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aboard the international space station

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expedition 24 flight engineers doug

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wheelock tracy caldwell dyson and

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shannon walker fielded questions about

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life and work in space from ktrh radio

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in houston and the houston chronicle

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during a series of in-flight interviews

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on july 6th

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walker who launched to the station june

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16th on a russian soyuz rocket is the

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first native-born houstonian to fly in

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space all right excellent

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shannon walker uh you and you have a

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i was going to say a fellow woman aboard

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that doesn't quite work does it

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flight engineer tracy caldwell dyson

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with you as well

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has it become kind of a click there

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no i wouldn't say it's a click at all we

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douglas we're like i have to know what

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was it like for all of you to spend

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well it was a it was really a great

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treat of course it was it was a busy day

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for us because it was the day that our

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progress resupply ship docked uh that

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day on their second attempt and so it

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was a it was a great day for us and very

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successful day

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and it was um

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it was uh actually very nostalgic for me

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it was uh we got to spend some time with

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our russian uh partners and uh just

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celebrating our independence uh in the

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u.s and uh and um they were uh they

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celebrated with us and it was uh it was

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quite a quite an awesome moment to look

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uh on our world and and understand that

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we have

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no borders from this vantage point and

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uh it was uh just a great uh day of

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celebration

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i have to know if you were able to see

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any of the fireworks from your vantage

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unfortunately no we could not see any of

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shannon you were the first houston

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native to launch into space i'm guessing

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i did i have a few mementos from houston

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i have a

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little plaque from rice university which

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is my alma mater and then i also have a

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a poster from the university of houston

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where my father taught for many many

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what is uh the the real mission that

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you're particularly following there

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shannon is this uh

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i guess it's all laid out in advance

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what what exactly are you doing while

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well doing during the six months that uh

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i'll be here we actually have all of us

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have a variety of jobs and it just

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depends on

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what the needs of the ground are we do

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everything from science lots of

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different kinds of science to

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maintenance and repairs

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so i can't tell you exactly one

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particular thing that i'm doing because

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we're doing lots of different things

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while we're here

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tracy caldwell dyson to you

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while

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the astronauts there will be present for

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the end of the shuttle program

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this has got to be a busy time for you

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but yet bittersweet and nostalgic at the

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yeah i have to say

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it it's been busy since i got here about

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three months ago and

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it's just now starting to kind of even

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out as we uh

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um look forward to our our spacewalks

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and some robotic arm operations and

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there will be a shuttle coming after i

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leave um

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and from that respect yeah it's uh it's

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going to be bittersweet to leave this

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space station which is just uh

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an amazing

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vehicle and in a in a most miraculous

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place to be honest

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but then to um to see our shuttles

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make their last flights to uh to space

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and back

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it

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brings a lot of joy knowing that

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they've been so successful and they've

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got us to where we are now

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but we definitely are going to miss

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tracy i'd like to know what you think at

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this point will be your most important

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memory from your experiences on the

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wow

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that is a hard one

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to date i guess my

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one of one of the most profound uh

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memories i have is when we

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said goodbye to our uh expedition 23

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crewmates as they made their way back to

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mother earth

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and

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the three uh

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the three of us that flew up here

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together

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alexander and mikhail and myself were

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left alone on the space station for

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about two weeks before my expedition 24

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crewmates arrived and i remember

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thinking one night

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that there were only three people in

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space and i was one of them and that was

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uh

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a pretty emotional moment for me

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um but i hope that those memories aren't

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over yet we still got a little bit of

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time left a half a an increment three

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months to go and a space walk to look

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forward to and just a lot of fun with my

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crew mates here

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doug wheel like i have to ask you pretty

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much the same thing if you have a memory

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that you would like to bring back with

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you has it already been made are you

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well uh

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there are surprises that wait around

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each corner while you're here in space

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and so uh

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we had one of those this weekend and

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when we had to try again to redock this

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vehicle and so um

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each day is is sort of magical in itself

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up here um

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from the

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the sub-systems on the space station to

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uh visiting vehicles and things and

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doing a spacewalk has its own challenges

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and its own uh

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real personal memories uh as we get to

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experience that next month but um i

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think uh i think it's just the

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the collection of uh of daily memories

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up here that uh i'm trying to keep a

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journal and and just kind of

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catalog those things

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shannon walker i'd like to ask if

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there's any message that you would like

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to convey to your

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i guess i would say classmates at

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westbury high school where you attended

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here in houston what would you like to

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say to those kids who some of whom may

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be looking forward to a career like

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well i certainly hope that some of them

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will be looking forward to a career like

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mine i would say to the kids uh

