STEM in 30: Unexpected Careers in STEM - STEM in 30: Season 8, Episode 8

Summary

STEM Job or Not, hosted by Christopher Williams, explores the diverse world of STEM careers through a fun game show format. The episode highlights traditional STEM roles like astronauts and scientists, but also unexpected ones such as chefs, photographers, and seamstresses. Special guests like astronaut Randy Bresnik and NASA scientists share insights on their unique jobs, emphasizing the wide range of opportunities within STEM fields. The show aims to inspire viewers to pursue their passions, showing that STEM careers can be found in surprising places.

Takeaways

• 🚀 Astronauts are part of a diverse group with backgrounds such as pilots, engineers, medical doctors, and veterinarians.
• 🔬 Scientists encompass a wide range of jobs including astronomers, botanists, chemists, and paleontologists, all of which are considered STEM jobs.
• 👨‍🚀 Astronaut training involves learning various skills such as public speaking, operating space systems, orbital dynamics, and even basic maintenance tasks like plumbing in space.
• 👥 Thousands of people are involved in supporting an astronaut's journey to space, from rocket design and assembly to scientific experiments and mission control.
• 👗 The role of seamstresses in creating space suits is highlighted, emphasizing the importance of their precision and craftsmanship in protecting astronauts' lives.
• 🌌 The Neutral Buoyancy Lab is used to train astronauts for spacewalks, simulating the weightlessness of space within a large pool containing mockups of the International Space Station.
• 🍲 The Space Food Systems Laboratory develops and packages food for space missions, focusing on long shelf life, lightweight, and nutritional balance.
• 📸 Photography is an essential aspect of space exploration, with astronauts and NASA photographers capturing images to share the experience with the public.
• 🍓 A food chemistry experiment is presented to demonstrate how to make food spaceworthy by dehydrating strawberries, reducing weight and space required for storage.
• 👃 The unique STEM job of a 'Smeller' is introduced, where individuals test the odors of objects before they are sent into space to ensure a safe and comfortable environment for astronauts.
• 🌐 NASA offers a vast array of career opportunities beyond traditional STEM fields, including roles for writers, lawyers, artists, psychologists, and teachers, reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of space exploration.

Q & A

What is the main objective of the 'STEM Job or Not' game show?

The main objective of the 'STEM Job or Not' game show is to identify which careers are STEM jobs and provide insights into the diversity and unexpected nature of STEM careers.

Which careers were identified as STEM jobs in the game show?

Astronaut and scientist were identified as STEM jobs in the game show.

Who is Randy 'Komrade' Bresnik, and what are his qualifications?

Randy 'Komrade' Bresnik is a United States Marine F-18 pilot and NASA astronaut who flew on the space shuttle Atlantis, served on ISS Expedition 52/53, commanded Expedition 53, and has conducted five spacewalks, traveling over 6 million miles in space.

What types of training do astronauts undergo according to Randy 'Komrade' Bresnik?

Astronauts undergo training in public speaking, operating space systems and equipment, plumbing in space, orbital dynamics, flying spacecraft in zero gravity, learning different languages, and performing spacewalks.

What role do seamstresses play in the development of space suits?

Seamstresses are crucial in the development of space suits, ensuring the suits are strong enough to withstand space conditions while being flexible for astronaut tasks. Their work is featured in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum's new Destination Moon Gallery.

What is the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, and how is it used for astronaut training?

The Neutral Buoyancy Lab is an enormous pool used to simulate microgravity for astronaut training. It contains full-scale mockups of the International Space Station and is used for practicing spacewalks and handling equipment.

How do astronauts achieve neutral buoyancy in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab?

Astronauts achieve neutral buoyancy by adjusting weights on their spacesuits to balance their mass and remain suspended in the water without floating or sinking, simulating a microgravity environment.

What are the challenges and solutions in preparing food for space missions?

Challenges include ensuring food has a long shelf life, is lightweight, and can be stored without refrigeration. Solutions involve freeze-drying food, packaging it in lightweight materials, and developing recipes that remain nutritious and appetizing over long periods.

How does the space suit's flexibility and durability affect astronauts' tasks on missions?

The space suit's flexibility and durability allow astronauts to perform various tasks, including maintenance, repairs, and emergency procedures, in challenging environments like the lunar South Pole, which has extreme temperatures and long-duration missions.

