((PKG))  PIA -- LIFE IN SPACE -- SHANNON WALKER     
((Banner:  Above the Earth)) 
((Executive Producer:  Marsha James)) 
((Camera:  Kaveh Rezaei))  
((Map:  Houston, Texas)) 
((Main characters:  1 female))  
((Courtesy on space related B Roll throughout:  Courtesy of 
NASA)) 
((NATS)) 
((Shannon Walker, American Scientist, NASA Astronaut)) 
Science is everything.  Science is how society accomplishes 
being a society.  Science is how everything gets done.  It’s 
how we move forward.  It's how all our products get built and 
made better.  We wouldn't be anywhere if we didn't have 
scientists constantly asking: How does this work?  Can I 
make that?  Can I make this better?  
((NATS)) 
((Shannon Walker, American Scientist, NASA Astronaut))  
Science is everything.  Even in high school, I knew I wanted 
to be an astronaut, but I had no idea what it took to be an 
astronaut.  There's no one path to get to where I am 
today.  Some people are scientists, some people are 
engineers, some people are medical doctors, some people 
come from the military because what we need as astronauts 
are people that can do a lot of different things.  We need lots 
of diverse people and we need diversity within a single 
person.  
((NATS)) 
((Shannon Walker, American Scientist, NASA Astronaut)) 
I was actually born and raised in Houston and so, having the 
Johnson Space Center in my backyard always stoked that 
interest for me because I was always aware of what we were 
doing and what was going on and I spent about six months in 
space in 2010.  My ride to and from the Space Station was on 
the Soyuz spacecraft and I was actually trained as the co-
pilot on there.  So, I spent a lot of time in Russia, training and 
understanding, learning how to fly that spacecraft.  
((NATS)) 
((Shannon Walker, American Scientist, NASA Astronaut)) 
We will wake up in the morning.  Overnight, the control 
centers have uplinked schedule to us and what they want us 
to do that day is what we do that day.  And it could be 
maintenance.  It could be science.  It could be rearranging 
the space station.  It could be dealing with stowage.  It’s just 
whatever the ground needs to accomplish.  And so, you do a 
little bit of everything in space.  
((NATS)) 
((Shannon Walker, American Scientist, NASA Astronaut)) 
And I remember very distinctly, for about the first month that I 
was in orbit, I would wake up almost every night feeling like I 
needed to turn over but that doesn't do any good in space 
and so, you just sort of shuffle around a bit and go back to 
sleep.  
((NATS)) 
((Shannon Walker, American Scientist, NASA Astronaut)) 
Living in space is easy.  Coming back, it’s pretty hard.  You 
have lots of aches and pains because you haven't walked 
around for a long time.  I mean you float in space and so, we 
do a lot of exercises that keep us healthy, but you haven't sat 
down for a long time.  So, it gets uncomfortable to sit down for 
long periods of time because your body is not used to it.  
((NATS))
((Shannon Walker, American Scientist, NASA Astronaut))  
We're still in such early stages of the human spaceflight era.  
We're starting off relatively slowly, but I think as time passes, 
we will just get more and more people and countries into 
space and I think, ultimately, we will be truly a spacefaring 
world.  We will be going to other planets and establishing 
bases and other places to live.  I think that is where we're 
going to end up. 
((NATS))