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good morning this is a great onboard Mir

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station along with my crewmates

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commander below judges you're off and

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flight engineer can you spare Karloff

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right now we're busy making preparations

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for tomorrow's anticipated talking of

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the space shuttle with the MIR station

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that should be exciting for all of us

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and we certainly look forward to it not

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the least of our reasons of course is

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we've already been here almost four

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months and the Space Shuttle is

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basically our ride home

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as we prepare we are at the same time

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breaking some things out for further

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checking is sort of a last-minute

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verification that some of the equipment

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that arrived inspector will work but on

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the other hand to try to make the

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station a bit neater we're also trying

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to pack some things away and make some

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water to the station so it's a busy time

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nonetheless we're happy to have the

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opportunity to talk with the folks in

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Connecticut who are participating in I

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will try and handle any questions that

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are given in English and my crewmates

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can answer those questions that are

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presented in Russian and maybe in that

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way we can answer all the questions and

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with that we're standing by via them my

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name is Vera do you speak foreign

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foreign language we speak many foreign

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languages that are even within the

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boundaries of Russia even though Russia

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is the primary language as you well know

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within Russia there are many separate

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Republic's and many Republic's have

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their own languages of course since we

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are on an international mission we

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understand English and even try

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sometimes to speak in English by the

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name of Mike who wants to ask a question

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what's the greatest distance that you

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have flown from the planet right now

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we're flying in orbit it's four hundred

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to four hundred and fifteen kilometers

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in altitude and we are in this orbit and

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flying around the the earth at this

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distance Atlantis Houston loud and clear

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for the ODS comm check transmitting on

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anko earning his money today charlie

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a commander who'd Gibson and pilot

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Charlie Precourt about to conduct a test

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of the post contact thrust system this

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is a computer software on the shuttle

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which when initiated which one initiated

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will provide about a two-second burst of

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several of the shuttles jet thrusters at

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the point of contact between the shuttle

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and the MIR Space Station tomorrow to

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drive the two docking mechanisms more

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closely together and initiate the

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capture sequence between the capture

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latches on the orbiter docking systems

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docking mechanism and comparable latches

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on the crystal science modules docking

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the shaking of the picture representing

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the firing of those thrusters copy

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initial evaluation looks right on the

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money and we see the rate through cam

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ray the test involves the extension of

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this docking ring to about 13 inches in

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length that will duplicate that will

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duplicate the activity that will occur

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once the two vehicles come into contact

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with one another tomorrow during docking

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the mechanical systems officer here in

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the Mission Control Center reports that

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that docking ring is being driven

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properly is moving forward to it to its

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extended position it is at that extended

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position that the orbiter will come into

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contact with the docking mechanism on

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the crystal science module on the mirror

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and thus initiate the capture of the two

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vehicles with a series of capture

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latches that are located in those three

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triangular petals at the top of the

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docking ring you can clearly see the

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docking ring now extending upwards from

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the docking system itself at the point

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of contact between the two vehicles the

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capture latches on the top of that

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extended ring will hook on to comparable

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latches on the crystal module docking

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mechanism then the capture ring will be

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retracted to bring the two docking

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interfaces flush against one another at

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that point the structural mating of

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hooks and latches on both sides of the

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docking interfaces between the atlantis

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and the mirror will begin the entire

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process from contact through capture and

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then the hard mating of the two vehicles

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against each other should take about 20

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to 25 minutes this is a Russian built

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docking mechanism which was built by RSC

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energy are the main hardware

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manufacturer for Russian spacecraft

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hardware it was then integrated into the

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orbiter through Rockwell International

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in Downey California on the right side

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of the screen

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as the orbiter passes in darkness is a

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very faint view of the centreline camera

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which is located at the top of the

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inside of porthole at the top of the

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orbiter docking system which will be

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used as a navigational aid by commander

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hoot Gibson and pilot Charlie Precourt

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during the final phase of the run to

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view an approach to the MIR space

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station tomorrow in the crosshairs and

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that shot on the right side of the split

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screen would be the crystal science

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modules docking target the two the two

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views will enable Gibson and Precourt to

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perfectly align the orbiter docking

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system mechanism with the crystal

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science module docking mechanism for a

