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Meet the Experts: Gioia Massa and Melissa Jones

NASA Scientists Melissa Jones and Gioia Massa on <em>Ask Me Another. </em>
Mike Katzif
/
NPR
NASA Scientists Melissa Jones and Gioia Massa on Ask Me Another.

If you were to ask our experts, "so are you a rocket scientist or something?" Gioia Massa and Melissa Jones would say, "well, yes!"

Gioia Massa is a NASA project scientist focused on growing lettuce on the International Space Station. The goal is to be able to grow food in space, rather than bring it from Earth, if we all move to Mars one day. And, as host Ophira Eisenberg points out, there isn't a Whole Foods on the way.

Melissa Jones is a NASA landing recovery director. This means she leads a naval team to retrieve returning astronauts who will land off the coast of San Diego. Their test recovery is scheduled for 2018, and the first recovery with actual astronauts, Exploration Mission 2, is slated for 2021.

Because in space, no one can hear you complain about errors in sci-fi movies, we challenge Gioia and Melissa to a game about space related movies. They lend their expertise to expound on these films' many and deep inaccuracies.

Heard on Mike Rowe And NASA Scientists: Dirty Jobs In Spaaace!

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