What unexpected STEM jobs are highlighted in the video script?

Unexpected STEM jobs highlighted include seamstresses, photographers, chefs, scuba divers, and smellers, demonstrating the diverse range of careers that contribute to space missions.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Introduction to STEM Careers and Astronaut Randy Bresnik

The video script introduces the show 'STEM Job or Not' with host Christopher Williams. It aims to educate viewers on various careers, specifically those in STEM fields. The show's format involves guessing whether listed careers are STEM-related. Astronaut is confirmed as a STEM job, and the diversity of backgrounds within the astronaut corps is highlighted, including pilots, engineers, and medical professionals. The episode features a special guest, Randy 'Komrade' Bresnik, a Marine F-18 pilot and NASA astronaut with significant space experience, including five spacewalks and command of Expedition 53. The script also introduces Marty and Beth, who will explore unexpected STEM careers throughout the episode.

05:03

👩‍🔬 Astronaut Training and the Importance of Spacesuits

This paragraph delves into astronaut Randy Bresnik's training experiences, which include public speaking, operating space systems, orbital dynamics, and learning multiple languages. It emphasizes the extensive support required for an astronaut's training, involving thousands of people from various disciplines such as rocket design, scientific experiments, food preparation, and mission control. The segment also discusses the critical role of spacesuits in spacewalks and the trust astronauts place in them. The script introduces the seamstresses who construct these suits, highlighting their importance and the legacy of their work, which will be featured in the Destination Moon Gallery at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.

10:05

🤿 Neutral Buoyancy Lab and Astronaut Training with Divers

The script describes astronaut training in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, a massive pool that simulates microgravity for spacewalk practice. It details the pool's dimensions and its role in training astronauts to perform maintenance tasks in space. Divers assist astronauts in the pool by ensuring their safety, moving them around, and handling tools. The process requires a team of 40 to 50 people, including those in the control center and support staff. The segment also features astronaut Mark VandeHei, who explains the science behind adjusting buoyancy in the pool to mimic space conditions.

15:06

🍲 Space Food Systems and the Role of Diet in Space Travel

This section of the script focuses on the Space Food Systems Laboratory at Johnson Space Center, where food for the International Space Station is prepared and packaged. The importance of quick preparation, long shelf life, and reduced weight in space food is discussed. The lab's research into future exploration missions, such as the need for food with a five-year shelf life for Mars missions, is highlighted. The psychological and physical health benefits of enjoyable and varied meals for astronauts are also covered, emphasizing the role of food in crew cohesion and morale.

20:08

📸 The Art and Science of Space Photography

The script explores the role of photography in space, starting with astronaut Randy Bresnik's personal project 'One World, Many Views,' which aimed to share the beauty of Earth from space through social media. It then introduces Aubrey Gemignani, a photo archivist and photographer at NASA headquarters, who discusses her passion for photography and her role in documenting NASA's activities. The importance of storytelling through photography and the satisfaction of capturing unique events are highlighted.

25:11

👃 The Unique STEM Role of a NASA 'Smeller'

This paragraph introduces the unusual yet critical STEM job of a 'Smeller' at NASA. George Aldrich, a chemical specialist, has conducted over 850 smell missions for NASA, helping to ensure that no harmful odors affect astronauts in space. The script explains the importance of this role, referencing a Russian mission that had to be aborted due to a bad odor. Aldrich's official role involves testing the toxicity of objects before they are sent into space, and he has earned the nickname of Chief Sniffer and Nostraldamus for his expertise.

🌌 Broad Opportunities in STEM and the Future of Space Exploration

The final paragraph wraps up the episode by emphasizing the wide range of opportunities available at NASA, spanning various fields and interests. It encourages viewers to pursue their passions, as they could potentially contribute to future space missions, whether on Earth or beyond. The script also invites viewers to share their dream jobs and to follow 'STEM in 30' on social media for more content. It concludes by reminding viewers of the diverse STEM careers available, not just in traditional fields but also in areas like writing, law, arts, psychology, and teaching.

Keywords

💡STEM

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. These fields are crucial for developing advanced skills and knowledge needed for modern careers, as highlighted in the video by showcasing various jobs like astronauts and scientists, which fall under STEM.

💡Astronaut

An astronaut is a trained professional who travels and works in space. The video emphasizes that astronauts come from diverse backgrounds, including engineering and medicine, and undergo extensive training in various fields such as space systems operation and public speaking.

