MAN: Guys, this is truly a global asset.
It's the result of 15 nations working together,
sharing planning, technology, scientific advancements,
and the talent of its people.
We recently celebrated a decade
of continuous human presence off-planet.
We're learning how humans can exist
in the extremely unforgiving environment of space,
where a resupply from home is difficult and costly.
What we do here will improve life on Earth.
Over the past decade, we've conducted over 600 experiments,
leading to advances in materials,
environmental science, medicine,
and our understanding of the human body,
our planet, and the universe.
Let me quickly grab the camera
as I fly you through some of the research facilities
that we have on board and tell you more.
We are presently in the Japanese Experiment Module,
also known as the JEM,
where we have this air lock
where we could put experiments out into the vacuum of space
to be placed on this external platform
out these beautiful windows out here.
The JEM also has several experiments racks.
We'll talk about the first one here.
Ryutai rack, at the moment, is being used
for a protein-crystal growth experiment,
which could lead to advancements in medicine
and was recently used for a fluids experiment
and had numerous applications,
including approved silicon chip manufacturing,
higher quality materials, improved medical diagnostics,
and advancements in micro- and nanotechnology.
The Saibo, or cell rack,
is presently conducting plant-growth experiments.
In the unique microgene environment
of the space station,
we can better understand how gravity, light, and water
affect how plants grow,
which may help us grow crops more efficiently,
especially in the arid- and drought-affected regions
of the world.
The JEM also has two
of our many freezer facilities that we have on board
to store biological and other samples
that must be kept frozen to preserve the science.
We're now flying starboard
across the forward edge of the space station
towards the European module known as Columbus.
This rack contains the Geoflow experiment,
which is helping us
to better understand the Earth's inner core,
which could help us predict natural disasters
such as volcanoes and earthquakes better.
There's also many facilities
dedicated to the study of biology and the human body,
including two human research facility racks,
which contain medical diagnostic equipment, biolab,
and the European physiology and cultivation modules.
Some of the experiments in these facilities
will look at how to grow plants in harsh climates and poor soil
and explore methods of boosting the human body's immune system.
We're now flying aft through the space station
towards the U.S. lab.
In the U.S. lab, there's a number of EXPRESS racks
that can be configured for a wide range of experiments,
more freezer facilities, and a laboratory Glovebox facility.
This is the Combustion Integrated Rack,
which is used to create
a controlled combustion environment
and includes a pressure vessel and advanced diagnostics.
Some of the benefits of microgravity combustion research
include fire safety and prevention
both on spacecraft and on the Earth,
pollution control, and increased fuel efficiency.
This is the Fluids Integrated Rack,
which is used to perform fluid-physics experiments
in microgravity.
I can tell you it's a microscope facility
in a sealed Glovebox.
Some of our fluids experiments
investigate how fluids behave near the critical point,
which could lead to advancements in clean energy production
and clean methods for eliminating hazardous waste.
I'd like to show you inside the WORF --
the Window Observational Research Facility,
although we can't open it up right now
because we have an experiment ongoing in there called ISSAC --
the International Space Station Agricultural Camera.
This camera takes frequent visual and infrared pictures
of vegetated areas around the Earth.
This camera takes images frequently enough
to evaluate rapidly changing conditions of crops
in areas which have a short growing season
and provides valuable information that farmers can use
to optimize crop growth and increase food production.
Beyond its initial agricultural focus,
scientists also plan to investigate
how a quick response Earth sensor, such as ISSAC,
can be used to study a number
of rapidly changing phenomena around the planet,
from measuring how glaciers are changing
to the potential applications
in helping monitor conditions following natural disasters.
Technologies developed and demonstrated here on orbit
will help alleviate some of the issues
humans face daily on the planet.
One example has to do with water purification.
As we fly aft through the space station
toward the Russian segment, I'll tell you all about it.
One of the challenges with our technology on the ISS
is that it needs to be sustainable,
which means it needs to be easy to use
and work for long periods of time
without maintenance or resupply.
Applying this sustainable engineering approach,
a group of NASA engineers volunteered their time
and developed a water-treatment system
for communities in Rwanda,
where they also need clean water
with limited training and resupply.
That project led to a project in Kenya,
providing household-scale water treatment systems
for 4 million people.
It is the largest water-treatment project
of its kind in the world.
Here in the Russian service module,
there's a number of scientific experiments.
In the Lada experiment,
investigators are evaluating different methods
of growing wheat and vegetables using hydroponics.
Here in the Russian segment,
there's also a great deal of photo equipment
that's used for Earth observations
through these great Earth-facing windows.
We look at things like the human impact,
the effect of human impact on the environment,
on the atmosphere, on pollution control.
There's also an experiment called LUSALKA,
which evaluates the human impact on the Earth's atmosphere.
These are just a small subset of all the research
that's being conducted aboard the International Space Station.
Other research is leading to things
like new emergency sutureless wound closure and disinfection,
breakthroughs in the understanding and the protection
against bacteria such as salmonella,
the treatment of osteoporosis and skin disorders,
and the development of a NASA bioreactor,
which is being used in laboratories around the world
for research in things like cancer, regenerative medicine,
artificial organs, diabetes, AIDS, vaccine production,
and infectious disease.
Thanks to the cooperation of the 15 nations
of our International Space Station partnership,
research is being conducted aboard the ISS
that simply cannot be done on Earth
and is making a big, positive impact on our world.
Thank you for letting me share
the orbital perspective with you.
Goodbye for now.