Neil deGrasse Tyson Chats with International Space Station Astronauts Christina Koch & Jessica Meir

Teacher or professor: StarTalk
Subject: Astronomy
Content of the Lesson: On this very special edition of StarTalk, Neil deGrasse Tyson catches up (literally) with Expedition 61 astronauts & flight engineers Christina Koch and Jessica Meir who are currently aboard the International Space Station. You’ll find out what kind of science experiments Christina and Jessica are currently overseeing during their mission aboard ISS. Discover more about the nuances of living in microgravity. Our pair of astronauts tell us about the cuisine you can find aboard the ISS and why variety is key during long missions. You’ll learn about the lettuce being grown aboard the ISS. We ponder if the future of space travel will be vegetarian or if there’s a future in growing and/or 3D-printing meat. Jessica and Christina weigh in on the future of human space travel: when we’ll have self-sustaining colonies on Mars, the implementation of robot astronauts, and going back to the Moon. You’ll find out the impact of the “overview effect” and how the ISS shapes politics on Earth. Lastly, Neil can’t help but bring up the movie Gravity. All that, plus, you’ll also learn how astronauts prepare to deal with a keystone issue when it comes to space travel – vomiting.


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