💡Neutral Buoyancy Lab

The Neutral Buoyancy Lab is a large pool used by NASA to simulate the microgravity environment of space. Astronauts train here for spacewalks by practicing tasks in a neutrally buoyant state, as described in the video through interviews and explanations.

💡Spacewalk

A spacewalk is an activity where an astronaut exits a spacecraft to work in space. The video details the preparation and dangers of spacewalks, highlighting the importance of spacesuits and the extensive training involved.

💡Spacesuit

A spacesuit is a complex garment designed to protect astronauts from the harsh conditions of space. The video explains how spacesuits provide life support, regulate temperature, and are essential for safe spacewalks, with a focus on the meticulous craftsmanship required to make them.

💡STEM Jobs

STEM jobs refer to careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The video illustrates the wide range of STEM jobs, including unexpected roles like seamstresses, chefs, and photographers, all contributing to space missions.

💡Training

Training is the process of learning and practicing skills required for a specific job. The video covers various types of astronaut training, including public speaking, operating space systems, and underwater training in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab.

💡NASA

NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is the U.S. government agency responsible for space exploration. The video showcases NASA's various roles and the different career opportunities available within the organization, emphasizing its contributions to STEM fields.

💡Space Food

Space food refers to specially prepared and packaged food that astronauts eat in space. The video discusses the preparation, packaging, and challenges of creating space food that is lightweight, long-lasting, and nutritious.

💡Photography

Photography in the context of the video refers to capturing images from space and on Earth. The video highlights how astronauts and NASA photographers document their missions, contributing to scientific research and public engagement.

Highlights

Astronauts are a diverse group, including pilots, engineers, medical doctors, and even veterinarians.

Astronaut training includes public speaking, operating space systems, and learning orbital dynamics.

Thousands of people support astronaut training and missions, from rocket design to food preparation.

Spacewalks are the most dangerous activities astronauts perform, requiring extensive training in airlock simulators.

Spacesuits are personal spacecraft, designed to provide air, regulate temperature, and withstand space rigors.

Seamstresses play a critical role in creating spacesuits, ensuring precision to within a 32nd of an inch.

The Neutral Buoyancy Lab is a massive pool used to simulate microgravity for astronaut training.

Training in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab involves divers assisting astronauts in practicing spacewalks.

NASA's food preparation requires special consideration for storage and shelf life, especially for long missions.

The Space Food Systems Laboratory develops and tests food that can last up to five years for Mars missions.

Food plays a vital role in maintaining astronauts' physical and psychological health during missions.

Photography from space, like the #OneWorldManyViews project, helps connect people to the beauty of Earth from space.

NASA employs Earth-based photographers to document launches, leadership, and historical events.

NASA has a volunteer panel of 'smellers' who test odors to ensure nothing unpleasant impacts astronauts.

STEM careers at NASA include a wide range of roles beyond scientists and engineers, such as photographers, chefs, and psychologists.

Transcripts

(Upbeat Music)

Hello and welcome to STEM Job or Not.

I'm your host, Christopher Williams.

We've compiled a list of careers.

Put them on the board and it is your job to figure out which is a STEM job.

Are you ready? Yes. Yes.

Which of these is a STEM job?

(bong)

Astronaut?

Is astronaut

correct?

(ding)

Astronaut is definitely a stem job.

The astronaut corps is made up of an amazingly diverse

group of people with equally diverse backgrounds, including pilots,

engineers, medical doctors, and even a veterinarian.

There is one higher answer on the board.

Do you have a guess?

Scientist?

Is scientist on the board?

(ding)

Absolutely.

Scientist is a STEM job.

The S in STEM stands for science.

But scientists can include a wide range of jobs, including astronomers,

botanists, chemists and paleontologist.

Those are definitely STEM jobs.

But not all STEM jobs are scientists or astronauts.

We're going to find out which of these are STEM jobs, and which are not.

The answer might surprise you.

We'll be right back after this, Is STEM in 30!

(Upbeat Music)

Hi, I'm Marty.

And I'm Beth.

As you can tell, we are taking a deep dove into careers, many of them unexpected.

But we will stitch them together to give you a complete picture

of who and what a stem job is.