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persevere life gives you a lot of

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challenges but if you

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work hard you can overcome just about

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any challenge or obstacle in your path

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and

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always pursue your dreams maintain

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maintain awareness of what you want out

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of life and always work towards it it

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may not always be easy but you can get

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where you want to be

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tracy dyson to you if you could make one

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comment

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to the white house the bush

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administration don't want to take this

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political that is for sure but if you

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could ask what is in store for this

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program you don't want to be in the dr

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in the passenger seat you want to stay

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in the driver's seat

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what would be your pitch to keep our

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oh to put it in a nutshell i mean look

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at look at what we've done

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and i'm not just talking about we nasa

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i'm talking about we as a world we

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um we're a collective country um

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we have put men on the moon we have um

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we have brought things back to earth uh

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as a result of

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developing technologies to get us here

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into space we've built this incredible

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space station and it wasn't alone we did

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it with our partner nations of russia

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japan

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europe all over the world and we've

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brought them together here in space we

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assembled this this incredible vehicle

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in space and um gosh if that isn't worth

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continuing um then i don't know what is

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so i would say

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to the white house and our president

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that

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invest in our future because we've got a

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lot a lot of kids out there that are

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looking forward to getting here and to

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getting us beyond and we can't let them

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down

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shannon walker back to you a very quick

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answer because we're almost out of time

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what what exactly would do you think

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that the space program will be okay

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i think the space program will have

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different challenges without the shuttle

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we've certainly lost

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a capability at least in the short term

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to

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haul large amounts of cargo massive

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amounts of cargo into space and we've

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lost the capability to bring lots of

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hardware home and that's going to

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present different challenges for us to

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maintain and work on the space station

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to tracy caldwell dyson shannon walker

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doug willock thank you so much for

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taking the time to talk with us and safe

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thank you very much

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station this is houston acr that

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concludes the ktrh portion of the event

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please stand by for a voice check from

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the houston chronicle

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we hear you loud and clear on the

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station well great good morning um

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i guess first of all a question for

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shannon maybe talk about your feelings

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when you first reached the station were

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you

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relieved to be out of the soyuz capsule

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or was it were there other feelings

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oh there were a lot of feelings going

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through my mind i was very excited to be

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on the station after having

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worked on the ground for so many years

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watching the station being assembled and

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working to maintain it and and get it up

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and running it was just so incredibly

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exciting to actually be here to live on

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it um

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the soyuz is a wonderful spacecraft but

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it is small so it was nice to have a

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little bit more space to move around in

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and and doug i guess it's been almost

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three years since you were last the

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the the changes have been incredible we

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um on sts-120 back in 2007 we brought up

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the node two and so i was thinking about

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it the other day and we were actually

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docked and the uh shuttle discovery to

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the front the front end of the lab at

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that time and now there's so there's so

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much usable uh volume

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uh in laboratories forward of the lab

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now that it's just the uh the u.s

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segment has

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literally doubled in size or even even

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greater and so

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it's a tremendous uh

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it's a tremendous vehicle and it's uh it

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looks so much different as we're

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approaching it now

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as i approached it back three years ago

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all the solar arrays are installed now

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and

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it's a fantastic flying machine

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and and tracy maybe talk a little bit

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about what it's like to have another

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it's awesome

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no no it is nice because now i'm not the

281
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only one that gets the finger pointed at

282
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them when there's long hair stuck in

283
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someone's food or in their face no it's

284
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a delight to have shannon up here and to

285
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uh

286
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to we're kindred spirits and we're not

287
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really sure if that's because we're both

288
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female or just because we're a lot alike

289
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but um

290
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it is nice and

291
00:12:14,310 --> 00:12:12,399
a pleasant change to uh to have a lady

292
00:12:16,150 --> 00:12:14,320
on board with me yeah

293
00:12:18,629 --> 00:12:16,160
hey so it's already been an active

294
00:12:20,550 --> 00:12:18,639
atlantic hurricane season down here did

295
00:12:27,430 --> 00:12:20,560
anyone uh for a chance see hurricane

296
00:12:31,430 --> 00:12:29,509
our own alexander did actually the

297
00:12:33,430 --> 00:12:31,440
commander of the space station

298
00:12:34,150 --> 00:12:33,440
was trying desperately to get pictures

299
00:12:36,710 --> 00:12:34,160
of

300
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the hurricane and out his

