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“Houston We Have a Podcast” is the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center from Houston, Texas, home for NASA’s astronauts and Mission Control Center. Listen to the brightest minds of America’s space agency – astronauts, engineers, scientists and program leaders – discuss exciting topics in engineering, science and technology, sharing their personal stories and expertise on every aspect of human spaceflight. Learn more about how the work being done will help send humans forward to the Moon and on to Mars in the Artemis program.

On Episode 191, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, Aki Hoshide, and Thomas Pesquet share their perspective on their upcoming mission, their training, and their careers before they head to the International Space Station. The interviews for this episode were recorded in February and March of 2021.

Transcript

Gary Jordan (Host): Houston, we have a podcast. Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center, Episode 191, “The Crew-2 Astronauts.” I’m Gary Jordan, and I’ll be your host today. On this podcast, we bring in the experts, scientists, engineers, astronauts, all to let you know what’s going on in the world of human spaceflight. Four astronauts are ready to launch from American soil on board the SpaceX Crew Dragon for the second crew rotation mission, and the third crewed mission with the SpaceX Crew Dragon. On board are NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, and Thomas Pesquet of ESA, or the European Space Agency. This is the first commercial flight to include two international partner astronauts. On this episode, you’re going to hear from each of the crew to learn a little bit more about them and their mission. You’re going to get to hear their perspective on what the Crew-2 mission is, stories of their training, more about their careers and their family, and their thoughts about the importance on the mission that they’re about to embark on. So here we go, the Crew-2 astronauts, Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, Aki Hoshide, and Thomas Pesquet. Enjoy.

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Host: First up is NASA astronaut and retired U.S. Army colonel Shane Kimbrough. This will be Kimbrough’s third trip to space, and his second long duration stay at the International Space Station. Born in Killeen, Texas and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Kimbrough was selected as an astronaut in 2004. He first launched aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour for a visit to the station on STS-126 in 2008, then aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for Expeditions 49 and 50 in 2016. He spent a total of 189 days in space and performed six spacewalks. Kimbrough also is a retired U.S. Army colonel and earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, and a master’s degree in operations research from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Kimbrough discusses his time as an army aviator. He talks about his return to the International Space Station with Thomas Pesquet, and the importance of flying on capsule Endeavour that was named such during its maiden flight with Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley during NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission. So, here’s NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough. Shane Kimbrough, thanks for coming on the podcast today.

Shane Kimbrough: Thanks for having me, Gary. It’s good to be here.

Host: Hey. We are very close to your launch on the SpaceX Crew Dragon, Crew-2 mission coming up. How you feeling?

Shane Kimbrough: Feeling great. Training is really ramping up now, which is what we want, and we’re going to be obviously well prepared to launch on Crew-2.

Host: And so, what goes into that, Shane? When you say “well prepared,” what have you been doing to get ready for this moment?

Shane Kimbrough: Yeah, so, we’re on Crew Dragon, obviously, so we need to get trained on that vehicle. We’re also going to the International Space Station, where we need to get trained on all the systems and things that we might do while we’re up there for five or six months. So, if you put all that together in about a year, kind of cram all those things together, it’s a very busy training program. What we’re really focusing on now, I would say, is more of the SpaceX vehicle itself. We’re doing a lot of simulations. Megan and I usually have three or so major simulations every week with the SpaceX mission control team, and sometimes pulling in the NASA mission control teams as well. So that’s the really ramping-up part. Over the past six months or so, we’ve been a little more International Space Station-focused, I would say, with some SpaceX kind of sprinkled in there along the way to learn the systems, and now, we’re hot and heavy on learning the vehicle and SpaceX, and launching — or, excuse me, and working with the teams that’ll launch us and land us.

Host: Yeah. Now, when you say “we,” you were talking about the crew there. Who’s on this flight with you, on Crew-2?

Shane Kimbrough: Yeah, very honored to fly with Megan McArthur, with Thomas Pesquet, and with Aki Hoshide.

Host: Now, this is an international crew. I guess this is the first time we’ve had two international partners on a Crew Dragon flight.

Shane Kimbrough: Yeah, very excited about that. It really, you know, just speaks to — you know, it’s a testament to how well our agencies work together. It’s really — you know, we, I think, globally set a great example for all of humanity in the space business when we’re — have these major countries that maybe don’t work so well together here on Earth, but we do a great job together in space.

Host: That’s right. I want to backtrack here for a second, Shane, and talk about your background here for a second, get folks to understand a little bit about you. I know you started — before NASA, rather than starting, you were an Army aviator. You were in the Army. Tell me about that experience.

Shane Kimbrough: Yep, I was very blessed to be able to go to Army flight school, and then fly Apache helicopters for the Army, learned a ton there about leadership, about flying, of course, but more about leadership and followership. And those skills are obviously, you know, important to any successful team. I’ve been lucky to carry those over, and learn, and add onto those skills here at NASA, because those things are obviously very important as well here.

Host: So, tell me about that. So, what is the qualities of a good leader, and what is the qualities of a good follower?

Shane Kimbrough: Well, a good — being a good leader, I’ve learned over the years, one of the biggest things is to be a good listener, to know what your team’s telling you, to know what your folks want — you know, not necessarily just want to do, but they generally have more experience than I or whoever the leader is. And so, being attuned to that, to not thinking you know everything, is a big deal about being a leader. Clear communications is very important to me, investing in my team personally, as well as professionally. There are things that I’ve learned really pay off in the military, and also here at NASA. Being positive is a big deal. There’s a lot of times when training is very hard and difficult, and people can get pretty negative if you let them, but as the leader, I think it’s important to make sure people are staying positive, looking at the bright side of things. And our crew has really made it easy on me, and my last crew as well on the International Space Station, made it super-easy on me to not have to do much except enjoy each other.

Host: So that’s — I guess that’s a critical component here is, I guess, as commander, I wonder how much — you know, you serve as that leader. You’re in that leader role, but it sounds like you got a good, small crew to work with.

