I
good morning discovery and Nancy were
pretty sure that you recognize that from
the second grade class at Ferguson
Elementary where your daughter Stephanie
is in South Shore Harbor come on a mask
and Magda went to the kids in the books
a lil Missy they did a wonderful job
with admits and it's a great way to wake
up on all that listening so beautiful
song like that from a bunch of beautiful
kids we agree
discovery Houston that's a good-looking
crew are you ready for the event
discoveries ready que se PA oh this is
Houston please call discovery for a
voice check discovery this is que se PA
oh how do you hear me discovery read you
loud clear does the flight crew have an
opening statement that like to make we
like to welcome you aboard discovery
it's been a spectacular mission for us
so far watching within 60 seconds of a
scheduled time after a short delay was
spectacular beginning of the mission our
first day was the screw this day I've
seen in any mission the deployment went
off without a hitch our primary mission
is complete with the tea dress on its
proper orbit now we're working this week
on the secondary experiments will be
glad to talk to those during the
conference and we're looking with
optimistic pleasure to joining everyone
back on the ground this coming Friday
and we're just now approaching the coast
of Baja 160 miles above the ocean and
can go ahead with your questions or
done of the associated press for Don
Tomas I'm wondering if you feel like
you're on a talk show circuit up there
considering some of the questions you've
been asked and doesn't matter what kind
of questions people ask as long as
they're interested in why is it
important to NASA yeah we're happy to
answer any question that the press or
public might have up here we were having
a great time and we're up here to share
this with the rest of the country and
the rest of the world is spectacular
experience of flying its paces Cyrene
brown with UPI your colleagues on sts 71
and mere 18 had some insightful and
poignant remarks on a long-duration low
Earth orbit spaceflight I'm wondering
how you would feel about a three or four
months Space Station research assignment
and if any of you have your names in the
hopper for the shuttle Mir missions at
the scenario of rubber and I would
certainly like to go for three or four
months aboard the mirror
or the International Space Station that
we're going to be building it's there's
some challenges to doing that but I
think the excitement and the benefits
all of to all of the world would be well
worth it
so Seth Borenstein to orlando sentinel
anderson online asked our users to send
in question for you in gorge below
Satellite Beach Florida asked how do you
feel about completing the mission space
shuttle chick space shuttle Challenger
started over nine years ago privileged
to be assigned any space shuttle mission
this one had particular meeting for all
of us because it was a replacement
satellite for the teachers that was lost
on challenger and I think it just speaks
very highly of the way that the agency
has recovered from that I have to do is
look at our first day just absolutely
flawless countdown no problem at all
right on time everything the first day
look as well as I've ever seen anything
on any mission work and we just said
that very very pleased with how the
fishing is gone this is Jim Bank
eoforwic today I guess I'll ask this one
of Tom norm coming back Ameer talked
about psychological aspects cultural
ISIL is isolation and that kind of stuff
could you just talk generically when
you're on a shuttle mission how you guys
on the orbiter stay in touch with what's
going on on space-related world down
here on the ground and how you stay in
touch with your families and could you
give a specific example of how you
exchanged greetings perhaps with your
families we have a computer program that
allows us to transmit messages between
the orbiter and Houston and our family
escorts that are helping the families on
the ground will collect and distribute
those messages so once a day we transmit
personal messages from the orbiter to
our families and when those messages are
uplink to us they also include updates
on major news events sporting events and
anything else that may be of interest to
the crew we also have what we call
private family conferences which give us
an opportunity once during the mission
to talk directly to our immediate family
members through
control and we also have socks on board
this flight and that also gives us one
opportunity during the mission to make a
personal phone call to a family member
peterhall Terry with the West Kentucky
news for Mary Ellen being a rookie on
board when you're here on earth you
don't have to worry about things float
around in front of you do you have to
take any special precautions while
you're breathing make sure you don't
suck in and mms strolling around up
there or maybe a fly maybe well
sometimes I try to second end of any
animals that are floating around but in
general the air is pretty clean up here
and you just live and go about your
business normally there's always a
little bit more of a risk of you getting
something in your eye or getting
something up your nose but we we can
take care of that this is dave lure with
the columbus dispatch in columbus ohio
for commander hendrix today is the
anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11
and I'd like your views anybody else who
wants to comment on whether you would
put a priority on returning to the moon
and why I think nASA has had that as a
goal for at least a decade now is to
return to the moon with the fiscal
reality of the present economy we aren't
going to be able to do that in the near
future and that's why we're
concentrating on endeavors like the
International Space Station and
cooperating with the Russians to make
that an affordable project but long
range definitely we will be going back
to the moon and beyond she'd done at the
AP again for Colonel Henrik's I'm
wondering if you're starting to feel
more like a space salesman than an
astronaut because of all the budget cuts
to the program and when do when does
talking about all this sort of stuff to
people like us start to be intrusive to
your job in orbit well the budget cuts
aren't affecting this mission we're
completing
cedrus system and we were scheduled
years before the cuts began to
materialize as far as this becoming a
generic or everyday activity I think
