From Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars, explore the world of human spaceflight with NASA each week on the official podcast of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Listen to in-depth conversations with the astronauts, scientists and engineers who make it possible.

On episode 354, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov discuss their mission, personal life, and preparation ahead of their launch to the station. This episode was recorded in the spring and summer of 2024.

Transcript

Host (Dane Turner): Houston, we have a podcast! Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center, Episode 354, “Crew-9.” I’m Dane Turner and I’ll be your host today. On this podcast, we bring in the experts, scientists, engineers, astronauts, and cosmonauts, all to let you know what’s going on in the world of human spaceflight and more. We are getting ready for the next mission in NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, sending one NASA astronaut and one Roscosmos cosmonaut to the International Space Station on the ninth crew rotation mission. Following NASA’s decision to return Boeing’s Starliner Crew Flight Test, or CFT, uncrewed, Crew-9 will launch with two empty seats.

NASA astronaut and Crew-9 Commander Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut and Mission Specialist Aleksandr Gorbunov will fly to station aboard SpaceX Dragon Freedom. There they will join the crew of Expedition 72, bringing the station’s population up to seven to conduct their mission of executing science investigations and technology demonstrations until early next year when they will return with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. We sat down with Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov, learning about their backgrounds, the mission, and plans once they get to station. Let’s hear what Crew-9 had to say ahead of their flight.

[Music]

Host: First up is Crew-9 Commander Nick Hague. Nick was born in Belleville, Kansas, but considers Hoxie, Kansas, his hometown. He earned his Bachelor of Science in astronautical engineering from the Air Force Academy and his Master of Science in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from MIT. His military career includes test pilot school, a deployment in Iraq, supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom and teaching introductory astronautics linear control system analysis and design for the Department of Astronautics at the Air Force Academy. Prior to his selection as an astronaut candidate, Nick was assigned to the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization as the deputy division chief for research and development. And in 2021, he transferred from the Air Force to the U.S. Space Force. This will be Nick’s third spaceflight and second long-duration stay on the ISS following his mission with Expeditions 59 and 60 in 2019. While on station, he conducted three spacewalks totaling 19 hours and 56 minutes and spent a total of 203 days in space. I got to talk to Crew-9 Commander Nick Hague a few months ago, and here’s what he had to say. Nick Hague, thank you for coming on Houston We Have a Podcast.

Nick Hague: Pleasure to be here.

Host: So, you’ve been an astronaut for about 10 years now. Can you tell us a little bit about life before being an astronaut?

Nick Hague: Yeah. There’s a lot to talk about because it took me about 38 years before I was selected. You know, I grew up in western Kansas, that’s where I graduated high school. Grew up on a farm and space seemed like a long way away. Most of the world seemed like a long way away when you grow up in a really small town out in the middle of the plains. And so I just always had this urge to get out and explore and try to connect with it. And fortunately enough, about three hours to the west in Colorado Springs was the United States Air Force Academy. And I found out about that and what it would be like to serve in the Air Force. And so that’s got me hooked. And so I went to college there and studied astronomical engineering and learned how to build satellites and rockets. And that’s kind of the steppingstone into it. And from there, off we went.

Host: Had you always wanted to be an astronaut?

Nick Hague: You know, as I was growing up, invariably I’d look up at the night sky and see stars. And so there was always this childhood dream. You know, I love sci-fi movies. I grew up on Star Wars and Star Trek, so, you know, you can’t pin me down one way or the other. I also watched Dr. Who, so, you know, that’s got everything that’s out there too. I got it all covered. But I love sci-fi and just this idea of going out and exploring was this childhood dream. It really wasn’t until later after I was in the Air Force for a while that I started to see, you know, the things that I really enjoyed doing at work. The types of work that I enjoyed doing, the team environment that I felt like I thrived in. That’s pretty close to what being an astronaut and working in human spaceflight would be like. And so, then that’s when the childhood dream transitioned to a professional ambition. And so I applied, and that was in 2003 and I got rejected. And then I applied again in 2008 and got rejected. And then finally I was selected in 2013. So, it took me the better part of a decade of continual applications. But I wouldn’t say that all the stuff that I did during that decade was trying to just check boxes to be competitive. I was out living my life doing the things I love to do. And just got fortunate enough to get selected that third time around.

Host: Third time’s the charm.