Shane Kimbrough: Yep, very talented crew. Obviously, they’ve all flown in space before, so I’m really, every day just trying to draw off of their experiences and figure out the best way, maybe, to solve a problem, based on their prior experiences, as well as mine. And we talk things over. Really, the commander role I think really only comes into play if we had a really bad day, and things are failing on the vehicle. Then I would have to, you know, make a call, again with inputs from them, but then finally make a call. Otherwise, we’re all, you know, always working together, making the — what we think is the best decision at the time based on the information we have.

Host: So, let’s take a step back again, and go through some of your career, you know, what’s prepared you to — for these sorts of moments. We talked about your time in the Army. At what point was astronaut — did astronaut come on the table?

Shane Kimbrough: Yeah, I wanted to be an astronaut since I was a little kid. When I was a small child is when the men were landing on the Moon, so I distinctly remember watching that with — you know, the whole nation pretty much stopped back in those days to watch, generally on black-and-white TVs. I do remember that, even though I was a small child. Again, I had the good fortunate that my grandparents lived in Titusville, which is right across from the Kennedy Space Center down in Florida, and spent a lot of time down there, even went to kindergarten down there. And my grandfather really was the inspiration behind getting me excited about NASA throughout my childhood, and so, I wanted to do it my whole life. And — but when I went to college, ironically, when I went to West Point, I figured that dream was gone, because I didn’t realize you could be in the military or be in the Army and be an astronaut but turns out you can. So, I figured that out down the road, and got lucky enough to be selected in 2004.

Host: So, this will be your third flight, right? You flew on the shuttle. You flew on the Soyuz. Talk about some of your — well, your spaceflight experience. Talk — walk us through that.

Shane Kimbrough: Yeah, very blessed, obviously, to fly, you know, again, and on a third different vehicle. That’s pretty unique, and something I’m really looking forward to, to be able to compare them. The space shuttle, my first flight back in 2008 — absolutely incredible machine. I think anybody that’s flown in it can tell you it’s certainly the most complex vehicle ever built, really incredible workhorse to build the International Space Station over the years, as well as doing many other things, like the Hubble Space Telescope. So really was an incredible vehicle for us for about 30 years, and then, when space shuttle stopped flying, I got the chance to fly with the Russians on the Soyuz, a very — much smaller vehicle, much smaller rocket, but very reliable. And they’ve been, you know, pretty much launching this same vehicle, the Russians have, for about 50 years. And so, there’s a lot of comfort in knowing how incredibly reliable this vehicle is, and it’s just an incredible way to get humans from Earth up to the International Space Station. The vehicle only holds three people, so it’s very small, very different than space shuttle in that regard, but again, just a very unique experience, very smooth ride uphill, but pretty bumpy on the way home. I’ll put it that way [laughter]. So, we’ll see what Dragon holds for us. We’ve got a few, you know, crew mates that have gone on Dragon already, and they say it’s a pretty sweet ride up, and coming back’s unique in that we’re going to land in the water. And so, even though it is water, I remember a few — Doug and Bob saying it pretty — still felt pretty hard [laughter] on the landing. So, we’ll see how that goes.

Host: Interesting. Now, of course, you know, in the middle there is your time on board the International Space Station. What’s your mission while you’re there?

Shane Kimbrough: Yep, we’re going to have, you know, several months, probably up to six months on the International Space Station where, you know, pretty much — I would say the way our time’s broken out daily is probably about 50% of our overall time is spent doing science, and research, and experiments. About 25% is doing just maintenance on the space station. So, it’s — you know, it’s over 20 years old now, most of the parts up on the space station and the modules, so things break and all that. So, we have to do a lot of preventative maintenance, and also, you know, just repair things that break. So that’s about maybe a quarter of our time, and then the other quarter is spent doing, I would say, exercise, and eating, and enjoying life with our other crewmates.

Host: Now, after you landed from your Soyuz mission, you know, I’m curious on some of the jobs that you’ve had while you’ve been here, on the ground.

Shane Kimbrough: Yeah, most of our time as astronauts is spent on the ground, unfortunately. Of course, I think we’d all like to fly all the time, but that’s just not reality. So, we get to do some really incredible things as astronauts for the astronaut office. Gosh, over the years, I’ve had some really, you know, career kind of enhancing jobs, whether it was working with the spacewalking community, or being a robotics branch chief for a while, working down at Kennedy Space Center for the last — let’s see — ten missions of the space shuttle. I got to be one of the astronaut support personnel people that would strap the crew in on launch day and get all the vehicle and the switches set up before launch. So that was really an incredible job. I really enjoyed that. I’ve gotten to be the chief of the vehicle integration test office, which, again, a really rewarding experience where, just recently, leading up to Demo-2, I was, you know, heavily involved with planning, and working with SpaceX and NASA, and medical teams as we thought about all the operations and created those pretty much from scratch for launch and landing ops for all the SpaceX and the Boeing side of things. So, I’ve really been blessed with some great jobs, which have just helped me be a better astronaut overall. So, it’s been really great.

Host: I think that last part is key here. You know, during Demo-2, while the whole world was watching Bob and Doug on their mission, you were sort of behind the scenes. What was that role specifically?

Shane Kimbrough: Yeah, it was a real thrill to be down there. I was — you know, the downside, I was held to the strict quarantine requirements that they were, so [laughter] — but that was all part of it, and we knew that going in. But, yeah, I was running, you know — just our team was running their daily schedule every day while they were in quarantine, whether that was here at Johnson Space Center or down in Florida. And then, just a lot of behind-the-scenes things — that first launch was very big, with the president and vice president coming, so — doing some — a lot of that coordination was a lot of work, but also, you know, it was kind of neat to be part of things like that. And we hadn’t launched out of the Kennedy Space Center in over a decade, so — or almost a decade, so it was really neat to really crank that machine back up, and for all the — see the locals, and all the people that work at Kennedy Space Center to really be fired up again. And it’s a really great sense of pride for our nation, so I’m just glad to be a small part of that.

Host: Oh, yeah, I know there’s a lot of people that watched on TV. I was watching from here, from Houston, and it was just such an exciting time.

Shane Kimbrough: Absolutely.

Host: Now, your family, right — you have three kids, and they’re a little older now. And this is not their first time seeing their dad fly into space. What are you doing to prepare them for your mission?

