we are about to lose signal through the
tracking data relay satellite system so
we'll be losing these downlink
television pictures
this is mission control houston this
television coming from the space hub
double module in atlanta's cargo bay
comments on that change we just read up
the
pictorial
later on in the deorbit prep on page b
3-24
already correctly shows
uh the power system switch is off
and uh also uh inco says uh that he he
does not think he'll actually get the
spec 62 message so
if you don't get it don't worry about it
okay the pictorial on uh bravo 3-24 is
correct
affirmative
they said poc atlantis
is complete
at 8 days
21 hours and 36 minutes
big copy
floating into the field of view now in
this live television picture from the
space hab double module in the cargo bay
of atlantis to join apton walls is
mission specialist shannon lucid on the
eve of her return to earth after six
months in orbit aboard the mir space
station
again her colleague john blaha veteran
u.s astronaut is aboard the mir at this
hour with mir 22 commander valerie
corzine and flight engineer alexander
kaleri beginning his scientific research
over the course of the next four months
blah will be returned to earth in
january aboard atlantis on the sts-81
mission which will carry astronaut jerry
lenninger to the mir as the fourth u.s
astronaut to conduct research on the
russian space
good station
shannon i i want to talk to you first if
everybody doesn't mind first of all you
guys are we're mid-deck now right so
you're pretty much cramped in
we're all kind of wedged into uh the f
portion of the flight deck where we flew
the rendezvous pro
shannon uh let's talk about your your
time aboard mir i i know it's difficult
to prepare for for six months in space
but it wasn't
what you expected from your training
before you went up
uh yes i think everything uh
was pretty much as i expected uh except
i think i had a better time than i mean
i expected to have a good time but i
think it was even better than i expected
well
um right now i'm just pretty happy
tomorrow we're coming home and
i expect life to go on just like it
always always has and
i don't know i'm just pretty happy right
now
now how sad are you about leaving space
i i mean obviously the anticipation must
be great before you go
is it time now are you ready
well
you know i really do feel just a little
bit sad uh because i've had a great time
i've had great friends uh
you know two different crews when i was
on mir and everything just worked out
just really well and yeah i feel a
little sad but
all adventures have to come you know to
the end and you have to go home sometime
and i'm ready to go home
he says compatibility and good humor are
two of the characteristics which come
through in all of your interviews
shannon especially over the last six
months so for long duration missions and
eventually flights to mars how important
will it be to assure good compatibility
among all the members of the crew
well i think the thing that made uh my
flight such a great flight was the fact
that uh all the crew members got along
real well i could not have asked for a
more compatible group of people to work
with and
i think that is
of the very primary importance i mean
that is the
prime
the most important thing everything else
comes uh falls underneath that but uh if
you have people that are that you can
work with that you get along with
together and that you laugh a lot with
together
things just tend to work out pretty well
shannon is there anything about women
that may make them psychologically or
physiologically more adept at being
astronauts especially over long periods
of time
um i don't think so i think it just
depends on the individual i don't think
it has anything to do with whether
you're male or female
it's just some individuals would enjoy
the experience and some individuals
enjoy other things i mean that's what
makes human beings so wonderful is that
we all like different things
can i ask about about our partners in
space and and the international space
station the russians there seems to have
been a real problem and and a continuing
problem with them not so much as far as
their technology is concerned but but
certainly as far as cash flow is
concerned for them
are they going to be an okay partner for
us to be able to go forward with or is
this going to
is this going to present a problem for
us
well i'll start with what you said first
i think they build marvelous hardware
and most of what we saw over aboard the
mir station is just elegantly simple and
robust and if you think about the fact
that their station's been uh
in orbit now for
over 10 years it's really remarkable and
and i think we were all impressed with
the
volume that you have available to do
work over there and just just uh how
magnificent a facility it is and we're
going to move off uh using the mirror as
kind of our prototype
space station sharing it with the
russians and using our shuttles to go
back and forth and then we're going to
build the international space station
and the russians are contributing
launches and they're contributing
modules and
you know i think their finances are
their business
but i think you know when when it comes
time to produce that they'll produce and
they'll produce quality hardware
shannon for you being up that much
longer has it made a really large change
in you
well as far as i can tell i'm
i haven't changed i'm the same person
i've always been i guess you could ask
these guys so they thought
i was changed i was different uh
i think i'm the same person but a lot of
times a person's not the best judge of
themselves but no i don't think i've
changed any
all right we're really quickly running
out of time before we go shannon tell me
what you expect physically as you come
back come back to earth and gravity
because i know you've flown a number of
times before but but there is there is a
distinct difference in this flight we
have very little time
well i think it'll just take a there's a
lot of muscles i haven't used for six
months and so it's just going to take a
little time to get uh back you know used
to using them and i just think i'll be
tired for a little bit but i'll rapidly
be my normal self
okay we copy uh page
1-45 step 45 report condition of
isolation play to
mcc that's firm
sequins look good
roger
good config minute to the zoe we'll pick
you up at one minute after the hour
you