that still years away but the research
that were conducting now does have
immediate benefit to researchers on the
ground and the experiments that relating
directly now include the bioreactor
experiment the protein crystal growth
experiment and hercules which is a
device that can geolocate images while
we're opening the earth so I think there
is returned that's being generated now
but the majority of the return is yet to
be seen this is irene brown with GPI i
just be interested in Nancy's response
to my earlier question about
long-duration low-earth orbit missions
and how you'd feel if you would take
such a thing would that be too much of a
hardship with separation from your
daughter and your family I taken a
father like that the heartbeat I think a
of us were the were the program is well
looking forward to the years that we're
going to be assembling and then later on
flying on the space station particularly
because it's now such an international
effort as far as any of our families I
think I speaks almost everybody on the
crew that all our families are very
supportive of what we do understand that
we're here to do the job that we do and
accept the separation as a part of that
this is seth borenstein from the Orlando
Sentinel for Colonel Hendricks I believe
you're doing these vision tests on
people who are in their early 40s and I
guess you qualify as the oldest crew
member have you noticed any vision
deterioration and are those vision tests
pretty easy or are they uncomfortable
well the vision function test is a
follow-on this is actually number four
in a series and I had the pleasure of
flying it on one of my previous flights
on a different version and yes I have
noticed some change in my vision on all
that one of the tests that forces us to
react quickly from a far target to a
near-term
it is changing my response time has
changed and I think that's due to the
fluid shifting and changing the shape in
the eyeball a little bit of course we
are doing some sleep shifting so we're
not completely arrest at the moment so
we're not sure exactly which factors
will affect division in this test will
help determine that this is Jim Bankia
Florida today again a question maybe for
Kevin Kriegel since we haven't heard
them yet I think there's still a feeling
here among the general public that once
you guys deployed tea dress the mission
was essentially over of course you're up
there another week why are you still in
space and which one of those secondaries
that you're doing do you think offers
the most practical and immediate benefit
for the average guy on the street well
the reason that we're still up there
space is the initial cost the big
upfront cost is the launch and once you
get that out of the way you might as
well stay up for a while and use a space
and the weight that we have to do some
of these experiments especially some of
the experiments that couldn't justify
the cost of a shuttle mission as Tom
said we've got the crystal growth
experiment which which was flown several
times and and we are seeing some
benefits with any if you're on type
drugs which is going to help the common
person on the streets this a bioreactor
is has great potential for growing
different tissues and maybe organs in
the future they're doing the NIH
experiment to look at several different
things on the exoskeletal system and the
nervous system so we're doing a lawn out
here and I think it's well worth the
time spent up Pete call Terry with the
West Kentucky news this for anyone who
had a good window seat during the ascent
there was quite a spectacular show
during the max Q when there was a lot of
condensation coming off the shuttle it
look real spectacular from here how to
look from inside
we couldn't see anything out of the
front window but during a cent I had my
little hand mirror out and I was able to
look out of the overhead windows and I
could see some of the plumes coming off
their condensation plumes and it was
pretty spectacular from the inside this
state of lawson columbus dispatch for
dr. Webber um as a skydiver are you
looking for any chance to put on the
suit and get outside and is that
possible if the mission remains
trouble-free do you have any influence
on doing that kind of activity of course
doc Pomus and myself would love to get
outside and see what it's like out there
but we'll only do that make it in the
case of an equipment malfunction and
none of us on board are hoping that that
happened so maybe the next slide
discovery stand by now for Louis PA oh
good morning discovery this is luis PA
oh how do you hear me come on Cleveland
Ron Claire good morning this is Harry
boomer from Cleveland television news
channels 19 and 43 how are you this
morning we're having a great day here
and orbit our things and Cleveland a
little hot but it's kind of nice how do
you guys pull off getting an all Ohio
crew up there well it's not Italian Ohio
crew the governor helped make it in Ohio
crew by christening Kevin kriegel as an
honorary Buckeye it's quite by a
coincidence the one thing it does
influence it is the fact that Ohio has
produced more astronauts than any other
state and it was just by coincidence
that four out of five of us claim Ohio
with our home
yo Froelich from the Cleveland Plain
Dealer for Mary Ellen Weber and Kevin
kriegel but before you fly you here a
lot before you fly you hear a lot from
other astronauts about the experience of
law on tune of being in space what are
your sort of initial impressions on that
what are you going to be telling other
astronauts other future astronauts when
you get back well now I have to go
having gone through it I understand why
everybody has said that is just
spectacular and indescribable and it
really is it's it's just an incredible
feeling being on top of this rock and
feeling doing the sheer power and force
of it as far as the weightlessness it's
again until you actually experience it
words can't quite describe it so I have
a few more days to work out how I'll
explain that down to the folks to the
ground this is puerile Wilkinson with WJ
WTVA here in Cleveland I have a question
for you i can remember back when men was
trying to get to the moon when
astronauts were trying to reach out and
and just take the universe and bring it
closer to earth are you something that
same sort of excitement or has the
excitement about dust they shuttles and
mission to other planets died down a bit
i think i speak for everyone we wouldn't
