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By necessity, traveling to space means leaving Earth but that round-trip journey also means coming back to Earth, and for retired NASA astronaut Nicole Stott, that piece of the experience was crucial.

Stott outlines how living and working on the International Space Station changed the way she thinks about living on Earth in her new book, "Back to Earth: What Life in Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet and Our Mission to Protect It" (Seal Press, 2021). (Read an excerpt from "Back to Earth.")

Stott opens "Back to Earth" by telling the story of Apollo 8's famous Earthrise image and encouraging readers to find their own moment of such planetary reflection (without having to travel quite as far as the lunar orbit that mission's crew reached.)

Space.com called Stott to talk about the book, her time in space and what she's been doing since returning to Earth. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Related: Best space and sci-fi books for 2021

Space.com: Why did you want to write this book?

Nicole Stott: This is not a memoir. Really what I wanted it to be was the story of how we have done such amazing work as this international community on the International Space Station. If I had to sum up the message in the book in the simplest way it would be that I think the greatest skill we could learn as Earthlings is how to be crewmates and not passengers. There's a big, big difference.

Space.com: It seems notable to me that you waited a while after retiring from the astronaut corps to write this, how did that time affect you?

Stott: I think if I had written this book soon after retiring, it would have been a very different book. It may have been more the memoir, the how did Nicole become an astronaut. A lot of people like hearing those stories, and I enjoy reading the books that my colleagues have written about those experiences, and I think that is compelling in one way.

What I've found interesting, though, is that there's little tidbits in all of those stories that speak in some way or another to what I'm trying to get at in "Back to Earth." And as time went on, I found that for me, wow, those little tidbits were absolutely the more powerful thing.

I hope everyone who reads it finds their own call to action from it, how they can find this path to being crewmembers, and that that can come to life for them through something they read in this book. What thing can they do in their lives that will allow them to take on that role more strongly? What else can they be doing? I don't mean it to be prescriptive in any way. But I want it to be something that they can read and perhaps latch onto in some way that encourages them to find their own path, find their own role.

Space.com: How did you go about the process of combining your memories from space with the Earth-related themes and topics you wanted to cover?

Stott: Each chapter is a call to action on its own based on an experience I had in space, whether that's the training that we do or how we end up working together or the philosophies that we have to create a successful mission.

The first chapter is "act like everything is local." There's this sense of, "What's going on on the other side of the planet?" or, "Oh, that doesn't affect me, because I don't live there." But when you go to space and you look back at Earth, it's like, "Holy moly, we live on a planet." It's one place that, no matter how you look at it, is connected interconnected and we are, because of that, interdependent. So anything I do in one place is, in one way or another, whether we realize it or not, affecting every place else and everyone else.

I try to use this experience of seeing Earth from space to bring together the key elements of how we experience that down here on Earth. What I tried to do in each chapter is share some aspect of what it's like to live in space, what brought this way of being to light for me, and how that affected the way we could successfully work as a crew onboard the space station. Then, I showcase work that's happening in space that is in line with that, and then also showcase someone who is already working in not just a very passionate way but in a very successful way to bring that way of being to life, doing things here on Earth that are improving life for all of us.

Space.com: Your astronaut class is nicknamed the "Bugs" and you have this lovely sad story of watching damselflies as a kid and then realizing you hadn't seen them in years and years. When did you make the connection between those two snippets of your life?

Stott: It was while I was writing the book, I was starting to think about experiences I've had. Part of what I share in that chapter is there's been a lot in the news with respect to extinction-level events like the "insect apocalypse" and you read a headline like that, and you're like, "What the heck?"

I tried to figure out "how can I relate what I'm reading about something that's happening on a planetary scale to something I've experienced in my own life?" And I realized that wow, I can't remember the last time I saw one of these little beautiful bugs that I had been surrounded by as a kid. Thankfully, thanks to some of the people I spoke to, I discovered that they have not disappeared, they are still with us, while not in mass like they were and how I remember as a child. I just remember crying and being so thankful that they weren't gone.

