you
well just on behalf of the crew we'd
like to take this opportunity while
we're all together I'll awake at once
and as a thank you to the thousands of
people in Vegas five possible study at
KSC when they made the historic
turnaround in record-breaking time and
then the flight itself which has just
been flawless Columbia has performed
absolutely flawless flawless bleep worse
at the days have gone by without having
to do an air laundry set which is our
way of Santa just have been no problems
whatsoever the people at Mission Control
have been looking over my shoulder
coming up though with the daily plan and
we were talking to elevate them it has
been so smooth that we simply haven't
had to talk to the ground the whole rod
to Mission Control which makes it seem
like there's nothing going on but it
really means is that the pilot they come
up with every day we executed and we
don't have a lot of questions a lot of
problems with us so we can press forth
so overall flavor for this flight is in
it it has done what 83 had set out to do
we have completed our tans just about
him will be ready to come home on
Thursday sonam well we're more than
happy to imitating a question hi this is
nedra Pickler from the Houston Chronicle
anyone can jump in on this one maybe you
commander house call so now that you
you're beginning flight day 15 can you
talk about any problems that have come
up with such a long mission as NASA
prepares for longer missions with the
space station talk about how you have
been affected physically and mentally by
being in space for two weeks over 16
days the physically what you notice is
that you do need to continue exercising
we have an odometer which allows us to
exercise and we try to get about 30
minutes per person per day and we have
learned already in the program but
that's an important thing for a sure it
also do it really helps your riad apt
asian to one's you when you come back
home and that's merely by what the
Russians have learned they put even more
emphasis on exercise every day i read
that they were doing up to two hours per
day on the bike expecially prior to
career a maelstrom Earth's atmosphere at
the end of the nation so that's I think
that's the one thing you need to
concentrate on we know we know that you
get dehydrated up here so we try to pay
attention to drinking enough liquids
every day to make sure that we keep the
blood volume up
over the long term you lose bone calcium
and some other long term effective which
we really don't have to worry about so
much on a on a 16-day fly but one thing
I have been happy about very happy about
on this cruise we've all stayed healthy
we've had no cold as you can imagine
being cooped up in a small space like
this if one person comes down with the
flu or the cold or virus it's quite
possible for it to sweep among the whole
crew we just have not had that everybody
a state very very healthy and that has
made this right very pleasurable for
Janice can you talk about how you see
this mission helping in future space
exploration the primary focuses this
mission of course is to bring research
results back for people to use on the
ground some of those results can also be
used in space in particular we have many
experiments on this flight the Express
rack for example that are targeted
towards the International Space Station
we're using them this flight as a test
bed to 10 some of these out early on is
we're still building the hardware for
Space Station the combustion module that
we just are in the process of finishing
Apple to go after runs on today and
tomorrow is a kind of space station
experiment where you can stage the
hardware during the flight and we're
allowed to change experiment as we go on
an evolution of space station that's
example of things that are directly
targeted towards space future programs
but most of this ninety percent work up
here is targeted towards improving
systems on earth your flight is is
certainly very similar to what I think a
lot of us can expect when space station
operations began in a few years and it's
certainly been as big a success and it's
right in terms of goals accomplished as
the Mars Pathfinder for example yet
pathfinder has certainly generated much
more public interest and I'm curious if
if any of you would have any thoughts
about this is that a problem for space
station down the road is it difficult to
sell the kind of science that you're
going to be doing on the station versus
the high drama missions like a Mars
Pathfinder or one of the planetary
flights
I don't think so i think in the short
term to think about the mars pathfinder
which are truly great achievements
really sparked the public interest and
that's really good for the space program
in general as we start building the
space station i think you'll see a lot
of public interest and then as the
science results start feeding back into
society on earth and really improving
the quality of life i think people will
really come to appreciate just exactly
what we're doing in space and what a
fine investment in the future of the
country in the world that it is just
looking back at the at this flight which
has been obviously a major success i
guess for you guys in terms of your of
your goals what is the significance of
it long term i realize you don't have
results yet but i'm thinking in terms of
is this an incremental step forward and
the kind of research you're doing are
you making major steps forward I'm how
would you how would you describe the
scientific significance of it Thanks the
nature of research in general not just
in this program but and all over the
research programs everywhere is an
