Hello, everybody.David Saint-Jacques at the Canadian Space Agency in St-Hubert.
All right. I got a couple questions here that we got from our followers on Instagram.
Océane Dufresne-Brière asked: "What are astronauts doing once they complete a mission?
Do you have mission-related things to do back on earth? Did you start new projects?"
Well, we're very busy when we come back from space. It's one of the busiest time.
First, we are guinea pigs for a lot of experiments.
When you come back from space you're very interesting for scientists for a couple of weeks,
so you do a lot of that. Then you speak with all the engineers and managers of the space
program to kind of debrief things that went well and not so well to help next missions.
And once that's all done, then you start to work back in the Mission Control Centre.
That's what I do now. I support other astronauts' mission, support spacewalks,
help from the ground perspective. I also get involved in developing new medical technologies
that we might one day help us go back to go back to the moon and go to Mars
and help everybody here on the ground that live in remote areas.
All right. Second question, again on Instagram.
Olivier Boisvert asked: "What is your most memorable moment
on the International Space Station?"
Well, you know, actually, my most memorable moment was on the Soyuz
on the way up right after launch when we got done with the insertion in orbits and we're
in a vacuum of space, the window blinds open and it was at night.
And then I saw my first sunrise on orbit.
It was unbelievable to see the blue line of the atmosphere, the curve of the earth,
the colours of sunrise from space. It was just a moment I will never forget.
I can close my eyes and see it now and sends shivers down my spine.
All right. Third question, on Twitter this time.
Manish Kumar Mishra asked: "How does the research in space help
prepare further missions to Mars and beyond?"
Well, you know, that's most of what we do on Space Station is figure out ways
to live in space better so that astronauts can survive these long trips back to the moon
one day and then eventually to Mars and beyond.
We also figure out life support systems, recycling technologies for water and air,
energy management and production, medical mitigation
of all the problems we get while we're in space.
So these are all incredibly interesting problems to solve that can all help us back on earth.
Next on Facebook, France Gravel asked: "If money and resources were not an obstacle,
which technological innovation could change the space world?"
Well, there's many out there that are being worked out.
For me, maybe the most important is the medical things.
I used to be a family doctor working in a very remote community in northern Canada,
and I know that it's the problem of helping astronauts stay healthy in space
is the same problem as helping people that live in remote areas stay healthy.
It's also the same problem as helping very frail people who are bound --
have to stay at home, help them stay healthy. It's the same problem with same solutions.
And I think if we can figure out a way to promote kind of autonomous health care,
we're going make a lot of people healthier and happier on earth.
Finally, on Instagram, Liftoff with Tala asked: "If you had the chance to go to the moon or Mars,
which one would you pick?"
Ooh, tough, tough question. But I think it's not really a question.
There's a sequence there. We will first go back to the moon and then we will go to Mars.
We go back to the moon so we can practice our technologies that are needed to go to Mars.
Mars is about a thousand times further than the moon.
It's just another level of complexity. Right now, the space station,
we're basically camping in our backyard ready to come back home if there's a problem.
Things break, not a problem. Send the spare parts.
Then the moon, we're going to go there with the Gateway like a mini Space Station
not far from the moon. You can still come back to earth if there's a problem,
you can still send spare parts, but we'll be able to practise our technologies further,
like take our cam gear from the backyard to a nearby mountain.
Mars, that's like going to Everest. That's no kidding, the real deal.
We need to be completely autonomous and very reliable to do that.