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station this is houston are you ready

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houston we are ready for the event

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south dakota public broadcasting this is

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houston please call station for a voice

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check

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station this is south dakota public

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south dakota public broadcasting we hear

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you loud and clear and welcome aboard

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the international space station

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thank you

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mike fossum ron garan satoshi furukawa

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greetings from the state of south dakota

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well thank you paul it's good it's good

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to be on the show

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mike fossum you are the south dakota

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native uh how are you and the other

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astronauts doing

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what are you and the other astronauts

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doing

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and i i know that you've heard some of

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the things that are going on so we're in

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the process of running a lot of the

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science that's up here as well as trying

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to get ronnie packed up to go home in a

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week and a half or so

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we have been hearing that the

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international space station may have to

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fly solo this fall that all of the

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astronauts may have to leave the station

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in late november if russian spacecrafts

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can't make trips to the station a

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russian supply ship that's similar to

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what's used to launch astronauts was

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destroyed during liftoff last week

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mike fossum what do you know and what

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well what it means

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for both satoshi and me uh ron's runs uh

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been up here for five and a half months

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pushing six months and when he leaves in

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uh two weeks that'll be a week later

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than normal they had about a week delay

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as we considered actually keeping them

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up here until the end of october and

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then decided against it

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so satoshi and i will be here we were

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planned to go home in the middle of

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november that when we launched in june

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that was the plans and that's currently

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the plans that we we hope to get home in

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mid-november

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they are or the russian space agency is

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working through the problems that they

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had with the soyuz booster that same

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booster is used for the cargo ship that

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uh that

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failed to reach orbit or crashed if you

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will a week ago that and it's all it's

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used for launching humans we all rode up

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on that uh on that in a very very

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similar booster so the new crews are are

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currently will not be coming up

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immediately to the space station

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until they get this problem sorted out

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they're working hard on it they have

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some insight they had a lot of data from

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the uh from the rocket during the uh

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engine shutdown so they're working it

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and it's possible that i mean we will be

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here with just three people certainly

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for a while for a month or two months

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uh

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with a little luck they will find the

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problems and our you know next crew will

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join us up here for a couple about one

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to two weeks of handover before we leave

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and go home

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how concerned are you that the

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experiments you are involved in could

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there is that possibility a lot of the

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data are transmitted to the ground as

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we're doing the testing up here so that

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there is no loss if you will the samples

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don't need to go home some of the

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samples do need to go home and i'm

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confident we'll get them there

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eventually if we have to leave here in

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november or sometime this winter without

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a replacement chrome board it's possible

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the crew could be without or the space

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station could be without a crew on board

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for a period of time

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there is some elevated risk associated

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with that not to humans of course but to

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our you know investment here to the

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station itself without people to help

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keep things running

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there is a chance that that something

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could happen which would be really

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detrimental uh but those those kind of

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stretches you know especially for a

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shorter period of time you know it's not

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that severe uh i certainly don't believe

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that this is going to be a long-term

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problem the the russians have a lot of

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experience with this particular rocket

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many many years and hundreds of launches

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and i think they're going to figure this

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out we're going to get back on the road

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soon

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mike you are a flight engineer for this

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current expedition expedition 28 you're

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scheduled to take over as commander

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later this month for expedition 29 how

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excited are you to take over as

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well i am excited it's the to to live

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and work up here has been a dream since

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since childhood really and i was

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involved at nasa when the space station

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program was was uh you know first being

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worked on in the early 80s and announced

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by the president in 84 and i've had the

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chance to work on the the redesign team

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in the 90s and and then helped build it

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on two shuttle missions now to me it's

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just mind-boggling to have the

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opportunity to to not not just live here

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but then be in charge up here to take

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command it's an awesome responsibility

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the the hopes and visions of of many

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nations around the world particularly

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the 15 partners that contributed to the

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space station program are riding on the

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continued success and it's my

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responsibility really our responsibility

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to keep it running

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ron garan uh what are some of the

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experiments and research you're

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well that would actually take a long

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time to answer that question we've got

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quite a few experiments going on you

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know over over the course of the last 10

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years that we've been operating the

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space station uh with humans on board

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we've conducted over 600 experiments but

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we've got everything

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from fluid physics experiments uh

