00:00You were away in the International Space Center for, you know, four to five months, a long period.
00:05Tell me about how space takes a toll on your body and your mind,
00:12and also if you can look at that through the fact that, as you mentioned, the next destination will be
00:17Mars.
00:18How will that change these impacts?
00:20Absolutely. You know, I think that for most of us, the biggest challenge of being in space for five, six,
00:28twelve months
00:28is really being away from our families, and the team does an amazing job of allowing us to connect with
00:34our families
00:35through a phone system, through video chats, through care packages.
00:42As I think about that long duration flight to Mars, it will continue to be even more challenging
00:50because we're going to be further away from the Earth, increasing our communications latency.
00:56We're not going to have the Earth to look at every day, but I have faith in our psychological,
01:02our behavioral health support team, our mental health team, that will support us as we undertake that challenge.
01:08We hear about the profound changes, or the profound change, that astronauts have, sort of psychologically,
01:18as they look down more than 10,000 kilometers onto Earth.
01:23Can you tell us about that, as well as the concept of Earth as our spaceship?
01:30For myself, looking back at the Earth, I felt very connected.
01:33But really, the most profound element was looking at the Earth and its absolute beauty,
01:38but recognizing that on the space station, this vehicle that provides us with air to breathe and food to eat,
01:45and the protection from the harsh environment outside, we spend 30% of our time taking care of this space
01:52station.
01:52Because if it breaks, the crew inside dies.
01:56We depend on the space station for our life.
01:59And then as you look at the Earth, there is nothing like it in our vicinity.
02:05And all of humanity is there.
02:07It is humanity's spaceship.
02:09But I think that very few of us spend 30% of our time taking care of this spaceship, spaceship
02:15Earth.
02:17The resources are not inexhaustible.
02:20They are limited.
02:20And the belief that I came back with is that we need to do a better job taking care of
02:28humanity's spaceship.
02:30So what is it that makes NASA want to work with Taiwan?
02:34And what have you seen so far on this trip that's impressed you?
02:37You know, NASA in the U.S. is interested in partnering with countries all around the world.
02:46Finding partners that can bring expertise and experience to the table.
02:52We are exploring for humanity.
02:55And we want humanity, the broad swath of partnerships, to be a part of this exploration.
03:01This has been an amazing trip to visit this university, to see the experience they have in space,
03:09and really to learn about Taiwan's expertise and technology.
03:14Those are pieces that can be a critical part of future exploration.
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