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we're here in the International Space

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Station flight control room here at the

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Johnson Space Center and it's my

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privilege today to have European Space

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Agency astronaut Luca parmitano joining

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us thank you so much for making the time

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with us this morning thank you for

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having me it's a pleasure to be here so

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it's an exciting weekend even the tempo

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here in the flight control room is a

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little up everybody's getting ready

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turning their focus for the departure

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and re-entry of the ATV vehicle one is a

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Capcom I find that this room is always

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exciting but of course today there is a

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heightened sense of happening because of

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all the operations going on on station

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it's a been a hallmark program for the

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European Space Agency can you tell us

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some of the highlights for the ATV from

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your standpoint well c5 absolutely

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flawless missions and it I call the ATV

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the flagship of the International Space

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Station Cargo Fleet because it is the

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biggest it's the one with the most cargo

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and on on the European western side of

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the station is the only one that is

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completely automated and I like to

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remind how it launches from kourou in

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French keenya it travels for little

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millions of miles or kilometers and it

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docks with a precision of about one

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centimeter or half an inch completely

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automated it's it's a fantastic

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demonstration of Technology European

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technology there is a lot of of Italy in

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an ATV and as an Italian astronaut I'm

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almost obviously very proud of it too so

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it's been a fantastic program and it's

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been a little bit of sadness that I see

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it coming to a conclusion we can

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understand one thing that I found

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fascinating is we all tend to think of a

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TV is just a cargo craft but really it's

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capable of a lot more and this ATV 5

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especially has done a few more extra

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special things can you talk us through a

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little bit more about those capabilities

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absolutely first of all the the

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pressurized volume of the ATV is really

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is really being is really nice so

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basically it becomes an extra module one

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sea dogs on the space station and it's

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nice to have the storage area to have

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that it also very quiet too so it it's a

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nice environment to be in

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to start with also because of its

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powerful engines and the way it docks to

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the other part of the space station it's

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been used several times through its five

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missions for PM's maneuvers they are the

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two avoidance maneuver in order to

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change the orbit of the space station in

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case there is any chance of a collision

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with one of those space debris or other

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things coming in so that is a fantastic

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way to employ it also it because it

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brings it brings cargo but also fuel

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water all kind all kinds of different

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gases it's it's also a way to keep the

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station pressurize it's a it's a good so

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it's a great source of all resources and

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then it also obviously it's used to

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dispose of trash which is a incredibly

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incredibly big problem the space station

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get getting rid of the trash show that

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big volume of the other activity really

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helps in that sense yeah absolutely

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that's probably something people don't

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think about so much is everything that

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we're bringing up you know there's only

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so much room in the space station and

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managing all of that stowage and getting

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rid of unneeded items is a big priority

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and a big logistical issue so this is

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key for that it is I like to remind the

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ATV that when we see it compared to the

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space station we don't get a sense of

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the size but for people on the ground I

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like to remind them it's as big as a

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double-decker from London one of those

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big buses that deter around and that's

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how big the ATV is it's really a big

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spacecraft so you touched on this a

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little bit earlier in the interview but

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can you talk to us a little bit about

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what this program has meant for ISA and

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the European countries and especially

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you were talking before an interview

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about coming from Italy and what that

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means because they've had a role with a

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TV well certainly first of all a TV has

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been a very successful program and it

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has given us an opportunity to cooperate

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with NASA and the other space agency and

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to be part of the International Space

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Station program it is let us develop

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engines navigation systems again I

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reminded earlier how precise a

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navigation system is and this will help

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us in the future without a spacecraft

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the legacy of the ATV doesn't disappear

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with the conclusion of the program

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because the evolution of the ATV will be

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the service module for or I on the next

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great cooperation between the European

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Space Agency Europe and the United

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States and NASA and so what we learned

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in this f and this amazing years of

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using the spacecraft will be will be

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really come useful when we develop the

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new service module that's a very good

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point you know as you said this might be

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a little sad for some people who've

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supported a TV through all these

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missions but what a great testament to

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the capabilities that it's going to be

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part of Orion and continuing forward

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absolutely and again this is a little

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bit comparable to what happened with the

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shuttle programs the shuttle program ATV

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these are great programs they helped us

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a lot during the years that we have

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employed them but everything comes to an

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end and it doesn't it doesn't end there

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it continues into the evolution of the

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program and I think it's great that the

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evolution of both the shuttle program

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and an ATV comes together in a common

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ground which is the Orion during program

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for to go beyond low-earth orbit and I'm

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sure that the people and the different

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control centers are thinking about that

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right now as a tv5 the orbit and comes

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to find these final resting place

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absolutely well that's something the

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teams here now as well and like you said

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it just leads to bigger and better

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things for future space exploration

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speaking of the control center i'm

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assuming that you've been to the control

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center for a TV and what do you think

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that they're doing today and you've

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spoken a little bit about how they might

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be feeling but any other words you want

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to it's hard to say how they might be

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feeling I remember how I felt when I let

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go of a TV for a year and a half ago it

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was my privilege to be on board I

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captured and let go of a TV for Albert

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Einstein

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if felt that it would be like letting go

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of a friend because it was with us the

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whole six months on my permanency

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brought he brought our food our clothes

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so for us he was a for me was a very

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special feeling it way it was you know I

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always tend to say that it came bring he

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brought up not only our our food or

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clothes our experiment but also all the

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dreams of the people that that built the

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spacecraft that put their work and their

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hours and all their passion into what

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they do a little bit of that will be

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certainly today present in a DTV control

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center into loose but right now they are

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probably focusing on the myriad of

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operations that they need to do in order

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to the orbit the spacecraft correctly

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even though it's not automatic vehicle

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the man is always in the loop they have

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to make sure that all the all the

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progress are working correctly that the

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data they're receiving are the ones that

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are expected that the past the

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spacecraft is taking is according to the

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plan and they will be sending command at

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time from time to time allowing the

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spacecraft computers to go on to the

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next step well we will definitely be

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following along with all of those

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activities and of course covering that

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starting tomorrow on s TV so

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congratulations to you and all of the

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European Space Agency team and we'll be

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following along and looking forward to

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and things yet to come well I'll uh I

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think that right now we need to

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congratulate the crew on orbit that I

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did a great job with the unlocking and

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certainly the the European engineers and

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and throughout the space agency that

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started this program and brought it to a

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successful conclusion and it thank you

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for having me here and let me let me