Shane Kimbrough: Yeah, I have an amazing family. My wife is really the one that’s holding us all together all the time, and while I’m in space, it’s no different, of course. Three amazing kids, twin girls that are 23 and a son that’s 21. All of them are still in school. The girls are in graduate school now, and our son’s a junior at West Point, very proud of what they’re doing, and again, we’re trying to make this as normal as possible for them. And they understand it a lot more now, of course, because they’re older. They’re excited about going to the launch. They’re excited about the mission. They’re excited about this whole SpaceX thing, which is really, you know, I think, speaking to the younger generations in general, so that’s really fun, to see them get excited about this mission, I think more than any other one before. So, yeah, we’ll just try to keep things, you know, as normal as possible. I get to chat with them quite a bit whenever we get free time, and I get to talk to my wife every day. So, yeah, it’s a pretty good way to communicate with them, even though we’re, you know, off the planet going around about every 90 minutes.

Host: You make it seem so normal, but it is kind of special. Very cool. I’m kind of locking onto — you said, you know, it’s — your kids think this one’s cooler. I think this is really a cool mission for, you know — for the United States really, but what’s interesting just beyond that, we’re continuing these kinds of commercial crew missions. What we’ve been building up is this capsule that you’re flying is the one that Bob, and Doug rode on. It’s Endeavour, and you’re continuing that legacy.

Shane Kimbrough: Yeah, it’s — I’m so glad it’s called Endeavour. That’s the name of the space shuttle I flew on, so it’s significant to me in that way. And what’s, I think, much more significant is that Megan will fly in the exact same seat, the pilot seat, that her husband Bob flew on for Demo-2, in the same spacecraft. So, I’m sure that’ll get a lot of media attention as we lead up to launch, and rightly so, and I’m really excited for her. She has not been to the International Space Station before either, so Aki and Thomas, and I have had the good fortune of being there. But this will be her first trip, because her previous flight was going to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

Host: That’s right. Any words of advice that the three of you have passed on to Megan, make sure she’s ready for this long-duration expedition?

Shane Kimbrough: Yeah, we’ve gotten a lot of chances to talk to her about it, and she has a lot of questions, of course. I think she’s got a lot of inside scoop from her husband, after he was there for a few months [laughter]. So — but we definitely gave her pointers on things that worked for us while we were there, and, you know, we’re just — we’re looking forward to being together. We’ve become a tight crew here on the ground, which is very important, to learn those folks before you get put in an environment that’s not so normal. And I think we’ll just continue to learn from each other as we go throughout our mission.

Host: That’s right, and that mission is coming up very soon. Shane Kimbrough, thank you so much for spending this short amount of time with me on the podcast today, really appreciate it.

Shane Kimbrough: Thanks for having me.

Host: Next is NASA astronaut Megan McArthur. McArthur will be making her second trip to space, but her first to the International Space Station. She was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, but considers California to be her home state. After being selected as an astronaut in 2000, she launched on space shuttle Atlantis as a mission specialist on STS-125, the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, in 2009. McArthur operated the shuttle’s robotic arm over the course of the 12 days and 21 hours that she spent in space, capturing the telescope and moving crew members during the five spacewalks needed to repair and upgrade the telescope. She holds a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of California Los Angeles, and a doctorate in oceanography from the University of California San Diego. McArthur discusses her early fascination with aerospace, her experience on shuttle on one of the Hubble servicing missions, and her expectations living and working on the International Space Station for the first time. Here’s NASA astronaut Megan McArthur. Megan McArthur, thank you so much for coming on Houston We Have a Podcast today.

Megan McArthur: It’s great to be here. Thanks.

Host: Hey, we’re coming up on your launch here. Real soon, you’re going to be riding a Falcon 9 to the International Space Station. How you feeling?

Megan McArthur: Pretty excited.

Host: So, it’s been a lot of training to get to this point, to get to ride on the SpaceX Dragon. What have you been up to, to get ready for this moment?

Megan McArthur: It has been a lot of training, and it’s been condensed into a shorter period of time than usual, but we — so we’ve been, you know, busy all day, every day, sometimes in Houston. Sometimes, we’re in Hawthorne, California at the SpaceX facility, and we’ve even had a couple of international trips that have been jammed in as well.

Host: Oh, that’s right. Hey, we’re — let’s take a step back, and find out a little bit more about you. So, starting with just your time, I guess, from when you were born to when you got to college, because I know you were part of a military family. So, there’s quite a lot of moving going around.

Megan McArthur: That’s right. So, our family moved every couple of years, it seemed like. My father was in the United States Navy, and I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. And we moved really every couple years after that. So, I’ve lived in California. I’ve lived in Rhode Island. I’ve lived in Canada, Japan, England, and now Texas. So, it’s been — it was a great way to grow up, but we didn’t really put roots down anywhere.

Host: So, home is where the family is.

Megan McArthur: That’s right.

Host: That’s right. When did — let me see. Let’s — actually, let’s go to your education, because what’s interesting is, you started off with — you got a bachelor’s in aerospace engineering, and then it seems like you switched gears and said, “You know what, oceanography’s for me.”

Megan McArthur: That’s right. So, my dad was a pilot, and so, I was interested in airplanes from an early age. And I also lived at a Navy base that shared a center with Ames Research Center, where a lot of avionics research, aviation research, and aerospace research happened, and we would see NASA astronauts come there. And so, I thought that that would be a neat career path to follow, even if I didn’t get to ever be an astronaut. So, I studied aerospace engineering at UCLA, and while I was there, I got involved with a group of aerospace engineers who wanted to participate in this engineering project. And so, we built a submarine, a human-powered submarine, and I ended up becoming the pilot for that submarine. And I had to get scuba certified in order to drive the thing, because it was flooded with water, and — on purpose. And that got me really interested in exploring the oceans, and so, I took a turn into oceanography. And I studied ocean acoustics at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego.

Host: What was it about scuba diving that was so interesting to you? Because, you know, you might have a different reaction, right. You start scuba diving, and you’re like, “oh, heck no, this is not for me,” but it seems like you loved it.

