So On The ISS We Have A Wake-up Time.  There's Not Really Any Predetermined Time Because We're Orbiting

Yeah, we had to troubleshoot problems pretty much every day.  So, we have our tasks that we’re doing every day: a science experiment or some maintenance, but things don’t always go as planned.  So that’s one of the really interesting things about science experiments is that sometimes you observe things that are different and that’s how science gets done.

One of the experiments I worked on was actually doing a chemical reaction with some small little pockets of–they’re plastic kind of tubes that contain pockets of water.  And we heated the reaction and we noticed that there were bubbles being formed.  When we did this reaction on Earth we didn’t have the same thing, so we had no idea was to expect when we did this on board.  So we documented this and actually found it to be a really interesting phenomenon.  The scientists took that back and that ended up being part of our analysis of the experiment.  

Sometimes you’re just troubleshooting equipment because things aren’t working.  So I was working on one of the vacuum furnaces one day, and it has these quick disconnects that you can use to supply power or water to the vacuum furnace.  And I tried to do one of the quick disconnects and all of a sudden the connection–the valve–stayed full open and there was water spreading everywhere.  

So that was some really quick troubleshooting, I had water going in my face and I wasn’t really sure what to do so I closed the thing as quickly as possible, backed off, got the water out of my eyes, and then I called the ground and we did a lot of troubleshooting that day.

Have you ever had to troubleshoot a problem in space?

“So, if the sun were just an isolated black hole with nothing around it, we would see nothing.  If we knew exactly where to look–which we would, because we’re pretty good astronomers–and we could map out the solar system, we’d know there’s something in the middle of the solar system that’s causing all of the gravity and the orbits of the planets.  If we looked right at that, we’d actually see some really cool gravitational lensing effects, and you’d see these arcs of light around the invisible black hole called the Einstein ring.”

What do *you* think is inside a black hole? Or If they sun was a black hole what would we see in the sky? Thanks!

"We could definitely send a drone to a black hole, collect data, send it back, and study it.  But once it goes inside, once it crosses the event horizon, we're not going to get anything back.  So it would be impossible to know what's inside, but we could learn a lot about what's just outside of the black hole. 

Is it possible?  Sure.  I mean a hundred years ago did anyone think we would be landing rovers on Mars or Titan?  A hundred years from now?  Definitely."

Is it at all possible to send a drone into a black hole and collect the data of what it’s like inside? If not, how close do you we are to possibly achieving that?

Being a flight director was such an honor.  I was only able to do it for eight years, but I loved every minute of it.  My favorite part about that is being able to lead such talented teams.  

I had a different team with me every day, different teams on different missions I supported, but the one consistent thing is that they are all dedicated to flying these vehicles safely, to protecting the crew, to executing the mission.  

And it was just an honor to be able to lead them. I considered it a successful day if I didn't have to step in and I could just sit back and watch the team do their thing, and they are beautiful.

What was your favorite part of being a Flight Director?

Yes, there’s several paths to get to where I am right now and where the other researcher pilots are here at NASA.  We have some that come up through civilian flying and they’re educated in different areas.  Typically most of us have engineering or STEM related degrees in college, and usually Masters degrees on top of that. 

The flying portion, most of us actually come from a military background because that’s the best way to get a lot of intense experience very quickly.  So most of us are retired military pilots from all different services, but then we do have several pilots who have grown up flying corporate jets, larger airplanes and became test pilots for companies like, say, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, things like that.  And then they get hired at NASA based on their depth and breadth of experience.

 So several paths to get there, but these are the most common.

I want to pursue a career in aeronautics and want to get into NASA. Any advice?

Over my 28 years here, I've had the opportunity to work a number of different critical missions at NASA, particularly as a flight director.  And each one of those missions has been an amazing honor to have the public's trust put in my hands.  

But one of the aspects I like the most about it, which is also the scariest, is the fact that people's lives are in my hands.  Decisions that I make can impact the lives of the crew members, the integrity of the vehicle, and the success of the mission, and I liked having that responsibility.  I was honored to have that responsibility.

And I think if you are a flight director and you ever lose track of that, then it's time to stop being a flight director.

Before my question I would like to congratulate you on your career at Nasa, it must be amazing to work there even if you didn’t achieve your dream of being an astronaut, you can still lead missions from the ground. (Sorry if my punctuation is a bit off) as for my question, what has it been like to work at nasa all of these years and get to help with so many missions? Do you ever get nervous for the people who’s lives are in your hands? Signed ~ Phillip

"So most of the descriptions that I've seen about black holes in science fiction get it pretty close to reality outside of the event horizon.  Inside the event horizon we don't really know what's going to happen, so a lot of science fiction writers also kind of have fun with it and do whatever they want.  

In terms of outside of the event horizon, I think the most striking effect is that of time dilation, how time slows down as you get closer and closer, but still on our side of the event horizon.  And this was of course one of the major plot drivers of the movie Interstellar, so I thought that was really cool."

Out of all the theories and fantasies created around blackholes, which of them, in your opinion, do you think could come closest to reality?

I thought, um, I actually thought The Martian was pretty good.  They do a good job there of kind of showing the challenges of working in a space environment: some of the isolation, how do you troubleshoot problems, the kind of interactions that crews would have.  I think that's a movie that captures somewhat the feel of space exploration.

What popular film is the closest to reality for you?

"I think the coolest black hole fact is that if the closest black hole to Earth were actively accreting today, it would give us enough x-rays to give every single person on Earth a chest x-ray every ten minutes."

What’s your favorite black hole fact that you like to share with people?

I would say my favorite part of the job is not really what you'd think.  You'd think it's maybe strapping in an airplane and going up and flying - and that's a wonderful opportunity, and I love it absolutely - but really the greatest thing at NASA, and I think most people would agree, is working with the people that we have here.  

Because the people that come together with an eagerness to explore and to experiment with things and discover new opportunities and things like that - working side by side with those people is what really gets your heart pumping and makes you excited to come to work each day.  So that's what I'd say is my favorite part of the job.

What’s your favorite part of the job?