We mentioned astronauts and scientists

as STEM jobs These are pretty self-explanatory,

but not all STEM jobs are scientists, mathematicians or engineers.

To help us learn about these unexpected STEM jobs, we are going to be joined

throughout the episode today by someone who has one of these jobs.

Randy "Komrade" Bresnik is a United States

Marine F-18 pilot and NASA astronaut.

He flew on space shuttle Atlantis on STS 129

and served on ISS expedition 52/53

and was the commander of Expedition 53.

He has conducted five spacewalks and has traveled over 6 million miles in space.

Please welcome Randy "Komrade" Bresnik.

(Upbeat Music)

Komrade, thanks for joining us today.

I'm always happy to join you and Beth.

Marty, thanks.

Komrade, tell us a little bit about the different types

of astronaut training you have to go through.

Well, there is a lot of training.

First, you got to learn how to do public speaking,

which you know is not something all of us are all that familiar with.

We had to learn how to operate space systems on space equipment.

We have to learn how to basically do plumbing in space.

What is to take out the trash in space, vacuum in space.

We have to learn orbital dynamics.

We have to fly to a space station or fly to a spacecraft.

We have to learn how to fly where there's no atmosphere in which the wings of it.

You had to learn different languages to be able to talk to our partners

There's such a myriad of things we get to do.

It's it's it's really neat because it never gets old.

There's always something new.

Komrade, how many people does it take to support all of that training?

Thousands. I can't tell you.

You know, for every astronaut,

you know, that goes to space, how many tens of thousands of people

that go into making that happen it's from everybody that, you know, designed

the rocket to building the rocket, to assembling it, to launching it.

That's one side.

Then there's the scientific experiments that we do.

So one has to think of the experiment, you know, get it, approve, design it

so it can operate space, train us to do it, and then go do it in space.

There's the the people that work in the food lab.

They give us the food to eat

because you can't take up your stuff from the from the store all the time

because it has to be able to be stored for a while.

And so we have people that, you know, go ahead and make sure our food is ready.

And also the fact that when you go to store foods heavy.

It has water in it.

So they dehydrate it and,

all we do is actually rehydrate it when we're up the space station.

There's folks that work in mission control.

24/7, you know, the entire time the space station's been out there now

21 years, continuous human presence

an entire flight control team, of all the disciplines it takes

to make sure the space station can operate.

And a flight director they're there 24/7 365 days a year.

They're always there and they have people that back them up.

That's just a small, you know, smattering of folks

that make it possible for astronauts to work in space.

You have to go through

some very specific training and some of it is in an airlock simulator.

Can you tell us about that?

So spacewalks are some of the pretty much the most dangerous stuff

we do when we're on a space station mission

other than leaving Earth and going back to Earth.

So while we're up there during a mission going outside in the spacesuit,

which is your own personal spacecraft, it has to give you air to breathe, scrub

the CO2, keep you warm enough when it's cold and cool enough when it's warm.

It's the most dangerous stuff we do.

And so we have a fully mocked up airlock down here in the Johnson Space Center.

It has all the exact same hardware.

The only thing it doesn't have is no gravity.

And so we get the actual suits in there.

We get the same. It's going to be, you know, suiting someone up.

The suits and crewmembers should be getting in the suits,

and we practice

call prep in post

preparation for the EPA and post Eva.

Comrade, how much trust do you have in your spacesuit?

And do you ever think about the people that made it?

Oh, it's it's complete trust.

It's no different than trusting an airplane.

You're going to get to fly or a rocket ship, and it's just a lot smaller.

It only weighs 300 something pounds.

So when you see those pieces of equipment and you visit the companies

that make them, you're just very thankful for all those folks who are experts

in that one particular,

you know, system that allows you to have these repeatable EVAs and do them safely.

It's amazing.

Those people are just absolute artisans with that piece of equipment.

Space suits have come a long way since Alan Shepard's flight.

They have to be strong enough to stand up to the rigors of space,

but flexible enough to allow astronauts to do their jobs.

They have

allowed humans to walk on the moon,

fly untethered in space,

and assemble the International Space Station.

But one of the STEM jobs you might not think of

are the seamstresses who built the suits.

They have been so important

that their story will be told in the new Destination Moon Gallery

at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.

Their story starts with the earliest space

flights and continues today.

My name is Joanne Thompson,

and I worked on the space suits for Apollo 11.

Being in the room, sewing, it was very intense.