Megan McArthur: I did love it, and it’s interesting because I have never been — I was not a strong swimmer. And so, it was really challenging for me, and I ended up having to do some extra work to improve my swimming in order to be strong enough to swim out through the surf zone, which is what you need to do when you’re scuba diving in southern California, and you don’t have a lot of money. So, you’re not going in off a boat. You’re fighting your way in from the beach. So, it was a real challenge for me. I think that was part of the attraction, was having to earn it in that way, and then also just kind of, you know, finding this magical world beneath the ocean’s surface, these reefs, and the amazing kelp forests that we have in California. And it just kind of opened my eyes to a whole part of the planet that needed to be explored.

Host: Seems like explorer of magical worlds is your specialty, because not only did you — you were exploring the underwater magical world, but then eventually, you started exploring space. When did astronaut start coming into the picture?

Megan McArthur: So I kind of always kept the idea that I’d had from, you know, when I was a teenager, that wouldn’t it be neat to be an astronaut one day, and when I was in graduate school, I started to look seriously into what does the application actually look like. What kinds of career paths do people have before they become an astronaut? And so, you know, back then, it was actually a paper application that you filled out, so I sent mine in. But just seeing that there are astronauts that come from all different backgrounds in science and engineering helped me realize, you know, hey, this was something that I could do with my varied background. Oceanography has a lot of operational concepts that are similar, I think, to flying in space, where you have hardware that you’re going to deploy in the ocean. You have to be able to fix it if it breaks with whatever you have with you at the time, and the skills of the people on board. So, there are a lot of similarities with how we send people into space.

Host: So, you got to experience that firsthand when you traveled to space in 2009. You went to the Hubble Space Telescope. Tell me about your mission.

Megan McArthur: That was a tremendous mission to be a part of. It was such a great crew and being part of the Hubble family is something that I treasure to this day. To be a part of something that, you know, around the world, people — even if they haven’t heard of the Hubble Space Telescope specifically, they sure have seen images captured by the telescope, and, you know, the science — the groundbreaking science that continues to be done by that instrument is phenomenal. And so, to be just a little cog in the wheel that makes that happen was pretty fantastic.

Host: And your role as part of that mission was the robotic arm operator. So, what was some of that — those tasks like, when it came to actually performing some of the repair work?

Megan McArthur: That’s right, I was the robotic arm operator and the flight deck engineer for that mission. And so, the robotics task — the big one, of course, is capturing the telescope, which is a free-flying telescope in orbit around the Earth, and we used the robotic arm to grab hold of a fixture that’s on the side of the telescope, and then place it in the payload bay. And we have to do all of that in order to do this — the repair spacewalks that our spacewalkers were going to do. And so, once we got that part done, then we did five back-to-back spacewalks, and each spacewalk is supported by the robotic arm. So, I was able to drive the arm throughout all of those, and we’re moving, you know, big pieces of equipment in and out of the telescope, and of course, having to be very careful around the telescope so as not to do any damage. So, we trained really hard for all of those spacewalks. We had the luxury of getting to do each of those spacewalks, planned spacewalks we did a number of times, and so we could really fine-tune those tasks, and make it very, very efficient.

Host: You know, it seems like that mission was pretty fast, at least compared to what we are used to now with long-duration International Space Station missions. But looking back on it, I don’t know if it was — it might’ve been a blur to you, but is there any moment that sort of sticks out, some moment that you sometimes look back on that was sort of special to you in a way during your short stay in orbit?

Megan McArthur: For me, the moment when I got to look at the planet and see lightning storms over the ocean on a huge scale, and you realize that this — you know, because your brain, when you first see the Earth from space — it’s so vast, and you think, it looks like all the pictures you’ve ever seen growing up. And suddenly, there’s movement. You know, there’s this lightning storm that’s happening, and you realize this Earth is a living, breathing thing in a way, right. And you see the thin lens of atmosphere that is what protects all the life on the planet, and you just feel this very powerful — it’s kind of a sense of belonging, but also an urge to protect this beautiful planet that we get to call home.

Host: Well, you’re going to be up back in space for a long duration flight this time, onboard the International Space Station. You might have a few more moments than you did on your shuttle flight to appreciate some of these views. You are — of the four crew members that are on Crew-2, you’re the one that hasn’t been to the International Space Station yet, even though — you know, you’ve all flown, but this is your first time. So, I wonder if you’ve learned any tips and tricks about life aboard the International Space Station for a long duration stay, if you’ve heard that from some of your crew.

Megan McArthur: I’m really lucky to have crewmates who have done this before, and also, of course, my husband now has done this before. And so, lots of, you know, insight into sort of how it really is. You know, we learn in training, and our training is excellent, but there’s — you know, there’s tips and tricks that you learn partly just when you get there. And so, you know, when something starts to seem complicated or difficult to understand from a procedure, they’ll reassure me, “hey, you’re going to figure this out in five minutes once you get onboard.” So those kinds of things have been really reassuring, and knowing that, you know, some of the more challenging things that maybe are hard to just pick up — like, for example, photography that some of them are already really good at it is reassuring, that that’s — that’ll be a fun thing for us to learn together while we’re up there.

Host: So, tell me about some of the things you’re going to be doing. You have a long-duration mission on the International Space Station, six months-ish. You know, what does that mean? What exactly are you doing?

Megan McArthur: So, I expect every day will be different. You know, we live by that schedule, and the folks on the ground are the ones putting kind of the big blocks in on the schedule first, and then fitting all the little stuff around that. So, we’ll have some big blocks, like some cargo vehicles that are arriving and departing, some science – longer term science projects that have to occur at specific times associated with those cargo missions, and then, of course, some spacewalks, and robotics associated with that. So those are kind of the big blocks that will anchor the mission, and then there’ll be lots of stuff stuck in around that. So, some of that will be maintenance for the space station, making sure that it stays running, and then others will be shorter-term science projects that happen, you know, around those bigger blocks. And so, I think every day is going to be different, and that’s one of the things that is really exciting about it.

Host: So, what’s — I think another exciting thing, Megan, is when you’re going to the International Space Station, gearing up, getting buckled in to take that ride on the Falcon 9 in the Crew Dragon, you’re going to be sitting in the same seat in the same vehicle as Bob Behnken. I wonder if that’s — if that’s hit you, if that realization has hit you.

