so i think as you all can see we're
gathered here around the table here in
the base block of mir
and i think
we're demonstrating international
friendship and cooperation here aboard
an international space complex
shuttle and mirror
demonstrating what we can do in the
future as we proceed to international
space station
uh russian crews american crews and and
future international crews all working
together
uh shannon as you're uh ending your your
mission wondering what uh just what your
private thoughts are and feelings as
this uh
ceremony is about to happen this morning
and you're finally really going to be
coming home and john just the opposite
for you what your thoughts are what's
going through your mind as your mission
is about to truly
uh mixtures of begin uh you know i'm
really happy and i also feel just a
little sad this has been my home for six
months and i've had a great time here
but obviously i'm very very anxious to
go back to my real home back in houston
texas with my family
and also i'm
just very very grateful that i've had
this opportunity uh to experience the um
what it's like to live in an
international community it was just
great and i want uh to thank
uh you know my bosses for letting me do
this and i'd also like to thank all the
people on the ground that uh
gave such tremendous tremendous support
as to make it such a pleasant experience
for me and i'd also like to thank yuri
and yuri and also valeria and sasha
because
you know a person doesn't live by
themselves you live in a group and
working together it just was a great
time
been training to do this mission for the
last two years i'm really looking
forward to it
um the laurie and sasha
are going to be a great crew to work
with
the 79 crew with bill
have been fantastic to me since i
returned to houston and have supported
me a lot during the transfer ops getting
all the equipment over here to do the
job
and shannon i give a big thank you to
for having
given me such a good handover to work on
the mere space station to make my life a
little bit easier in the next four and a
half months so
those are my thoughts
john how do you think you'll be feeling
tomorrow as you watch atlantis pull away
or this evening
well i don't know really uh actually i'm
kind of looking forward to it because
we've been so busy uh with two control
centers controlling us
that i'm looking forward to the pace
slowing down a little bit which i think
it will uh so i'll probably have some uh
other feelings as well but i don't know
what those are yet but certainly it'll
be very pretty as the atlantis pulls
away
a few weeks before your flight you
express some concern about your
need to develop a rapport with your
russian host and i just wondered if you
could elaborate a little bit on how
that's transformed since you've docked
do you feel like you've made up some
ground do you feel you'll be comfortable
and able to work productively
absolutely what you're referring to is a
crew change which occurred with the
russians
in august prior to their launch and it's
correct that i have not trained with the
law and sasha but i had known them at
star city i would say that uh what i
told you uh two weeks before launch uh
i've already learned uh that these two
people are fantastic uh they're going
out of their way to help me and help me
get
acquainted with the mirror and the
things we have to do and anytime i have
any questions
they really helped me so a big kudo to
folate and sasha for all their help for
commander reedy i'm wondering what your
reaction was
right after launch after the apu shut
off on its own and whether you have any
concerns about landing on two apus
well first of all we'd already had main
engine cutoffs so we were already in
space and
everything that the apu's were supposed
to accomplish on asset was already
completed so
we knew that the mission control team
would be working this real hard
but the space shuttle was designed with
an awful lot of redundancy and it can
fly just fine on two apus and in a in a
bar emergency even one so
i don't think we're really concerned at
all
terry uh wilcox takes care of the apu's
and the hydraulics and we've got
procedures that we've practiced time and
time again over the years that that we
can use so i don't think we're really
concerned
uh john the international space station
is facing some fairly significant
problems in terms of schedule and
funding in russia
there's issues with command and control
that are all going to be debated this
week get an incremental design review
and i'm wondering you're on the only the
world's only space station right now and
i'm just wondering um if you could say
something to the negotiators who are
meeting in houston to debate some of
these issues uh what you might say to to
get the process moving along a little
better perhaps
well that's a pretty big question and
i'm probably the wrong person to answer
but
since you asked me i'll try to give you
an opinion
without a doubt the russians uh have
known a lot about space stations they
had first had the salute in orbit and
now the mir has been in orbit for close