The gloves that I worked on were very small pieces,

and we had to meet a tolerance of a 32nd inch of an inch in most places.

So everybody was trying to do their best because

we knew a man's life depended on it.

I did have to sacrifice a lot of time with my family.

I had two small daughters, so yes, it was difficult.

Occasionally we would get to meet the astronauts

if they'd came to the plant to have a fit check.

Oftentimes they gave us autographed pictures of themselves.

They talked with us and answered questions.

It made the job a lot easier because now we met the guy that's going to wear this.

It made our job so very real.

And when I look at the moon these days, I remember, wow,

a man was up there with my gloves on.

My name is Amy Ross.

I'm the lead spacesuit developer at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

Well, the space suits

today are going to be both different, but also very similar

to the Apollo spacesuits.

Some of the basic principles of keeping someone alive when you go to space

are the same today that we're duing Apollo and we learn those lessons from them.

But we are doing different things and going different places than Apollo did

with a spacesuit.

For example, we're going to the South pole of the moon,

where they have lunar craters that are forever in shadow.

So they're very cold.

And we've never designed spacesuits to go in places like that before.

And then also because we're going to be staying for longer periods of time

on the moon, months rather than days, our spacesuit needs to be much more durable

and much more mobile to address the different situations you might find.

For example, if a lunar rover tire needs to be changed,

or if you have a crew member

who gets injured and that you need to help,

then we need to be able to do those things as well.

Another part of training astronauts do

is underwater in an enormous pool.

The pool is 202 feet long and 102 feet wide.

It's 40 feet deep and holds

6.2 million gallons of water.

To put that into perspective.

An Olympic swimming pool is 164 feet long and 82 feet wide

and about ten feet deep and holds 660,000 gallons.

So the Neutral Buoyancy Lab would hold over

nine Olympic sized swimming pools.

Or it would hold 2,348,485 kidie sized pools worth of water.

It contains full scale mockups of the International Space Station

and in the past has had full scale mock ups of the space shuttle

payload bay and the Hubble Space Telescope.

Those divers

(ding)

are a vital part of the training,

but not the only job that prepares astronauts.

Beth got a chance to visit the Neutral Buoyancy Lab in Houston, Texas,

and learn a bit more about the team of people

it takes to train astronauts for spacewalks.

(Upbeat Music)

I'm in the neutral buoyancy lab at the Johnson Space Center in Houston,

and I'm joined by Travis Fitzgerald, who is the chief training officer here.

Thank you so much for being here with us today.

Happy to be here.

What is this?

Looks like a great big pool.

Travis, what's going on?

Well, that's a that's actually exactly what it is.

It's a great big pool that we use to train the astronauts on how to do spacewalks.

We'll actually put them inside spacesuits and have put them down in the water.

And the benefit of the water is it gives them the ability to be neutrally

buoyant, hence the name of the building and allow them to kind of practice

what it's like actually being in space and without an microgravity environment.

Do you want to tell us what neutral buoyancy is?

It's not just floating.

Right, so, well, neutral buoyancy in terms of the water is that

you are at a point where you don't float and you don't sink.

OK, so you stay exactly where you are.

And that kind of replicates what it's like in microgravity

when you're outside on the space station.

That's the best way we have Aside from some of the airplanes

we have that do parabolas, but we only get like

ten to 20 seconds of microgravity in that environment.

This allows us to do an entire, you know, six hour run in the spacesuits

to get practice handling the equipment and actually doing the maintenance

as required in the space walk.

And the astronauts aren't alone in the pool?

Right, so we've got the two astronauts in the pool in suits,

and then they've got a whole host of divers down there with them.

Just in your normal scuba gear that are watching them, making

sure they're safe,

that are carrying their tools around and handing them tools when they need it.

And also for some things like when we broke up

where the space station is, the divers will actually say,

OK, you're going to translate from this part to that part.

You can't actually do that in the pool.

So we're going to pick you up and swim you over to this next part and put you on.

How many people does it take to run a day, a dive here?

A lot.

It's actually working in the pool

and up in the control center and all that.

It's probably 40 or 50 people doing this in addition to all the support personnel

that it took to schedule it

to prepare everything, get everything ready to do one run.

Thank you so much for joining us today.

This was really fascinating.

Well, I'm happy to be here.

NASA's astronaut, Mark VandeHei,

has spent a long time in space.

