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Bill from Mississippi asks:
How do you come back to Earth once in space?
 MajGen Charles F. Bolden, USMC (Retired) answers:
When we are ready to return to Earth from space, we turn our spacecraft around so that it is flying backwards. In the Space Shuttle, we then light our two orbital maneuvering system engines to slow us down to about 300 miles per hour. This reduction in our orbital velocity (speed we’re traveling around Earth) allows gravity to once again pull us back toward Earth where we land as a glider. Once we begin our deorbit (departure from orbit and glide back to Earth), it takes us approximately one hour to land back on Earth. We begin our deorbit half way around the world from where we intend to land.
Wendy from Florida asks:
If you could change one thing about your space missions, what would it be?
 Col Brewster H. Shaw, Jr., USAF (Retired) answers:
I would make them last longer. Being in space is the most remarkable experience I have ever had. Each of my three missions would have been better if they had lasted longer. You do not want to come home after just a few days in orbit.
Tony from North Dakota asks:
Under the right conditions, could a dolphin swim in space?
 Col Robert “Bob” Springer, USMC (Retired) answers:
No, not really. A dolphin needs the viscosity of the water to swim, as well as to survive. Without the water, the dolphin would float in space the way humans do, but it would not be able to swim.
Jeremy from Idaho asks:
Where do you think we will inhabit first, Mars or the Moon, and why?
 Col James Buchli answers:
This is an extremely good question but at this point I don't have a good answer. Much of it depends on which location offers the best solution for colonization. The moon would be clearly easier to reach and therefore, less expensive initially to set up outposts and habitats. If mining of He3 (helium-3) is desired for energy, then the moon might be commercially attractive. As far as Mars, an outpost on the Red Planet would be scientifically very interesting. Terraforming (transforming a planet environment) and developing large habitats are feasible and practical in the near term only if there is a driving mandate from the government or a threat to life on Earth, which drives us to Mars as a means of survival. The bottom line is that I believe we are going to the Moon, Mars and beyond. The question is when.
Judy from New York asks:
Do you have any recreation time and how do you use it?
 Dr. Guion S. “Guy” Bluford, Jr., Col USAF (Retired) answers:
There is no dedicated recreational time scheduled on space flight missions. Astronauts do have some free time while flying in space. During these periods they can do anything they want to such as take pictures, look out the window, or do additional activities to support their mission.
Tobert from Georgia asks:
Have you ever worked with animals in space? What kind of experiments did you do with them?
 CAPT Winston Scott, USN (Retired) answers:
We took laboratory mice into space on STS-72. We were testing a new animal enclosure (cage) to determine how well it would keep the mice safe and healthy. We photographed the mice and recorded the activities of the mother mouse (the dam) and the babies (neonates).
Pete from New Mexico asks:
Are there laws in space and what are they?
Col Robert “Bob” Springer, USMC (Retired) answers:
Yes, there are a lot of laws. For example, physical laws, the law of gravity, thermal constants, viscosity, etc., but I bet you mean the laws in the sense of legal constraints. The answer is yes, and I can't begin to enumerate them for you, but here are a few examples. There are some laws limiting what nations can do in space, for example, no use of weapons in space. There are laws dealing with the liability of rockets that carry cargo into space and who benefits if the satellite does not function or the rocket is destroyed. I would imagine that it would be interesting for you to know that there are colleges and universities that teach courses in space law.
Marty from Arkansas asks:
Have you ever faced any problems in space?
Col James Buchli answers:
Nothing that we were not well equipped to deal with. However, during entry on one mission, the pilots' HUD (heads up display) came up in the initialized state with completely scrambled and unusable data. We had not trained for that failure, however, we quickly did a power cycle to force a new initialization. It cleared the problem and the landing data was available for use. On a separate mission, we managed to fly through what at the time we thought was a meteorite shower and became quite concerned that we were sustaining damage to the orbiter. It turned out that we had flown through our own water dump and were impacting ice crystals. Not an issue with the orbiter, but it sure got our attention for a brief period of time.
Mario from Italy asks:
What kind of subjects should I study to become an astronaut?
Col Brewster H. Shaw, Jr., USAF (Retired) answers:
All the astronauts selected to date have had degrees in technical fields, from medicine to engineering, and all the sciences, mathematics, etc. Most have advanced degrees. The one exception would be military test pilots who were selected to be pilot astronauts. Some of them did not have technical degrees. What you really want to be is a well-rounded individual who has lots of interests in varied areas and a strong sense of curiosity and adventure.
Clayton from Oklahoma asks:
Can NASA go to distant planets like Pluto?
MajGen Charles F. Bolden, USMC (Retired) answers:
NASA has sent unmanned spacecraft such as Viking and Voyager out beyond the distant planet of Pluto. We don’t currently have a capability to send humans that far out in our solar system due to the extensive amount of time it would require with our current chemical rocket engines. We are working diligently to design new types of engines such as plasma fusion engines that will enable us to reach speeds much faster than we can attain today. This will dramatically reduce the time to travel to other planets, thus making it possible for us to expand the potential places we can venture in the universe
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