be in this job if the excitement had
died down we still think that we're on
the frontier and part of building the
future for us and going out to space
with the space station back to the moon
back to Mars it's it's a long haul and
we're still real excited about being
part of that this is steve green from
3wd radio in Cleveland I got a question
about music every morning that there's a
mission with the spate any of the space
shuttle so you guys wake up to music in
the morning and being that you guys have
mostly Ohio crew you've got your new
york crew member as well how you know it
seems like you've got the perfect
promotional team for the Rock and Roll
Hall
bring over us what you got to say about
the rock hall in Cleveland well as a
matter of fact we are flying an item in
our special flight data file for the
Rock and Roll Hall of flame same and
after the flight we plan on visiting
Cleveland to help commemorate the grand
opening and return that item hi this is
jackal mclean from channel 5 right
question is really basic what's it like
to be up to space well it's a very
pleasant experience to be here in
microgravity it's physically effortless
as you can see we're floating free here
the only thing we're doing to making a
position is flying our feet under
something the experience of looking out
the window is absolutely spectacular you
cannot get enough of it even on a dark
path with the Moodle at night that we
are experiencing now we can see cloud
tops you look down and you see how
fragile our atmosphere is you realize
that even you at the Lewis Research
Center are traveling on a spaceship and
it's the one way all shared called the
planet Earth Harry boomer from channels
19 and 43 again see you guys are having
to try and scary yourselves there how
difficult is it for you maintain the
posture you have right now instead of
floating around the cabin there it's
pretty difficult we learned that
yesterday during one of our events
that's why the three of us in the back I
thought against the wall secured by the
sleeping bags that we use and Tom
Mariona and foot restraints so the first
couple days to get your rates down it's
very easy to as somewhat get out of
control particularly at the mid deck of
the wide open area Carol Wilkinson was
wjw tv8 again a question for the ladies
on board do you think emissions like
this are the pathway to us seeing more
women in space
more women as part of the space program
and more women traveling in space in the
future yes I think more and more women
will be traveling in space to health
careers in the background open as more
and more women go into those kinds of
fields and get the necessary education
they will more and more will be selected
as astronauts so I think the future is
very right for the women of our country
this is a jackal McLean against chap I
you guys are in your fourth day right
now how would you rate it so far is
eight days too long to be up there or do
you think missions to even go longer I
was on a 15-day flight a year ago up in
orbit on sts 65 and they keep us so busy
on these missions at 15 days was a
pretty good workout we were all
exhausted when we landed on that one and
talking to other crew members and I
thought with some Russians and everybody
seems to agree about a seven or eight de
mission such as we have here is just
about perfect eat green from three w/e
again you guys have had some troubles
with woodpeckers on your way up are you
looking forward to them when you get
back and maybe will you bring a
woodpecker Ricky in the future so as a
matter of fact we do have a mascot on
board and there's also one in Mission
Control we realize that the Kennedy
Space Center shares that territory with
a bird sanctuary and the birds took
their toll on this flight but again the
troops there at the Kennedy Space Center
did the correct thing and patch those up
and got us off safely as far as they're
looking forward to our return to Earth
we're looking forward to going back to
the Kennedy Space Center and thanking
those thousands of people that have made
this vehicle Wallace we have not had one
anomaly on this flight its operating
perfectly and whether they're having fun
with the birds or not they're doing a
great job at the Kennedy Space Center
you
discovery we're with you on in the deck
you can see a Don has his hair ball he
turned on I understand
this is Mission Control Houston this
discovery go ahead Don Tom I'm at step 5
on page 17 I just put the g3 plus
cartridge into the TCPA and I got a
message it says to replace with another
cartridge it says analyzer interrupted
use another cartridge code number eight
the copy let us check sis Mission
Control Houston this television shows
the bioreactor development system of
which shed on Thomas onboard discovery
was just talking with Mission Control
about that's one of the secondary
experiments are currently on the lower
deck of the spacecraft it does studies
the growth of cell cultures in
weightlessness I using a cylindrical
vessel for their growth cell cultures I
believe to be able to be grown night in
a much more precise and the identical
fashion in weightlessness said then can
be performed in our gravity due to the
fact that pain weightlessness they can
be flown again in this grown in this
cylindrical vessel with no pressure
points I since they're floating in the
middle and the rotating cylinder serves
to provide nutrients constantly
surrounding those samples currently
Thomas is working to take a standard
daily sample of the medium in the
bioreactor development tet system that's
done each day as part of the experiment
you
this is Mission Control Houston this
television view from discovery shows
mission specialist Nancy Korea taking a
microbial sample of water supply on
board the spacecraft this experiment is
being done as a method of evaluating us
and surgeons really interested in this
video and appreciates the time spent
getting it that's our job
I use discovery now you should be seeing
live downlink of BDS and we have that
discovery looks fine this view shows the
medium in the bioreactor development
system the rotating cylinder that's uh
being studied as a cell culture growth
the device on board shuttle again this
device allows a cell cultures to grow
with no pressure points at in the
weightlessness of orbit which cannot be
achieved in laboratories on earth
discovery Houston teachers even now
marklar discovery Houston nice view of
Chantal we're slapping away