Astronaut Dr. Kjell Lindgren is sending his greatest to Fort Collins … all the way from room.
Lindgren, a Colorado Point out University graduate, caught up with the Coloradoan from the International Room Station Wednesday morning to explore his time at CSU and what he’s carrying out on his current mission.
As mission commander of SpaceX Crew-4, which remaining Earth on April 27, Lindgren is guiding the 4-man or woman team through their time on the Intercontinental Place Station and researching matters like “fundamental physics, combustion fluid dynamics and the results that weightlessness and spaceflight have on the human physique.”
In carrying out so, he’s applying what he known as a “foundational” and “fundamental” practical experience he received although at CSU. Lindgren acquired his master’s diploma in cardiovascular physiology from CSU in 1996 and went on to go to medical school at the University of Colorado in advance of getting to be an astronaut with NASA.
Previous coverage:Colorado Point out alum Kjell Lindgren established to guide mission to Worldwide Area Station
“My time at Colorado Point out seriously represented an option to precisely target on some thing that I was extremely passionate about,” he mentioned. “I was genuinely fascinated in cardiovascular physiology and, especially, how the heart and the cardiovascular method perform in the weightless natural environment. And so my time at CSU authorized me to genuinely really target on that topic …
“The college, the fellow students, the ambiance there at CSU, have been really just phenomenal.”
When questioned what he’s working on at present, he reported the mission is all about continuing “the amazing study and science that has been performed here on the place station for in excess of 20 years.”
The very last time he was at the station in 2015, Lindgren worked on an experiment that grew plant seeds in a “pillow of soil.” This time he’s applying hydroponics and aeroponics to develop vegetation and discover ways to get denser crop expansion each on Earth and in place, likely finding a way to provide foodstuff on future missions to Mars, he claimed.
Conducting research at the space station enables his workforce to “really leverage (the) unbelievable environment in which the large force that we practical experience on the Earth — gravity — is primarily absent,” he said.
But, in spite of the depiction of outer area in videos and science fiction, it isn’t all “very glamorous.”
“The truth of the matter is that the working day to working day, the absence of gravity, basically would make matters a little little bit more difficult,” Lindgren stated with a chuckle. “So employing the bathroom and acquiring to do housekeeping on the weekends and striving to not make a mess when we are eating.”
It’s all portion of spaceflight and conducting the analysis, though, so he stated he’s incredibly grateful for the prospect “to see the Earth from this vantage point to be a part of a staff that’s undertaking issues that are larger than any one particular personal.”
Molly Bohannon covers schooling for the Coloradoan. Adhere to her on Twitter @molboha or get hold of her at mbohannon@coloradoan.com. Help her perform and that of other Coloradoan journalists by acquiring a digital membership right now.
