Dream Big! Q & A with Former Astronaut Dr. Peggy Whitson
Dr. Peggy Whitson, retired NASA astronaut and the first female commander of the International Space Station, shared her experiences in an interview with Dr. Steve Scotti, Brilliant Star’s STEM Education Advisor. Peggy talked about what it’s like to look down at Earth from space, how we need to care for our “life support system” on this planet, advice for achieving big dreams, and much more. Many thanks to the kids who sent in questions for her. If you have questions for a NASA space scientist, send them to us at brilliant@usbnc.org.
Peggy Whitson’s record-breaking career earned her the nickname “Space Ninja” from colleagues.
Q: How did you know you wanted to become an astronaut?—Sanjay, age 12
Actually, my first exposure to astronauts really was when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. And that was actually 50 years ago this summer. I was 9, and I thought, wow, cool job! It became my goal, not just a dream, but a goal ... I graduated from high school, and they selected the first female astronauts, and among them was Shannon Lucid, a biochemist, and I was interested in biology, so I thought, well, maybe I really can become an astronaut.
Q: All of the astronauts were male when you were a kid. What gave you the determination to succeed?
The female astronauts that were selected when I graduated from high school really gave me that sense that hey, this is possible for me. And luckily, I had a mom that was really supportive and told me all along the way that I could be anything I wanted to be. So that helped out a lot.
Q: How did you feel before your first launch? Did you have trouble sleeping the night before?
Only because I was so excited. Space flight can be a little bit risky, but I knew the risks. I’d been in training for almost three years for that specific mission. So I already had accepted that risk well along the way. So the only reason that it was trouble to sleep was just because I was so excited about going.
Peggy Whitson was aboard this Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft when it launched from Kazakhstan on November 17, 2016.
Q: What does it feel like when a rocket is launching?—Amelia, age 9
Oh, it’s amazing! The main engines, which are liquid fueled on the space shuttle, actually ignite six seconds before the launch. So you can feel the vibrations, you can hear the engine noise as those three main engines ignite. And they have to be up at 100% power, so they start up just a few seconds early. So they’re coming up to full power, and then we get to 0—that’s when the solid rocket boosters ignite. And they are solid fuel, and it’s a lot of push. They’re getting over 4.5 million pounds of rocket into space. And so there’s a lot of vibration and a lot of push to get us going. And there’s no question when we get to 0 that you’re going somewhere, with that vibration and the acceleration.
What’s really amazing is that you get to space in eight and a half minutes! So you’re going 0 miles an hour on Earth, and then eight and a half minutes later, you’re going 17,500 miles an hour. So, very impressive acceleration! ... It does push you back in your seat quite a bit. And actually the last three minutes of that launch time, we’re feeling up to about three G’s of force. That’s three times the force of gravity. So in other words, it feels like there’s three dudes sitting on your chest, as opposed to just breathing normally. So that does make it a little more challenging.
Q: You spent more time in space than any American—665 days. What’s the most amazing thing about living in space?
Actually, the most amazing thing about living in space is that it can become your home. You get used to this environment where there’s no gravity. Here on Earth, everything has gravity influencing us. I’m sitting in a chair now, I can stay here in this chair because gravity’s holding me here. Papers on my desk are staying on my desk because gravity’s holding them there. Everything we do here on Earth has gravity in it, and we don’t even think about it, because we grow up with it. It’s always there.
When you get to space, there’s no gravity. So you have to adapt to this whole new environment where everything floats. If you don’t attach it, it’s going to go away. Even including yourself! It takes some adaptation to learn how to work there. And when it becomes home, when it becomes natural, that’s when living in space is really special ...
Q: What did you miss most from Earth when you were in space for a long time?— Emma, age 9
I was lucky, because I didn’t actually have to miss my friends and family very much. I could call home. We had what’s called an Internet Protocol Phone. So I could call family pretty much any time I wanted, as long as we had the right antenna coverage (KU antenna coverage). So that was great. Most of the flight, I could stay in touch with people.
But the thing I really missed from home was actually the lack of variety of food ... The food people who generate the food for us on orbit, they do a phenomenal job coming up with these great ideas for the menu. But it’s still limited in the number of choices that you have. And so that’s the one thing that I found very challenging ...
It’s not too bland, but in general it’s blander than it is here on Earth. It tastes blander. That may be a change in our autonomic nervous system, where taste is a little bit different. Everything on orbit about food is relative to the sauce ... You always want some spicy sauce to jazz it up ... We can request all different kinds, and they send them up ... All kinds of salsas, and garlic paste, and pesto, so it’s really good ... to change it just a little bit.
