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What were your first impressions of space
once you got on orbit, each one of you?

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Scott - Well certainly when the
solid rocket motors light, you know,

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for the first time, that gets your attention.

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I mean, there's nothing that, that prepares
you for the amount of energy that's involved

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with getting the space shuttle into space.

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It's, you know, seven and a half million
pounds of thrust all in an instant.

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You know, you get the impression
you're going somewhere.

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You're really not sure where but
you're, you're going there in a hurry

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and you're not coming back to Florida.

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I mean, it just, you know, kind of looks
slow when you're watching it as a spectator

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but when you're inside there's
nothing slow about it.

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I mean, it just really takes off.

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You know, that's certainly ma-, makes a
significant impact, significant impression

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and also, you know, just seeing
the earth for the first time.

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It's incredibly blue, you know, brilliant
color blue and incredibly beautiful.

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Mark - I have this very vivid recollection
of about Mach 15 on my first flight,

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looking over my right shoulder out the window
and seeing this blue planet behind me and it,

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it's a view I've never had before, you know, it
was the first time seeing something like that

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and it was really, really impressive.

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I even said something to, to
Dom at the time, Dom Gorie, my,

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the Shuttle Commander, that,
you know, it's like, "Wow!

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That is really amazing."

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Scott - I, you know, obviously we've had
similar, like we've discussed, you know,

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similar backgrounds and experiences,
you know, similar training as astronauts

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and between the time I flew my first flight
and when Mark flew his, I tried to explain

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to him what that first eight and a half minutes
was going to be like and, and after his flight,

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when he landed I was there in the, you know,
the crew transport vehicle when the hatch opened

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and the crew came out and the
first thing he said to me when he,

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when he came out of the shuttle after his
first flight was, he said, "I had no idea what

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that ascent was going to be like."

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Mark - That's true, you know.

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You just try to describe it to other people
that are getting ready to do this and, you know,

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I remember after the solids lit and the main
engines looked okay and I had a few seconds,

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I looked over, you know, I started
thinking, "Well, this just doesn't feel

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like I expected it to feel, you know."

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It's not as smooth as you
expect, kind of feels like you're

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on a runaway train going
a thousand miles an hour.

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I remember looking over at Dom
because I thought, "Well, this wasn't,

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this isn't quite right" and he, you know,
he was okay with it, so like, "Well,

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must be what it's supposed to feel like."

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Was, how much of a 'wow moment' was it
for you, Scott, when you first pulled

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up alongside the Hubble Space Telescope knowing
this icon of astronomy you were about it,

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you and your crew were about to go
service it, upgrade it and for you, Mark,

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to see the International Space Station
at that time in its fledgling state

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but nonetheless pretty impressive.

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What were your thoughts?

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Scott - Well, you know, just knowing, you know,
what we've learned from Hubble and how far back

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in time it can see, you know, it's, it's
impressive for those reasons, you know.

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It's, it's about the size of a school bus
so as far as telescopes go it's pretty big

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but just understanding, you know, the impact
it's made on our understanding of the origins

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of the universe is, you know,
makes it a very impressive sight.

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Now, compared to the space station, you know,
the, you know, especially the last time I,

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well when I saw it on my one flight,
it's, you know, Hubble's a lot smaller

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and less, you know, visually impressive.

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Mark - As the pilot of the space shuttle doing a
rendezvous, approach and a docking like the ISS,

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you're actually not doing the piloting.

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The Commander is.

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He's doing the, the flying and the final
phases of the rendezvous and the approach

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so as we first approach the space
station, I'm sitting in the left seat

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so I can't really see anything so I didn't have,
you know, my first look at the space station was

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after we docked and, you know, having
that big picture view of station

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as a shuttle pilot you don't
get until you undock and you,

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you're leaving space station
and it's, it's, it's impressive.

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I've seen the thing grow,
you know, over the years.

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I've visited ISS in 2001, 2006 and 2008 so I've
seen through, you know, from the beginning here

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through a lot of different stages.

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Scott, as Commander of STS-118 and, Mark,
as Commander of STS-124, I have to ask who,

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who threaded the needle the best for docking?

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Scott - I don't know.