We got a chance to work with him after his first mission

to the International Space Station.

Since then, he has gone back to the station and has spent

355 more days in space.

He helped us understand

the science behind how the divers manipulate the buoyancy of the suits.

But not the astronauts In the suits.

(Upbeat Music)

We're joined by NASA astronaut Mark VandeHei.

He spent six months on the International Space Station and did four spacewalks.

Mark, how do you train for a spacewalk on Earth?

On Earth we use one of the largest pools, if not the largest pool on the planet

in the Neutral Buoyancy lab.

It's 40 feet deep, 100 feet wide and 200 feet long

with a full scale mockup of the exterior of the space station,

which is where we work.

Now, we actually got a chance to see you do some of the training

in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab.

And so we've got an experiment here we want you to help us

with to kind of learn how that works.

So what we have here is just a simple bottle filled with water,

and we have put a ketchup packet inside now.

Right now there's a small air bubble inside that ketchup packet.

And Mark, if you give this bottle a squeeze,

we will increase the pressure in that bottle and we'll see what happens.

That ketchup packet is going to sink down because we've increased the pressure

inside the bottle.

That air bubble gets smaller, increases the density, and it goes down.

Now, if you let go of the pressure, it'll come back up.

And in the neutral buoyancy lab,

that ketchup packet would kind of float in the middle

because you've got it so it's not going down

andIt's not going up, it's just floating there in the middle.

Mark, how does this compare to the training in the Neutral Buoyancy lab?

So if you imagine this ketchup packet being an astronaut in a spacesuit

to get that person to be neutrally buoyant,

to stay at the height that we like, we actually have divers

that stay around the astronaut who's training,

and they'll add weights to different parts of the spacesuit to change the mass

associated with that system of the astronaut.

And the suit Mark, when you're in the pool, the suit floats, but do you? No.

No. In fact, that's one of the things that makes that training sometimes

very uncomfortable.

You're basically in that space craft of the suit riding along inside of it.

So if you're upside down, the suit floats nicely, but all of your weight

to be sitting on your shoulders as you're upside down.

And how does that compare to an actual spacewalk?

Is a spacewalk more comfortable?

The spacewalk is more comfortable once you get over the sensation that you're

250 miles above the earth with nothing between you and the Earth but the visor.

In fact,

that's one of the things we have to train for

because I was used to having to overcome water resistance in the pool,

but in space,

once I started myself moving,

I didn't have to keep adding force to keep myself moving.

Nothing was going to stop.

Me Now, this is an experiment that you can do in your classroom.

You can do some Cartesian diver training, and all of the other students

will have to Ketchup.

The food the astronauts eat requires a team of people to prepare

to send into space scientists, technicians, chefs,

(ding)

people to package it,

and people to figure out how to keep it good for long periods of time.

Marty got a chance to visit the Space Food Systems Laboratory at Johnson

Space Center to learn more about the food

the astronauts eat in space.

(Upbeat Music)

I'm at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, joined by Dr.

Grace Douglas, lead scientist in Space Food Research.

Tell us what goes on here in this lab.

Food for the International Space Station is made here or packaged here.

We also do research for future exploration missions.

OK, so something like

this is food that's been prepared here to go to the International Space Station.

How does this work?

The foods are prepared here and then freeze dried

and then they're packaged so that they can easily be consumed in space flight.

So in space flight,

they be rehydrated through this septum adapter

and then they can just cut open the package and eat it.

So this works great for the International Space Station.

It's very quick to prepare, which they like

because they're very busy on the International Space Station.

As we go into deep space, though, these foods have some limitations.

So right now on the International Space Station, they need about a shelf

life of about 18 months to two years.

As we go further into deep space and especially to a mission to Mars,

we need a shelf life of about five years.

And you're actually kind of paving new road here because there's not anybody

that makes food that lasts for five years right now.

If you go to the grocery store

now, there isn't really a need for that because we have cold storage.

For one thing, cold storage is something we don't have on

the International Space Station,

and it's something that we might not have even for these long duration missions.

It's a high resource use item and resource use in space flight.

They always want us to reduce it.

We get requests pretty often to try and reduce the weight of our food system.

This was the first shuttle packaging for the freeze dried foods,

and it's a hard plastic and we had to reduce that.

Oh, wow.