Peggy views Earth from 250 miles above.
Q: What feelings can you remember about looking down on the Earth from space?
I think probably the most special thing about looking at the Earth from space is you get this amazing perspective. So we’re up here, living on a space station, one where we have generated a life support system that removes the carbon dioxide, provides us with the oxygen, regulates the temperature, and I look down at Earth, and all that’s done for us. It’s all taken care of. It’s underneath this really thin atmosphere that protects our planet Earth. If I think about it like we’re in a spaceship in space, and we’re generating this life support system, it makes me really value that life support system that we have here on this planet. And I think that perspective of needing to take care of our planet, needing to take care of our life support system, seems really important, because we’re experiencing how difficult that is to do in space. So I think that perspective is probably one of the most valuable things you get from being in space and seeing our planet from above.
Peggy at work on the ISS during a 2017 spacewalk.
Q: You went on 10 spacewalks, more than any other woman. What did it feel like to walk in space the first time?
Actually walking in space, of course, was extremely exciting. I would say it’s probably the most satisfying, exciting part of the job of an astronaut. But it’s one of the most challenging parts of being an astronaut, too. Being able to maneuver in the suit against the pressure of the suit, even your hands, every time you grab something, and we’re translating, even though it’s called a space walk, we’re using our hands all the time, we’re translating on hand rails, we’re using tools, and our hands and our forearms have to work against the pressure of that suit. And so you get really tired. So it’s physically challenging to do a space walk, plus mentally challenging, because you’re being asked to do some really complex things outside. You’ve got a timeline to hit, you need to be able to get all these tasks done. Usually it’s a very important thing, either part of construction or repair, and so there’s a lot of pressure involved with doing it. But again, it’s one of the most exciting parts of the space walk. And oh, by the way, the view is incredible!
Q: And they last a long time, too, space walks? They’re not just a few minutes, right?
No, I think my longest one was just over eight hours. So they can be quite long. We have a bag of water inside the space suit to drink, but there’s nothing to eat. So we eat a couple of breakfasts before we get in to try and pack on some carbohydrates so that you have the energy to burn throughout the six to eight hour EVA [Extravehicular activity].
Q: You were the first woman commander of the International Space Station and the first woman to command it twice. What was most memorable about that experience?
Well, I think being the commander adds the additional responsibility. In case of an emergency, the commander onboard the Space Station is responsible for the safety of the crew and responsible for the safety of the vehicle. So there’s additional responsibility ... If an emergency happens, we have these various roles and responsibilities that we need to get done. Somebody has to be the decision maker in those critical time frames.
On a day to day basis, we’re mostly just checking and making sure that the team is working efficiently on orbit, that the ground team understands maybe something that’s a little more difficult, or maybe something that they didn’t understand about being in a space environment when they designed the procedures for us to do. So the commander’s job is more of a housekeeping, assuring that the tasks are all getting done and planned during the day.
Q: Do you think that we will find life on other planets?—Rose, age 9
Oh, I absolutely think we’ll find life on other planets. The Kepler planet hunter satellite found over 2,000-3,000 planets similar to ours in just a couple of years out there looking ... So, when we talked about looking at the Earth, if you turn and look the other way out to the stars, there’s just an amazing numbers of stars when you’re up there. You don’t have to look through the atmosphere. The clarity is just amazing. And there are thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of stars that we can see, just with the bare eye. And each of those is a star that’s got planets rotating around it. How many of those planets might be some place that we could go? And then to think that our galazy is one of billions—there just has to be other life. And it may not look like us.
The conditions may not be exactly the same, but I absolutely think that discovering life on other planets is going to be one of the coolest parts about exploration.
Q: How can we inspire more girls and women to go into careers in science and space?
I think it’s really important for our young people in general, but especially young ladies, to be inspired by science—all fields of science, math, and engineering. I think the important thing for adults is to talk about all the options that are out there. And the fact that being a “geek” is actually pretty cool. You get to do some really, really spectacular things. And so trying to impress upon young people that these “hard sciences” aren’t really all that hard. They’re just exciting and fun. You just have to dig in and find the one that’s right for you. And you can do amazing things—so much more than you might even imagine.
“On one hand, the Earth seems so big, and on the other hand, it seems barely a grain of sand on a huge, huge beach.”