301
00:12:40,550 --> 00:12:39,279
crew quarter window and uh much to his

302
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uh

303
00:12:45,590 --> 00:12:42,560
um i guess disappointment you could say

304
00:12:47,829 --> 00:12:45,600
in a in a in one light that he was he

305
00:12:50,710 --> 00:12:47,839
said that it looked mainly like a

306
00:12:52,629 --> 00:12:50,720
a block of clouds like a

307
00:12:54,150 --> 00:12:52,639
a blanket of clouds and you couldn't

308
00:12:56,230 --> 00:12:54,160
really make out the structure too well

309
00:12:57,190 --> 00:12:56,240
of the hurricane well unfortunately i

310
00:12:59,509 --> 00:12:57,200
think he's going to have other

311
00:13:00,949 --> 00:12:59,519
opportunities in the coming months

312
00:13:02,870 --> 00:13:00,959
what about the oil spill have any of you

313
00:13:10,310 --> 00:13:02,880
seen that from space and how is that

314
00:13:15,430 --> 00:13:12,870
of course it's it's just tragic uh

315
00:13:17,110 --> 00:13:15,440
the bits of news that we get up here i

316
00:13:19,990 --> 00:13:17,120
was able to look out

317
00:13:22,949 --> 00:13:20,000
yesterday and out of the service module

318
00:13:25,350 --> 00:13:22,959
windows in the russian segment and we

319
00:13:29,030 --> 00:13:25,360
saw a little bit of the um

320
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of the oil from stretching from uh uh

321
00:13:34,470 --> 00:13:32,000
new orleans over to the um uh to the

322
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western coast of well alabama

323
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the gulf shores area

324
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and um

325
00:13:42,389 --> 00:13:40,000
just tragic and and another day i saw

326
00:13:43,910 --> 00:13:42,399
some of the fires that were burning

327
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that they had burning off some of the

328
00:13:49,350 --> 00:13:46,480
oil in the middle of the gulf

329
00:13:50,790 --> 00:13:49,360
i saw that as well and um just tragic

330
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and we hope

331
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and pray that we're able to get a get