Megan McArthur: Well, I have joked that at least I’ll — if I find chewed-up gum under the seat, at least I’ll know where it came from. [laughter] It has, you know, and it’s been amazing — it was amazing watching him over the five years of that development program, you know, get more and more — and in the beginning, we didn’t know which vehicle he would be on. And then, you know, once we knew that he was on Crew Dragon, kind of watching him go through that process of developing the different crew capabilities and figuring out how to certify this brand-new vehicle. You know, everything that went into that, seeing him go through all of that, how well he knows the vehicle, how well he knows the people who designed and built that vehicle — you know, that’s a tremendous resource for me. So, he’s been able to give me, you know, insight and specific advice about stuff, as well as, of course, he ended up spending two months on the space station when he originally was expecting to spend, you know, maybe ten days. And so, you know, our family has been through a lot, managing all of that, and managing those changes, and so, I think we’ve grown a lot and learned a lot from that process. And so, my hope is that the six-month stay — I think it will be harder, but we — in some ways, but we haven’t had the sort of five years of lead time building up to it. Really, it’s been everything crammed into one year. So, I think we’re ready, and I think it’s going to be great.

Host: That’s right. Is — you know what? I think that’s very special, that you get to already experience exactly what you’re about to, but from a different perspective, right. So, when you’re walking out to the rocket, you, just not too long ago, were the one waving to Bob Behnken, saying goodbye. Now you’re going to be swapping those roles. So, it seems like your family is more than prepared to handle what’s to come.

Megan McArthur: I think that’s true. It’s also true, however, that it is so much harder to be the one that’s not launching into space, so the one that stays, that is watching your loved one, you know, launch into space without any role in the process, right. So, when you’re the one that’s on the sidelines, you can’t fix anything. You can’t help anything. You can’t change anything, and that’s really hard for people like us to manage. And so, that will be the hardest role that day, is his role, you know, taking care of our son, and getting through the launch day. It will definitely be the hardest job, will be his job, not my job.

Host: That’s right, and I know you — you know, for your son — everybody remembers that call, Megan, when Bob was coming home, and he said, “Hurry up, I want to get that puppy.” That was such a special moment. Did you end up getting that puppy?

Megan McArthur:We sure did. We adopted a puppy from a local rescue organization back in November. His name is Shadow. Our son named him Shadow, because he’s dark in color, and it’s a perfect name, because he always seems to be under my feet. So, we’re figuring out how to take care of one another. We’ve had some training. The dog’s had some training, and it’s been a lot of fun.

Host: [Laughter] That’s very special. I had a childhood dog named Shadow myself. That’s very —

Megan McArthur: It’s a good name, yeah.

Host: — it’s a good name. Wonderful, Megan. Hey, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today, Megan, and Godspeed on your upcoming mission.

Megan McArthur: Thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Host: Next up is JAXA astronaut Aki Hoshide. Hoshide was born in Tokyo, Japan. He received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Keio University, and a Master of Science in aerospace engineering from the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering. He joined JAXA in 1992, which at the time was the National Space Development Agency of Japan and was selected as an astronaut in 1999. This will be Hoshide’s third spaceflight. He was part of the STS-124 mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 2008, and a crew member for Expeditions 32 and 33, launching aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 2012 for a 124-day visit to the station, conducting science, spacewalks, and maintenance. Hoshide discusses his early career at the Japanese Space Agency, his spaceflight experiences on shuttle and Soyuz, and preparing his family for the journey ahead. Here’s JAXA astronaut Aki Hoshide. Aki Hoshide, thanks for coming on Houston We Have a Podcast.

Akihiko Hoshide: Thanks for having me.

Host: Hey, we’re really close to your launch here. You’re going to be launching from the United States once again. How you feeling?

Akihiko Hoshide: Yeah, feels great. You know, my first mission was on the space shuttle, launching from the Cape. This time, it’s going to be on the same launchpad, so I’m looking forward to it.

Host: Oh, no way. Same launchpad — that’s pretty — that’s good timing. Hey, let’s go back and learn a little bit about you, about who you are. So, tell me about your start at JAXA. We’ll start there, because I know you worked at JAXA before it was called JAXA. And you were — and you started before you became an astronaut.

Akihiko Hoshide: That’s correct. So right out of college, I started working for the Japanese Space Agency. At that time, it was called NASDA, and I started out working for the H-II rocket for two years, and then I — we — I transitioned over to the astronaut office, supported a couple of astronauts as an engineer.

Host: So, when did the idea of, you know, “hey, I’m — I think I can be an astronaut” — when did that start kicking in?

Akihiko Hoshide: Actually, it was during college. You know, as a child, I was very into space, and when I was in high school, the first three Japanese astronauts were selected. So, after that, you know, becoming an astronaut was my dream. And I tried a couple times, even before graduating from college, didn’t have the right qualifications, so I couldn’t make it. But yeah, so it was — it started — the dream started even before joining the space agency.

Host: But then you eventually did, and you got to fly. So, tell me about your space missions.

Akihiko Hoshide: Sure. So, my first mission was on board the Space Shuttle Discovery. It was STS-124. That mission brought up the Japanese Kibo module — actually the biggest part, because the Kibo module was too big, and had to split it into three different space shuttle missions to carry it. But mine was the second assembly mission for the Kibo module, and we brought up the module up there and assembled it to the International Space Station. My second mission was in 2012, and we launched on the Soyuz spacecraft, and spent time on board the space station for four months doing a lot of different science and spacewalks.

Host: That’s right, and on your first mission — now, that was on the shuttle. The next one was on the Soyuz. What are the differences there, in terms of launching, and the duration of the mission? I mean, to me, they seem pretty different.

Akihiko Hoshide: Yeah, you’re right. It is — they’re pretty different. You know, space shuttle is an incredible machine. It can do all sorts of things, and it’s big. You get seven crew members on board, and launches like a rocket, comes back like a glider. Soyuz is — you know, it’s a capsule. It’s smaller, get three people on board, pretty, you know, crunched in there, but it does its job. It safely has launched and landed throughout the years. It’s got a great history, and I think both of them are very capable spacecrafts.

Host: Now on shuttle, that was your first one. I’m sure it was pretty exciting, you going up to space for the first time. Thinking about those — you know, your expectations, and then your first flight, what — you know, what were some of those realizations for you, some of the things that excited you?

