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thanks for joining us today here in the

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building nine mock-up facility with us

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veteran astronaut mike fink who has

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spent more days in space than any other

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u.s astronaut and who has had the

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privilege of launching twice and landing

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twice in this vehicle the russian soyuz

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spacecraft mike's going to take us

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through a little walk on each of the

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sections of the soyuz today before we go

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inside for a look-see mike

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rob it's great to be here and it's great

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to get a chance to talk about one of my

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favorite spacecraft the soyuz comes in

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three parts it's a classic spacecraft

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a capsule-based design so in the middle

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part let's talk about that first that's

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where we sit in for launch and landing

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so we call that the crew module and

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right above it we have the habitation

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module so that when we actually get into

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space we need a little bit more room so

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we're not cramped in that little can

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so we have the habitation module and the

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third module below is the

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instrumentation module which has extra

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things like oxygen and our engines and

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things like that now just before landing

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all three of these modules separate and

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only the part in the middle where we're

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sitting is the one that comes back home

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well let's take a look inside mike yeah

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rob this is a mock-up of a soyuz model

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tma and

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the a part came uh in the mid to late

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90s early 2000s when we put in this new

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glass cockpit the neptune panel

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and so we uh we're sitting down i'm

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sitting down in the flight engineer spot

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which is at the left seat and then there

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is the center seater who is the

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commander and then you're sitting in the

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right seater position which is either

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another flight engineer flight engineer

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number two or

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a space flight participant so you can

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see on that side there are fewer buttons

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to push and a few things to control so

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usually the spacecraft is flown with the

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commander and the flight engineer which

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more like a co-pilot working together

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and since the sen the center seat is is

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depressed a little bit lower it's harder

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for the commander to actually push the

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button so either he uses a stick like

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this or oftentimes the way that i've

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flown it is as a flight engineer i push

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all the buttons i set everything up

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commander agrees or disagree and then we

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we execute you can see there's a a

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screen right here that's a periscope

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that looks uh out either in front of the

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vehicle or below us as well as

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some control sticks here so we can

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actually manually fly from the center

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seat

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so let's say we're at the baikonur

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cosmodrome in kazakhstan it's launch day

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the crew has had breakfast at their

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resident crew quarters you've gone out

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into the cosmodrome to suit up and now

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you're at the launch pad

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how do you get inside this this

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efficient vehicle and uh get settled in

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for the rest of the countdown the the

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launch pad that i launched off of twice

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was yuri gagarin's launch pad how cool

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is that to have have people from all

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over the world including americans

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launching from yuri's launch pad so

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about uh two and a half hours before

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launch we uh we arrived by bus already

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dressed in our spacesuits

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we climb up the

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ladder to the gantry take a small

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elevator up to the tippy top and the

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rocket doesn't look so big from below

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but when you're up there at the at the

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up at the tippy top of the rocket

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looking down it's a big rocket

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we come in through the

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living and habitation module and there's

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a hatch right up up here that we

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actually come through so the hatch you

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see behind us doesn't really exist it's

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great for the mock-up so we send down

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usually the flight engineer first then

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over to the flight engineer number two

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or space flight participant and then

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this commander comes in last we close

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the hatch we turn on the panels we turn

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on the spacecraft make sure all the

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systems are working do our

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communications checks and then we sit

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back and let the ground team do their

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job

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the soyuz booster rocket that the

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spacecraft is perched

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on top of is fully fueled ready to go

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what are some of the things that take

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place let's say in the final 30 minutes

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or so before liftoff usually uh up to

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that point uh

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we have been relaxing if all the comm

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checks went well the pressurization of

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the capsule our suit checks if that all

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goes well then we're just sitting down

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relaxing and sometimes they even put in

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some some music

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and it's very

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amazing to sit there on the step of

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kazakhstan listening to

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maybe some american jazz right before a

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launch so about half an hour though we

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get we get our head back in the game and

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we make sure all of our systems are are

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are functioning properly do some more

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comm checks with the ground make sure

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that they hear us they'll tell they'll

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give us an update and then

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by that time it's time to go and it's

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just starting to

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you know you start you can't believe

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because up to that point you're you're

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saying wow i've been training for years

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ready to go and you can see the little

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counter start to go down a little bit so

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my goodness we're it's gonna happen and

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then you hear some a few thumps or bumps

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outside as the gantry moves and uh

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you're standing there all by yourself

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and then you can feel the vibration of

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the engine start to launch and then

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beauty of it all eight and a half

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minutes later you're in orbit it's that

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fast

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and then mike conversely after about six

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months on orbit it's time to come home

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at some point back to kazakhstan

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walk us through the preparations that

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you all

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do when it's time to undock and