332
00:13:59,590 --> 00:13:57,750
shannon your the blog you've been

333
00:14:01,030 --> 00:13:59,600
writing has been there's been a lot of

334
00:14:02,790 --> 00:14:01,040
really good response to that from

335
00:14:04,470 --> 00:14:02,800
readers so thank you for doing that i

336
00:14:06,230 --> 00:14:04,480
wanted to ask you what it's like to

337
00:14:10,470 --> 00:14:06,240
access the internet from space is that

338
00:14:14,230 --> 00:14:12,310
you know that's kind of funny you ask it

339
00:14:16,710 --> 00:14:14,240
is a little bit challenging and to be

340
00:14:18,870 --> 00:14:16,720
honest to date i have not um done that

341
00:14:21,030 --> 00:14:18,880
yet it takes a quite a bit of time to

342
00:14:23,430 --> 00:14:21,040
access the internet and our connection

343
00:14:25,990 --> 00:14:23,440
to the ground is is definitely not a

344
00:14:28,389 --> 00:14:26,000
broadband connection so um because i'm

345
00:14:30,310 --> 00:14:28,399
so busy during the day i have not

346
00:14:31,910 --> 00:14:30,320
had the opportunity to access the

347
00:14:33,670 --> 00:14:31,920
internet but it's good to hear that

348
00:14:35,829 --> 00:14:33,680
people are enjoying the blog and i will

349
00:14:37,590 --> 00:14:35,839
i will definitely keep writing

350
00:14:39,269 --> 00:14:37,600
oh thank you um

351
00:14:42,069 --> 00:14:39,279
tracy i wanted to ask you sort of about

352
00:14:43,509 --> 00:14:42,079
as the the construction winds up and you

353
00:14:45,590 --> 00:14:43,519
really sort of get into operational

354
00:14:47,110 --> 00:14:45,600
phase with the space station maybe talk

355
00:14:48,949 --> 00:14:47,120
a little bit about

356
00:14:50,150 --> 00:14:48,959
maybe one of the scientific experiments

357
00:14:52,150 --> 00:14:50,160
that you're working on or that you're

358
00:14:53,670 --> 00:14:52,160
familiar with that you think is is

359
00:14:58,629 --> 00:14:53,680
interesting has some potential for some

360
00:15:03,670 --> 00:15:00,870
what to say that um there's a lot of

361
00:15:04,629 --> 00:15:03,680
interesting science going on up here and

362
00:15:07,509 --> 00:15:04,639
uh

363
00:15:09,430 --> 00:15:07,519
right now we're all involved in in

364
00:15:12,949 --> 00:15:09,440
certain aspects of

365
00:15:15,430 --> 00:15:12,959
the human research and development we

366
00:15:17,110 --> 00:15:15,440
are taking blood and urine samples

367
00:15:19,030 --> 00:15:17,120
based off of a

368
00:15:21,269 --> 00:15:19,040
nutritional study that we're doing to

369
00:15:24,150 --> 00:15:21,279
help understand the effects of

370
00:15:26,150 --> 00:15:24,160
potassium on bone loss

371
00:15:28,949 --> 00:15:26,160
like i said we ourselves are subjects

372
00:15:30,629 --> 00:15:28,959
and um there was there's much

373
00:15:33,030 --> 00:15:30,639
work that we do on the ground prior to

374
00:15:34,870 --> 00:15:33,040
launching actually that uh goes into the

375
00:15:37,670 --> 00:15:34,880
study as well as when we when we come

376
00:15:40,230 --> 00:15:37,680
back home so that's kind of ongoing um

377
00:15:42,790 --> 00:15:40,240
and as shannon mentioned before we we're

378
00:15:44,870 --> 00:15:42,800
doing various experiments up here on a

379
00:15:46,710 --> 00:15:44,880
daily basis and

380
00:15:49,030 --> 00:15:46,720
i might be working one day on on this

381
00:15:51,110 --> 00:15:49,040
one particular experiment and then

382
00:15:53,269 --> 00:15:51,120
doug or shannon will be coming after me

383
00:15:56,870 --> 00:15:53,279
to finish it up but one that i'm

384
00:15:59,269 --> 00:15:56,880
consistent with uh recently is one that

385
00:16:01,990 --> 00:15:59,279
is called coarsening

386
00:16:03,829 --> 00:16:02,000
and it involves um two metal alloys that

387
00:16:05,590 --> 00:16:03,839
are um

388
00:16:08,550 --> 00:16:05,600
together in a and we're looking at

389
00:16:12,470 --> 00:16:08,560
combustion of these particles and

390
00:16:13,350 --> 00:16:12,480
to see to to understand um better uh how

391
00:16:15,829 --> 00:16:13,360
uh

392
00:16:18,150 --> 00:16:15,839
combustion works in in rocket engines

393
00:16:20,629 --> 00:16:18,160
and and to see uh how we can improve on

394
00:16:23,110 --> 00:16:20,639
that system and really i am not the

395
00:16:24,710 --> 00:16:23,120
brain of the operation i am really just

396
00:16:26,150 --> 00:16:24,720
the hands-on

397
00:16:28,470 --> 00:16:26,160
technician if you will i'm the one that

398
00:16:30,389 --> 00:16:28,480
puts the experiment together up here

399
00:16:32,870 --> 00:16:30,399
the hardware pieces and i flip the

400
00:16:34,949 --> 00:16:32,880
switches and tell the ground what i see

401
00:16:36,710 --> 00:16:34,959
it's really the the brains behind it all

402
00:16:38,790 --> 00:16:36,720
are the people that are

403
00:16:40,629 --> 00:16:38,800
on the ground uh the the principal

404
00:16:41,990 --> 00:16:40,639
investigators the scientists who dreamed

405
00:16:42,949 --> 00:16:42,000
up these experiments and they're the

406
00:16:44,550 --> 00:16:42,959
ones that

407
00:16:46,870 --> 00:16:44,560
can speak beautifully about their

408
