Our goal really is just to make it to the International Space Station and come home again safely.

We'll be participating in a lot of experiments while we're on board the International Space Station.

It's actually a floating laboratory.

A lot of those experiments will be on me, I'll be the research subject.

And we'll be doing a lot of maintenance as well, taking care of the space station, doing preventative maintenance just like you would on your car, and also repairing things when they break.

It's been up there for more than 20 years now, so there's a lot to take care of.

I am no longer the person doing my own research.

I will be the eyes and ears and hands and lab notebook for somebody else's research in a much bigger project than I could ever do on my own, and I really actually like that.

I think a lot of the laboratory skills are very transferrable.

I'll be working in a glove box a lot.

I'll be pipetting a lot.

We do a lot of medical research, biomedical research.

We will actually probably be doing a space walk that is looking for microorganisms on the exterior of the space station pretty soon, so that could be very interesting.

But I will not specifically be doing my own research, and I think it's just more of those transferable skills that I'll be leaning on.

- What has the training been like?

Grueling, more than you expected?

Less?

- Yeah.

Every day is different, which I actually really enjoy.

It's a lot like our initial training to be astronauts.

We spend the first two years just doing kind of this basic background training, I would call it.

We do everything from learning all of the systems of the International Space Station, to learning space walking.

I think that's the most physically demanding thing that we do, but also one of the most fun.

- Why physically demanding?

Someone who's watching this, thinking, "You are floating in zero G. This has gotta be fun.

This can't be that grueling."

But I've heard that before.

It's fairly grueling.

- Yeah, it's definitely fun, that's for sure.

It'll be a privilege, and I hope I get to do a space walk.

But these suits are pressurized.

They also weigh more than 300 pounds, and of course you're weightless, but you still have inertia.

You still have momentum, and so starting motion, stopping motion, you've gotta accelerate this massive thing.

But I think working against those pressurized bearings and squeezing a pressurized glove is one of the most physically demanding parts of it.

Imagine squeezing a tennis ball over and over again for six and a half hours.

Starts out not so bad, but your arms fatigue pretty quickly.

And then space walking is almost a misnomer.

It's more like you're jungle gymming around the space station.

And so again, operating around these pressurized bearings, the suits come in medium, large and extra large.

And so for me, a pretty small person, the shoulder bearings are spaced far apart, and so you have to really be creative with your body positioning to get to where you need to get.

- One of your degrees at at UNC besides marine science and biology and everything was also a, I think a minor in poetry, I believe.

- That's right, yeah.

- Why should a poet go into space?

Are you gonna be doing some poetry while you're there?

- [laughs] I don't know about poetry specifically, but I really hope that my ability to write and share what I'm experiencing will help bring that to people who are watching and following along back home.

- [Interviewer] What do you tell folks?

- [Zena] Yeah, my goodness.

Just trust your instincts.

Don't wait for someone else to tell you what you're supposed to be doing, or how you should go about doing that.

Just go for it.

Don't be the person who holds yourself back.

It's really, a lot more is possible than you can imagine.

- Thanks for watching.

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