 I read in terms of science fiction, it 180 00:06:29,444 --> 00:06:31,925 just makes you think about the possibility of 181 00:06:31,925 --> 00:06:33,879 what could be. Know, even if it's not 182 00:06:33,879 --> 00:06:35,480 in something that is not kind of possible 183 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:37,160 now or would only be possible if, you 184 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:39,079 know, a few small things were different. I 185 00:06:39,079 --> 00:06:41,399 just find the whole getting lost in that 186 00:06:41,399 --> 00:06:44,120 other world of possibilities, not necessarily aligning with 187 00:06:44,120 --> 00:06:45,555 certain characters, but just 188 00:06:46,115 --> 00:06:47,254 yeah. Those visions 189 00:06:47,714 --> 00:06:50,115 are a great kind of So more reading 190 00:06:50,115 --> 00:06:52,375 than watching science fiction? Or 191 00:06:52,995 --> 00:06:55,314 Probably a bit of both. Yeah. I think 192 00:06:55,314 --> 00:06:56,834 some of the things that have really grabbed 193 00:06:56,834 --> 00:06:58,535 me have been particularly books. 194 00:06:59,669 --> 00:07:02,009 But I I love a science fiction movie 195 00:07:02,229 --> 00:07:04,250 just as anything else. Yeah. 196 00:07:04,870 --> 00:07:06,870 Do you? Do you? Can you take books? 197 00:07:06,870 --> 00:07:08,229 I mean, maybe you take a Kindle with 198 00:07:08,229 --> 00:07:09,449 you or something to 199 00:07:09,910 --> 00:07:11,449 to to space when you go. 200 00:07:11,754 --> 00:07:12,415 I mean, 201 00:07:12,954 --> 00:07:14,875 can you take books? Is it I I 202 00:07:14,875 --> 00:07:17,274 mean, I think you can. Yes. But they're 203 00:07:17,274 --> 00:07:17,774 heavy, 204 00:07:18,074 --> 00:07:20,894 unfortunately. Per, you know, per book, they're heavy. 205 00:07:21,274 --> 00:07:22,634 So I think a lot of the reading 206 00:07:22,634 --> 00:07:23,935 material is electronic. 207 00:07:24,370 --> 00:07:26,529 Yeah. It can be uploaded, actually. We have 208 00:07:26,529 --> 00:07:28,930 some fantastic teams on the ground ahead of 209 00:07:28,930 --> 00:07:32,050 crew support teams who upload material regularly for 210 00:07:32,050 --> 00:07:34,769 astronauts, and that can be films or you 211 00:07:34,769 --> 00:07:37,250 know, newspapers and books as well. So, yeah, 212 00:07:37,250 --> 00:07:39,009 you can definitely read in space, but I 213 00:07:39,009 --> 00:07:39,464 think 214 00:07:39,944 --> 00:07:41,944 as much as I love the feel of 215 00:07:41,944 --> 00:07:42,925 a real book, 216 00:07:43,305 --> 00:07:45,144 in terms of yeah. You can maybe bring 217 00:07:45,144 --> 00:07:47,544 you can maybe bring one or electronically, you 218 00:07:47,544 --> 00:07:48,044 can, 219 00:07:48,425 --> 00:07:48,925 yeah, 220 00:07:49,225 --> 00:07:50,365 reach your heart sometimes. 221 00:07:50,985 --> 00:07:53,305 Yeah. Would you would you read science fiction 222 00:07:53,305 --> 00:07:55,430 on on like, if you're on the International 223 00:07:55,430 --> 00:07:57,270 Space Station, do you think you'd, like, read 224 00:07:57,270 --> 00:07:58,410 science fiction or 225 00:07:58,949 --> 00:07:59,850 something else? 226 00:08:00,470 --> 00:08:02,870 I I'm not the I'm not the kind 227 00:08:02,870 --> 00:08:04,550 of person I think who gets kind of 228 00:08:04,550 --> 00:08:05,050 too 229 00:08:05,845 --> 00:08:07,764 spaced out. I think I could very happily 230 00:08:07,764 --> 00:08:09,845 be in space and read about space at 231 00:08:09,845 --> 00:08:10,665 the same time. 232 00:08:11,285 --> 00:08:13,444 But I also love kind of classic novels, 233 00:08:13,444 --> 00:08:15,204 things that are, you know, just stories of 234 00:08:15,204 --> 00:08:16,185 people's lives, 235 00:08:16,564 --> 00:08:18,084 and I think that could be a nice, 236 00:08:18,485 --> 00:08:20,084 a nice change of scene. And I wonder 237 00:08:20,084 --> 00:08:20,584 if 238 00:08:20,884 --> 00:08:23,919 perhaps on the ISS as well because one 239 00:08:23,919 --> 00:08:26,240 of the things is being quite isolated from 240 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:29,039 other people, whether really just kind of reading 241 00:08:29,039 --> 00:08:31,360 some of those classic novels is maybe a 242 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:33,539 way to also feel as though you're connecting 243 00:08:34,274 --> 00:08:36,194 with another side of things that you maybe 244 00:08:36,194 --> 00:08:37,574 don't have on the ISS. 245 00:08:38,834 --> 00:08:40,674 Yeah. I was wondering about that because it's 246 00:08:40,674 --> 00:08:41,174 very, 247 00:08:43,554 --> 00:08:45,235 well, I think I've heard heard you say 248 00:08:45,235 --> 00:08:48,454 it's inside. Right? Space is mostly inside. 249 00:08:49,460 --> 00:08:51,779 When you're on the ISS, yeah, it is 250 00:08:51,779 --> 00:08:53,779 very much mostly inside. I think it's set 251 00:08:53,779 --> 00:08:55,139 to show. You know, lucky enough to have 252 00:08:55,139 --> 00:08:56,759 the opportunity to do an EVA. 253 00:08:58,100 --> 00:09:00,759 Yeah. It is it's a completely closed environment, 254 00:09:02,565 --> 00:09:04,565 isolated kind of physically in that sense. Of 255 00:09:04,565 --> 00:09:06,644 course, with the technology have we have now, 256 00:09:06,644 --> 00:09:08,884 it's it's possible to to call, even video 257 00:09:08,884 --> 00:09:10,585 call down to family and friends. 258 00:09:11,845 --> 00:09:13,925 But you are very much living and working 259 00:09:13,925 --> 00:09:16,210 in this small environment with a a subset 260 00:09:16,210 --> 00:09:16,870 of people. 261 00:09:17,330 --> 00:09:19,009 Though so that sorry. I'll move on to 262 00:09:19,009 --> 00:09:20,370 something else in a second, but there must 263 00:09:20,370 --> 00:09:21,730 be some films that you don't want to 264 00:09:21,730 --> 00:09:23,909 watch on the International Space Station. Right? 265 00:09:25,009 --> 00:09:25,509 Probably. 