evolutionary process you build on the
research that came after you and you
seem to do that came before you and you
see do the research that comes after you
and this flight is a perfect example of
all those various ranges the combustion
experiments by a large on this flight
are first-time Flyers are doing very
basic research that's never been done
anywhere else before some of the
experiments like the protein crystal
growth experiments of one of a long
series that started way back in the
early days of the space program and
built on ground based research and
continues to build a new ground based
research we expect that to become a big
player and future space programs but
it's in the middle of its evolution and
you can't point to this flight as being
particularly significant some of the
other experiments like the space station
as we talked about earlier a part of a
design process so there's a big range of
things here like know that we'll be able
to point to any single experiment and
say this one was really a pathfinder but
I think you'll find that the suite of
experiments we have on board as has been
true of all the space on missions in the
past and hopefully in the future all
contributing good science and good
results to help improve all those
programs
kasumi we have a little bit of what
we've been doing over over the dough
today and they will follow it up with a
couple of live internet questions okay
we've already told you about asset opt
VA that it's a plant growth experiment
what we want to show you today at that
is in fact we do have some growth during
their last two weeks concentrate on the
center top of the screen the large broad
leaf plant there and see how it changes
here as we flick over that's about that
that's about 12 days worth of growth in
space you'll see some of the plants are
bigger with more leaves on it also this
plan is designed or this experiment is
designed just to understand basic plant
growth and how it differs in zero
gravity another major facilities that we
have back in the space that modules call
the express rack this is actually a
piece of the international space station
will be launching in very short few
months here this rack is designed to
accommodate mid-deck Locker type
experiment so that we'll be able to
launch experiments in the shuttle in the
mid deck area and then transfer them
over to the space station where they'll
be mounted in the Express rats operate
there and part of this mission what we
did on day two was take an experiment
that was mounted in the mid deck for
launch we transferred back to the space
lab module and today we were
transferring that back in the mid deck
to get ready for landing we unbolted we
transferred through the tunnel and here
we're reinserting it down in the
mid-deck the locker position weary
bolted in there and we're ready to come
home and power it on like I said this is
actually a piece of the space station
were flying today and worked this great
it was a superb way to start the space
station era this combustion module one
experiment is also a precursor to space
station operations operational equipment
the idea here is that we have separate
experiment modules that can be inserted
into the combustion chamber as necessary
fortunately on our chart mission so far
we've been able to get so much done in
the time available because of the great
planning from the cloud tip then were
able to put this module back in and do
some more experiments with it it was
already in
the first half of the mission this is a
laminar sub processes experiment and the
purpose is to study stood formation what
question it comes up again to the essay
is what where do we burn these little
fires and this is one of the combustion
chambers in which we might the little
flyers for study there's a lot that goes
over this and then another panel also so
it's all filled up very certainly from
the chain of the module where we're
working and thought McCroskey from
summers Michigan wants to know what
types of computers to fly on board well
the general-purpose computers that
actually took all the shadowless keep
all the systems of the truck shuttle or
the control over 580 101 we also carry
two 386 and 946 big pads and one
Panasonic for the commander and pilots
to practice approaches and landings
Richard from Albany Georgia wants to
know how we sleep and if it's
comfortable so this is a sleep station
we're taking a large inside where the
space shuttle Columbia sleep stations we
have sleeping bags the compartments not
very large this is Roger clouds he's
climbing in to go to sleep with evening
he climbs into the sweetest bag fix it
up he stops himself down both across his
chest and across his head and closes the
door it's very quiet and dark inside I
find it very comfortable I do not shut
myself down I float around inside all
night so sometimes it can be difficult
finding the door in the morning because
it's so dark in there
back on the flight deck and I think this
might be our final crew choice down lake
for the mission and we wanted to thank
everybody thank you especially all those
people at Mission Control that have been
with us all along for all these numbers
of days and we hope to a clean up pack
up and bring home a healthy clean happy
they sell Columbia med Papa Doc Columbia
Houston we copy all and I especially
appreciate a very healthy Columbia and
also for the rest of the team we
appreciate all the great downlink you've
given us if we feel like we've been on
board right with you hello does Dan
Goldin Who am I speaking to
good morning I think it is mr. golden no
good afternoon sorry good afternoon mr.