Nick Hague: Hey, I’ll take it.

[Laughs]

Host: Now I hear that you enjoy skiing and scuba diving and growing up in Kansas, I don’t—to my knowledge—Kansas isn’t really a place with, you know, a lot of skiing and scuba diving opportunities. How’d you pick that up?

Nick Hague: Yeah, so you might start to pick up on a trend here. You know, the growing up in western Kansas, I didn’t have a lot of stuff. And so, then my impulse was to go out and try to connect with some of that stuff. So let’s find some mountains and let’s get in into downhill skiing. And so we’d drive out to Colorado and go skiing in Summit County. And, you know, scuba diving, there’s not a lot of places to do that in Kansas. But later on, you know, I was fortunate enough to be stationed near some big lakes and learn how to scuba dive. And so it was always…these are things I always wanted to do to new experiences that I didn’t have necessarily when I was at my fingertips when I was growing up. And, you know, I wanted to do them. So I found a way to go find the opportunity and love it.

Host: Fantastic. Now you have a really impressive military resume from the Air Force Academy to master’s at MIT and the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School. You’ve taught courses at the U.S. Air Force Academy, and you are deputy division chief for the research and development with the Joint Improvised Explosive Defeat.

Nick Hague: It’s a mouthful.

Host: With the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization prior to be chosen as a NASA astronaut. Now, any one of those things sounds very impressive, but what stands out to you of your accomplishments?

Nick Hague: When I think back to it, you could look at that resume and, you know, it’s like I change jobs about every two years doing something radically different. So, you could look at it and go, “Wow, he can’t keep a job. He is still looking for his thing.” So, I think the thing that stands out probably is the diversity of experience. And some of it, I chose to do. Some of it, the Air Force told me, “Hey, you’re going to go do this.” But it was always trying effectively, it always expanded my comfort zone. You know, I am an engineer through and through, that’s what I studied in college. Engineers typically don’t enjoy public speaking. They don’t enjoy writing speeches; they don’t enjoy writing questions for congressional testimony. But I found myself doing these things and learning to get comfortable with it. And so it made me a more well-rounded person in the long haul. But I think the bigger thing, and for anybody listening, the bigger thing is this is a lifelong endeavor. We’re not, you’re just not ever done. So, I’ve been an astronaut for 10 years. I’m still not done developing, you know, NASA was super supportive in letting me do a rotation back with a Space Force a couple years ago as a development opportunity. And I got to be part of this, you know, service as it’s standing up and help lead how it’s developing all of its ways that it’s going to test and experiment with new space systems. And that was just a phenomenal opportunity. And so you’re always growing and looking for ways to continue to expand, I think that’s just a great way to approach life.

Host: That is amazing. So your previous flight to the International Space Station on the Soyuz got off to a little bit of a rough start.

Nick Hague: That’s one way to put it.

[Laugh]

Host: The flight was aborted due to a booster failure after launch. Is that right?

Nick Hague: That sounds so sterile. So, the initial external boosters, once they’re empty, you jettison them cause they’re just dead weight, right? So the Soyuz is headed uphill. And about two minutes into the launch, we’re about 30 miles above the surface of the Earth going 5,000 miles an hour, pretty much pointed straight up still. And those tanks are supposed to separate away. And one of those tanks had a sensor that was bent so it couldn’t sense the motion of the tanks separating away. Once they start to move, they’re supposed to propel themselves, release some gas and push themselves away from the rockets so they don’t hit it.

Well, the one that didn’t sense the motion didn’t propel itself away and the slipstream of air jammed that external booster back into the core stage basically impaling it. And so it lost all of its structural integrity and essentially disintegrated. So as that’s all happening, and mind you, that whole process happened about, you know, as quick as a snap of your fingers, cause you’re going 5,000 miles an hour, the escape system on the top of the rocket since that the rocket had tilted a little too far outside a boundary. And so then it fired some thrusters to pull us away from the rocket as it was coming apart. And so that was all over in a second. And then Alexei and I were kind of coasting uphill in a capsule that was a ballistic trajectory. So suborbital flight, just like you can go to Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic and buy a seat for, we got ours. And we went up, kissed the edge of space, 92 kilometers. So depending on who you talked to, some say you weren’t there, you were there, I don’t care cause I survived. And then we came back down, and we were a little steeper. So the G-Force were a little higher than normal, but not crazy. It wasn’t anything that we hadn’t trained for. And we landed under our parachutes, ironically, pretty close to where we were planned to land at the end of our mission, in kind of the normal launch landing zone or the landing zone for the Soyuz. So, rescue forces were there, lickety-split and pulled us out of the capsule. And I had, you know, I was in my wife’s arms less than six hours later. So, it was a rollercoaster ride of a day.