Since then, I keep my eye out for them and I, very fortunately, have come across them again. The other day, there was this one lone blue damselfly at the glass, and I took a picture of it, because it just shocked me. It was like this little gift from God or something to remind me that it's important for us to pay attention to these creatures and the role they have with us, but also that they haven't left us yet. It just reminded me and this is something I tried to share in the book too that we just have to be open and looking for the awe and wonder around us all the time.

And that little damselfly comes back I don't know if it's the same one or not. But I think there's things like that in all of our lives, right? Where we've just somehow moved along in our life and we forget about things, and then they come back for whatever reason to remind us of something special or to help make us aware of other things that are going on around us and to help us open our heart not just our eyes, but our hearts and our minds to what these things are sharing with us.

Space.com: You write favorably about watching spaceflyer Guy Laliberts space station visit in 2009. Im curious what your thoughts are on private spaceflight now with the Inspiration4 mission back from orbit and Axioms first flight bound for the space station scheduled to launch next year?

Stott: I'm so excited about all of this. I think it's raising awareness in people. Some people are not so pleased with it. Others, like me, I'm really, really excited about it. And I'm really hopeful that the people that aren't pleased or don't understand the goodness in this, that maybe they haven't been privy to or haven't been excited about space exploration in general. If you pay attention to what's going on in the space industry, really all that's happening in space is ultimately about improving life on Earth. I honestly believe that.

Guy coming to the station somebody could look at that like, "Oh, here's this billionaire who got to fly to space, spent 10 days, 12 days on the space station, checked that off his bucket list, and then moved on." What I saw in Guy and [other private visitors to the space station], every single one of them, for sure, had their personal motivation of wanting to fly in space one day, to experience that on every level that you can, and then fortunately had the opportunity to do that. But I also can say that for every single one of them, in one way or another, that mission was a mission. It was bigger than just them and their desire to fly in space. Guy was a perfect example of that: He used that whole flight in a way to extend on his mission on Earth to make people more aware of access to clean water.

I think that in one way or another, that is happening with all of the people that are going to find their way to space. It's certainly true for astronauts that are part of NASA or the government programs. I don't think we all do it because it's this adventure. There certainly is the adventurous part of it I'm going to float, I'm going to fly, I'm going to ride a rocket but I would not have done any of that if I didn't believe that the work was worthwhile and that I was going to be part of something that was bringing back something good to Earth. I certainly wouldn't strap myself to a rocket with my seven-year-old at home watching me do that if I didn't believe that what I was going to do was going to have some positive impact on his life, on his future.

Space.com: Is there anything else you'd like to highlight about the book?

Stott: The call to action thing is a big deal to me. I really want people to read this and certainly be inspired by what we're doing in space to learn more about that and how these things are improving life on Earth. But [also] I want them to find their own personal call to action as Earthlings, as crewmates.

I can't oversimplify it any more than I do with what I learned from all the complexity of space, which is:

Oh my gosh, we live on a planet.

We are all Earthlings.

The only border that matters is that thin blue line of atmosphere.

Those are absolutely the three things that interconnect all of us on our mission as crewmates here on Spaceship Earth.

I will admit, I did not myself actively think of all of those things, those simple things in my daily life before flying to space. And I want people to grasp them, to bring them into their own lives and realize that you don't have to fly to space to understand these things. And it really, really should inspire us to want to live like a crew, to respect and take care of each other and all life we share the planet with and the planet itself.

You can buy "Back to Earth" at Amazon or Bookshop.org.

Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her on Twitter @meghanbartels. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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In 'Back to Earth,' NASA astronaut brings the space station mindset home - Space.com

Credit: ESA/NASAT. Pesquet

Auroras make for great Halloween dcor over Earth, though ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet snapped these green smoky swirls of plasma from the International Space Station in August. Also pictured are the Soyuz MS-18 Yuri Gagarin (left) and the new Nauka module (right).

The Station saw quite some aurora activity that month, caused by solar particles colliding with Earths atmosphere and producing a stunning light show.

Fast forward to October and space is quite busy.

On 9 October the Sun ejected a violent mass of fast-moving plasma into space that arrived at Earth a few days later. The coronal mass ejection (CME) crashed into our planets magnetosphere and once againlit up the sky.