266 00:09:26,049 --> 00:09:28,049 I'd love to get some of my, colleagues' 267 00:09:28,049 --> 00:09:29,662 opinions on that. I'm sure this is a 268 00:09:29,662 --> 00:09:29,835 discussion 269 00:09:35,675 --> 00:09:36,654 mission. Yeah. Yeah. 270 00:09:37,355 --> 00:09:37,855 I'm 271 00:09:38,394 --> 00:09:40,394 I'm thinking you don't wanna watch Gravity. I 272 00:09:40,394 --> 00:09:42,394 think that's probably a no no. I think 273 00:09:42,394 --> 00:09:44,235 probably snakes on a plane you don't wanna 274 00:09:44,235 --> 00:09:46,250 watch as well. That's probably not something. But 275 00:09:46,250 --> 00:09:49,470 that's true of all times. Looking Brian Curtin 276 00:09:49,610 --> 00:09:50,269 very suspiciously. 277 00:09:51,049 --> 00:09:51,549 Yeah. 278 00:09:51,929 --> 00:09:54,750 Absolutely. Right. So is there any way 279 00:09:55,129 --> 00:09:57,929 that your research that you've been doing is 280 00:09:57,929 --> 00:10:00,129 related to your job as a as a 281 00:10:00,250 --> 00:10:00,914 as an astronaut? 282 00:10:01,875 --> 00:10:02,855 There are some, 283 00:10:03,315 --> 00:10:03,815 astrophysics 284 00:10:04,355 --> 00:10:06,214 experiments on the ISS. 285 00:10:07,074 --> 00:10:08,914 But, really, what I think is very special 286 00:10:08,914 --> 00:10:12,034 about the ISS is how much really broad 287 00:10:12,034 --> 00:10:14,695 science it covers that has a very direct 288 00:10:14,754 --> 00:10:16,534 impact on our lives on Earth. 289 00:10:17,399 --> 00:10:19,580 And I would say in that sense that 290 00:10:19,639 --> 00:10:21,399 my kind of previous role and the work 291 00:10:21,399 --> 00:10:22,299 I was doing, 292 00:10:22,759 --> 00:10:25,480 it feeds much more into the the skill 293 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:27,559 set that an astronaut needs to have, kind 294 00:10:27,559 --> 00:10:30,524 of problem solving and perhaps that that approach 295 00:10:31,004 --> 00:10:32,705 to to science rather than 296 00:10:33,165 --> 00:10:35,565 physically needing to know the the details of 297 00:10:35,565 --> 00:10:37,504 of astrophysics and galaxy evolution. 298 00:10:38,445 --> 00:10:40,684 We had a really interesting few months during 299 00:10:40,684 --> 00:10:41,585 basic training. 300 00:10:42,205 --> 00:10:44,365 The first, thirteen months of our training was 301 00:10:44,445 --> 00:10:46,440 it's called basic training, and it's something that 302 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:48,840 all all agencies have to get to make 303 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:50,440 sure that everyone has the the sort of 304 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:52,220 the an international syllabus. 305 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:55,720 A lot of it was learning about all 306 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:57,879 different types of sciences, perhaps for, you know, 307 00:10:57,879 --> 00:10:59,804 one week astrophysics, one week 308 00:11:00,205 --> 00:11:03,485 human biology, one week meteorology, one week climate 309 00:11:03,485 --> 00:11:04,464 and earth science, 310 00:11:05,085 --> 00:11:06,544 to give us this background, 311 00:11:07,325 --> 00:11:09,085 to because we all come from completely different 312 00:11:09,085 --> 00:11:10,684 backgrounds to make sure everyone has the same 313 00:11:10,684 --> 00:11:12,924 level of understanding of what will actually be 314 00:11:12,924 --> 00:11:14,284 the background of what we do on the 315 00:11:14,284 --> 00:11:14,784 ISS. 316 00:11:15,730 --> 00:11:16,850 So I thought that was a a really, 317 00:11:16,850 --> 00:11:18,769 really nice thing to do. Because that's not 318 00:11:18,769 --> 00:11:20,789 the sort of thing that gets reported on 319 00:11:20,850 --> 00:11:22,870 as much, is it? That that sort of, 320 00:11:23,490 --> 00:11:25,089 that learning you're doing as part of your 321 00:11:25,089 --> 00:11:27,649 training. Yeah. I mean, of course, basic training 322 00:11:27,649 --> 00:11:30,154 also, we had winter survival training and training 323 00:11:31,495 --> 00:11:32,475 and water training survival, 324 00:11:33,654 --> 00:11:34,154 firefighting, 325 00:11:34,695 --> 00:11:36,375 centrifuge. And these are the sorts of things 326 00:11:36,375 --> 00:11:37,975 that kind of really get picked up and 327 00:11:37,975 --> 00:11:40,695 aborted because, you know, there's pictures of us 328 00:11:40,695 --> 00:11:42,535 outside and doing things. But a lot of 329 00:11:42,535 --> 00:11:44,555 our basic training was spent in the classroom, 330 00:11:44,690 --> 00:11:46,289 yeah, which isn't kind of talked about as 331 00:11:46,289 --> 00:11:48,610 much. No. No. It wouldn't be. Yeah. But 332 00:11:48,610 --> 00:11:50,470 we're talking about it now, so it's fine. 333 00:11:50,769 --> 00:11:53,649 So what why winter survival training? What what's 334 00:11:53,649 --> 00:11:54,309 that about? 335 00:11:54,929 --> 00:11:56,230 It's actually because, 336 00:11:57,169 --> 00:11:59,809 when you come down from from space, from 337 00:11:59,809 --> 00:12:00,389 a mission, 338 00:12:00,904 --> 00:12:03,625 you have very much a a designated kind 339 00:12:03,625 --> 00:12:06,184 of landing area. You know where you're you're 340 00:12:06,184 --> 00:12:07,644 aiming for in your capsule. 341 00:12:08,345 --> 00:12:10,825 But you can never guarantee that that's exactly 342 00:12:10,825 --> 00:12:12,125 where you're going to land. 343 00:12:13,319 --> 00:12:15,980 So kind of a very very cold environment, 344 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:17,899 being quite a difficult 345 00:12:18,279 --> 00:12:20,679 climate, a difficult place to live, the idea 346 00:12:20,679 --> 00:12:23,019 is that if you do end up landing 347 00:12:23,319 --> 00:12:26,115 somewhere very hostile like that, and it takes 348 00:12:26,595 --> 00:12:28,514 the the rescue teams, the teams who come 349 00:12:28,514 --> 00:12:29,654 and meet you on grounds, 350 00:12:30,355 --> 00:12:32,195 hours or maybe even days to come and 351 00:12:32,195 --> 00:12:33,735 get you and your crew from the capsule. 