Host: Wow. Do you have any takeaways from that?

Nick Hague: Life doesn’t always work like you think it’s going to. And, you know, it’s something we all realize, right? Spaceflight is not just about the person that’s on top of the rocket. It’s about everybody that it takes to get them there. And your family is at the core of that. And it’s inherently dangerous. So it’s important to understand why you’re doing what you’re doing and if it’s important enough, if the reason why isn’t important enough, then you take those risks, but you still take them together. So for everybody that’s strapping themselves into a rocket and launching into space, they’re not launching just by themselves. They’re not launching just as a crew. They’re launching, carrying all of those emotions of the family that are sitting on the side completely out of control watching this happen. And, you know, NASA does a really good job of recognizing the whole person and that the family is this integral part, family and your support network are an integral part of your success. And so that, you know, it hit that home for me. I saw it in action the way that NASA responded and was there for the family and you know, so thank you for everybody that’s there, ready to respond on those days when things just don’t go right.

Host: Wow. And then just a few months later, you did make it to the ISS to do a long-duration mission there. You had lots of science to do, some spacewalks. Are there any stories from that mission that stand out to you?

Nick Hague: Yeah, so five months later, we were strapped into a rocket, same launchpad, basically the same spacecraft, same version of the spacecraft, same version and launched into space, had an amazing 203-day mission. There are so many things that stand out. One thing that I don’t often share is just this perspective. So we got there, seven days later, we were out doing a spacewalk. And you spend a huge chunk of your training time is devoted toward being able to do a spacewalk cause you just can’t replicate that floating around in a spacesuit in the vacuum of space. The only place you do it real for the first time is in space. And so we do a lot of underwater training or we do a lot of systems training and mock-up training, virtual reality training. But to pull it all together up there is the first time.

And so opening that hatch the first time and going out with my EVA partner, so Anne McClain, and I went out the hatch and one of the first things I remember is, you know, it was dark and you could see the outside of the station. And I was like, there’s something missing here. And I realized that I was looking for the diver bubbles from the NBL cause they’re there protecting us and keeping us in place a lot. And so they’re always on scuba and they’re producing bubbles and I was looking for those. There were no bubbles there though, but otherwise it felt exactly the same. And so, the training we have is phenomenal. To the point where Anne and I had both never done a spacewalk and Christina Koch and David Saint-Jacques were the two crew on the inside that helped suit us up. None of us had been on part of a spacewalk before. So we were rookies all across the board. And the only way you can do something that complicated as a bunch of rookies is because of the training team that got us ready and the massive team on the ground that is there supporting us as we’re doing the spacewalk.

So many times, we tend to focus on the astronaut as like, they’re the one making, you know, the impossible happen. And the reality is we’re just like the little tip of the iceberg. And there are so many people working day in and day out that have dedicated their lives to making sure that we’re successful and that we can explore space and yeah. So thank you. If you’re listening and you’re part of that. Thank you.

Host: That is such an amazing thing to hear. Knowing how many people here at NASA are part of every step of every mission is something that is just incredible to think about. And to hear, you know, that training helps you as a rookie go on a spacewalk is just amazing.

Nick Hague: Yeah. The people are so impressive, and I meet new faces all the time that are part of the team. I just wish I could take them all up with me.

Host: Well, we’d love to go with you. Every single one of us would.

Nick Hague: Okay. Got your name down.

[Laughs]

Host: So this is your second mission to the ISS. What are you looking forward to on this second mission, compared to your first?

Nick Hague: I’m a little excited to see how much the station has changed in five years. And you might have this vision of this station being stagnant. You know, we built it and now we’re using it, but that’s such the wrong impression of what we’re actually doing with the space station. You know, it took us a decade to build and, you know, like more than a hundred launches and more than a hundred spacewalks to put it all together. But ever since it was built, we’ve been continually changing the equipment that’s on the inside and changing the research capabilities and expanding the research capabilities. And so, it’s been five years since I’ve been there, so a lot can happen in five years. And so, I’m excited to get back and see how it’s changed and be able to contribute to, you know, using some of those new capabilities.