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inner guía de signed and built this

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Russian docking mechanism it was

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integrated into the orbiter docking

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system and then into the orbiter itself

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by NASA and Rockwell International and

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the initial test of that docking system

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and the extension of the docking ring

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went off without a hitch earlier this

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morning as mission specialist Greg

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Harbaugh who's chiefly in charge of the

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docking system used two motors through a

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control panel at the aft flight deck of

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Atlantis's flight deck to drive that

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docking mechanism upward to its fully

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extended position of 13 inches above the

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top of the docking system this will

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enable commander hood Gibson to use this

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image aboard Atlantis on the aft flight

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deck on a special TV camera he has set

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up back there in order to perfectly

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align the docking ring on the orbiter

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docking system with that of the crystal

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module these three that's a good image

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Greg and we have a good MUX now we see

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it'll be spectacular looking at a mirror

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Space Station through there on the right

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side of the screen the image of the

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alright let's let's begin the interview

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then I'll tell you all that we are on

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tape we're not live so everybody can

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relax this is this is a very exciting

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mission if all goes as planned tomorrow

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tomorrow morning you will reach out and

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shake hands with Russian cosmonauts for

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the first docking with the with the

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Russians in in 20 years is there a sense

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do you feel a sense of history on this

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mission I'll begin with You commander

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Gibson I guess I would have to say yes

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very much so I feel a sense of history

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and of following a tradition that we

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started 20 years ago and getting to

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continue in something that it has taken

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us a long time to pick up on again but

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very much feeling as though we are

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continuing in some footsteps that were

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laid down a long long time ago and of

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course any kind of effort like this is a

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monumental team effort there's an awful

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lot of work that's been going on on this

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flight for the last three years we're

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very pleased that it's all coming

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together very nicely and yes we very

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much feel a little bit of a flow of

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history as we proceed here the docking

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tomorrow will be very very complicated

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to two spacecraft that way more than

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than a hundred tons trying to come

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together very precisely in in orbit

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commander Gibson how complicated is that

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going to be to anything we do in our in

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our everyday lives I've never driven an

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18-wheeler so I don't I don't know about

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the complexity in one of those but it is

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a it is a complex sequence of events

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that we need to choreograph very

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carefully that we all need to fly very

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carefully we have a straining corridor

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that we must stay within or we could

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conceivably

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damage the solar arrays on the mare for

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example we have a limited amount of fuel

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to do all this with so all of which says

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it's a it's a complex sequence of events

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it's a very constrained sequence of

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events having made it all sound very

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difficult I will tell you that in the

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simulator we had very very good success

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and we've done this probably a couple of

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hundred times in the simulator so we're

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looking forward very eagerly to doing it

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for real

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and for doing at tomorrow Bonnie Dunbar

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you you trained as the backup to to norm

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thagard who is up aboard the the mirror

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right now you're in a kind of a unique

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position to to talk to us a little bit

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about some of the differences between

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the Russian space program and the

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American space program and some of the

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some of the real challenges you are

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let me let me turn to your to your

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cosmonaut colleagues now colonel

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Sylvia what do you think the Russians

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bring to the American space program and

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what does the American space program

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store resist hi grandma

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peep no American school program

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in store Americans Karaman a beurre

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noisette Francisco program oh you have

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to acknowledge that there are things

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that can be exchanged good broad

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experience piloting and in orbit so for

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example we have equipment that's been

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working for many years from the point of

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view of the American space program its

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allow us to significantly accelerate the

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development of the space station alright

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I have a question now for Nikolai abou

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Darwin this is your first spaceflight

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what do you think so far

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gaspar you know Budetti know yet the

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Rajpura cosmesis keep a low opinion as

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concerns my being the rookie and now

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with this flight there's one cosmonaut

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nothing common about it excellent owing

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to the excellent training owing to the

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excellent training that we received

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I have lost IFB because being inside the

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cabin there is no external effect that

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can be observed probably much more

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interesting to observe observe this from

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the side

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okay as as a bystander particularly the

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launch but inside from inside different

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little from training of course there was

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a lot of overloading g-forces during

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launch these did not affect me too bad

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too badly I think we have a very

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challenging and rewarding program

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underfoot here and we're very honored to