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A NASA astronaut with Northern California ties joined sister station KCRA 3 live from the International Space Station on Friday to talk about her mission as she gets ready to return home after six months in space.Tracy C. Dyson is from Arcadia and earned a doctorate in chemistry at UC Davis in 1997. The Expedition 71 flight engineer is on the ISS as part of her third mission to space. She previously was a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Endeavor in 2007 and a flight engineer for Expedition 23/24 in 2010.Asked if she was excited to return to Earth Sunday after another 184 days in space, Dyson said she was “super excited” to see family. “It’s been a wonderful six months up here. I’ve enjoyed the time and the camaraderie and the work,” she said. Dyson said it “never gets old” to see Earth while being in the microgravity laboratory. “To see our planet from this vantage point is one of the most miraculous things I can think of,” she said. “The fact that we’re here, that we can see our planet amidst the stark contrast of a black universe is one of the most fascinating things I can think of up here.” Still, Dyson said astronauts don’t get to stare out the window that often “because our timeline is pretty busy.” Dyson grew up in Southern California and went on to compete in track and field while an undergrad at Cal State Fullerton, where she earned her undergraduate degree in chemistry. She became a pilot while attending grad school in Davis and also learned Russian and American Sign Language. NASA invited her to begin training as an astronaut about a year after she began post-doc studies at UC Irvine, according to UC Davis’ Letters & Science magazine. She’s also served as a consultant to “The Martian” movie.For her latest mission, Dyson has been conducting experiments and studies on stem cell research and fire safety in microgravity.She told KCRA 3 that the applications for fire safety involve spacecraft, space station and spacesuit design and operations. “Anytime we come up with an understanding of any kind of physical process up here it always has direct relevance to those that are on the ground,” she said. Asked about the most interesting project she’s worked on, Dyson said it was hard to choose. “One though, that comes to mind because my background is not in biology is those that involve stem cells as well as those that use 3-D printing techniques in order to replicate tissue,” she said. “To me, that’s just incredibly fascinating to take a technique and try to manufacture human tissue that could help us in exploration down the road. You know, if in such a remote environment we can’t replace organs or tissues or we need help with healing fast and we don’t have the materials there.” KCRA 3’s Mike Cherry also asked Dyson if she experienced motion sickness when she first arrived on the space station. Dyson said that hasn’t happened on any of her missions. But there are several ways astronauts can adapt. One way is “real simple,” she said. “We have a very high tech, they’re called emesis bags, but they’re really just a barf bag,” she said. “The real simple way to handle it is that if you feel sick, you’ve got a means to get through it.” Dyson ended her interview by thanking those in Sacramento who have encouraged and supported her.
A NASA astronaut with Northern California ties joined sister station KCRA 3 live from the International Space Station on Friday to talk about her mission as she gets ready to return home after six months in space.
Tracy C. Dyson is from Arcadia and earned a doctorate in chemistry at UC Davis in 1997. The Expedition 71 flight engineer is on the ISS as part of her third mission to space. She previously was a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Endeavor in 2007 and a flight engineer for Expedition 23/24 in 2010.
Asked if she was excited to return to Earth Sunday after another 184 days in space, Dyson said she was “super excited” to see family.
“It’s been a wonderful six months up here. I’ve enjoyed the time and the camaraderie and the work,” she said.
Dyson said it “never gets old” to see Earth while being in the microgravity laboratory.
“To see our planet from this vantage point is one of the most miraculous things I can think of,” she said. “The fact that we’re here, that we can see our planet amidst the stark contrast of a black universe is one of the most fascinating things I can think of up here.”
Still, Dyson said astronauts don’t get to stare out the window that often “because our timeline is pretty busy.”
Dyson grew up in Southern California and went on to compete in track and field while an undergrad at Cal State Fullerton, where she earned her undergraduate degree in chemistry.
She became a pilot while attending grad school in Davis and also learned Russian and American Sign Language.
NASA invited her to begin training as an astronaut about a year after she began post-doc studies at UC Irvine, according to UC Davis’ Letters & Science magazine. She’s also served as a consultant to “The Martian” movie.
For her latest mission, Dyson has been conducting experiments and studies on stem cell research and fire safety in microgravity.
She told KCRA 3 that the applications for fire safety involve spacecraft, space station and spacesuit design and operations.
“Anytime we come up with an understanding of any kind of physical process up here it always has direct relevance to those that are on the ground,” she said.
Asked about the most interesting project she’s worked on, Dyson said it was hard to choose.
“One though, that comes to mind because my background is not in biology is those that involve stem cells as well as those that use 3-D printing techniques in order to replicate tissue,” she said. “To me, that’s just incredibly fascinating to take a technique and try to manufacture human tissue that could help us in exploration down the road. You know, if in such a remote environment we can’t replace organs or tissues or we need help with healing fast and we don’t have the materials there.”
KCRA 3’s Mike Cherry also asked Dyson if she experienced motion sickness when she first arrived on the space station.
Dyson said that hasn’t happened on any of her missions. But there are several ways astronauts can adapt. One way is “real simple,” she said.
“We have a very high tech, they’re called emesis bags, but they’re really just a barf bag,” she said. “The real simple way to handle it is that if you feel sick, you’ve got a means to get through it.”
Dyson ended her interview by thanking those in Sacramento who have encouraged and supported her.
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