Host: The ISS as a national lab lets you do microgravity research. Why is that so important?

Nick Hague: Space station’s the only place we can do that for a long period of time. You know, on the ground we can put things in drop towers, and they can free fall in a vacuum for a few seconds. We can put things inside an aircraft, and we can fly these parabolic flights and you can have 20 seconds of weightlessness on the station. I can put an experiment into a locker and leave it there for two years and it can experience weightlessness for two years. And it might seem trivial, you know, geez, what good does taking gravity out of this equation? But there’s so many nuanced behaviors in our environment around us, in our bodies that you can’t see. You can’t see these little nuance reactions when gravity is such an overwhelming force.

But when gravity goes away, all of these little things that you’re like, it’s not a significant thing on the ground, they become really big things on orbit. A great example is like the surface tension of water. You know, so we’re sitting here, and I’ve got a bottle of water in front of me, the surface tension of water. If I put a floating ball of water in front of me and I put my finger into it, the water would just crawl up my arm because of surface tension. If I put my finger into a puddle on the ground, the tip of it gets wet, but the rest of my hand doesn’t get wet. And so, if we didn’t explore in weightlessness, there’s so many things that we’re missing. And so that’s led to breakthroughs, right? That’s led to breakthroughs on the ground for new medicines, or better understanding of how diseases behave in the human body, or how the human body behaves in general. It’s helped us understand materials so that we can produce better materials and more pure materials like, you know, we’re trying to make fiber optics that are more optically pure so that we can run, you know, less fiber and get more data. There are all these impacts on the ground that we learn by just removing gravity. And it seems simple. It’s super hard to do. It takes a lot of people to make it happen. And we’ve been doing it successfully internationally for almost two and a half decades.

Host: You just touched on this just a little bit, but in your opinion, why do we explore?

Nick Hague: Yeah. At its core, we explore to learn more about the universe around us and ourselves. And in turn, we know Earth even better. That’s it. And we explore to find out what are the questions I don’t even yet know to ask. So usually when I discover something, I ask a question, I go, come up with a conclusion based on data. And that leads to two more questions. And those two questions lead to two more each. So now I’ve got four questions and that’s exploration. We’re just continuing to find out what are the questions we haven’t even figured out how to ask yet. And one of those is going to be the breakthrough that changes somebody’s life.

Host: Well, Nick Hague has been absolutely wonderful talking to you today. Thank you for coming on the podcast.

Nick Hague: Oh, it’s been a pleasure to speak with you. I’ve enjoyed it.

Host: Since Nick and I talked, there have been some changes to the mission. Leah Cheshier got the chance to sit down with Nick and talk about those changes and how astronauts manage the sometimes turbulent landscape of human spaceflight.

Leah Cheshier (Host): Nick, thank you so much for coming back into the studio. Thank you for jumping back onto the podcast. The mission has changed and so we wanted to get you back in here and talk a little bit more about that.

Nick Hague: Happy to be here.

Host: So can you highlight some of the changes for Crew-9, how this has evolved in your training, what you’re now preparing for?

Nick Hague: Yeah, you know, so I think it helps to step back and look at the broadly big picture. Fundamentally, the mission hasn’t changed. We’re going to go to the station, we’re going to do research and that mission, doing research on the station hasn’t changed for 25 years. So that’s what our goal is to get to the station, join the crew up there and get to work. How we get there and how we get back has changed a little bit. And so that’s really been the focus of effort over the last three weeks is what do we need to do differently to be able to launch as a crew of two, as a crew without a pilot. And then what do we need to do coming home in order to make sure that that Butch and Suni have the training they need to be, you know, safe as we come back.

Host: So let’s talk about those roles a little bit. When you spoke with Dane, initially you were the pilot assigned for this mission. Now you’re taking on the role of commander and Alex will still be a mission specialist. So can you tell me a bit about training with Alex? How you are undertaking kind of the commander and the pilot role all in one? What does that look like?