Akihiko Hoshide: So, a lot of things — you know, first time going up in space, you know, you think you’re going to be nervous. You’ve got to, you know, work hard, and get every piece of information in your brain, get all the training required, and, you know, there’s a lot of unknown until you get there. And — but the first moment that I experienced microgravity was when I got a helmet from my crewmate, Mike Fossum. He was sitting next to me, and my first job was to get his helmet into a bag while he climbs up and takes pictures of the external tank. And that helmet started floating right in front of me, and that was the moment that I realized that I was actually in space. And after that, you know, flying inside the modules on the International Space Station, looking out the window and looking at Earth, everything and — everything was very — you know, very precious memories right now.

Host: My gosh, and I know that your next mission was a long duration, and a lot of astronauts have described the difference as like a sprint versus a marathon, because you’re up there for longer. You got to stretch out your time, and I’m sure that was unique and special for you in your own way. I know actually that mission — that long-duration mission was actually special for me, yours was, because you were in space when I first came to NASA as a student.

Akihiko Hoshide: No kidding? Really? Wow.

Host: Yeah, yeah [laughter].

Akihiko Hoshide: Time flies.

Host: It does. It does [laughter]. So, tell me about that mission, your long-duration one, and the differences there, now that you were in space for longer.

Akihiko Hoshide: Sure. So, yeah, you mentioned it, but, you know, it’s a spring versus a marathon, and you got a lot more time on board. You got to pace yourself. As Japanese, I thought I could work, like, 24 hours a day, but I was wrong. You know, after a couple days, you do feel fatigued. At the end of the week, you feel like, OK, I got to pace myself, just to be prepared for any kind of anomaly, a phenomenal situation, even an emergency. But, you know, you got to pace yourself like a marathon, and — but there’s a lot of, you know, things. I was never bored. I had mentioned this to Suni Williams, my crewmate at that time, and I told her, “Hey, Suni, you know, throughout the mission, I did not feel bored.” And I think it was the variety of the mission. You know, you get a lot of different science. You do a spacewalk one week, and then the next week, a new vehicle comes, and you got to capture it with the robotic arm. And there’s a lot of interesting science as well. So, I think that’s why I was never bored.

Host: Well, you eventually returned from that mission, landed in Kazakhstan. So, what have you been up to since?

Akihiko Hoshide: So, after that, we — I went back to Japan for a couple of years, worked back in Tsukuba Space Center, helping out the astronaut office as well as the space station program. And then, came back to Houston, worked here as a capcom a little bit, and then got assigned to the mission, and trained for this mission since then.

Host: Now, tell me about what you have been up to, to train for this mission. What are some of the things that you’ve been working on?

Akihiko Hoshide: So, a lot of International Space Station mission — sorry, a lot of International Space Station training, here in — mainly here in Houston, but we did have a little bit of training in Russia and Europe, and also in Japan. Of course, because of the COVID situation, it is very difficult, and on top of that, we have been training in Hawthorne in SpaceX for our Crew Dragon training. It started out with academics, just learning the system, and then eventually developed into simulations within the crew sometimes, and then expanded to having the flight control team together jointly.

Host: I see. And you’re flying with three other astronauts. You’ve got Shane, and Megan, and Thomas. Tell me a little bit about your crew.

Akihiko Hoshide: Sure. I think I’m fortunate to have such a great crew. Shane and I were actually classmates from ASCAN — Astronaut Candidate days and known him very — for a long time now. Megan was kind of my capcom mentor. She also worked as a capcom, and I learned a lot from her. And Thomas and I went down in a NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) mission, NEEMO 18 together, and that was a ten-day mission underwater, had a blast with him. And we were just joking, “hey, wouldn’t it be great to go to space together,” and now that dream’s going to come true.

Host: Well, that’s awesome. You have connections with all three of them, even prior to being assigned together, so that’s pretty cool. Now, thinking about the mission itself, you’ve done a long-duration mission before. We talked about your Expedition 22 — rather, 32, 33. What is — what changes for this upcoming mission? Is there anything that’s going to be different? Is the environment of the space station different, or is it a lot of it the same? You know, what’s the differences there?

Akihiko Hoshide: I think the environment itself is pretty similar. Not a whole lot has changed. Of course, we’ve got more modules attached to it. We’ve got new vehicles, and a lot of upgrades have been done, inside and out of the space station. But basically, what we’re doing is the same things, you know, a lot of science, and spacewalks, maybe, and some new vehicle — new cargo vehicles coming. But yeah — and for the science, I know there’s a lot of new experiments coming up, so looking forward to actually helping out all the researchers on the ground.

Host: And that’ll be, like, the — you know, your primary use of your time, is doing those experiments, and of course, all the maintenance and spacewalk. You’re going to have to have some time for yourself, I know, and I know, you know, this is the third time you’re going to have to go to space. And you got a family that you’re leaving behind, so what are you doing to, you know, stay in contact with them, to prepare them for your journey?

Akihiko Hoshide: So, yeah, this is my third flight, and I think they’re kind of used to it by now, I hope. And I think, you know, it’s like a routine thing. It’s like a long — longer, you know, business trip. We’ve been traveling to, you know, different countries for training or business, and, you know, it’s like a little longer. But in terms of support, we have an incredible team to support us, you know, myself and my family. So, I have no concerns. I don’t think they have — my family has any concerns, either.

Host: Well, Aki, I know you have a lot of work that you’ve done to prepare for this mission, and there’s still some things to look forward to before you actually launch. So, Aki Hoshide, thank you so much for coming on Houston We Have a Podcast. It was a pleasure to spend these couple of minutes with you.

Akihiko Hoshide: Same here. Thank you very much for having me.

Host: Last but not least, we have ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet. Born in Rouen, France, Pesquet graduated from Lycee Pierre Corneille before earning a master’s in spacecraft design and control at the National Higher French Institute of Aeronautics and Space in Toulouse, France. He worked at the French Space Agency for a bit, and then graduated from Air France Flight School, and eventually worked his way to become a commercial airline pilot for Air France before being selected as an ESA astronaut in 2009. Pesquet previously flew as part of Expeditions 50 and 51, launching aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, and spending 196 days in space. His current mission to launch on the SpaceX Crew Dragon and stay aboard space station is called Alpha, after Alpha Centauri, and follows the French tradition of naming space missions after stars and constellations. Thomas shares his experience before joining ESA, his experience on his first long-duration mission on the space station, and some things he’s looking forward to on this upcoming flight. Here’s ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet. Thomas Pesquet, thanks so much for coming on the podcast today.