CMEs explode from the Sun, rush through the Solar System and while doing so speed up the solar wind a stream of charged particles continuously released from the Suns upper atmosphere.

While most of the solar wind is blocked by Earths protective magnetosphere, some charged particles become trapped in Earths magnetic field and flow down to the geomagnetic poles, colliding with the upper atmosphere to create the beautiful Aurora.

While the view outside the Space Station is mesmerizing, the astronauts inside are busy with science and prepping for the next crews arrival later this month.

Thomas will welcome fellow ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, currently scheduled to launch to the Space Station on Halloween.

In the meantime, Thomas has taken over command of the Space Station and is busy completing more science ahead of the end of mission Alpha and his return to Earth.

The astronauts have taken up space farming lately, tending to New Mexico Hatch Green Chili peppers in the name of science. A few investigations are looking into different aspects of plant behavior in microgravity.

Tending to the body via exercise is also standard practice on the Space Station. The crew performed cycles of experiments looking into immersive exercise practices as well as the familiar Grasp experiment on reflexes under microgravity conditions.

Even downtime is ripe for experimentation, with Thomas wearing a headset to bed to track quality of sleep under weightless conditions. Read more about the goings-on in thelatest monthly science recap.

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Calm Above the Storm: Incredible Green Smoky Swirls of Plasma Seen From Space Station - SciTechDaily

SpaceX, one of Elon Musks many ambitious projects, has gained notoriety because of the Inspiration4 mission. It was the first launch to include an all-civilian crew, the youngest American to enter space, and the first Black female spacecraft pilot. Additionally, the mission raised $200 million for cancer research, with a hefty portion donated by Musk himself.

So where did the crew go after heading into orbit? Did they get to visit another planet or the International Space Station? Now that theyre home safe and sound, we can reflect on this historic mission.

Jared Isaacman was the captain of the civilian Inspiration4 crew. He is the founder of the Shift4 payment processing company. Isaacman also has years of flying experience under his belt, even training young Armed Forces pilots. He raffled off two of the other seats on the flight and awarded one to Hayley Arceneaux.

Arceneaux works at St. Judes Childrens Research Hospital, which received all of the missions charity money. At a young age, she received lifesaving surgery from St. Judes, inspiring her to become a physicians assistant there.

Dr. Sian Proctor is a geology professor and an analog astronaut. This wasnt her first research-based mission: She also participated in a simulated journey to Mars to locate food sources. The first Black woman to pilot a spacecraft says shes driven by the dream of making space accessible for all humans.

Chris Sembroski, the last member of the crew, is an engineer and a former Air Force pilot. Space has been one of his main passions for years. He volunteerss his expertise to a space nonprofit and space camp. Sembroski works as an aerospace data engineer.

The Inspiration4 crew successfully launched within its five-hour window the evening of September 15, 2021. NBC reported that the crew was aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, a vehicle built primarily with NASA funds. The capsule was set to reach an altitude of 575 kilometers and remain in orbit for three days.

According to an Inspiration4 press release, the missions goal was to raise awareness for St. Judes Childrens Research Hospital, hence the fundraiser. Additionally, the crew conducted health research experiments aboard the spacecraft. These experiments will help doctors determine how spaces atmosphere affects the body.

The trip did not include a visit to the International Space Station. But the Inspiration4 crew flew as far as 366 miles above Earth, which is more than 100 miles higher than the International Space Station, The New York Times reported. And they [were] farther from the planet than most astronauts who have gone to space since the end of NASAs Apollo program in the 1970s.

The International Space Station is a science lab where astronauts live. Its as large as a house, with several bedrooms and a gymnasium, plus research facilities. Astronauts see the ISS as mankinds first step to making space livable for humans.

Though it wasnt a part of the Inspiration4 mission, the International Space Station has received plenty of resources from SpaceX. In August, the ISS got a fresh bundle of ants and a few other medical supplies from another SpaceX Dragon capsule. The capsule also contained replenishments of some of the astronauts favorite foods, including ice cream and avocados.

In addition to being the commander, Jared Isaacman funded most of the mission, The New York Times reported. He did so because he said he believes in the mission of St. Judes and wants to make space habitable for everyone. Isaacman had previously participated in two other charity space flights, one of which broke a world record.