To continue the missions because as the cruise grew in the mission

lengths increase, this was just too much mass, too much trash.

And so now we have this very lightweight

and flexible pouch that can be thrown away pretty easily.

How important is it that the astronauts like the food?

We always have to be concerned about that when we go into space flight.

So we end up having a limited variety food system.

We have to make sure that that food is food

they want to continue to eat throughout an entire mission.

It's not quite true what they say, that if you're really hungry, you'll eat

what's there.

You will eat what's there, but probably not enough to maintain your weight.

Depending on what you're choosing to eat you might not be getting

all the nutrition needs.

We need to make sure that the variety

that's there, the crew is able to choose foods

that they like during the whole mission if they exercise

and if they eat the calories they need, and if they maintain their vitamin

D status, they can actually maintain their bone

and muscle mass, which is really important for a long duration.

Food is so important to crew

not only physical health, but psychological health food

in all situations of isolation, confinement, exploration

becomes very important and critical to crew cohesion.

And, you know, the ability to eat together

and consume meals that they enjoy and have meals that are special meals,

all impacts and benefit their psychological health.

Cooking requires a lot of the same skills used in a science lab.

You have to follow very specific

instructions, measure and weigh things accurately

and make sure you're using the proper equipment.

The big difference

is that in the science lab, you probably shouldn't eat your results.

We wanted to share this recipe from our friends

at the Space Food Systems Laboratory at Johnson Space Center for you to try.

This is JSC's recipe for mac and cheese.

Following

a recipe like this is very similar to following the step by step guide.

You would have for conducting an experiment.

Pause the video right now, or scan the QR code on the screen to get the recipe.

And let us know how it turns out.

In order to send food into space, there are some special considerations.

You can't just cook up mac and cheese and put it in a plastic container.

Here's a delicious food chemistry experiment

that you can try at home.

(Upbeat Music)

This is our friend Drew.

He's going to show us how to make strawberries spaceworthy.

People need to eat.

Even in space, but getting food into space can be tricky.

Food needs to be packaged to take up very little room, and it needs to be lite.

Water takes up a lot of space and is heavy.

So to make food space worthy, we removed the water.

To try Drew's space food experiment at home

you'll need strawberries,

a kitchen scale, a knife,

parchment paper,

a cookie sheet and an oven.

First place the strawberries on a kitchen scale and weigh them.

Drew's weighed about 8.5 ounces.

Next, say your oven to

200 degrees Fahrenheit.

Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper,

then cut your strawberries into 1/8 inch thick slices.

Pop them into your preheated oven and set the timer for 4 hours.

After 4 hours, check them.

And if they're not quite done, use a fork to flip them over

and let them bake another 30 minutes.

Once they are dehydrated, let them cool and weigh them again.

Wow. Now they weigh a lot less.

That's good for sending into space.

Another way astronauts

are able to share their experiences with the public is through photography.

Komrade got his start into photography from his grandfather,

who is Amelia Earhart's photographer.

Komrade can you tell us about the photography

project you did from space?

Every chance I can try to capture,

you know, the beauty of the world or the people that are in it, I do

and that led me to my second, you know, spaceflight where I had an opportunity.

I'm going to be living in space for, you know, six months aboard

the International Space Station for expeditions 52 and 53.

I thought, wow, I've got decades of

pictures from around the planet that are just absolutely gorgeous.

And so what I did was start a project hashtag One World, many views

where I had dots all over the planet that I could pull up.

And when I knew the space was crossing over,

I could try and get pictures of these same places on Earth.

And the whole idea of the project

was to go ahead and send out a picture side

by side on social media, the one from Earth and the one from space.

And my hope was that folks who were from that place would look at this picture

from space be like, Wow, this it's amazing what we look like from space.

How beautiful is that?

And how the people who had never been to these places on earth

look at the world from space. Be amazed how beautiful it was.

Look at the one from Earth because it made me think,

Wow, I'd love to go there, I'd love to visit, I'd like to see that for myself

and hopefully maybe bring the world a little closer by that project.

Astronauts are not the only photographers

(ding)

that NASA's employs.

Let's meet one of their amazing Earth based photographers.

I am Aubrey Gemignani.

I'm a photo archivist and photographer at NASA headquarters,

and I work with a team of photographers and editors, archivists and researchers

who help document launches,

leadership of NASA and lots of other historical events.

