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Welcome to Watch This Space. I'm NASA

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Administrator Jim Bridenstine and today

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we have a very, very special guest

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Astronaut Nick Hague, who was our

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American hero who flew on the Russian

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Soyuz rocket that was, in fact, a mission

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failure but really, it was a success. He

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followed all the procedures, he did it in

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Russian, and he came home alive. The NASA

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family is exceptionally proud of his

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service and today we have the

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opportunity to speak to him directly.

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Well, Nick thank you for joining us, if

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you would just share with us how you're

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feeling.

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Yes, sir, great to be with you. I'm feeling

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great, all things considered, being able

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to walk away from something like that

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with the only a couple, you know, bruises

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or bumps. You know, physically, I'm doing

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awesome. I was actually able to enjoy

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some of the cool fall weather here in

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Houston and go out for a run with my

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wife this morning.

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Yeah, feeling great. That's wonderful to

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hear.

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Share with us, if you would just walk

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through kind of what you experienced

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from launch all the way until

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touchdown. Yeah absolutely, sir, you know,

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so, the the first two minutes of the

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launch went completely per plan and it

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was a smooth ride. And you know, during

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those first two minutes as we're sitting

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there watching everything, monitoring

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everything, in the back of my mind I'm

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thinking, wow, this is everything

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I expected it to be. And it was up until

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it became everything I didn't expect it

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to be. You know, at that first stage

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separation, all of a sudden, we were kind

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of violently shaken side-to-side and

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thrust back into our seats as the launch

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escape system ripped us away from the

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rocket and, you know, as all of that's

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happening, you can imagine being shaken

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around, your vision's a little blurry.

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I hear the alarm and I see the the red

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light where the, you know, the engine has

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had an emergency and so at that point, it

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was a pretty vivid realization of

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that, hey, we're not gonna make it to

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orbit today. We've been pulled off the

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rocket and and now we've got to land so,

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yeah. Yeah, did you know that you had

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separated from the rocket or did you

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just know that the rocket was having

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problems? Yeah, I knew we were away

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from the rocket at that point and,

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you know, it's pretty clear and the way

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the procedures are laid out, you know

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what the next step is and so Alexei

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and I just kind of both transitioned

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into, okay, we know we're coming

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back and we need to start executing

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these procedures. So, there's a little bit

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of a time after the launch escape system

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has pulled you away, because based on

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that point in our trajectory what pulled

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us away was actually the fairing that we

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were underneath and the rockets attached

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to it. So it pulled us away underneath

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that fairing so we couldn't see outside

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yet and it took about 30 seconds for us

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to then separate the capsule from that

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fairing and then we could see out the

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windows. So, those 30 seconds

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were probably the longest 30 seconds of

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the entire process, as you just try to

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process, you know, what has transpired,

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where are we at, trying to assess, you

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know, your condition, and the state of the

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capsule and then prepare for what you

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need to do over the next next 15 minutes

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to get back down on the ground. So

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I was watching a lot of the data and

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listening to the communications with

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Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos,

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the Russian space agency, while this was

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going on and I remember hearing at a

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point in time that you had a feeling of

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weightlessness. Was that pretty much

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soon after the the launch abort system

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was activated? Yeah, so as it rips us away

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from the rocket at that point, once those

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thrusters are done, we're like, you know,

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if you throw a baseball up in the air,

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it's gonna follow this ballistic

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trajectory and so that feeling of

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weightlessness is kind of when we were

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peeking out and getting ready to fall

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back down to the earth. And I remember

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that well, you know, for some reason

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there's different memories and

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and images that have really

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solidified in my mind and I remember

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this small little piece of debris just

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kind of floating across in front of my

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face and looking up and seeing our 0g

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indicators just kind of floating there,

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and realizing that hey, you know, this

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must be what space is gonna feel like,

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but yet, not today. And then the

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next thing I remember hearing was the

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interpreter, who was interpreting Russian

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for me because I don't speak Russian as

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you do. The interpreter, I heard her say

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six point seven Gs. And and that was the

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first time I really realized something

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was absolutely not right. So after a

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period of time you were weightless. Then

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the onset of G's as you do the

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ballistic reentry, is that, how long

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did that take before you got to that

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level? Yeah so, you know, that ball is

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coming down, you know, our capsule is

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falling back down to the earth and the

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way it's going to slow down to get us to

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a point where we can open the chutes is

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just aerodynamic drag.

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And so those G's are the result of that

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drag and it was probably, you know, a

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handful of minutes before it started to

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really peak up, luckily for us, the peak

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and G was not sustained for that

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long, you know, it felt like we were at

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elevated G's from maybe 20 seconds or so

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and and we've done training in the

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centrifuge to higher levels than that to

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eight G's for 30 seconds and so

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you're trained on how to properly

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breathe. It's not the same as my

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experience or your experience,

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you know, flying aircraft in the

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military those G's are from your head to

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your rear end and they try to pull the

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blood out of your head, these

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G's are coming straight at us

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pushing down on our chest and so it

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really is a matter of trying to learn

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how to keep your chest open so that you

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can take a breath of air in and keeping

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those muscles flexed and then trying to

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use your abdomen to move your

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diaphragm so that you can breathe in and

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out. But the training was great, it was

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everything I had expected to be able to

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do under that G load.