After a successful mission, the Inspiration4 crew splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean the following Saturday evening. Although Inspiration4s SpaceX Dragon capsule didnt touch base on any planets or the International Space Station, it was still a revolutionary mission. It has paved the way for similar research missions and more private spacecraft flights.

RELATED: Did You Know the International Space Station Can Move?

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Did SpaceX Inspiration4 Go To The International Space Station? - MotorBiscuit - Todayuknews - Todayuknews

The first batch of in-orbit experiment samples from Chinas space station was delivered to research institutions, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) Saturday.

At the delivery ceremony on Friday, the in-orbit scientific experiment samples from the container-free material science laboratory cabinet in Chinas space station were delivered to the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and other research institutions.

The samples have been recovered by the crew of the Shenzhou-12 spaceship and brought back to the ground in the return capsule of the spaceship for further study and analysis, the CMSA said.

Chinas space station core module Tianhe is equipped with two large research facilities, namely the container-free material science laboratory cabinet and the high microgravity science laboratory cabinet.

The container-free material science laboratory cabinet is the first space material experiment facility in orbit in China, according to the CMSA.

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Experiment samples from China's space station delivered to research institutions - Macau Business

Advanced air filtration hardware developed, built, and tested at Marshall Space Flight Center is now installed and working on the International Space Station.

For the next year, the new 4-Bed Carbon Dioxide Scrubber will augment existing elements of the stations Environmental Control and Life Support Systems, demonstrating next-generation life support system capabilities that could help future explorers on the Moon and Mars breathe easier.

The Marshall team has supported scientific discovery and crew health on the International Space Station for 20 years, Joseph Pelfrey, manager of Marshalls Human Exploration Development & Operations Office, said. With the delivery of the new carbon dioxide scrubber, we are using our expertise to expand the bounds of human exploration.

The new hardware was delivered to the station by the Cygnus spacecraft Aug. 10, part of Northrop Grummans 16th commercial resupply services mission.

The scrubber hardware will help recycle and regenerate most of the air and water necessary to sustain the station crew, using commercial adsorbent materials to retain water vapor while filtering carbon dioxide out of the stations airflow. It also will help steer development of future regenerative technology solutions for Artemis missions to the Moon and eventual human excursions to Mars.

The 4-Bed Carbon Dioxide Scrubber is a design iteration of the current Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly, which has been recycling air on the space station since 2001. The latest upgrades, incorporating numerous changes to improve durability and maintainability, are crucial to future crewed missions beyond Earth orbit.

Once its year of technology demonstration ends and its capabilities are proven, the new hardware will be integrated into the space stations closed-loop recycling system for a minimum of three years to further demonstrate its viability for long-duration exploration missions and to contribute to station crew life support capabilities.

As many as 100 Marshall engineers, materials researchers, and safety personnel, plus sensor, filtration, and pump hardware specialists at NASAs Johnson Space Center, had a hand in the design, fabrication, and testing of the new hardware unit, said Donnie McCaghren, project manager for the 4-bed CO2 scrubber at Marshall.

Our primary goal was increasing efficiency and maintainability, to ensure fully functioning, longer-lasting hardware in orbit with less need for crew maintenance, he said.

The new hardware is roughly the size of a small refrigerator and weighs approximately 450 pounds. Its operation is overseen in orbit by mission controllers at Johnson, with continuing contributions by Marshall space station hardware engineers.

Editors note: Rick Smith, a Manufacturing Technical Solutions employee, supports Marshalls Office of Strategic Analysis & Communications.

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Air filtration built at Marshall, activated on Space Station - Theredstonerocket

Beijing, Oct 23 (EFE) .- The three Chinese astronauts aboard the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft will work for six months on the construction of the Tiangong space station, but will also carry out experiments in fields such as the fight against cancer or bacteriology in microgravity, the latter with Spanish collaboration.

On October 17, the three crew members of the ship, Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu, entered the Tiangong station (Heavenly Palace in Mandarin), where they will coexist in the central module Tianhe, 18 meters long, for six months, longer than any Chinese astronaut in space to date.

During their stay, the astronauts will host a maximum of nine science experiments chosen in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs.

