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[ Music ]

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[ Silence ]

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>> So that was really fun
to get into the vehicle

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that you know is actually yours.

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And had the new [inaudible]
smell to which made it special.

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But we're really looking
forward to our ride.

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This is old Cozmonaut [phonetic]
Hotel which actually most

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of the training folks
actually still stay in here.

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You can see that the sign

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on the door says there's
still a quarantine here

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because we come do all
our training and classes

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over here in this building.

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So we are in quarantine
for about two

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and a half weeks
prior to the launch.

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Quarantine is actually very
important because we don't want

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to take any illnesses up to
the station and infect the rest

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of the crew up there
that's already on board

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or to leave those
illnesses there.

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This is the newer hotel
facility that we stay in now.

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It's actually quite nice.

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So this territory we're on

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or the Cozmonaut Hotel is
located is actually probably

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around five acres large but
it ends here with a wall

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that you can see relatively
close in front of us

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and then a really
pretty little river.

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It goes down along the front and
on the east side of the complex.

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I've been here a
number of times.

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I've only launched
here from once

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but when I was a
Deputy Chief and Chief

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of the Astronaut Office, I
came down here many times

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to support other crew
members who were launching.

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And it's a lot more fun to be on
the side the person that's going

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on the vehicle rather
than just to watch.

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We're going to be doing
a two day run [inaudible]

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which is actually what I did
prior to Expedition 16 as well.

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It's -- I have always said

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that it was probably
the two most boring days

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of spaceflight ever other
than the actual launch phase

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and the first couple of orbits
where we're doing maneuvers.

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And then the phase, the last
probably five hours before we

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dock with the station
it's very boring.

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We just eat and sleep
and listen to music.

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Even looking out the
window is actually not all

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that comfortable because the
[inaudible] vehicle itself is

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doing the solar spin to keep
all the sides evenly heated.

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And that ends up -- when
you look out the window,

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the earth will go by this
way and then later on,

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it'll come by in a few seconds.

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Come by from the
top and go down.

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So it's actually
kind of disturbing.

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So not fun to watch from there.

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So we'll look forward to
getting to the station.

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[ Off Mic ]

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And this is the little
tree I planted

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in 2007 before Expedition 16.

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Each crew member plants a
tree on their first flight

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from the Cosmodrome
here in Baikonur.

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[ Off Mic ]

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This tree was planted
for Alexei Leonov.

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He was the first man
to do a space walk.

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He's actually a really
interesting guy.

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A very good storyteller.

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This tree was planted
Valentina Tereshkova,

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the first woman in
space in 1963.

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Obviously I don't think this
facility was built then.

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So these trees were
planted in their names.

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And the biggest tree here was
planted in Yuri Gagarin name.

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And the biggest tree is
as it should be, I think.

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It's o minus 8.

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So eight days before the launch.

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I don't know if this is going
to work out in the dark or not,

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if there's enough
light out here.

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But I came out for a walk.

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Today was probably the most
beautiful day we've had

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in Baikonur so far.

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It was in the low
50s most of the day.

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So a really pretty
day and very clear

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but we also have
the moon, right?

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And I came out to
look at the moon.

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I look to see if there
was a Space Station pass

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and there's one tomorrow
morning.

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I'll probably come out
and try to look at it.

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It's always fun to see
the station pass overhead

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especially, I think, when you're
this close to launch recognizing

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that you're going
to get to be up in

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that little speck of light.