Nick Hague: Yeah, so, you know, if you look at all of the crew missions on Dragon, except for the first one with Bob and Doug, if I want to be proper, if you look at these crews, they train as a crew of four. And so you divide the tasks amongst that. And so we use crew resource management, everybody knows their role and responsibility in a given situation. And so it’s been an awesome experience for the last year and a half working with Zena and Stephanie and Alex and coming to that, you know, that understanding of what everybody’s roles and responsibilities are, and then when you have to execute in some type of situation, it’s just like you’re part of this machine working together, you know, what everybody’s thinking and it just feels really great.

So, I mean, it goes without saying, I would love nothing more than to launch with all four of us cause we’ve worked so hard and we clicked so well as a crew. But we’ve got to do something different. And so how do we adjust that? Well, if you look at the pilot and commander, we divide those responsibilities and tasks that we need to do in those different situations. So you’ve got two people able to support at different times doing different things. And we work really great together. And, you know, ultimately the commander has the responsibility to make sure that the crew is safe and make decisions about that. You know, what do we need to do to make sure the crew’s safe? What do we need to do to make sure that the vehicle’s safe? And then what do we need to do to make sure that we get the mission done? That ultimate responsibility lies with the commander, and it’s been a thrill to sit beside Zena over the last two years and watch her do that flawlessly.

So now we have to do the pilot and the commander role as a single person, you know, so there’s not going to be a pilot there. Now we have had three weeks of training and it’s been awesome to watch the full team come together, to watch the SpaceX team, to watch the NASA team surge and just roll your sleeves up and figure out, okay, how do we need to change things? And it’s, you know, we’ve had previously flown Dragon crew members in the astronaut office that have helped support us. Zena and Stephanie have been integral to this effort and have pointed out and helped us come up with some great ways to understand what we can and can’t do given the training that Alex has cause he’s there, he’s been through this training for two years. And so, there are things that he is extremely capable of doing that I would do as a pilot. And so we want to leverage those. But there’s also a lot of things that he hasn’t been trained on. And so we identify where those limitations are and then, and then I figure out what I need to do in order to cover down on all of that. So it’s been complex, it’s been a lot of effort over the last few weeks trying to figure that out. But it’s been an exciting challenge.

Host: I was actually thinking about this last night, not really a question, but just a fun thought. You also only launched with one other person on your last flight in a three-seater Soyuz, so I guess you’re kind of no stranger to being down a person or two in a capsule.

Nick Hague: Yeah, you know, you don’t know what spaceflight is dynamic. And you don’t know what’s going to get thrown at you. My first Soyuz launch, we were a crew two, that’s what the mission required. And so that’s what we did. You step up for what the job requires.

Host: Let’s think a little bit more about Butch and Suni. So they are now coming home on Dragon. That’s a change to their original mission. So how have you and Alex been working with them, and how will you work with them once you get to the space station to prepare them for their roles coming home in Dragon?

Nick Hague: Yeah. You know, so they’ve got opportunity right now to be familiar with, and they need to be familiar with because Crew-8’s Dragon is their rescue vehicle right now. And so they need to know, you know, just general features about how to live and be in Dragon because it could take a day or two to get back down once you undock from the station. So they’re learning that already. The things that we’re going to focus on when we get up there is as a crew of four, how do we respond to the big things, right? How do we respond to a fire? How do we respond to a depressurization event? And fundamentally, it’s making sure that they have the training necessary to protect themselves. So how do you put on a spacesuit really fast? How do you put on a, you know, a breathing mask really fast so that you can get yourself safe? And Alex and I will take care of the rest.

Host: Do you feel like it’s faster to put on a spacesuit in microgravity or on the ground?

Nick Hague: So from a soko perspective, I didn’t notice much of a difference. I’ll let you know how different the Dragon suit is once we once we have a chance to try it out in microgravity.

Host: One thing that you have shown over your career is just how flexible you can be. So between your first flight, which was a launch abort and then the changes to Crew-9. Can you tell me a little bit about how important it is to adapt to change and be flexible when it comes to being an astronaut?

Nick Hague: Yeah. You know, we serve as part of something a lot bigger than ourselves. And I think it’s important to, we’re professionals. And so you do what’s required and I, you know, you can look at the immediate impact of the change to Crew-9, but it’s probably a better perspective to understand that our simple change to our crew complement has had a ripple effect that has changed everyone else on a mission that comes after us. And it’s not just the astronauts, it’s the training teams. And so this ripple effect affects everybody. So it’s not just astronauts that need to be flexible and resilient, it’s the whole system. And to watch us make a decision like this and to see everybody pivot and just start throwing all its energy, all their energy, into solving this problem and figuring out what we need to do it, it’s fun to be a part of that system.