352 00:12:34,034 --> 00:12:36,195 You just need to be able to look 353 00:12:36,195 --> 00:12:38,754 after yourselves, look after each other, and survive 354 00:12:38,754 --> 00:12:39,254 them. 355 00:12:40,220 --> 00:12:42,379 So it's really just the the practicalities of 356 00:12:42,379 --> 00:12:44,620 coming back. And the the same for for 357 00:12:44,620 --> 00:12:46,879 water survival. It's all about the the landings. 358 00:12:47,740 --> 00:12:49,980 Okay. But there's I mean, there's the pool 359 00:12:49,980 --> 00:12:52,139 as well. I just think that looks amazing. 360 00:12:52,139 --> 00:12:54,220 Is it as amazing as it looks doing 361 00:12:54,220 --> 00:12:56,144 that kind of pool training with the the 362 00:12:56,144 --> 00:12:59,264 model ISS under the water? Yeah. It was 363 00:12:59,264 --> 00:13:01,825 it was really, really special. I finished that, 364 00:13:02,144 --> 00:13:03,985 just at the June 365 00:13:03,985 --> 00:13:07,125 this year. I was in Houston at, Johnston 366 00:13:07,185 --> 00:13:09,269 Space Center for seven months 367 00:13:09,750 --> 00:13:13,129 doing that, EVA training. And it really was, 368 00:13:13,670 --> 00:13:16,410 yeah. It is it is pretty magical because, 369 00:13:16,629 --> 00:13:18,629 you know, you are underwater, and you have 370 00:13:18,629 --> 00:13:20,629 you have a a team of divers who 371 00:13:20,629 --> 00:13:23,509 who essentially adjust your buoyancy. So you're in 372 00:13:23,509 --> 00:13:25,845 the the EMU suit, the, the suit that 373 00:13:25,845 --> 00:13:27,524 you use to do an EVA outside the 374 00:13:27,524 --> 00:13:30,004 station, what people think of as very typically 375 00:13:30,004 --> 00:13:30,904 the the spacesuit. 376 00:13:31,524 --> 00:13:33,684 And, of course, that's very heavy. So you 377 00:13:33,684 --> 00:13:35,205 need to add a lot of float and 378 00:13:35,205 --> 00:13:37,684 buoyancy to it to get that floating. That 379 00:13:37,684 --> 00:13:39,524 means you're you're moving like you would in 380 00:13:39,524 --> 00:13:40,024 microgravity. 381 00:13:41,259 --> 00:13:42,860 And so there's this whole team of people 382 00:13:42,860 --> 00:13:44,299 who are who are doing that, and the 383 00:13:44,299 --> 00:13:46,639 end result really is that you are floating, 384 00:13:48,059 --> 00:13:50,799 in what looks very much like space, 385 00:13:51,179 --> 00:13:53,339 you know, learning really how to move around 386 00:13:53,339 --> 00:13:54,799 the outside of the ISS, 387 00:13:55,315 --> 00:13:55,815 practicing 388 00:13:56,195 --> 00:13:57,334 installing things, 389 00:13:57,875 --> 00:14:00,195 obviously, you know, keeping yourself and your teammates 390 00:14:00,195 --> 00:14:02,115 safe, a lot of protocol around that. It's 391 00:14:02,115 --> 00:14:02,615 really, 392 00:14:02,995 --> 00:14:05,334 yeah, it's a really, really immersive experience. 393 00:14:06,355 --> 00:14:08,434 How do the people in the water adjust 394 00:14:08,434 --> 00:14:09,095 your buoyancy? 395 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:11,159 Yes. It's I mean, it's very it's very 396 00:14:11,159 --> 00:14:13,799 simple in theory. They literally just put floats 397 00:14:13,799 --> 00:14:16,039 onto you, kind of, you know you know, 398 00:14:16,039 --> 00:14:18,379 yeah, pieces of, foam and and 399 00:14:18,839 --> 00:14:19,720 and blocks of, 400 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:22,664 blocks that float and that, increase your your 401 00:14:22,664 --> 00:14:24,264 buoyancy. And they have different weights, and they 402 00:14:24,264 --> 00:14:25,544 can you can put them in your chest 403 00:14:25,544 --> 00:14:26,924 and in your ankles. 404 00:14:28,184 --> 00:14:29,945 So although in theory, it's kind of very 405 00:14:29,945 --> 00:14:31,384 easy to put a float on somebody and 406 00:14:31,384 --> 00:14:34,440 make them float, it's a very delicate art 407 00:14:34,679 --> 00:14:37,399 underwater for the teams to constantly adjust your 408 00:14:37,399 --> 00:14:39,399 buoyancy so that when you move body position, 409 00:14:39,399 --> 00:14:40,759 you might go up and down in the 410 00:14:40,759 --> 00:14:43,419 pool because you're moving around the space station. 411 00:14:44,039 --> 00:14:45,820 To keep that consistent is 412 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:48,759 is, yeah, quite a thing. But in theory, 413 00:14:48,759 --> 00:14:50,705 you know, it's just your your suit plus 414 00:14:50,705 --> 00:14:51,205 the 415 00:14:51,664 --> 00:14:54,544 plus the buoyancy plus the the floats. The 416 00:14:54,544 --> 00:14:56,144 the astronauts who've done that and, obviously, they 417 00:14:56,144 --> 00:14:58,384 haven't been to the ISS, do they say 418 00:14:58,384 --> 00:15:01,825 that that's, you know, a good approximation of 419 00:15:01,825 --> 00:15:02,325 it? 420 00:15:03,340 --> 00:15:05,759 Yeah. There are there are some interesting differences. 421 00:15:06,059 --> 00:15:07,740 So it's I think it's a very good 422 00:15:07,740 --> 00:15:10,559 approximation of it. One of the big differences 423 00:15:11,340 --> 00:15:14,299 is that although you're floating, you still have 424 00:15:14,299 --> 00:15:14,799 gravity. 425 00:15:15,215 --> 00:15:17,695 So if you turn upside down, the blood 426 00:15:17,695 --> 00:15:19,075 will rush to your head. 427 00:15:19,695 --> 00:15:22,735 So you don't have as much freedom about 428 00:15:22,735 --> 00:15:25,054 choosing exactly what position you put your body 429 00:15:25,054 --> 00:15:27,054 in. And a lot of the the the 430 00:15:27,054 --> 00:15:29,409 trainers say, do think to yourself, when I 431 00:15:29,409 --> 00:15:31,990 approach this worksite, when I install this item, 432 00:15:32,209 --> 00:15:33,409 would you want to be like this, or, 433 00:15:33,409 --> 00:15:34,769 actually, would you want to be kind of 434 00:15:34,769 --> 00:15:37,329 upside down in space? So do think about 435 00:15:37,329 --> 00:15:38,870 the the differences there. 436 00:15:40,209 --> 00:15:42,105 And some parts are harder in the pool. 437 00:15:42,105 --> 00:15:44,985 You know, moving against the water, kind of 438 00:15:44,985 --> 00:15:47,004 that drag is more difficult. 