American space explorers Kate Rubins, who joined the ISS crew on July 9, and Jeff Williams, the commander of the Expedition 48, spoke to journalists online on NASA TV on Wednesday. When asked whether the researchers play Pokémon Go in their spare time, Rubins smiled and said she prefers poking around for more science instead.
#PokemonGo in space? No. #AstroKate is poking around for more #science to do in her free time. https://t.co/CGiCOZKXt1
— ISS Research (@ISS_Research) 3 августа 2016 г.
"I got a great piece of advice before flight, which was ‘Don't do anything in space that you can do on the ground.' So we actually spend a lot of our time looking at the Earth, taking pictures…" noted the astronaut, who is conducting her very first spaceflight.
"The ground's always got lots of work for us, and it's pretty fun work, so we enjoy doing a lot of that in our free time," Rubins added.
It has been a few weeks now since Rubins joined the expedition, and she has wasted no time there as well. As a biologist-turned-astronaut, she is carrying out her study of the body and genetics in micro-gravity.
"Microgravity cell culture! Studying @Stanford heart cells (cardiomyocytes) to understand heart health." #AstroKate pic.twitter.com/7eo97NsZmJ
— NASA Astronauts (@NASA_Astronauts) 28 июля 2016 г.
Moreover, Rubins and Williams will conduct a spacewalk in August 2016 to install the first International Docking Adapter, the new docking port that will enable the future arrival of US commercial crew spacecraft.
Previously, the astronomers had been asked on Twitter if it was possible to play Pokémon Go in orbit.
@ISS_Research @mirikramer The crew does have Internet access on computers on the space station, just not on the smartphones.
— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) 11 июля 2016 г.
