Guests: John Batchelor, William (Bill) Harwood, Dr. David Livingston.  Topics:  ISS, space station crew staffing, Astronaut Peggy Whitson & more.   You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We do not permit the commercial use of any Space Show program or part thereof, nor do we permit Space Show programs to be edited, placed on YouTube, or other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted in news articles, papers, academic & research work but must be cited or referenced in the proper citation format. Contact Dr. Livingston for questions about our copyright and trademark policies which we do enforce.  This program is archived on The Space Show website, podcasting, and blog sites with permission from John Batchelor. Please visit the John Batchelor Show website for more information about this fine program, www.johnbatchelorshow.com.  Remember, your Amazon Purchases Can Help Support The Space Show/OGLF (www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm.  Please note that audio and transition issues are a result of copying the John Batchelor broadcast & are not within my control as they originate in the Batchelor studio.

John Batchelor and I welcomed back William (Bill) Harwood, CBS Space News Reporter, to update us on the ISS crew staffing situation, astronaut Peggy Whitson and her record breaking extended flight, the research being done on the ISS around life support issues and living in microgravity, plus we talked about the Russians saying they had resolved their Soyuz and other rocket quality control problems.  Our 22 minute discussion in two segments started out by talking about Astronaut Whitson who was already the world's most experienced female spacewalker.  Given her extended mission aboard the ISS, she will soon become NASA's most experienced astronaut with more than 534 days aloft.  When she returns from her extended mission on Sept. 3, she will have flown for 666 days on three missions.   Bill had just interviewed Peggy and shared with us many of the highlights of his interview.  In terms of crew staffing, with 3 crew members they mostly keep the station going but when the crew will expand up to five in a few weeks, they can resume an active lab presence with their experiments. 

In the second part of this Hotel Mars program, we talked about how much longer the ISS would remain viable.  Bill had much to say about 2024 and later through to 2028.  Don't miss his comments. We also talked about some of the researching being conducted on board for life sciences and human factors including optical research for human eye problems and testing out new and better life support equipment.  Bill also mentioned that there would not likely be a new US research module. 

You can email Mr. Batchelor or Bill Harwood  through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com.