439 00:15:47,625 --> 00:15:50,024 But then, of course, when you're in space, 440 00:15:50,024 --> 00:15:52,024 you have these these tethers and things that 441 00:15:52,024 --> 00:15:54,504 just float about like crazy. And at least 442 00:15:54,504 --> 00:15:56,610 in the water, they don't they float, but 443 00:15:56,610 --> 00:15:58,870 they're not kind of absolute spaghetti, 444 00:15:59,889 --> 00:16:02,470 kind of out of control. So there's there's 445 00:16:02,529 --> 00:16:04,050 things that are easier and things that are 446 00:16:04,050 --> 00:16:04,550 harder. 447 00:16:05,410 --> 00:16:07,889 But, overall, a very good approximation. Really good 448 00:16:07,889 --> 00:16:08,389 training. 449 00:16:09,009 --> 00:16:11,634 Mhmm. Yeah. I'm jealous. I'm very, very jealous 450 00:16:11,634 --> 00:16:12,514 of that. I don't want to go to 451 00:16:12,514 --> 00:16:13,715 space, but I do want to get in 452 00:16:13,715 --> 00:16:15,815 that pool. No. Yeah. Well, scared the screens. 453 00:16:16,274 --> 00:16:18,434 No. I don't think so. I don't think 454 00:16:18,434 --> 00:16:19,955 so. It's not for me. I'm I'm more 455 00:16:19,955 --> 00:16:21,554 of a stay at home kinda guy. The 456 00:16:21,554 --> 00:16:23,554 other thing which looks really amazing is the 457 00:16:23,634 --> 00:16:24,870 those parabolic flights. 458 00:16:40,835 --> 00:16:42,195 Right. Because some people just do that and 459 00:16:42,195 --> 00:16:43,795 float around. Right? But you do that, and 460 00:16:43,795 --> 00:16:46,434 you're actually doing experiments as you would be 461 00:16:46,434 --> 00:16:48,934 in zero g or it is zero g. 462 00:16:50,355 --> 00:16:51,735 Yeah. The the first, 463 00:16:52,115 --> 00:16:53,495 the first few parabolas, 464 00:16:53,879 --> 00:16:56,040 because, what you have on a parabolic flight 465 00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:57,100 is many, many, 466 00:16:57,639 --> 00:17:00,440 parabolas. So you have twenty two seconds of 467 00:17:00,440 --> 00:17:01,340 this floating, 468 00:17:01,799 --> 00:17:02,519 of this, 469 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:04,460 reduced gravity. 470 00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:07,664 But between every twenty two seconds, the the 471 00:17:07,664 --> 00:17:09,184 plane does another maneuver and you come back 472 00:17:09,184 --> 00:17:10,944 down. So you get very short periods of 473 00:17:10,944 --> 00:17:11,845 time for practice, 474 00:17:12,224 --> 00:17:13,744 over the course of a a couple of 475 00:17:13,744 --> 00:17:16,144 hours of flight. So the first few were 476 00:17:16,144 --> 00:17:19,045 really focused on just kind of moving, understanding 477 00:17:19,345 --> 00:17:21,960 that you don't wanna try and swim. That's 478 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:23,960 not gonna work. You have to kind of 479 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:26,519 gently push yourself off of objects, but only 480 00:17:26,519 --> 00:17:28,599 gently because otherwise you'll be whizzing all over 481 00:17:28,599 --> 00:17:29,179 the place. 482 00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:32,759 And after that, yeah, it focused much more 483 00:17:32,759 --> 00:17:33,259 on, 484 00:17:34,724 --> 00:17:37,545 for example, kind of using using kind of 485 00:17:37,845 --> 00:17:40,325 electric drills because you want to make sure 486 00:17:40,325 --> 00:17:42,404 that you secure yourself properly so that you're 487 00:17:42,404 --> 00:17:43,845 not spinning round and round and round. You 488 00:17:43,845 --> 00:17:45,365 want the drill to be spinning round and 489 00:17:45,365 --> 00:17:46,484 round and round, and you need to be 490 00:17:46,484 --> 00:17:48,244 in one fixed place, which is easier said 491 00:17:48,244 --> 00:17:48,984 than done. 492 00:17:49,580 --> 00:17:51,119 We did a bit of kind of practicing 493 00:17:51,259 --> 00:17:54,299 CPR because, again, you can't really push down 494 00:17:54,299 --> 00:17:55,900 because you all just float up. You need 495 00:17:55,900 --> 00:17:57,200 to secure your body. 496 00:17:57,900 --> 00:17:59,440 And then we did a few experiments 497 00:18:00,299 --> 00:18:02,144 in what's called the the glove box 498 00:18:02,625 --> 00:18:04,384 where you, yeah, you have your hands inside 499 00:18:04,384 --> 00:18:06,724 a glove box. It's a completely sealed environment 500 00:18:06,785 --> 00:18:09,105 for either very sensitive experiments or things that 501 00:18:09,105 --> 00:18:11,184 could be toxic if they're released. So, yeah, 502 00:18:11,184 --> 00:18:12,164 we really practiced 503 00:18:12,545 --> 00:18:13,445 the the practicalities 504 00:18:13,904 --> 00:18:15,424 of of how different it is to do 505 00:18:15,424 --> 00:18:16,964 all of those things in that environment. 506 00:18:18,809 --> 00:18:19,309 So, 507 00:18:19,609 --> 00:18:21,130 presumably, part of your training, and maybe you 508 00:18:21,130 --> 00:18:22,650 already know this sort of stuff, but it's 509 00:18:22,650 --> 00:18:24,490 to do with first aid and if people 510 00:18:24,490 --> 00:18:26,250 are ill, then you'll have to look at 511 00:18:26,329 --> 00:18:28,009 like, some what happens if somebody gets ill 512 00:18:28,009 --> 00:18:29,549 on the international space station? 513 00:18:29,849 --> 00:18:32,089 It depends on on what kind of illness 514 00:18:32,089 --> 00:18:34,525 they have. I mean, we we all have, 515 00:18:34,924 --> 00:18:36,705 we've all had the kind of a basic 516 00:18:36,765 --> 00:18:39,325 course in the the changes that our body 517 00:18:39,325 --> 00:18:40,305 is gonna undergo, 518 00:18:41,485 --> 00:18:44,125 things like putting stitches in. If, you know, 519 00:18:44,125 --> 00:18:45,725 you you knock your head on something, you 520 00:18:45,725 --> 00:18:47,565 know, we're we're trained in kind of minor 521 00:18:47,565 --> 00:18:49,059 things like that. I guess you'd call it 522 00:18:49,059 --> 00:18:50,039 just first aid. 523 00:18:50,820 --> 00:18:53,059 But one of the interesting things about the 524 00:18:53,059 --> 00:18:55,960 the ISS is how much it has improved 525 00:18:56,099 --> 00:18:56,599 telemedicine. 