My dad gave me his his old manual camera probably when I was about 11.

I just fell in love with it.

I just I just never stopped.

I pretty much took any photography class that I can take growing up.

So I went to a lot of summer programs

that had all kinds of art, but a lot of photography.

I worked in the lab printing pictures for a while,

but then I also went into sales and was selling cameras.

One of my favorite things to do is like students would come in

and I would go crazy telling them all the details about the manual cameras.

I love space.

I've always thought space, and NASA's really, really a cool thing.

So when the job opened up, I, I applied for it.

You know, I've definitely developed this, this thing

now where I like, I used to get really, really nervous beforehand

and it would kind of messed me up.

So so I started realizing that, you know,

anxiety and stress is just

another version of, of excitement, you know, and that I get to go

and capture images of these amazing events that not that many people get to see.

And so I just started trying to turn it into

you know, in my mind, this is super exciting.

I'm really nervous, but it's exciting, you know,

and that helps me a lot to calm down and sort of enjoy

the moment in photojournalism what you're trying to do is tell a story.

So as many ways as you can tell that story is, is what you're aiming for.

So it definitely makes it easier when we have more than one person

that's there because you can be in a lot of different locations at one time.

For example, like you want to show the crowd's reaction to something

or you want to show the launch

or you want to show it from out in the wilderness somewhere or from far away.

Or you want to show the administrator and and their reaction to what's happening,

something you learn along the way that you either got it

or you didn't when you do, yeah, it's satisfying.

It feels good that you got what you needed.

We know that NASA seems to think of everything

and that includes smells on the space station.

This may be one of the weirdest STEM

jobs that you have ever heard of: Smeller.

(ding)

George Aldrich is a chemical specialist at NASA's

White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico,

and while Smeller isn't his official title

he has conducted over 850 smell missions for NASA.

They have a volunteer panel of 25 people

whose job it is to smell things before they're sent into space.

George has been on this panel for 45 years.

He has even earned the nickname of Chief Sniffer and Nostraldamus.

It is a big deal.

So much so that in the 1970s the Russians had to abort a mission

shortly after liftoff because of a bad odor in the capsule.

NASA uses humans instead of dogs or electronic noses

because they help better predict if something will impact an astronaut.

NASA has developed a detailed procedure to have smells

from the panels, smell different things and give them a rating.

While Aldrich volunteers for these tests his official role is to test

the toxicity of objects before they go into space.

They check almost everything down to the shaving cream the astronauts use.

Komrade, thank you so much for joining us today

and helping us see all of these unexpected careers at NASA.

Well guys,

Beth and Marty, as always, it's a pleasure to join you all.

There are so many opportunities at NASA.

Whatever you are interested in, there's something in human spaceflight,

or or even non-human spaceflight, robotic spaceflight

that it's a precursor for the human missions that you can be involved in.

We've got veterinarians who are astronauts.

We've got, you know,

music musicians that are now astronauts.

And when you think about going to the moon

and going to Mars and these long, longer flights where we're not going to be

living here on Earth, we're going to eat all kinds of people.

Do we need a psychiatrist on the artist mission to the mark?

Do we need a plumber?

Do we need somebody that, you know, has varied

skills in all kinds of areas that we haven't thought of yet?

Do we want to have a poet on board?

You know, we've got all kinds of opportunities now and in the future.

So whatever you're interested in, you know,

follow that passion, get educated in it and see where it takes you

because it's something that we can use maybe on planet and certainly

something we can maybe use off planet.

So as always, thank you all for allowing me to join you.

Always watch STEM in 30.

Let's check back in on our game show

and see how we did.

(Upbeat Music)

Let's

take a look back at our board to see how you all did.

We kenw Scientist an astronaut but you also got smeller,

seamstress, chef,

photographer, and scuba diver?

But those aren't all the stem jobs out there.

STEM jobs can also include writers, lawyers, artists,

psychologists and teachers.

So remember, no matter what your passion, follow it.

You may end up working for NASA or at the National Air and Space Museum

with Beth and me.

Or the National Museum of African-American History and Culture with me.

Tell us what your dream job is down in the comments section.

And if you enjoyed today's show be sure to follow STEM in 30 on Facebook

and Twitter and subscribe to the National Air and Space Museum's YouTube channel.

And remember, there are a lot of different STEM jobs.

What will you be.

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