PATHOGENIC BACTERIA IN SPACE

The IRMA (Instrument for Recording Microbial Activity) is a project proposed by The Mars Society Peru (TMSP) to The Mars Society Spain (TMSE) with the aim of investigating the morphological differences of pathogenic bacteria when growing in microgravity in space travel to compare them with their growth under the normal gravity of planet Earth, Cayetano Santana, president of TMSE, explains to Efe.

TMSE and TMSP, associations that want to contribute to the permanent establishment of our species outside the Earth, starting with Mars, have been working since the beginning of 2019 on the project, which was selected for the Tiangong among a total of 42 proposals submitted by institutions of 27 countries.

According to Santana, a large number of microorganisms accompany humans into space and, although most are harmless, they could adapt to the space environment and become more dangerous.

This experiment, to which is added the development of equipment that will keep bacteria in an isolated microenvironment and monitor their growth, hopes to contribute to the knowledge about the adaptation of pathogenic microorganisms when growing on solid surfaces that resemble internal and external surfaces. of the human body.

DOES THE FUTURE OF THE FIGHT AGAINST CANCER PASS THROUGH SPACE?

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The Chinese space station, headquarters of experiments with Spanish representation - Market Research Telecast

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station scrambled to take emergency measures after the low-earth orbit station was briefly tilted out of its normal orbit on Friday, last week.

The incident is the latest the increasing number of problems plaguing the aging Russian portion of the space station in the last few years and was caused when a thruster continued to fire for longer than intended.

Prior to the scheduled departure of the Russian actress Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenkowho shot the first movie in spaceRussian cosmonaut Oleg Novinsky was completing a routine test of the thruster on the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft.

The station orbital positioning control was lost at 5.13 a.m. ET, when the thruster firing unexpectedly continued after the end of the test window, NASA said in a blog post.

The craft, which had arrived in April and was docked with the Nauka science module of the ISS, was scheduled to bring the Russian film crew back to Earth.

In a statement, the Russian space agency ROSCOSMOS said that the station and the crew are in no danger, as the altitude control was swiftly recovered due to the actions of the ISS Russian Segment Chief Operating Control Group specialists.

Despite the setbacks, the mission to bring back the Russian film crew went ahead as planned and they safely touched down on the steppes of Kazakhstan on Sunday.

The Russian segments of the ISS are some of the oldest modules in the International Space Station, with some being more than decades old.

While Fridays incident marked the second time a Russian spacecraft had shifted the ISS out of orbit within two months. In July, thrusters on the Nauka science module began firing on their own, tilting the station by over 45 degrees.

Later, the chief engineer of Energia, a leading Russian space firm warned that the International Space Station could face irreparable failure, due to aging hardware.

Cover Image: Shutterstock

Link:
A Soyuz Craft Tilted The International Space Station Off Orbit, Again - Mashable India

As the Apex Legends Global Series kicked off last weekend, fans eagerly awaited what seemed like a lobby of death. North Americas Pro League day two lobby, composed of Groups A and D, featured some of the games most popular and feared teams: TSM, G2, Cloud 9, and Team Liquid. These were some of North Americas most experienced squads, set up to clash at the start of the new season. They werent alone, though. Teams like reigning ALGS champs 100 Thieves, XSET, and SHEEEEEEEESH promised to make the lobby competitive from top to bottom.

None of those teams ended up in first at the end of the day. Instead, it was a team whose consistency makes them more quietly successful than other, more popular squads.

I dont think people realize how good we are, Joseph Frexs Sanchez, in-game leader for Spacestation Gaming, told Dot Esports in an interview. Were kind of a new team we have the brains. We have the fragging power. We just havent been able to show what were made of yet.

If youve paid attention to almost any battle royales professional scene, youve probably seen the name Frexs. A veteran of H1Z1, PUBG, and even as a Fortnite duo with TSM leader and the consensus Apex CEO Phillip ImperialHal Dosen, Frexs has done more than earn his keep. If theres a battle royale with a professional scene, hes gone pro in it. The same is true for Apex, where hes played for Cloud9, Reciprocity, NRG, and Spacestation, among others. And the word consistent has been attached to most of his teams.