526 00:18:57,460 --> 00:18:59,940 So, of course, on ground, we have amazing 527 00:18:59,940 --> 00:19:01,720 doctors, really knowledgeable people. 528 00:19:02,585 --> 00:19:04,105 And often, we will do a kind of 529 00:19:04,105 --> 00:19:06,105 a medical exam with people on the ground. 530 00:19:06,105 --> 00:19:07,464 So we have the equipment to show them 531 00:19:07,464 --> 00:19:09,644 with cameras or with ultrasound if something's 532 00:19:10,585 --> 00:19:11,644 not quite right. 533 00:19:12,345 --> 00:19:14,359 But if it is something really serious, of 534 00:19:14,359 --> 00:19:16,119 course, we don't have the the means to 535 00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:17,960 treat that up in up in space, and 536 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:19,400 it would mean that we had to to 537 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:21,080 come down as a as a crew very, 538 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:21,740 very quickly. 539 00:19:22,279 --> 00:19:23,960 And that's one of the reasons why the 540 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:24,460 selection 541 00:19:25,799 --> 00:19:28,119 for an astronaut focuses quite a lot on 542 00:19:28,119 --> 00:19:29,960 the medical side of things because you need 543 00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:31,234 to be somebody who 544 00:19:32,174 --> 00:19:34,815 just has a very small likelihood of becoming 545 00:19:34,815 --> 00:19:35,875 seriously ill 546 00:19:36,654 --> 00:19:38,654 in space because it is it is more 547 00:19:38,654 --> 00:19:39,714 difficult to treat. 548 00:19:40,494 --> 00:19:43,055 Okay. Yes. I'd never thought of that CPR 549 00:19:43,055 --> 00:19:44,654 thing. That's quite a thing, isn't it, that 550 00:19:44,654 --> 00:19:45,180 you would 551 00:19:45,740 --> 00:19:46,940 so what do you do then? Do you 552 00:19:46,940 --> 00:19:48,700 do you sort of I don't know. How 553 00:19:48,700 --> 00:19:49,820 do you do that? How do you do 554 00:19:49,820 --> 00:19:51,200 CPR on the ISS? 555 00:19:52,220 --> 00:19:54,380 A kind of a very popular choice is, 556 00:19:54,619 --> 00:19:56,619 so you have, obviously, the the person in 557 00:19:56,619 --> 00:19:57,600 need of care. 558 00:19:58,494 --> 00:20:00,095 We can call it on the floor for 559 00:20:00,095 --> 00:20:01,474 the pharmacist office. 560 00:20:02,015 --> 00:20:03,934 It's not quite right, is it? But Yeah. 561 00:20:04,095 --> 00:20:05,615 On the floor kind of on a on 562 00:20:05,615 --> 00:20:08,335 a bench. And you would turn yourself upside 563 00:20:08,335 --> 00:20:10,434 down and put your feet on the ceiling. 564 00:20:11,330 --> 00:20:12,809 So, obviously, it depends on what height you 565 00:20:12,809 --> 00:20:14,490 are. If you're very, very short or very, 566 00:20:14,490 --> 00:20:16,490 very tall, perhaps it's the the length isn't 567 00:20:16,490 --> 00:20:18,730 gonna be quite right, and use your feet 568 00:20:18,730 --> 00:20:20,890 to to push off against the ceiling and 569 00:20:20,890 --> 00:20:22,730 then put your hands kind of vertically down 570 00:20:22,730 --> 00:20:23,505 onto the chest. 571 00:20:24,224 --> 00:20:26,704 Right. Okay. Well, hopefully, that's not gonna happen 572 00:20:26,704 --> 00:20:27,984 when you go. So you don't need that. 573 00:20:27,984 --> 00:20:29,585 So it's fine. But at least you'll know 574 00:20:29,585 --> 00:20:31,105 what to do if it happens. That's the 575 00:20:31,105 --> 00:20:32,325 thing. Right? So, 576 00:20:33,345 --> 00:20:35,424 there there's another thing that you have to 577 00:20:35,424 --> 00:20:37,345 learn, I assume, which is languages. Are you 578 00:20:37,345 --> 00:20:38,160 any good at them? 579 00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:41,279 I'm trying my very best. I mean, I'm 580 00:20:41,279 --> 00:20:43,680 I'm not a a linguist by by training, 581 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:45,539 but I think I think it's an incredible 582 00:20:45,599 --> 00:20:46,099 opportunity 583 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:48,240 to be able to, to be able to 584 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:49,299 learn different languages. 585 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:51,599 You so quickly realize kind of the doors 586 00:20:51,599 --> 00:20:53,894 it opens to be able to speak with 587 00:20:53,894 --> 00:20:55,674 people in their native language, 588 00:20:56,215 --> 00:20:57,755 to to really show willing, 589 00:20:58,055 --> 00:20:58,775 as well as, 590 00:20:59,174 --> 00:21:01,115 obviously, the the need for it. 591 00:21:01,975 --> 00:21:04,215 So, yeah, learning Russian is still part of 592 00:21:04,215 --> 00:21:04,875 our syllabus. 593 00:21:05,590 --> 00:21:07,509 Of course, Roscosmos is a is a big 594 00:21:07,509 --> 00:21:09,990 partner in the ISS, and there's an agreement 595 00:21:09,990 --> 00:21:12,070 that everybody on the space station will speak 596 00:21:12,070 --> 00:21:13,529 both English and Russian. 597 00:21:14,070 --> 00:21:16,230 And that's the case also for our Japanese 598 00:21:16,230 --> 00:21:16,970 and Canadian 599 00:21:18,884 --> 00:21:19,625 space agency, 600 00:21:20,404 --> 00:21:20,904 colleagues. 601 00:21:21,365 --> 00:21:23,684 So, yes, it's it's certainly a challenge, but 602 00:21:23,684 --> 00:21:25,684 it's actually I mean, it's it's one of 603 00:21:25,684 --> 00:21:27,525 the the real pleasures of the training so 604 00:21:27,525 --> 00:21:30,005 far is just learning so many different things. 605 00:21:30,005 --> 00:21:31,285 You know, some of them I might have 606 00:21:31,285 --> 00:21:33,285 been a little bit familiar with beforehand, and 607 00:21:33,285 --> 00:21:35,690 some of them are completely brand new. And 608 00:21:35,690 --> 00:21:37,850 I absolutely love that, this kind of constant 609 00:21:37,850 --> 00:21:38,350 challenge. 