I Would Say My Favorite Part Of The Job Is Not Really What You'd Think.  You'd Think It's Maybe Strapping

I think it's actually just an incredible thing that we have picked a line-up of space-walkers--we've taken the most qualified people--and we happen to have enough female astronauts that we have two women doing a spacewalk now.  I think it really is a testament to NASA's inclusivity in their selection process.  

The last several classes we've seen a lot more women applying in these classes and also being selected.  And so I think everybody can look at that and say, "You know, that could be me someday!"

As an astronaut who has been on a spacewalk before, what does the all-woman spacewalk mean to you?

“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!

So when I was inside the space station, one of my favorite things to do was go in the Cupola, which is an area that has a whole bunch of windows.  You can actually get your whole body into the Cupola and just see the Milky Way and the universe from the Cupola.  And that was amazing.  

It was, um–you know terrifying is almost a good word because it was so awe-inspiring to just be in the universe and see the stars–but it was one of the most interesting things to do because it was always changing.  Your view was changing as you go around the planet; even at nighttime you can see different aspects of the planet at night as well. 

And so whenever I could, I would spend a few minutes when we were in a dark orbit and just try to poke my head into the Cupola and see the stars. It never got old.

What is like to be surrounded by the stars and darkness? Is it terrifying or calming?

"Theoretical?  Yeah, I think so, I think we could do it.  Uh, technically there are still a lot of details that need to be worked out."

Could you theoretically time travel through a black hole or other object with such intense mass?

So a lot of the research that we do on board the International Space Station has a relationship to an Earth-based disease.  For example, we worry about bone loss; that's got a relationship to things like osteoporosis on the ground.  All of the things we need to do to keep the human body healthy in a confined environment in the long term we're learning about on the International Space Station.

The things that we do on our six-month missions would build into year-long missions, would build into even longer term missions, for example going to Mars.  So we need to know about things like radiation and the effect on the human body, bone loss, how people are going to be able to work and live together in a confined isolated system for so long.  How we're going to get enough nutrition and getting the right balance of nutrients in a really long duration mission.  And then also, how are we going to keep people healthy?  What kinds of medicines can survive that long in space and how do you treat any illness or injury that occurs?  

So all of these things are actively being researched on board the International Space Station and a lot of them have a component to human health on Earth as well.

How could your research in diseases help missions to the Moon, Mars and other places in our solar system?

"Every job that I have had here, I have had to overcome challenges in order to succeed in it. Whether it's somebody telling me I can't be a flight director because I've never been a flight controller.  Or I can't possibly manage a significant amount of budget and personnel because I've never been a low level line manager before.  

And my--the way I live my life is you never know until you try.  And a lot of people that take on these jobs are never fully prepared when they first start.  But as long as you are fully prepared to acknowledge where you fall short and willing to go off and seek help from people who are masters in those areas, then you will succeed."

What challenges have you overcame to get to the job that you have now? Love from Ireland ❤️

"So I got started working on black holes my first year in graduate school.  I actually tried another research project first about cosmology, but frankly the math was just too difficult for me, so I decided to go into easier things: black holes."

I love astrophysics and especially black holes and I want to pursue a career on them, but to be honest I'm scared to be not good enough or not clever enough. How did you decide to work on black holes? How did you become the person you are today?

"So, one of the really cool things about black holes that I've been working on recently is using black holes to study another aspect of astrophysics which we don't really understand called dark matter.  Dark matter pervades the entire universe. It's probably five, six times more populous than regular matter, and yet we still have no idea what this stuff is.

The only thing we know about dark matter is that it reacts to gravity.  And if you really want to push gravity to the extreme, of course the way to do it is with a black hole.  So we're trying to understand how dark matter and black holes interact together."

What is the most fascinating thing about black hole research for you, personally?

So on the ISS we have a wake-up time.  There's not really any predetermined time because we're orbiting the Earth every ninety minutes.  But you have to pick a time scale, so we actually picked GMT, which is close to London time.

So we wake up, we have a normal conference call with the ground, we talk about things that are going on the space station, what we're going to do that day, and then we have a plan that tells us what we're going to do down to every five minutes on board.  And so it depends on the day.  

A lot of time we're doing science experiments, sometimes we're doing maintenance on the space station, sometimes we're even getting ready to do a space walk.  Those are the best days.  But every day is something new and different up there.

What does a normal day for you consist of?

“Black holes are just...pure gravity.”

Whats the best metaphor/ explanation of blackholes youve ever heard?