go count commander Janet's boss and a
specialist Roger crouch and this is
specialist Mike there had a ready to
talk to you and looking for a good Roger
is upside down again or is he right side
up salome our perspective sir well let
me turn it over to the senator you're
his constituent and I think he'd like to
talk to you Roger good talk to you again
I'll tell you it seems like yesterday
that we were talking to the students at
the john sevier middle middle school in
Kingsport and they were asking you
asking you what it's like to be
weightless and looking at you upside
down I'll have to ask that question once
again for them what's it feel like to be
talking upside down that's pretty
awesome actually it's there's no
perception of upside in my brain right
now as I looked in the length of the
Spacelab thinks this is I can light it
all in an airplane or something like
that so it's just a matter of
perspective as i said earlier but it's
really a great feeling to be up here I
wish it I could describe it so that it
could people could relate today that
it's incredible right I need to do two
things I talked to your mother about 30
minutes ago in Pinterest County and she
said that she talked to you last week
but as you were flying over Africa you
went so fast she didn't get a chance to
say i love you so i'm going to pass that
on and if she's counting the hours till
you get back home so i'm going to get
that in real quick real quick I really
appreciate that moms really been
tracking this thing so I'm sure she's
keeping everybody straight back there in
Tennessee oh great Roger listen uh I did
to also talk to one of the students that
you and I talked by video conferencing
when you were in my office and we talked
back to Tennessee and I called Terry
Taylor who is 13 years old in the eighth
grade there and she says two questions
one question as an astronaut in space do
you think we'll ever be able to live out
in space and even on other planets I'll
let you answer that
first I think certainly will be able to
live in n-space incredible how the body
can adapt you as a softer know that the
drop in two bodies an incredible miracle
almost every day the way that it copes
with things them into space is not a
problem the only problem is the shock of
going into and out of a real severely
different environment like 1g and low G
so but when you're here it's just it's
just a great feeling a great place to be
other planets I think will be the same
issue that there will be the travel to
that planet where your body will
acclimate to space and then or low
gravity environment and then acclimating
to the T level on that planet will be a
shot for the body but the body will
adapt quickly I think well that is great
an hour hopefully she's watching this
right now and I'll pass that on to her
she's going to be going to space camp in
Huntsville later this month and she
asked me to ask you if you feel that
this was a good learning experience for
kids to learn what astronauts do that is
going to space camp oh well that cannon
spots answer that chief familiar with
the Space Camp I think it's a great
opportunity but Janice so I get that
question a lot from the children that I
talk to the various public speaking
things that we do and I've never been to
space camp it false because that program
came into effect after I was passed that
time frame but i have talked with many
many children and parents semester that
programs have been through the program
several times and they all come back
very excited and if I might have a much
better appreciation for what we do up
here it's a very well run program and
it's good to go through a get out of it
fortunately they say that we need to
terminate our conversation but I'll tell
you Mike and Janice and Roger it is a
real privilege and a real pleasure for
me as a scientist as someone who admires
so much what you're doing to be able to
talk to you directly you're an
inspiration for the country and
inspiration for students who are
studying science and an inspiration for
all of us well thank you very much
senator and I really appreciate you
taking time out of your busy schedule to
call us today we
that you're a very interested person in
education in the country and one of the
things that we're real interested in is
contacting the children and getting them
interested in science and education and
we think the space program has a real
mission in that field
you