610 00:21:38,809 --> 00:21:41,130 Yeah. It's amazing now. The one of the 611 00:21:41,130 --> 00:21:42,269 things that 612 00:21:44,009 --> 00:21:45,869 is changing, you mentioned this earlier, 613 00:21:46,890 --> 00:21:48,029 is the inclusivity 614 00:21:48,570 --> 00:21:49,789 within the space 615 00:21:50,465 --> 00:21:53,184 sector. And your your intake in particular had 616 00:21:53,184 --> 00:21:55,825 a a particular view to that. How important 617 00:21:55,825 --> 00:21:56,484 is that 618 00:21:56,865 --> 00:21:58,244 within space travel? 619 00:21:58,945 --> 00:22:01,045 It's really important. I mean, 620 00:22:01,825 --> 00:22:04,319 the the the kind of the differences of 621 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:06,400 you know diversity can mean so many different 622 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:07,779 things, right? You know it's 623 00:22:09,039 --> 00:22:09,539 it's 624 00:22:10,559 --> 00:22:11,440 and it really 625 00:22:12,079 --> 00:22:14,019 I think the the focus of the selection 626 00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:17,299 of Aesha in 2022 627 00:22:17,359 --> 00:22:17,714 was 628 00:22:18,994 --> 00:22:19,894 gender diversity 629 00:22:20,674 --> 00:22:23,015 as one of the points, but also really 630 00:22:23,075 --> 00:22:26,194 background diversity in terms of where you come 631 00:22:26,194 --> 00:22:28,534 from, what your approach to thing is 632 00:22:28,914 --> 00:22:31,789 approach to things is. And within a team, 633 00:22:31,929 --> 00:22:34,089 I mean, we see already the the five 634 00:22:34,089 --> 00:22:35,769 of us who are selected as as career 635 00:22:35,769 --> 00:22:38,509 astronauties, so we've been training together very intensively. 636 00:22:39,049 --> 00:22:41,210 And it's interesting because we have a lot 637 00:22:41,210 --> 00:22:42,349 of things in common, 638 00:22:42,835 --> 00:22:44,595 that are potentially kind of make us suitable 639 00:22:44,595 --> 00:22:45,575 for the role, but 640 00:22:46,355 --> 00:22:48,995 you already see actually people coming from different 641 00:22:48,995 --> 00:22:51,075 jobs, be it kind of military or scientific 642 00:22:51,075 --> 00:22:52,375 or medicine or engineering. 643 00:22:52,674 --> 00:22:55,075 Everyone just does things in a slightly different 644 00:22:55,075 --> 00:22:57,154 way and we can learn so much from 645 00:22:57,154 --> 00:22:57,815 each other. 646 00:22:58,869 --> 00:22:59,369 And, 647 00:22:59,750 --> 00:23:02,309 you know, diversity generally, it just brings so 648 00:23:02,309 --> 00:23:04,309 much to a team in terms of problem 649 00:23:04,309 --> 00:23:04,809 solving. 650 00:23:05,190 --> 00:23:06,710 And then, of course, you know, in terms 651 00:23:06,710 --> 00:23:09,429 of inspiring the next generations, you know, making 652 00:23:09,429 --> 00:23:10,650 sure that everybody, 653 00:23:11,115 --> 00:23:12,954 you know, growing up now deciding what they 654 00:23:12,954 --> 00:23:15,454 want to do with their with their careers, 655 00:23:15,914 --> 00:23:18,875 knows that, you know, there aren't certain jobs 656 00:23:18,875 --> 00:23:21,054 for certain small groups of people 657 00:23:21,595 --> 00:23:23,355 who've come up this kind of very narrow 658 00:23:23,355 --> 00:23:25,960 channel. There is not one way to to 659 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:27,720 come to something. I think that's a really 660 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:28,539 important thing 661 00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:29,420 to 662 00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:31,880 to talk about. But the the people who 663 00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:33,559 are growing up now aren't going to be 664 00:23:33,559 --> 00:23:35,559 able to be astronauts on the International Space 665 00:23:35,559 --> 00:23:37,160 Station, are they? Because that's coming to the 666 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:37,845 end of life. 667 00:23:39,365 --> 00:23:42,085 Yeah. The the International Space Station will be 668 00:23:42,085 --> 00:23:44,825 coming to end its life, in 2030. 669 00:23:45,684 --> 00:23:47,525 But that doesn't mean that we're not gonna 670 00:23:47,525 --> 00:23:48,984 be in low Earth orbit anymore. 671 00:23:49,365 --> 00:23:50,884 You know, it's gonna it's gonna be a 672 00:23:50,884 --> 00:23:53,220 very different scene. You know, until now, it's 673 00:23:53,220 --> 00:23:55,539 been really focused on space stations that are 674 00:23:55,539 --> 00:23:57,480 built by governments and nations 675 00:23:57,779 --> 00:23:59,559 like the International Space Station. 676 00:24:00,420 --> 00:24:02,820 And it's gonna become very much kind of 677 00:24:02,820 --> 00:24:05,384 commercialized. There's a lot of commercial companies now 678 00:24:05,384 --> 00:24:07,065 who want to put a station into low 679 00:24:07,065 --> 00:24:08,505 earth orbit because they, you know, they really 680 00:24:08,505 --> 00:24:09,644 see the value in it. 681 00:24:10,664 --> 00:24:13,384 And it's gonna be a complete shift at 682 00:24:13,384 --> 00:24:15,244 that point about how these 683 00:24:15,785 --> 00:24:16,285 commercial 684 00:24:16,744 --> 00:24:17,244 companies 685 00:24:18,025 --> 00:24:21,210 run their space stations, how ESA, for example, 686 00:24:22,710 --> 00:24:24,309 gets involved with that. I very, you know, 687 00:24:24,309 --> 00:24:25,990 very much will still be involved with low 688 00:24:25,990 --> 00:24:27,589 Earth orbit, and there will be agreements made, 689 00:24:27,589 --> 00:24:29,429 but it's a completely different way of doing 690 00:24:29,429 --> 00:24:30,250 things. So 691 00:24:30,710 --> 00:24:32,630 but, you know, there there still very much 692 00:24:32,630 --> 00:24:34,914 will be astronauts in low Earth orbit. It's 693 00:24:34,914 --> 00:24:36,275 just gonna be a a different way of 694 00:24:36,275 --> 00:24:38,115 doing it. So when you, 695 00:24:38,674 --> 00:24:41,894 came into the astronaut corps in 2022, 696 00:24:42,434 --> 00:24:44,214 it was talked about that, 697 00:24:44,674 --> 00:24:47,075 you might have a a mission or you 698 00:24:47,075 --> 00:24:48,055 and your fellow 699 00:24:48,460 --> 00:24:50,700 astronauts might have a mission to the International 700 00:24:50,700 --> 00:24:53,019 Space Station from 2026 701 00:24:53,019 --> 00:24:53,980 to 2030. 