to 11 years
and uh i'm sure having talked with some
of my colleagues that we as an
international community
need a new space station because after a
vehicle has been in orbit for a long
time the parts are starting to
deteriorate and so without a doubt
this experience
on mere shuttle has been very positive
and it just shows
how much more we can do with the
international space station so we really
need to press forward
construct the new international space
station and
do it together with our the russians and
the europeans and the japanese and all
the people in the world so as to provide
new science information that can help
improve life for everybody on the planet
i'm just wondering if during your six
months up there if you looked out the
window at night when you didn't have
anything to do if you ever reflected on
the the philosophical significance of
whatever you want to call it of being a
pioneer or a space explorer i mean do
you have thoughts like that are those
the kind of things that you think about
from time to time
i have lots of thoughts all the time uh
no a lot of times you know
i would just look out the window now and
think wow who would have ever dreamed
you know two years ago
that i would be here who would have
dreamed ten years ago that uh i would
have been here i mean and i just thought
about how strange life is and how many
uh odd twists and turns
the commander corzone would you uh
please tell us what you will be thinking
about when the hatches close and your
friend shannon lucid disappears behind
the shuttle
when the hatch closes and shannon stays
on
shuttle
we will be sad we're already kind of sad
because
not only are we
saying goodbye to a colleague but to a
very fine person
an outstanding professional an
outstanding woman a very practical
person
it has been
uh reminding having a woman on board has
reminded us
of a kind of a household
arrangement
it's been very good having her on board
we will be uh
somewhat sad with her return
we understand that she wants to go back
and see her family and we will be
remembering here
at the same time that we'll be feeling
sad about
shannon however
we will also be feeling sad about the
farewell with the crew of atlantis
because we have had a very productive
session of work here and these are our
feelings
atlantis mirror houston we've got a good
view there in the base plot
well welcome aboard the shuttle mirror
complex atlantis
and mirror joined together in earth
orbit
two crews together
demonstrating cooperation
and the future in space toward an
international space station that will
build together
i'd like to say a few words in russian
to uh to our russian colleagues to our
russian hosts who've been
so hospitable and who've worked so hard
together with us
dear friends
the hatch i would like on behalf of the
atlantis crew
to say thank you
for your hospitality and
that we appreciate not only their
hospitality
but also the way
they made shannon a part of their crew
and how well we think that that john is
going to do when when he starts
and what this mission is about is is
ends and beginnings and conflicting
emotions i think for all of us here
beginnings because it begins john swipe
uh with the frigate with uh
valerie and sasha
and endings because uh it ends shannon's
flight
record-setting flight here having
concluded six months on orbit
i think all of us when the hatch closes
or are probably going to have also
conflicting emotions we'd obviously like
to to stay and
every time we go past the window and see
the mirror
it's it's just an awesome sight
and every time we float down one of the
passageways into the hatch and see one
of our russian colleagues
working together with a member of our
crew it's just
it's really a joy to behold
say something in response to something
that
uh already said prior to closing the
hatch we would like to thank our
american colleagues for the wonderful
work that they have performed on orbit
for the well-planned
work and i hope that
our cooperation
between russia and the united states in
space will serve
for all of mankind
folks i'd like to
thank you for
having
and that we have done perform such an
interesting and
good quantity of work
that everything has turned out so well
and i think
that this
work of ours this joint work will in the
future
looking toward the future
the uh an example of
benefit to olive and kind
i think that's the end of our programs
and bill uh
as you so aptly stated uh even in the
greatest of successes uh there can be a
few moments of sadness
okay you can see uh that we're checking
out all the different things we've got
to make sure the crosshairs are
installed the two uh docking lights are
installed
we're waiting uh
waiting for the russians to complete
their side of it which is uh
checking that the the seal is is nice
and clean on their side
taking hands here with uh valerian sasha
kind of a
bittersweet moment because i'll tell you
they're such great guys and they
did such a terrific job working with us
here and all the transfer and
experiments
now hatch closing you can see the
docking cross
there is reinstalled
you