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materials um uh

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mike and satoshi just got robonaut out

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our seventh crew member uh so we've got

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a lot of robotics experiments going on

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we've got experiments studying the human

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body um

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experiments designed to hopefully

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develop new medicines new materials uh

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safer cleaner energy

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the list goes on and on this is an

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incredible orbiting research facility

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and we're making the most out of it and

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i think it's a really going to prove to

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be a very tremendous investment in our

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future

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ron you were a mission specialist aboard

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space shuttle discovery you previously

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visited the station as an sts-124

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mission specialist aboard space shuttle

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discovery in june of 2008 how would you

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describe life aboard the international

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space station as the post shuttle era

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well um

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that's also an interesting question

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because you know

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all of us on board right now got to see

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that transition from when we went from

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the construction phase when the

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construction phase ended to the pure

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utilization phase started to kick off

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and uh you know there really was a

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definite uh transition that the science

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really ramped up you know with six of us

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on board with that affords us the

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opportunity to do a lot more science uh

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and that's in addition to all the

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autonomous science that that goes on

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whether we're here or not there's

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there's still a great deal of that as

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well and so you know it was it was a

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little bittersweet seeing the shuttle

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leave for the last time you know you

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know mark in the end of that chapter in

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our history but uh you know we're all

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filled with a lot of optimism in our

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future and uh we're hoping that this is

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going to be a stepping stone to

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continued exploration you know beyond

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low earth orbit out into the solar

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system and this is going to be a very

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crucial step in that process

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satoshi furukawa you have a medical

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background a doctorate in medicine what

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can you tell us about how extended life

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okay

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that is a very good question

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okay extended life

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okay six months ah okay uh

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well uh

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if you do nothing over the six months uh

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you

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encounter bone muscle loss and uh muscle

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atrophy but we

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exercise every day plus we volunteer to

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use our own bodies to

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test the preventive effect of medicine

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uh bisphosphonate which is a remedy for

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osteoporosis on the ground and uh

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inhibits us

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bone

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absorption

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and plus

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we uh have

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radiation

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uh about 100 times uh bigger

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more than that on the ground so we will

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get about 100 to 150 milli

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sievert per six months but

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we are not worried about that because it

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is acceptable

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and that the probability of getting a

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cancer increase is about one percent and

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i think it is acceptable

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we're talking with mike fossum ron garan

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satoshi furukawa astronauts on the

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international space station mike fossum

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by the time

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your time on the space station is up in

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november you will have been in space for

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six months you have a wife and four

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children and a grandchild how hard is it

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i'd say the separation from family is

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probably the hardest part of this i'm

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living my dream and i say that and they

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know that and they've they have my kids

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have all grown up knowing that it was my

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dream to do this and to be here right

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now

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and so that that really helps i am in

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contact with my family i talk to family

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members you know almost every day and we

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have email contact and every weekend we

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have the chance for a short video

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conference you know with our families so

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mike you were born in sioux falls i know

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you grew up in mcallen texas but uh

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born in sioux falls how proud of you are

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oh my south dakota roots go back to the

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18

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pioneers in that area

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and so i i just like to think that i'm

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carrying on that pioneering tradition

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here living in an outpost and

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in a really outrageous

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far out place uh it's a very different

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and at times the conditions are harsh

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it's really not that bad in here but

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it's looking for a better future looking

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for a better tomorrow and that's when

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they when they came my ancestors came

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from norway and then headed across the

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united states to the first opportunities

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that they found

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that's that's where they stayed and i

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have a lot of family that's in the sioux

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falls area and around canton south

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dakota and i consider that to be my

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second hometown you want to say a quick

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oh you bet i actually have families

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scattered all over the state uh but uh

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just to hide everybody where i i i

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talked to them they had a big launch

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party

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in mitchell south dakota

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for for us where they watched the video

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and the whole family got together there

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and things are going great i can't wait

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to get back up there and see everybody

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well mike fossum ron garan satoshi

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furukawa it's been a pleasure talking

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with you our time is up but uh thank you

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for taking time out of your busy day to

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visit with us here on dakota midday we

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thank you much it's great talking to you

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and this is the international space

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station signing out

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the station this is houston acr that

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thank you south dakota public

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broadcasting station please stand by