702 00:24:53,980 --> 00:24:56,460 Now unless I'm very much mistaken, 2026 703 00:24:56,460 --> 00:24:59,039 is is in a few months' time. Yes. 704 00:24:59,180 --> 00:25:01,420 Yes. It is. And that is that is 705 00:25:01,420 --> 00:25:03,340 still very much the the window that we're 706 00:25:03,340 --> 00:25:04,694 looking at. So, 707 00:25:05,174 --> 00:25:07,755 my one of my French colleagues, Sophie Ednaud, 708 00:25:07,815 --> 00:25:09,894 will be going to the space station next 709 00:25:09,894 --> 00:25:13,035 year. So she is in that 2026, 710 00:25:13,974 --> 00:25:16,054 very exciting, kind of the the first of 711 00:25:16,054 --> 00:25:17,894 us to be going up to space. So 712 00:25:17,894 --> 00:25:18,214 that's, 713 00:25:19,220 --> 00:25:20,820 that's great to see her. You know, she's 714 00:25:20,820 --> 00:25:22,980 reporting back about all of her training as 715 00:25:22,980 --> 00:25:25,400 she goes into these very mission specific trainings. 716 00:25:26,660 --> 00:25:28,180 And, yes, for for the rest of us, 717 00:25:28,180 --> 00:25:30,259 it will be between 2027 718 00:25:30,259 --> 00:25:32,055 and 2030, and we'll go 719 00:25:32,535 --> 00:25:34,615 probably one by one. And that was kind 720 00:25:34,615 --> 00:25:35,835 of always what was anticipated. 721 00:25:36,375 --> 00:25:38,215 Of course, there's a lot of moving pieces 722 00:25:38,215 --> 00:25:40,394 right now. Maybe we will end up, 723 00:25:41,174 --> 00:25:43,095 maybe the how it looks will be slightly 724 00:25:43,095 --> 00:25:44,695 different. Maybe we won't end end up going 725 00:25:44,695 --> 00:25:46,634 one by one. Maybe we'll end up going, 726 00:25:47,490 --> 00:25:49,809 with other European astronauts, but that is all 727 00:25:49,809 --> 00:25:51,490 very much to be seen. Why did she 728 00:25:51,490 --> 00:25:54,849 go first? What's the the the selection for 729 00:25:54,849 --> 00:25:55,349 that? 730 00:25:56,769 --> 00:25:57,990 It's based on nationality, 731 00:25:58,289 --> 00:25:58,789 essentially. 732 00:25:59,265 --> 00:26:00,625 So, of course, ESA is, 733 00:26:01,184 --> 00:26:02,884 22 member states, 734 00:26:03,424 --> 00:26:03,924 and, 735 00:26:04,705 --> 00:26:07,025 all of those member states contribute different things 736 00:26:07,025 --> 00:26:09,424 to different programs. It's it's very much tied 737 00:26:09,424 --> 00:26:12,000 in with how astronauts are selected. It's 738 00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:15,519 obviously based on competencies, but also nationalities. And 739 00:26:15,519 --> 00:26:18,160 then the mission assignments, the order of that 740 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:20,319 is very much a discussion between the director 741 00:26:20,319 --> 00:26:22,160 general and the heads of each of those 742 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:23,299 nations. So it's, 743 00:26:23,839 --> 00:26:24,339 yeah, 744 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:25,380 very much 745 00:26:26,384 --> 00:26:28,085 way, way above my level. 746 00:26:28,625 --> 00:26:30,705 Okay. I'm imagining you all now sitting in 747 00:26:30,705 --> 00:26:32,644 a room having a coffee going, who's next? 748 00:26:32,705 --> 00:26:35,125 Who's next? Is it? Well, I mean, luckily, 749 00:26:35,265 --> 00:26:36,945 because, you know, because we all come from 750 00:26:36,945 --> 00:26:39,329 different countries and, you know, it's, it's, it's 751 00:26:39,329 --> 00:26:41,329 not something where we have to we have 752 00:26:41,329 --> 00:26:43,109 to compare each other because 753 00:26:43,650 --> 00:26:45,410 the the system is how it is. Yeah. 754 00:26:45,410 --> 00:26:47,190 But, of course, you know, thinking about 755 00:26:47,650 --> 00:26:50,069 who is next is a very exciting pastime. 756 00:26:50,769 --> 00:26:53,474 But you also you don't wanna live your 757 00:26:53,474 --> 00:26:55,474 your life or live your career kind of 758 00:26:55,474 --> 00:26:57,394 saying, you know, who's gonna be next? When 759 00:26:57,394 --> 00:26:59,075 will it be me? You really have to 760 00:26:59,075 --> 00:27:01,095 to live in the moment, and that's something 761 00:27:01,474 --> 00:27:02,694 that I think we're understanding 762 00:27:03,075 --> 00:27:04,674 more and more. You know? The training is 763 00:27:04,674 --> 00:27:05,174 fantastic. 764 00:27:05,634 --> 00:27:07,079 What we're doing now is 765 00:27:08,039 --> 00:27:10,440 yeah. We're we're really, really enjoying it, and 766 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:12,359 we cannot always kind of live for the 767 00:27:12,359 --> 00:27:14,599 next thing. It's what we're working towards. And 768 00:27:14,599 --> 00:27:16,759 when that moment happens for each of us 769 00:27:16,759 --> 00:27:17,259 individually, 770 00:27:17,799 --> 00:27:20,380 you know, that will be amazing. But 771 00:27:20,919 --> 00:27:22,380 yeah. You know? I'm 772 00:27:22,744 --> 00:27:24,125 I'm training now actually, 773 00:27:24,984 --> 00:27:27,164 as somebody who will work in mission control 774 00:27:27,225 --> 00:27:29,065 to talk to Sophie when she's on the 775 00:27:29,065 --> 00:27:29,565 ISS. 776 00:27:30,105 --> 00:27:31,705 So that is something that I'm really looking 777 00:27:31,705 --> 00:27:33,545 forward to, supporting her and her mission. And, 778 00:27:33,545 --> 00:27:35,225 you know, it really is a a team 779 00:27:35,225 --> 00:27:36,700 activity. And when I go up, you know, 780 00:27:36,700 --> 00:27:38,619 I'm looking forward to talking to my colleagues 781 00:27:38,619 --> 00:27:41,019 back in the past. That's amazing. And you 782 00:27:41,019 --> 00:27:42,880 say you're still training at the moment, but 783 00:27:43,500 --> 00:27:46,080 you'll still be training throughout this period. Yeah? 784 00:27:46,380 --> 00:27:48,460 Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Sophie going next year 785 00:27:48,460 --> 00:27:50,240 is actually a very condensed timeline. 