00:16:49,509 --> 00:16:46,880
experiments all we can really uh shed

409
00:16:51,749 --> 00:16:49,519
light on are the fantastic setups that

410
00:16:54,710 --> 00:16:51,759
we perform up here

411
00:16:56,470 --> 00:16:54,720
well that was pretty modest thank you

412
00:16:58,550 --> 00:16:56,480
shannon aside from your family what what

413
00:17:00,870 --> 00:16:58,560
do you miss most so far about

414
00:17:06,069 --> 00:17:00,880
being away from houston uh and sort of

415
00:17:09,429 --> 00:17:07,909
that's a good question i think um it

416
00:17:11,189 --> 00:17:09,439
would probably be all the wonderful

417
00:17:13,110 --> 00:17:11,199
restaurants that we have in houston uh

418
00:17:14,230 --> 00:17:13,120
houston such a fantastic restaurant town

419
00:17:16,549 --> 00:17:14,240
and just the

420
00:17:19,110 --> 00:17:16,559
variety and food and being able to go

421
00:17:21,590 --> 00:17:19,120
out and get you know mexican one night

422
00:17:23,829 --> 00:17:21,600
and indian food the next night and

423
00:17:27,110 --> 00:17:23,839
thai food we have a lot of variety on

424
00:17:29,350 --> 00:17:27,120
orbit but it's just not quite the same

425
00:17:30,789 --> 00:17:29,360
i can imagine

426
00:17:32,870 --> 00:17:30,799
doug let's talk a little bit about the

427
00:17:35,190 --> 00:17:32,880
difference of visiting being a visitor

428
00:17:37,669 --> 00:17:35,200
to the space station for a couple weeks

429
00:17:39,990 --> 00:17:37,679
on the shuttle and actually living now

430
00:17:41,110 --> 00:17:40,000
on the station for six months is it talk

431
00:17:45,029 --> 00:17:41,120
about the differences in those

432
00:17:48,390 --> 00:17:45,830
well

433
00:17:50,150 --> 00:17:48,400
huge huge huge difference uh and when i

434
00:17:52,150 --> 00:17:50,160
was thinking about this and tracy and i

435
00:17:54,070 --> 00:17:52,160
are getting ready to do a spacewalk in

436
00:17:57,110 --> 00:17:54,080
in about a month and um

437
00:17:59,029 --> 00:17:57,120
and one of the one of the uh biggest

438
00:18:01,430 --> 00:17:59,039
things that when you're just visiting on

439
00:18:03,430 --> 00:18:01,440
a shuttle you don't have much time

440
00:18:05,029 --> 00:18:03,440
to learn how to control your body

441
00:18:06,789 --> 00:18:05,039
whether it's floating around inside of

442
00:18:10,070 --> 00:18:06,799
the station or working on the outside of

443
00:18:11,909 --> 00:18:10,080
the station it's uh it's very much a a

444
00:18:14,789 --> 00:18:11,919
work

445
00:18:17,510 --> 00:18:14,799
it's an art rather than a science uh

446
00:18:19,830 --> 00:18:17,520
controlling your body positioning

447
00:18:22,470 --> 00:18:19,840
and uh and and your accelerations and

448
00:18:24,789 --> 00:18:22,480
things on on your on your body and so

449
00:18:26,310 --> 00:18:24,799
so um that's that's one of the first

450
00:18:28,710 --> 00:18:26,320
things i've noticed that we've gotten a

451
00:18:30,950 --> 00:18:28,720
lot of practice doing that and i think

452
00:18:33,830 --> 00:18:30,960
that will certainly make a

453
00:18:36,789 --> 00:18:33,840
an eva a spacewalk a little we'll have a

454
00:18:38,630 --> 00:18:36,799
little more finesse in that respect

455
00:18:40,150 --> 00:18:38,640
the other is just sort of pacing

456
00:18:42,789 --> 00:18:40,160
yourself

457
00:18:46,630 --> 00:18:42,799
the shuttle flights tend to be uh kind

458
00:18:49,830 --> 00:18:46,640
of a sprint and uh very very packed days

459
00:18:51,110 --> 00:18:49,840
and um and very little margin for uh

460
00:18:53,750 --> 00:18:51,120
for timeline

461
00:18:56,230 --> 00:18:53,760
uh uh delays and so

462
00:18:57,990 --> 00:18:56,240
and the station is uh is again a tight

463
00:19:00,310 --> 00:18:58,000
tightly packed schedule but we run it

464
00:19:02,630 --> 00:19:00,320
more like a laboratory and so and so

465
00:19:05,590 --> 00:19:02,640
there's a there's a little bit of um

466
00:19:09,029 --> 00:19:05,600
of a discretion you can use and how

467
00:19:11,110 --> 00:19:09,039
when you start and begin begin and end

468
00:19:15,029 --> 00:19:11,120
your your daily tasks so

469
00:19:16,789 --> 00:19:15,039
so it's a it's more of a um

470
00:19:19,110 --> 00:19:16,799
it's more of a

471
00:19:21,669 --> 00:19:19,120
of a life up here rather than just a

472
00:19:23,270 --> 00:19:21,679
just an all-out sprint i see a final and

473
00:19:24,630 --> 00:19:23,280
a final quick question for shannon what

474
00:19:26,950 --> 00:19:24,640
kind of what's been the biggest surprise

475
00:19:34,070 --> 00:19:26,960
so far that you maybe not didn't expect

476
00:19:37,350 --> 00:19:35,510
that's a good question i'm not sure i

477
00:19:39,350 --> 00:19:37,360
really have an answer for you

478
00:19:42,230 --> 00:19:39,360
every day brings new surprises and new

479
00:19:45,270 --> 00:19:42,240
challenges but nothing really stands out

480
00:19:47,350 --> 00:19:45,280
it's just the wonder of learning how to

481
00:19:48,710 --> 00:19:47,360
to live in space

482
00:19:53,590 --> 00:19:48,720
i see well thank you very much this

483
00:19:57,590 --> 00:19:55,909
our pleasure