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station this is houston are you ready

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houston station we're ready for the

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event

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kprc tv this is mission control houston

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please call station for a voice check

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station this is kprc tv how do you hear

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kprc this is station i've got you loud

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that's great mr burbank thank you for

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your time it's a pleasure to speak with

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you uh can you start with an overview of

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the mission here and anything of any

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okay absolutely lauren first off it's

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great to have you on board um we have

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been here myself um anton shkaplerov and

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anatoly even nation my two russian

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cosmonauts for just about four weeks now

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i guess today i guess

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and uh and it's been very very busy

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space station is designed and intended

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at this stage for a crew of six so we've

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been in half strength for quite a while

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and for us it's been a very busy time

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but obviously a very wonderful

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experience just the same our primary

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focus so far at least in the first week

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was to hand over with the previous crew

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and to learn as much as we could about

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life on board space station ordinarily

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the handover period is between two and

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four months we gotta jump on it before

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launch and and did some of that via

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video and uh and teleconferencing and

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every other way you could imagine emails

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and and the rest and uh then once we got

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on board we had a whirlwind week or so

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with them and

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basically put our hands on hardware

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watched over their shoulder as they did

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all the things they do to keep this

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great space station working and

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and tried to learn as much as we could

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and since then

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we have on a fairly regular basis called

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them to ask them questions when things

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mr burbank what will it be like with

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that six-person crew once you get it are

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you looking forward to having that

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well lauren first off they're good

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friends so it'll be great to have them

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on board they're actually going to come

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here just before the christmas holidays

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so we're going to have them here in time

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for christmas and new year's

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and got a few things planned for that

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um but from the work side of things

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it'll also be just wonderful to have

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their brain power and their horsepower

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to help us do the things that we do to

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keep space station working to keep the

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research going um

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it's uh it's been a very busy like i say

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four weeks and as soon as we get them on

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board it's going to be almost busier i

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think because there's so many things we

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have on our plate between the time they

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arrive in the time that at least the

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three of us our crew are going to be

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mr burbank we know the russians are

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instrumental now getting you folks up

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and down to space but then i hear about

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the chinese on their way to building

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their own space station are we sort of

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in a a new space race do we celebrate

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these achievements

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well my my feeling on this is that i

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think humanity belongs in space i think

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the more people that can do this the

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more countries that can do this the

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better off we are as as human beings

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i think right now

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if we were to approach this next phase

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for example with the chinese um as a

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space race race as we did during the

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cold war years

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in the apollo program i don't think

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necessarily that's the wise thing to do

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those kinds of things

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will do a lot to light a fire and get us

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motivated for get anybody motivated to

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do

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something big perhaps but it may not be

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the impetus we need to

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be in space and stay here for the long

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term which i think is really our goal so

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what we're doing international space

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station is a much more cooperative

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endeavor and we've got 15 nations that

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are all working on this together and

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international space station's been going

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since 1998 we've had a crew on board

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since 2000 it's going to be populated

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and doing research by that same

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complement of international uh partners

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all the way out till 2020 and i believe

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beyond that that's the kind of thing

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that'll give us a long-term space

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so mr burbank anything particular that

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uh that you would like to see from nasa

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for the future of space exploration

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obviously the shuttles are gone now and

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i think all of us here are wondering hey

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no i i think all of us that flew on the

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space shuttle and all of us that worked

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in that program um

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felt a tinge of regret when the shuttles

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were retired but the fact is that the

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shuttle did

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the thing that it was exquisitely well

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designed to do and that was to build the

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international space station but the

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space shuttle is not the kind of vehicle

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if you want to leave low earth orbit and

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that's what i think our next goal should

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be so the kinds of research we're doing

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on space station will answer the

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questions about how to keep humans

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healthy and productive in space long

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enough to go back to the moon to stay

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and on to mars and asteroids those are

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the kinds of things that's where i think

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our destiny is so i think nasa's job

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right now is to put in place and to

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develop the kinds of capability that'll

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get you beyond low earth orbit we need

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to continue to do the research that'll

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support that on space station but i

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think the piece that that includes

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coming from the surface of planet earth

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to low earth orbit i think it's very

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appropriate to now have commercial

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companies be able to take the ball and

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run with that and let nasa do the next

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most difficult thing which is leaving

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low earth orbit i think that's

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i'd like to take this story on a

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different angle literally our morning

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meteorologist anthony honest loves to

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show some of the nasa pictures of the

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day i mean you guys have seen dust

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plumes storms volcanoes but there was

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one in particular of antarctica that was

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taken in early october which

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it looked as if the space station you

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could have been standing on a

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mountaintop across the way it was a

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fascinating view what has that been like

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and does that antarctica picture ring a

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since we've been here

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i think we've sent down about 4 500

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images and and i think i know the one

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that you're talking about but i think

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what i would say is that

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we're probably i'm probably not to the

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level that i need to be to be able to do

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it justice when it comes to earth

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photography from from low earth orbit

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every time that you float down to the

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cupola every time that you go to a

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window be it in the u.s laboratory or in

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the russian segment the service module

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you are surprised and your breath's

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taken away by something that's going by

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beneath you and i think the trick is for

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us who are crew members who are pilots

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and engineers typically or scientists by

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trade is to become good enough

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photographers to be able to capture

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those images in such a way that it

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really tells a story for people on on

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the ground i mean it is unbelievable

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whether it is

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flying over the north atlantic and

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watching the northern lights uh dancing

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around in fact around the vehicle

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sometimes or watching the swiss alps

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come beneath you there's been some

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unbelievable views lately of going over

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southern chile and tierra del fuego

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all of those things will just are just

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spectacular africa can't say enough

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about that

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and and i think you're going to continue

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to see better and better shots and at

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least for me i hope they'll continue to

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be better but it's a wonderful place and

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it's a wonderful uh planet that we get

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that we're fortunate enough to be able

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well they are uh incredibly captivating

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i know for for us on earth we have just

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a couple of minutes left sir i guess

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i know you have some of the other crew

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members coming up right before the

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holidays so you've got some more friends

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there with you what is it like being so

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i i think when the crews were flying

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aboard the mere space station for

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example or when the crews were flying

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aboard international space station in

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the earlier days

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you were in fact physically far away

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from home and sometimes you felt far

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removed from from friends and family

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onboard international space station

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right now it's not like that in a very

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real sense we're

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very close to the people that are

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watching over space station we're very

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close to our families and friends i'm

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actually able to call my family and see

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them and talk to them more often now on

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board space station than i could in

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often in the in the two years or so

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leading up to flight when we would be

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traveling overseas and communication

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would be more difficult so

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in a virtual sense we're much closer

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than we then has at least been in the

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past so so that part is i think really

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important it doesn't mean that when it's

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time to come home and i get to see my

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family again for the first time after

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you know five months or so that it won't

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be

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yeah that uh that reunion we can only

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imagine imagine mr burbank thank you for

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your time thanks for spending these

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moments with us good luck on the mission

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lauren thanks so much thanks for joining

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us here was great talking with you and i

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station this is houston acr that

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thank you thank you

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thank you kprct