786 00:27:50,704 --> 00:27:52,785 She is really, really, having to go through 787 00:27:52,785 --> 00:27:55,125 these things quickly. The the minimum training, 788 00:27:55,744 --> 00:27:57,904 is about two and a half years. So 789 00:27:57,904 --> 00:28:01,765 since we started our training in 2023, 790 00:28:03,247 --> 00:28:04,430 yeah, she has had the one of the 791 00:28:04,430 --> 00:28:07,410 most condensed timelines possible, so there is absolutely 792 00:28:07,549 --> 00:28:09,490 plenty for us to be training in, 793 00:28:10,029 --> 00:28:12,910 between now and twenty, twenty thirty. Yeah. I'm 794 00:28:12,910 --> 00:28:15,230 learning fly at the moment, actually, is my 795 00:28:15,230 --> 00:28:17,089 kind of, my current Oh, wow. 796 00:28:17,554 --> 00:28:18,054 Amazing. 797 00:28:18,355 --> 00:28:19,414 How's that going? 798 00:28:20,194 --> 00:28:23,154 Really interesting. Very different from my my previous 799 00:28:23,154 --> 00:28:26,434 role. Really, yeah, really, really interesting to see 800 00:28:26,434 --> 00:28:27,174 how much 801 00:28:28,275 --> 00:28:30,434 you know, how you can know something one 802 00:28:30,434 --> 00:28:32,230 moment on the ground, and then you get 803 00:28:32,230 --> 00:28:34,150 into a plane, and there's a million different 804 00:28:34,150 --> 00:28:36,150 things. You know? You're you're piloting. You're looking 805 00:28:36,150 --> 00:28:38,309 for traffic. You're doing checklists and trying to 806 00:28:38,309 --> 00:28:39,990 keep everything in your head. I can really 807 00:28:39,990 --> 00:28:42,309 see how valuable it is actually to train 808 00:28:42,309 --> 00:28:42,630 that, 809 00:28:43,269 --> 00:28:45,704 operational side of things, you might say. Yeah. 810 00:28:45,704 --> 00:28:47,384 Okay. I think you've got to go, but 811 00:28:47,384 --> 00:28:49,304 can I just ask you one? Two two 812 00:28:49,304 --> 00:28:51,224 more quick two more quick things. First one 813 00:28:51,224 --> 00:28:51,724 is, 814 00:28:52,424 --> 00:28:54,904 if you could go anywhere on a spacecraft, 815 00:28:54,904 --> 00:28:57,144 literally anywhere, there's no would like, where would 816 00:28:57,144 --> 00:28:58,505 you go? Would you go to one of 817 00:28:58,505 --> 00:29:00,599 those distant galaxies that you were studying or 818 00:29:00,679 --> 00:29:03,160 something else? I mean, if if we're talking 819 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:05,419 just kind of complete sheer fantasy, 820 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:08,679 I think, yes, I have often wondered. Because, 821 00:29:08,679 --> 00:29:10,119 I mean, one of the things about looking 822 00:29:10,119 --> 00:29:13,740 galaxies through telescopes is I'm very aware that 823 00:29:13,974 --> 00:29:15,494 a lot of what I look at in 824 00:29:15,494 --> 00:29:17,335 an image, I could not see with my 825 00:29:17,335 --> 00:29:19,734 eyes because it's an it's a radio telescope 826 00:29:19,734 --> 00:29:21,815 or infrared telescope or a gamma ray telescope, 827 00:29:21,815 --> 00:29:23,575 you know, frequencies that I cannot see with 828 00:29:23,575 --> 00:29:25,654 my eyes. So although I have this picture 829 00:29:25,654 --> 00:29:26,474 of a galaxy, 830 00:29:26,859 --> 00:29:28,619 I would I would love to know what 831 00:29:28,619 --> 00:29:30,460 it would be like to be in space 832 00:29:30,460 --> 00:29:31,440 and to actually 833 00:29:32,139 --> 00:29:33,039 look at it. 834 00:29:33,659 --> 00:29:35,259 And, you know, I I'm aware of kind 835 00:29:35,259 --> 00:29:37,419 of all of these hugely kind of violent 836 00:29:37,419 --> 00:29:39,500 eruptions happening within them. I think, well, how 837 00:29:39,500 --> 00:29:41,345 much of that could be perceived when you 838 00:29:41,345 --> 00:29:42,944 were there, I just I would find that 839 00:29:42,944 --> 00:29:43,924 absolutely fascinating. 840 00:29:45,585 --> 00:29:47,105 But, of course, you know, going to the 841 00:29:47,105 --> 00:29:49,204 ISS, going to the moon, there was, 842 00:29:49,585 --> 00:29:52,304 yeah, there was plenty of excitement there to 843 00:29:52,304 --> 00:29:54,680 keep me to keep me busy and to 844 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:55,160 keep me, 845 00:29:55,799 --> 00:29:57,880 looking forward to it. And so we haven't 846 00:29:57,880 --> 00:29:59,080 had time to talk about going to the 847 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:01,559 moon, but maybe maybe what will happen is 848 00:30:01,559 --> 00:30:03,559 when you are either selected or have been 849 00:30:03,559 --> 00:30:04,920 to the moon, you'll come back and talk 850 00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:06,299 to us then. Yes. 851 00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:08,299 Please. That would be great. 852 00:30:10,025 --> 00:30:12,025 Well, I'm sure, like me, you're looking forward 853 00:30:12,025 --> 00:30:14,204 to that and will follow Rosemarie's 854 00:30:14,664 --> 00:30:16,204 career as an astronaut 855 00:30:16,664 --> 00:30:18,605 in the years to come. What a wonderful, 856 00:30:18,664 --> 00:30:21,005 wonderful thing it is to hear from her 857 00:30:21,169 --> 00:30:23,569 and know what goes into this astronaut journey. 858 00:30:23,569 --> 00:30:25,569 I hope you enjoyed this episode of the 859 00:30:25,569 --> 00:30:28,369 Physics World Stories podcast. We'll be back next 860 00:30:28,369 --> 00:30:30,769 month with something else from this wonderful world 861 00:30:30,769 --> 00:30:31,429 of physics, 862 00:30:31,809 --> 00:30:33,909 and thank you very much for listening. 863 00:30:36,194 --> 00:30:38,115 I'd also like to thank the European Space 864 00:30:38,115 --> 00:30:40,115 Agency not only for helping to organize the 865 00:30:40,115 --> 00:30:42,595 interview with Rosemarie Coogan, but for providing the 866 00:30:42,595 --> 00:30:45,474 clips of the training on those parabolic flights 867 00:30:45,474 --> 00:30:46,694 for use in this podcast.