“I think that getting to be a crewmember on the International Space Station, and getting to serve there over the course of two long-duration stays, we really feel like we are bridge-builders.
“We are actively building the bridge to the Moon and then on to Mars. We, and the science that we do and the operations we conduct, are bringing together these discrete building blocks and putting them on a bridge to prepare us for these long-duration missions. Especially when we go to Mars, I mean, we’re talking about [missions longer than] two years. We’re doing that science, we’re doing those space operations, but we’re serving as human subjects, too. We’ve learned a lot over the past two decades and we continue to learn a lot about what is required to keep our crewmembers healthy, so that not only do they enjoy success in orbit, but we can get them home safely when they return. Being a part of that dream of someday going to Mars and directly contributing to that is very gratifying.
“…I want to encourage all the folks that support the human spaceflight missions — we are all laying building blocks for that journey to the Moon and then to Mars. We [as astronauts] certainly get to be the eyes and hands on the space station in low Earth orbit, and that’s a tremendous privilege, but our contributions are in line with all of the other folks here on Earth that are figuring out propulsion, figuring out logistics, and all the things we need to do to pull off Artemis successfully.”
— Kjell Lindgren, Astronaut, NASA’s Johnson Space Center
Image Credit: NASA
Interviewer: NASA / Thalia Patrinos