Such consistency might have been enough to net easy placements in the early days of Apex Legends. These days, however, its a little bit more difficult, according to Frexs. Everyone is so much better now compared to how it used to be, he said. Back in the day, everyone played really safe, played super smart. Now, there are teams that play edge [of the circle], and they can just fight everyone.

Of course, this increase in aggression and gun skill is due to more than just more time put into the game. Theres also the tricky topic of input and the mouse and keyboard-or-controller debate. To hear Frexs tell it, its all about the controllers.

There used to be only two controller players, Frexs said when asked about the increase in teams playing edge and trying to take more fights. Now, every team has a controller player. Controller kind of rules fighting, so most controller teams want to fight. It changed the game a lot.

Frexs is uniquely situated to talk about how the different inputs change pro Apex. Throughout his battle royale career, he played on mouse and keyboard. This has also been true in his Apex career, and his free agent squad that Spacestation signed in spring 2021 was even named MnK. After finishing fifth in North Americas ALGS championship, however, he decided to make a full-time switch to playing controller after messing around with the new input and finding it fun to play. Its hard to argue that the change hasnt paid dividends for him.

And while some will spend time arguing about the competitive integrity of aim assist in a game that allows for different inputs like Apex, Frexs is going to take advantage of anything the game allows him to, knowing that he already has successful placements on mouse and keyboard to back him up. I was already pro in Apex on mouse and keyboard, he said. I was already known for being a smart player. I think Im the smartest controller player now. I have a brain and I can kill anyone.

So, we know that experience helps, and we know that aim assist helps. But there has to be something more, right? Some special sauce thats propelled Spacestation to the top so quickly in these last few months?

The secret ingredient, as Frexs tells it, is team chemistry. And the way to build team chemistry is good old-fashioned work. Im a firm believer that if you play the game a lot, youre going to be good, he said. Half the pros dont even play ranked.

Frexs should know a thing or two about the work involved with grinding the game and putting a team together. Following his time with Cloud9 and Reciprocity, he was also a shot-caller for The Yungins and Frexs, a free agent team featuring Aidan Rocker Grodin and Nathan Nafen Nguyen. All three members of that squad would eventually be picked up by NRG. And when NRG moved on from Frexs in favor of former Rogue IGL Chris sweetdreams Sexton, Frexs got right back to work, forming Team MnK.

The ranked grind was especially important for Spacestation this offseason, with the departure of former teammate (and current XSET member) Jay Claraphi Stanley and the addition of Mark Dropped Thees. Alongside Angello Xenial Cardenas, getting the new lineup flowing together quickly was a top priority. The easiest way to do that in the offseason was just logging on and playing ranked together. I think were the only team that does that, plays ranked all the time together, Frexs said.

When you play with the same people, you start to trust your teammates the people who stay together always do better, in my opinion, Frexs said when asked about building this Spacestation team and the fairly frequent practice of Apex teams forming new squads when things go wrong. They play with each other, they know what they do and how their teammates play. People that make changes if its not necessary, if they just want to try something new, or they dont stick it out because they had one bad tourney? I dont think thats good at all I think sticking it out is obviously better, unless there is a free agent thats clearly a better option. Theres loopholes, obviously.

Its hard to argue with that philosophy, looking through Spacestations recent placements. While the team was praised for its consistency even in their days as free agents, that consistency has turned from finals lobbies and top tens to frequent first-place finishes and top threes starting in the summer, when Dropped began playing with Xenial and Frexs. Now, the team looks to build on its week one victory in Pro League and continue to head towards bigger and better things: LAN playoffs, higher finishes, and maybe even a championship of their own. Theyll have to continue to prove that hard work, team chemistry, and a little bit of controller magic are the formula to win in the Pro League in the weeks ahead.

Dont expect Spacestation to whither because they fly under the radar. And dont expect Frexs to apologize foras SCARZ player Dan rpr Ui so eloquently puts ittrading brain cells for aim assist.

Yeah, I did that, Frexs said, a hint of a laugh creeping into his voice. But Im still the smartest.

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Spacestation Gaming's Frexs talks ALGS, input wars, and building a winning team - Dot Esports