Host: It’s really impressive. And I think it’s something that NASA does so incredibly well, is understanding number one, that things have to be flexible. Because like you said earlier, anything about space is dynamic and can change at any moment without ever expecting it. So the fact that we constantly adapt and find ways to do it safely and effectively is really impressive. So, aside from staying flexible, what would you say is an essential quality of an astronaut to be ready for anything?

Nick Hague: That’s a great question. What’s the magic? I don’t, I don’t really know. I mean, you’re just constantly preparing for things to change you. So if you just look at a mission, call it trying to stay ahead of the vehicle, but effectively that just means you’re saying what’s supposed to happen and then what are all the things that could happen and how do I position myself to be able to adjust quickly to all those potential things that could happen. So 95% of our training is focused on what to do when something goes wrong. And, you know, knock on wood, you never use any of that training, but when you need it, you need to be able to use it and you need to be able to move to it quickly. And so I think that that that mental agility to constantly be trying to look at what’s coming and then what are the potential things that could happen? It’s something that you use operationally, but you also had apply it to your life and how you approach life.

Host: Yeah. Kind of expect the unexpected. Well thank you so much again for coming back into the studio with us and sitting down ahead of your mission. We’re really excited to watch and can’t wait to see you in space again.

Nick Hague: pleasure being here. Thank you.

Host (Dane Turner): Next in the studio we have Roscosmos cosmonaut and Crew-9 Mission Specialist Aleksandr Gorbunov. Aleksandr studied engineering with qualifications in spacecrafts and upper stages at the Moscow Aviation Institute and he worked as a technician and engineer of the first category for RSC Energia manufacturing spacecraft and space station components. This flight on Dragon will be his first spaceflight. Here’s our interview with Crew-9 Mission Specialist Aleksandr Gorbunov. Aleksandr Gorbunov, thank you so much for coming on Houston We Have a Podcast.

Aleksandr Gorbunov: Thanks so much.

Host: So can you tell us a little bit more about what your life was like before becoming a cosmonaut?

Aleksandr Gorbunov (through interpreter): I was born in Kursk region in which is about 500 kilometers away from Moscow, south of Moscow. This is where I grew up and once I graduated high school, I entered Moscow Aviation Institute where I studied spacecraft and upper stages. And once I graduated, I was qualified as an engineer and I started my career at the RSC Energia, a Russian manufacturer of spacecraft  for Soyuz and Progress and also for the International Space Station. And I worked there until 2018 when I was selected and joined the cosmonaut corps.

Host: Now did you always want to be a cosmonaut?

Aleksandr Gorbunov: When I was a kid, I wanted to be a biologist, but they desire to be, the dream to become a cosmonaut came later when I was in high school. Basically, I wanted to work on spacecraft to design spacecraft. And when I started working as an engineer, I decided that I wanted not just to design them, but also to use them. And this is when it so happened, we had a few meetings with cosmonauts and this is when I realized that space is much closer than I thought that anyone can try and join the cosmonaut corps. And in 10 years, I succeeded.

Host: So you went from working on spacecraft to flying on spacecraft or you’re about to, how do you expect that experience and insight to help you on your first spaceflight?

Aleksandr Gorbunov: Well, when I was trying for the cosmonaut corps, I knew the general design of spacecraft. I knew how the ISS was designed and built. I knew how a flight program is put together, how the ISS is maintained. And of course, this helped me a lot when I was trying for a cosmonaut corps. And it helps me now in my training and in my work to understand what I’m being taught currently. And of course, since I was one of the designers of spacecraft, it really helps me to look at a spacecraft, not just as a user, but also as a designer, an engineer. And how those two things, two aspects come together. For me, it is a great, it’s a very interesting experience because the majority of people either use a technology, the other ones design a technology, but there is very little experience when people get to do both.

Host: That’s going to give you a very unique point of view on this. So what are you looking forward to on your first Expedition?

Aleksandr Gorbunov: I’m really excited to see the Earth from onboard the ISS and to feel zero G. I’m planning to take a lot of pictures from windows on the ISS and I also signed up for a lot of various scientific experiments. I will work on ISS maintenance as well. And I think six months are going to be pretty busy.