Thomas Pesquet: Hey, awesome to be with you guys, and I’m thrilled.

Host: Hey, we are very close to your launch, Thomas, really in the home stretch here. How you feeling?

Thomas Pesquet: I’m feeling good. I’m feeling good. I mean, it’s been challenging, because of COVID, because of other circumstances. Still one of the few — one of the first few commercial crew launches, SpaceX launches, so it’s not a smooth process just yet. But we’re in good shape. I mean, training is going well. It’s 99.9% finished, and then we’ll be ready to launch on time.

Host: Very good. Well, let’s dive in and get to know a little bit more about you, starting with your education. I know — just reading your bio, it sounded like from a very — from very early on, it sounded like you had a lot of interest in flight and in space.

Thomas Pesquet: Oh, yeah, that’s true. I don’t know where it came from, though, because my parents were both teachers at a small town in the countryside somewhere in France, in Normandy. So, no relations whatsoever, no links to the world of space, and even aerospace in general, and flying, but that’s what I liked. That’s what I was interested in as a kid. I don’t know why, but I found it really cool. I had the posters in my room, and et cetera. And in growing up, every time I had a chance, you know, I would read a book on the topic. I would watch a show or a movie on the topic, and then I kind of steered my career in that direction. I became an engineer. I went into aerospace, became a pilot, and then I was lucky enough to be selected as an astronaut. So, it worked out pretty well for me. I was very lucky, but here I am.

Host: That’s right, yeah, and you had — yeah, like you said, you were a pilot, and you were a commercial pilot, too, right, even before you were — joined ESA?

Thomas Pesquet: Yeah, correct, correct. And it’s funny to know that, I think, together with Takuya Onishi, a Japanese colleague, same class as me, we were the first two airline pilots by trade, by training to be selected for astronauts. There’s been a lot of military folks, and some people who kind of have had also flown big airliners, but not as a main job. So that was kind of fun to — kind of a fun fact, and is something we share with him, with Takuya. But yeah, I think it relates. I mean, in lots — in a lot of ways, it’s the same pace, the same, like, crew interaction. It’s a multi-pilot-type environment, whether it be in a spacecraft or on an airliner, very exciting parts when you take off, when you land, and then sometimes there’s a cruise space in between where, you know, it’s going to last a couple hours. Well, for us in space, it lasts even longer. So, to me, there’s a lot of similarities, and I think my training helped me a lot as an astronaut.

Host: That’s right. Now, when you came to ESA and started your astronaut training, what were some of the things that you were doing?

Thomas Pesquet: Well, initially, you know — people have different backgrounds. So, you can have a medical doctor, you know, a fighter pilot type person. You can have an engineer. You can have a — whatever, a volcanologist, for example. So that’s these very different things, and you have to all bring them at the same level in science and technology for human spaceflight, right. How do rockets fly? I mean, it seems basic, and some of the stuff you know, especially if you’re an aerospace engineer. You’ve seen that before, but it’s not always the case if you’re a medical doctor. You don’t necessarily know what’s the rocket equation. So there’s all this academic knowledge that you need to — that you need to hone in, and then you work out quite a lot, because again, you have to bring people to the same physical fitness level, learn Russian, and then, you know, step by step, you start to learn your job, right. You learn about the space station, the different modules, the different vehicles, and then eventually, it’s going to give you a basic — let’s say basic level as an astronaut. You get a degree, congratulations. You can be assigned to a mission, and then, when you’re assigned to a mission, then things become much more specific. What are you going to do? Are you going to do some spacewalks? Yes, so which ones do you repeat? You’re going to repeat them in the pool. You’re going to have a science program. You’re going to familiarize yourself with this, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So, it’s really like being at school all the time and learning all the time. So, you have to love learning new things if you want to be an astronaut.

Host: That’s right, and you finally got to put that all to the test whenever you launched on your first mission in 2016. Tell me about that experience.

Thomas Pesquet: Oh, that was pretty unbelievable. I remember waiting for that mission, and I knew — and I was told, you know, it’s — the mission is great, but the time before the mission is even — to some extent, it’s even better. Because you have a purpose. You’re working really hard, but you don’t count the hours. You’re at the top of your physical fitness. You’re at the top of your academic knowledge, because you’re working so hard, and that’s a good feeling to have. So, I remember this, and you don’t let up. I spent a lot of time in Russia to learn the Soyuz, to fly as a Soyuz pilot, and it all led up to Kazakhstan and the launch from the steppes over there. I see steppes, because it was zero degrees Fahrenheit, minus — I don’t know even know how much Celsius. And then, just blasting through, you know, the night, and going on the first trip to the space station — that was an unbelievable experience, and I’m looking forward to repeating it in a different way.

Host: That’s right, and you’ve been training a lot for this upcoming mission, right. You got training with SpaceX, and training for the International Space Station. Tell me about some of the things that you’ve been doing to prepare for this upcoming flight.

Thomas Pesquet: Yeah, some of it is the same as what I’ve done the first time around. Station hasn’t changed. You know, the systems are pretty much the same. There’s been some improvements made, but mostly, I just refresh the knowledge that I got from the first mission. Spacewalks, still the same principles, still the same spacesuit. You just have to look at what specifically you’re going to be doing outside, so it’s been shorter. It’s been more condensed because of this, and it’s good, because we didn’t have that much time. But the big difference is how you get to space station, and now I’m flying on SpaceX’s Crew-2 crewed vehicle. And it’s a completely different environment. It’s training in Hawthorne, California with SpaceX. Everybody’s young. Everybody’s very dynamic, very reactive, hugely talented. They’re doing such a great job, and it’s just a different atmosphere. It feels very modern. Less traditions, because we’re building the traditions as we go, but really, you’re building the system from scratch, pretty much. That’s what the previous two flights did, and that’s kind of what we do as well. So, it’s a really, really good feeling.