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give us a little uh glimpse of what that

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entry is all about we close the hatch

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between the uh

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we get back in our spacesuits then we

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close the hatch to the

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uh the living habitation module we get

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back here in the in the crew module the

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descent module and we're all in our

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spacesuits again we make sure that uh

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that this hatch especially the one

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between the living habitation module and

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the uh and the crew module here is very

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fully sealed because all of a sudden

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that hatch is going to be the one to the

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outside because our three compartments

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break apart so we get ready for

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undocking to the space station we're in

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our spacesuits everything's good and we

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uh we watch the undocking it's all

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automatic uh we make sure that uh we're

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pointing away from the sp yeah we pull

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away from space station make sure we get

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out of the space station's way and uh we

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check out all of our systems to make

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sure that we can come back home safely

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again it's always about checking out our

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systems it's really tricky because we're

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going 17 500 miles an hour and we're

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going to go back to zero and we're going

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to do that by breaking through the air

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that means you're using the air to slow

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us down generates a lot of heat our heat

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shield not just glows it actually melts

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off it's an ablative heat shield our

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whole capsule is is coated in it and

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it's just amazing because once we do our

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deorbit burn

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that's really important it takes about

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three minutes to slow down but once we

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hit the atmosphere and start to slow

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down it's just a amazing ride you can

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look right out the windows and you can

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see the ablative heat shields melting

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you can see the plasma ball that you're

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traveling through and you're slowing

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down and we start

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hitting the atmosphere like in central

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africa by the time we reach central asia

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as we travel north and east you know

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we're uh you know it's uh

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yeah we're slowed down enough that

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parachutes can pop out and we gent we

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drift gently to the earth below but that

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parachute deployment is almost like the

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e-ticket of the ride isn't it

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well that's uh that's definitely uh i

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know some rides it's amusement parks

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where people pay money for that because

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our parachute because we have this hatch

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here our parachutes actually off to the

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side so when it first pops out

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we kind of swing around in a big arc and

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we haven't had gravity for a long time

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and all of a sudden we're swinging

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around in a big circle so uh and that

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comes right after you know after the

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the screaming in through the atmosphere

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and breaking up to pulling up the six

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g's and all of a sudden we're spinning

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around with the parachute but then the

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parachute repositions itself and it then

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becomes a kind of a normal parachute and

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we slow down and then it's just a gentle

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drifting but until then it's pretty

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exciting until

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the last meter or so the last three feet

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as when we meet the ground we're going

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about 20 miles an hour at the time and

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we hit the hit the earth firmly and uh

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and we know that we're back home

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there are engines that fire right a

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split second before touchdown uh almost

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strangely named soft landing engines but

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we're lying on what would be custom

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seat liners that have some cushion

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capability for you right it's a

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the russian designers have tried to make

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it as safe as possible so that we can

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come back come back safely and gently so

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nobody gets hurt so they do slow us down

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with our uh with the retro rockets right

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in the last meter or so these seats

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actually right before landing in fact

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that's what how you know that you're

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getting close to the ground they kind of

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uh position up so they would uh so that

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as soon as we land the shock absorber

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takes the the bulk of the the impact now

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once you're down on the ground those of

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us who have been

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flying in helicopters russian

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helicopters in a racetrack pattern

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around the landing site waiting for you

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we will land in sequential fashion and

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then the process begins to extract the

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crew take us through there well it's

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always comforting because on the way

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down especially under the parachutes

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we're able to talk to the the pilots of

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the of the air airplanes and the and the

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helicopters so they know where to find

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us and that's very comforting to know

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once we hit the ground that there's

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going to be someone there to meet us so

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after we hit the ground we actually have

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a

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kind of crowded in here so sometimes

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they have to move some uh some payload

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or some of our survival equipment out of

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the way first and then they pull out the

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commander and then the flight engineer

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number two and then of course last but

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not least

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me the flight engineer

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it must be almost a sensory overload

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after six months

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in a vacuum environment basically

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up on the space station

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the smell of fresh air the look of the

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grass the smell of the dirt down in

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kazakhstan

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what are those sensations like for you

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all of those sensations rob are

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heightened by our emotional feeling of

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coming back home and uh as they say in

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the movies there's no place like home

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and you you're coming back to earth and

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coming back to gravity all these all

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these things they're not new to us but

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we haven't had them in a while so

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they're it's kind of like re

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rediscovering things all over again

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rediscovering the sense of smell and how

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beautiful it smells and the outdoors on

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the step how it is to uh how it is to

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they hand us an apple right after we

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land just to just to give us a a a taste

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a scent of of mother earth

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back on earth mike uh and we appreciate

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your time as always and thanks for

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walking us through a trip in the soyuz

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i'm really glad