0:00:02.860,0:00:04.800 (music playing) 0:00:04.820,0:00:11.120 I always really liked applied things. How am I gonna use this research that I'm doing? 0:00:11.200,0:00:15.480 My name is Gary Ruff and I get to start large fires on spacecraft. 0:00:15.600,0:00:20.860 Before coming to NASA I was a college professor. Some of the research that I did was in 0:00:20.960,0:00:27.000 microgravity combustion. A position opened up to light big fires in space and I had to come. 0:00:27.200,0:00:30.840 One of my newest hobbies is having a saltwater aquarium. 0:00:30.900,0:00:36.660 I'm not going to get a fire in a saltwater aquarium, but it is a self-contained environment. 0:00:36.740,0:00:41.000 In a ways, it's a lot like an environmental control and life support system on a spacecraft. 0:00:41.180,0:00:43.700 But one of the other things that you frequently do to 0:00:43.700,0:00:48.260 keep an aquarium clean is dilute the water -- add new water. You can't always be 0:00:48.340,0:00:53.360 adding new air on a spacecraft. You want to be able to recycle a lot more. 0:00:53.400,0:00:57.000 That really makes the problem a lot more difficult. It's fun being able to 0:00:57.020,0:01:01.890 continue doing research in your area that you know that you've really 0:01:01.890,0:01:06.280 spent a career doing and continuing to do that for NASA 0:01:06.300,0:01:10.720 in something where you know there's going to be an impact in the future. 0:01:10.820,0:01:31.780 (music playing)