Host: That’s good. You know, we were talking a little bit before this, and I found it fascinating, because in your first flight, you mentioned just how busy you were, not just with the work. You know, there’s a lot of scientific experiments, but you really wanted to maximize your time, take pictures, call everyone. It seems like you’re going to do — take a little bit of a different approach this time.

Thomas Pesquet: Yeah, that’s actually quite right. I just put so much pressure on myself, and it was fine. But I had an endless to-do list, and I mean this, you know, literally. There was really always something that I had to do on the back of my mind, and I was telling myself, “oh, you should be doing this now, because otherwise maybe you won’t have time, blah, blah, blah.” So, it was never-ending, and it was replenished, obviously, once in a while. So, it was great, and I got a lot of things done. And we’re talking, you know, after hours and on Sundays right now. I mean, this is after all the work that you have to do no matter what. But it kind of led me to not experience the flight to space as much as I should have, I guess, because I was working, working, working, working. And then, when work was over, I was still doing other things all the time, and this time, I’m looking forward to, yeah, maybe relaxing a little bit once in a while, taking some — 15 minutes here and there just for myself, just to — not to take a picture, not to make a movie, not to write a journal, not to call people that I know are going to be happy, but just for myself. Just selfishly 15 minutes, just for me, look out the window, drink an instant coffee, and just soak in the feeling and the experience of being in space, which is pretty awesome. And I don’t want to get used to it. I don’t want it to be normal. It happens, because we’re human, but I want to feel the — feel that feeling again.

Host: Such a wonderful approach, Thomas. And I know, you know, just — I look up to the ESA astronauts. I really do, because I know you guys get a lot of training and a lot of opportunity to connect with people on the ground. And I think it’s so fascinating, especially for you, because having educator parents, you know, having that passion maybe is instilled just within your own family culture, to share your experiences, to teach people about what it would take to either be an astronaut or get involved in, like, a STEM career. Sounds like you’re going to be doing some of that on your mission as well.

Thomas Pesquet: Yeah, absolutely. I think it’s hugely important. Like you say, my parents are both teachers. My brother is now a computer science professor at university, so I’m the apple that fell far from the tree in a way. I’m the ugly duckling of the family, but I still like it. Must be in the blood, because I still like to explain. I still like to — I really enjoyed being an instructor when I was a pilot. So, I want to do this. I want to share the mission. I remember when I was a kid, I would’ve loved to follow the journey of an astronaut. So, I’ll do it again, for sure. I don’t know how different — because you need to do something new, right. I cannot do the same as last time, obviously taking pictures, sharing the journey. But there must be something else that we could be doing, and we’ll try. And I’m willing to invest the time, because it’s a lot of personal time that you could be spending, you know, just watching a movie and relaxing. But I think it’s worth all the effort, because when you come back, and you see how the kids react, and maybe you say, you know, a few of them, or maybe more than a few are going to have a better career, or are going to, you know, follow their dream because — or thanks to you, thanks to your extra effort. I think it’s really worth it.

Host: That’s right, and you’re going to be doing this soon. You’re going to be going up to the International Space Station. You got quite a crew that’s going with you, Thomas. You got a couple of NASA astronauts. You got JAXA. It’s quite an international crew. Can you tell me about some of the folks you’re going to be flying with?

Thomas Pesquet: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I was truly blessed with that crew. I know people say that, but it’s actually true, and I really mean it. I’m flying with Shane, Shane as the commander of the Crew Dragon. I’ve spent four months and a half with him on board the space station, and now, we’re just very, very close friends. And I look up to him very much. He’s like an older brother type figure for me. So, I know it’s going to go well, because we get along really well. We work hard together. We have the same sense of humor, and Aki — I’ve had a lot of training with him, and he’s also such a character. He’s always cheerful, always motivated, and hugely competent. He knows everything, and he knows how to get his message across, you know, in a very nice kind of way. The missing piece to the puzzle I think was Megan. I didn’t know Megan before, but she’s absolutely unbelievable. She’s hugely talented. She fits right in with the crew, so I know we’re going to have fun, because none of them, I think, has a big ego or takes himself or herself too seriously. We’re working very hard. We’re very serious, but we know how to laugh, and we know how to make people feel good around us, I hope. So, I think that’s hugely important for a six-month mission.

Host: Very much, Thomas, and I wish all of you the best on your upcoming flight. Thomas Pesquet, thanks so much for coming on the podcast, and spending this little time to chat with me today.

Thomas Pesquet: Hey, thanks. It was a pleasure for me.

[ Music]

Hey, thanks for sticking around. That is it. We went through all four of the Crew-2 astronauts. I am super fortunate that I got time with each and every one of them, just a few minutes to have a short conversation for this podcast. And we just wanted to make sure that we shared that with you. It’s going to be an exciting launch, Crew-2, so just make sure to make — check out the latest TV schedule for when that’s going to launch, watch that live, engage with us during the broadcast using the hashtag #LaunchAmerica. We are one of many podcasts. Check some of the other podcasts we have across the space agency out at NASA.gov/podcasts. We are part of the Johnson Space Center, so you can find us on the social media pages for that specific center, Johnson Space Center. We’re on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Use the hashtag #AskNASA on your favorite platform to submit an idea for the show, maybe a question. Just make sure to mention it’s for us at Houston We Have a Podcast. The interviews for this episode were recorded in February and March of 2021. Thanks to the podcast team, Alex Perryman, Pat Ryan, Norah Moran, Belinda Pulido, and Jennifer Hernandez. Thanks again to the astronauts, Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, Aki Hoshide, and Thomas Pesquet for their time in the studio to share the knowledge and thoughts with the world prior to launch, specifically for this podcast, and a big shout-out to all of the schedules — schedulers for their time. It was definitely difficult to get them in, and they are very, very busy with all the training they have to do. So, Godspeed to those four astronauts. And, of course, thanks to the expensive production team for their support in the Crew-2 interviews, including Charles Clendaniel, Bill Stafford, and Josh Valcarcel. Give us a rating and some feedback on whatever platform you’re listening to us on and tell us what you think of the show. We’ll be back next week.