Host: Have your fellow cosmonauts told you what to expect?

Aleksandr Gorbunov: They did. They have.

Host:  Have they given you any good advice?

Aleksandr Gorbunov: Nothing too specific, just some general guidelines that all cosmonauts pass from one to the other. Practical advice you will never find anywhere. Just word of mouth and not for everybody.

Host: I understand you’ll be very busy working, but what do you think you’ll spend a lot of your free time doing?

Aleksandr Gorbunov: I think in my spare time, most of my spare time, I’m going to spend with my crew members will watch movies and English and Russian. And I know that crews, when they do have time off, they come up with different games like ping pong or some other sports games or like soccer in space. So these are all space games and most of them are impossible to replicate on the ground because of the gravitation.

Host: Do you have a list of things that you want to see while you’re on station?

Aleksandr Gorbunov: I have a list of locations that I would like to take pictures of from onboard the ISS and it’s pretty long. First of course of the locations that I have visited personally. And I would like to compare what those places look like from the ground and from the ISS.

Host: Why is the ISS and microgravity research important?

Aleksandr Gorbunov:  Because the conditions of microgravity give us a great chance to develop materials and medications that are impossible to develop on the Earth, on the ground, and also to study the structure of various organic molecules. This knowledge will help us in design of different medications to be used on Earth. So the station is a unique location. There is zero G and vacuum like an uninterrupted interfered with vacuum that is really hard to achieve on the ground and it’s impossible to put those two conditions together on Earth. So this is what we use the ISS for, to study different processes in space. And one more point, studying various technologies, how you can maintain various space systems, to see how reliable those systems can be. For example, the AI shows us, has proven to us that spacecraft can stay in space for 2025 up to 30 years. And this is where we have a lot of questions regarding the reliability of the ISS. And this is a great chance to prove that those systems can work reliably in zero G in space and this knowledge can be used for further exploration and for our further missions to the Moon.

Host: That’s a really great answer. And in your opinion, why do we explore?

Aleksandr Gorbunov:  We explore space is to answer fundamental questions such as what is our universe? Where does our universe come from? Where are we going? What’s the end result? And this unknown draws people in. The higher the level of what we don’t know, the more attracted and drawn into to it we are. So when we get answers to those fundamental questions, we can design technologies that will advance us in our research and our travel to space. The fundamental knowledge that we are going to get now will help us in the future. And we have plenty of examples today, like what we studied a hundred years ago, just as a scientist who was answering it, just a question of why there was no goal to build a machine, a device to engineer something. They were just studying how the world is built around them, what is inside an a, a and a hundred years ago, they found the answers to all those questions and now we are benefiting from them in computer technologies and microelectronics.

It’s all based on that fundamental knowledge that we got a hundred years ago. So part of such fundamental studies is conducted on board the ISS. So now for example, we can’t say that we are profiting clearly, clearly from our research on the ISS, but in the future, probably future generations are going to say a big thank you to us for the these studies in a micro G environment and also applied sciences and applied technologies that can be used. Now, like I said, we can design and develop new materials and new medications and new technologies to allow us to travel to the planets.

Host: That is fantastic. Aleksandr, thank you for coming on Houston We Have a Podcast. This was a fascinating interview.

Aleksandr Gorbunov: Thank you.

[Music]

Host: Thanks for sticking around. Check NASA’s website for the latest schedule and to find out how you can watch the launch of Crew-9 live on NASA+. You can find us and all the podcasts around the agency at nasa.gov/podcasts. We are on social media on the Johnson Space Center, pages of Facebook, X, and Instagram. Use #AskNASA on your favorite platform to talk with us and make sure to mention it’s for Houston We Have a Podcast. These interviews were recorded in the spring and summer of 2024. Thanks to Will Flato, Gary Jordan, Abby Graf, Dominique Crespo, Courtney Beasley, Leah Cheshier, Raegan Scharfetter, and Jaden Jennings. And to the astronaut schedulers for their help in securing the interviews. And of course, thanks to Crew-9, Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov, for giving their time to chat with us. Give us a rating and feedback on whatever platform you’re listening to us on and tell us what you think of our podcast. We’ll be back next week.

This is an Official NASA Podcast.