00:00When you ask this at the core of why space research matters,
00:04whenever we launch something into space,
00:07what we observe is that the conditions,
00:09they're more challenging than they are here on Earth.
00:12And so if you can figure out how to successfully grow
00:14something in space, you can grow it successfully here on Earth.
00:19As part of my experiment, what we were looking at
00:21was how to identify genes that would make plants more robust.
00:25And it is my hope that in the future,
00:27this will be applied to being able to grow plants
00:30with minimal, ideal conditions.
00:33That means maybe the water is less than what it needs to be.
00:36Maybe the soil is less than what it needs to be.
00:38Because if you can grow it in space,
00:40you can most certainly grow it here on Earth.
00:43It allows us to gain a unique perspective on our environment,
00:48on the air, on pretty much everything around us.
00:51And so it's very difficult to improve
00:54what we don't decide to measure as humanity.
00:57We also have an environment that is constantly changing,
01:01and that data allows for us to make better informed decisions,
01:05whether that's about agriculture,
01:07whether that's about how we choose to respond to changes,
01:10whether it's climate or pretty much anything and everything else.
01:15I will also say that increased connectivity allows for better sharing of ideas, right?
01:23I mean, I'm able to be here,
01:25and this message is getting broadcasted around the world
01:28because we now have more connectivity than we've ever had before.
01:31And so when I look at space, I look at every field as a space field.
01:37It's about space medicine.
01:40It's about space agriculture.
01:42It's about using space for the benefit of Earth.
01:47And so I've committed my life to going out and evangelizing
01:50by sharing my story of overcoming self-confidence and self-doubt
01:56and turning that into not only working for the International Space Agency,
02:02but founding an engineering company, which you guys may have seen the statistics.
02:06They're not so great about women founding businesses,
02:09but we're doing it and we're succeeding.
02:10I've now been operating my first for 12 years
02:13to raising a couple million of venture capital,
02:16to even the idea of going to space.
02:18I had to spend several years trying to figure out how to do that.
02:22So I signed my contract to go to space in 2022.
02:25And over the course of three years,
02:27I had to go out and find institutions to partner with.
02:30I had to find agencies to work with.
02:32I had to pick experiments.
02:34And had I not had that NASA background,
02:36it really would have been overwhelming.
02:38And I get to sit here and say that not only was I successful,
02:42I flew in fighter jets, I jumped out of planes.
02:44I did a lot of things that scared my mom.
02:47I told her afterwards, right?
02:48Don't tell your mom you're jumping out of a plane before.
02:50Tell her after you survived.
02:52But I also was able to, during the course of my flight,
02:55execute several things in microgravity
02:58that will have impact long after I leave the Earth.
03:01And the first was being able to flight-qualify hardware
03:03so other people could do research in microgravity
03:06with the same device they used.
03:08And the second was I was able to partner with the Brazilian Space Agency
03:12and Winston-Salem University,
03:14and students who are similar in their academics
03:17to those who are working either supporting FILSA
03:19or at the universities that we saw,
03:21to look at genetically sequencing crop plants in space.
03:25Because I care about agriculture and food security in the future
03:29and growing plants in hospitable environments
03:31so we can solve some of the challenges that we have here on Earth.
03:35And one of the things I was really proud to share here
03:37was not only has that research been published,
03:40but it's going to be presented in a peer-reviewed conference next month.
03:46And guess what?
03:47One of the students I met when I was here,
03:49I think his name is Harley,
03:50who are at the Fulbright Session,
03:52will actually be at that conference.
03:55And that just goes to show you that the talent here
03:58is on par with the talent in the rest of the world.
04:00And I'm just so excited to be able to use my stories about entrepreneurship and mindset
04:05in overcoming all the personal challenges
04:08to help inspire FILSA and the Philippines to fly their very first astronaut.
04:30Well, I agree.
04:36Oh, wow.
04:46That's how I understand the experience that is.
04:48When I explain a new approach,
04:50this is essential and for more success.
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