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>> Hi, I'm Mike Massimino.
>> I'm Don Pettit.
>> And welcome to the --
>> Inside ISS Mailbag.
>> Mailbag.
>> Okay, what is your favorite most important experiment being
conducted on ISS?
Okay, I think by far the most significant experiment
on ISS are those that we do do ourselves to learn
about human physiology because being
in a weightless environment is something we can't do on earth
and it provides a physiological challenge unlike anything
on earth and it's a knew *** in which
to see how experiment physiology works.
>> Right, and it can help with things like osteoporosis.
>> Yeah, yeah that and eyeballs because we're finding people
from space station, about 70% of people that go
to space station now come back
with measurable eye retinal maladies and so it's
like what's going on here.
We haven't a clue, we're trying to figure it out.
>> Another area is material science.
>> Yes, yeah.
>> [Inaudible] 'cause it can mix materials differently 'cause you
don't have gravity getting in the way and we're able
to answer a lot of questions in that area to come
up with better materials for designing all kinds of products
that help us on earth.
>> Is aspirin or any other kind of medication allowed on ISS?
>> Oh yeah.
>> Oh yeah, we got this huge mega medical kit,
it's almost like a little pharmacy and you got to think
about it, you've got six people up there living away
from real medical care for a long period of time.
We have all kinds of stuff.
We've got catheters, we've got chest tubes.
We've got needles this long.
We've got all kinds of medical drugs that we are either trained
to use or we use them in conjunction
with a medical flight surgeon on the ground if we have
that kind of medical emergency.
>> Yeah and you test all that stuff, make sure you're --
first of all, this equipment, you want to know how to work it.
>> Yes.
>> But also the different -- a lot of the stuff,
you might not have taken so you want to make sure
that you're okay with the different antibiotic
or whatever.
For aspirin though, I remember taking aspirin
on spacewalking days to thin our blood out a little bit,
make us less susceptible to bends.
Does that make sense, Don, do you remember doing that?
>> Yeah, yeah, yeah, you take an aspirin --
you take one aspirin before you get in your spacesuit,
yeah that is protocol.
>> So aspirin for sure and lots of other stuff as well.
>> What's your plans for when you get home?
>> I assume that means from -- yeah, well, let's see I got --
[ Inaudible ]
>> When you're in space and you're going to come back,
like what's the first thing you wanted to do or --
again, who did you want to see when you first got back?
>> My family.
>> Good answer.
>> And then the next --
[ Inaudible ]
Mike Massimino was top of my list.
>> Now what was -- so what did you want
to do when you got back?
What did you miss the most?
>> A hot shower because remember we're in space
and we got for six months.
>> I got to say maybe not such a bad idea for you.
>> Maybe I'll do one tonight too.
>> Yeah so hot shower.
I missed pizza.
>> Pizza.
>> That's what I wanted, yeah.
>> Now I bet you missed that deep dish Chicago style pizza.
>> I'm not a thin stuff from New York.
No, I missed pizza and that was about it really.