>> The Expedition 34 crewmembers take their turn on board
after 12 straight years of crewed operations
on the International Space Station and they're excited
to get to work focused
on advancing the station's long term goals.
>> This space station really represents, to me,
the very first big cooperative effort
between the most affluent nations on this planet,
coming together to do something all toward one goal and that is
to do science that can't be done on the surface of the earth,
that is the core purpose of the space station.
And so our job, as the people onboard is to make sure
that that science gets done.
>> [Inaudible] used to see how the space factor affects not
only the different experiments, the different materials
but to see how it affects us, real, living humans,
how it affects our bodies.
>> A long term existence under the conditions
of zero [inaudible] leaves its trace
on a healthy presence, such as a cosmonaut.
>> The zero gravity reduces our muscle tone,
our muscles atrophy including our heart
and the cardiovascular system atrophies and bones atrophy,
decrease in bone mineral density.
>> It's as if you spent months or years, even decades on earth,
happening in just a few months in orbit.
And using changes in exercise and changes in diet,
we have basically found a way to beat that type of aging,
beat that type of osteoporosis.
>> So all of this accelerated aging process and the means
by which we figure out exactly what's going down, going on,
even in the cellular level, how to fix it, exercise, diet,
medications, other things, all of those things stand
to benefit us on the earth.
>> And why do we do this?
We do this gain a lot of experience,
to prepare for subsequent flights,
more long duration flights to other planets.
>> And the research on the people is only part of the plan.
For instance, there are also investigations
in technology development because things
in space work differently than they do on earth.
>> You're lucky in your car because your fuel's always
on the bottom of the tank, we're not that lucky in space,
we have to design a tank so that that fuel is always ready
by the pump there to be pulled down the line and sent
to the engine or to whatever kind
of device that's going to drive.
>> The potential from the station is great starting
with the visual observations of the earth,
the various natural disasters and phenomena and as well
as the events in space.
>> There are different experiments
with growing vial crystal because here on earth,
it is impossible to grow perfect crystal
because it's not the right, correct shape
as it should have been.
There are very different experiments.
Well, the main idea of course is to use all the potential
of zero gravity of space and also the various factors
of space flight to test various materials and products,
maybe test some medicines.
>> The human crewmembers are test subjects
for some experiments and lab assistants for others
and spend the rest of their time making sure the station operates
safely and efficiently, that can mean routine maintenance inside
the station, that could mean spacewalks
to do repairs outside the station,
though none are currently planned for this increment.
And that can mean supporting the missions of a small fleet
of unscrewed cargo ships that keep the station
and its crews supplied.
Visits are targeted within the Expedition 34 and 35 timeframe
by the Russian Progress Vehicle,
Europe's automated transfer vehicle
and two American commercial ships,
Space Exploration Technology's Corporation's Dragon
and the Cygnus from Orbital Sciences Corporation,
the second participant
in the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Program.
Expedition 34 wraps up when Ford, Novitskiy,
and Tarelkin come home in March, leaving Hadfield
to assume command of the station for Expedition 35
and become the first Canadian astronaut ever
to command any space vehicle.
He sees this as the next logical step in Canada's history
of space exploration from the Alouette 1 Satellite,
launched 50 years ago, to the first Canadian astronauts
on space shuttle and space station crews
to pioneering space robotics
that built the International Space Station.
>> It's a big deal for me but also it's a big deal
for my country, for my space agency and for where I'm from.
And so I'm happy that people are interested in it and --
but I'm fundamentally happy that this is a continuation of all
of those capabilities and it continues to open opportunities
for the Canadians that follow after me.
>> Hadfield's crew expands in late March
when a Soyuz spacecraft delivers former station commander
[Foreign name], first time flyer Alexander Mazurkin [assumed
spelling] and space shuttle veteran astronaut Chris Cassidy,
making his second trip to the International Space Station.
They'll join the growing line of space travelers
from around the world who have served
on board the International Space Station to get earth men
and women prepared to leave their little corner
of the solar system in the years to come.
>> We're building on the -- a lot of accomplishments
and successes of astronauts that have gone up there before us
and they've been able to build efficiencies
and get more science done and we want to do that
and if we can, do it even better.