Q: Have your experiences in space changed how you think about God and the universe? If so, how?
I mentioned before about perspective. One is the perspective of the planet, one is this perspective of everything outside of us. On one hand, the Earth seems so big, and on the other hand, it seems barely a grain of sand on a huge, huge beach. And I think it gives anyone who’s seen that and really had time to comprehend and think about that a little bit—it’s actually hard to comprehend, but to think about that a little bit—I think it gives you some change in how you feel about life in general. So it’s definitely a perspective change for me.
Q: What would you say to kids who had the same inspiration [to work at NASA]?—Autry, age 13
Number one, the most important thing: find your passion. It has to be something you enjoy. Any field: Science, Technology, Engineering, Math. Find that passion. And then work for it. You aren’t going to get it handed to you on a silver platter. Very few of us are ever lucky enough to have something just handed to us. So work for it. And number three, the thing that I think has made me most successful is challenging myself to do something that’s more than I really thought I could. The reason that’s important is because sometimes we could say, Oh, I don’t really want to do that, because I’m afraid I might fail. And I don’t want to try as hard, because I might just fail. I want to have that experience where you push yourself, you challenge yourself.
Don’t be afraid of failing. Learn from it. Make yourself better. And then push yourself again. And that’s when you will find out you can do so much more.
I always wanted to be an astronaut. I never dreamed of being the first female commander on the station. I never dreamed of being the first female chief of the astronaut office. I did those things because I challenged myself, I pushed myself, I never stopped ... And sometimes you have to fail in order to succeed.
Q: What qualities help astronauts get along in such close quarters?
Actually, number one, it’s not all that close quarters. It’s longer than a 747 ... so it’s not that small. But it’s still absolutely critical that we do get along ... We have thousands and thousands of applicants that are technically qualified. The ones that we want to be astronauts are not just technically qualified, but are qualified in soft skills. And that means things like teamwork, working together with people, taking care of yourself in harsh conditions or difficult situations, knowing what that idea is. Leadership and followership characteristics—all that teamwork is so critical for a successful astronaut, and then therefore a successful team.
Q: What are some cool things we might be doing with space or science technology in the next generation?—Kiyon, age 11
I probably am not smart enough to come up with all the ideas, but I think there’s going to be some really interesting new technologies that have to be developed in order to, for instance, mine minerals or substances from the moon, so that we’ll be able to have propellants, maybe build habitats.The same is true on Mars—generating an atmosphere or taking the methane out of the atmosphere and using it to generate fuel. Those kinds of technologies are going to be critical for our future exploration.
I think there’s going to be a lot of really eye-opening things in maybe pharmaceuticals, where we look at new drugs and develop things differently in space. For instance, a vaccine is being developed in human trials now for salmonella—that’s a food poisoning thing—and if you could have a vaccine for that then you might not ever get food poisoning. That was developed in space because those type of bacteria actually grew more virulently, which means they were even nastier in space ...
Our bone density goes down in space ... You might know that your grandmother or grandfather has osteoporosis, and it means that their bones are really brittle. They’re losing about 1% of their bone mass a year. And in space, if we don’t correct it, we lose 1% per month. So we have to really work on our exercise to maintain that bone density. But that environment therefore makes it great for doing research studies on drugs that might specifically help those people who have osteoporosis here on Earth. So I think there’s going to be lots of exciting things going on in the future. It’s hard to even contain the number of different ideas that might be out there.
Q: Did you have role models who inspired you to go into science? If so, who were they?
I was lucky, because in high school I had a biology teacher, and once I took all the biology classes, Mr. Scott set up some additional advanced biology classes where he and I just basically made up the classes, so I got to continue doing that. When I got to college, I had a phenemonal advisor, Dr. Delores Graff. She was a short little lady who just had so much energy and enthusiasm for science, it was just kind of intoxicating just being around her. I then got my PhD, and Dr. Cathy Matthews was my advisor, and again, just a powerhouse of a woman who really could do anything she wanted in her field of science. She made it happen, made me believe I could do those things too. So I’m lucky. I had a lot of role models along the way. When I got to NASA, I had Dr. Carolyn Huntoon—she really opened some doors that gave me opportunities, that gave me leadership experience. So I’ve been lucky. But for the young people out there, if you don’t have somebody like that, you need to find somebody. And for the older people out there, you need to make sure the young people are getting lots of mentors ... Dream big!
Photos: NASA; Launch photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls
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