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When I heard 6.7 G and of course, I was

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listening to the interpreter, but my

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recollection was that that was your

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voice that was speaking, is that correct?

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Yeah, we were calling out all

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kinds of things at that moment, you know,

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Alexei was primed for making

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communication with the ground but you

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know we're talking to each other

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the whole time and then when we're

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talking to each other anytime he hits

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the transmit button, anything that we're

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saying from either position gets

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transmitted to the ground, so

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there's probably a few snippets of me

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talking back and forth to him and it's,

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you know, the training kicks in.

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We spend a lot of time, elbow to elbow,

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crammed in that capsule practicing this

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these situations, yeah, and you know when

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I'm in Star City, all of that is in

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Russian so, yeah. It just becomes

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reflex. Well, that was one thing that

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really took me by surprise, I had to

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think how much duress you must be under

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that obviously this is now a failed

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launch, the launch abort system has taken

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place, you're going from, you know, a zero

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gravity position to a six point seven

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gravity, you know, G position and I

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remember thinking, everybody sounds

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calm and you're still speaking in

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Russian, which means

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these are not unfamiliar to you.

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You have practiced this kind of thing

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before and and I was just kind of

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in awe of it all because at no point did

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I hear you break into English and yet

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you had to be, you had to be wanting to

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say things in your own language. There

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were a lot of things I probably wanted

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to say, right. But the world was watching.

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So you controlled yourself, I see.

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Well you know, you realize,

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you're in a tough spot and

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the thing that you can do to get to give

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yourself the highest chance of success

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is to just focus and stay calm and do

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the things that you were trained to do.

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You know, the guys at the cosmonaut

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training center in Star City, it's a

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robust

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training system, they have put us through

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every possible failure they put us

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through, a failure, you know, very similar

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to this with a rocket failure, so we've

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seen all of these and it's just a matter

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of trying to harness the training that

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they've given us and put it into action

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and so you know, I'd like to take credit

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for, you know, being, you know, calm and

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collected and knowing exactly what to do,

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you know, the real credit goes to all

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those instructors that have spent the

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last two years making sure I'd know what

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to do in those situations. Well, Nick,

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we're all so proud of you and so

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impressed by what you've been able to do.

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Let me ask you after going through a

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period of G's, at some point it had to

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start lessening as you went into a

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freefall within the atmosphere, followed

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by the deployment of the parachutes, what

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were you thinking at that time? Yes, so

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after the G's

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started to drop off, we

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were getting ready for the parachute

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deployment I'd been told many times that

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the, so at that point, after that peak and

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G, it's a nominal landing. All of the

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actions that are going to occur are

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things that we've practiced hundreds of

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times. What we haven't practiced is all

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the physical sensations that go along

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with those nominal landings and so I had

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a note written in my procedures, hey, when

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the parachute opens there's going to be

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five to six G's of lateral side to side

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swinging back and forth, and so before

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the chutes open we're trying to collect

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all of our loose items that

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are in the capsule, and make sure that

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once this opens, those aren't going to

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become projectiles inside the capsule,

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yeah, and prepping for that. After that

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opens, hey, we've got a good shoot then,

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it was a little bit of me

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looking out the window and trying to

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assess how high up we were. Normally we'd

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have the rescue forces circling

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around and helicopters giving us updates

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on our altitude. We'd also have a an

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altimeter on the commander's arm that he

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would wear during landing. We didn't have

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those because you don't prep for those

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on launch, and so it was my eyeball out

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the window going, hey, I think we're at

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10,000 feet or hey, we're at 5,000 feet

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and just kind of gauging as we were

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down, yeah, while I'm doing that, you know,

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Alexei is trying to make contact with

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the rest of the Tsar forces and

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get them to our location so that we can

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get extracted as quick as possible. And

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then right before touchdown, rockets fire,

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is that correct? Yeah so, in a standard

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landing, they're called soft landing,

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rockets, the soft landing thrusters help

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brace or help minimize some of that

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impact with the ground, you know, I got to

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tell you for a nominal landing, it's

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still a pretty amazing sensation. Someone

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00:11:39,060 --> 00:11:42,328
I've heard recall it as riding, you

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00:11:42,329 --> 00:11:44,489
know, a barrel off Niagara Falls and I'd

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00:11:44,490 --> 00:11:46,588
say that it's pretty close to that. Wow.

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We hit the ground, as soon as we hit the

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ground,

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Alexei cut the riser to the parachute so

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it wouldn't drag us and then it felt

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like we bounced two or three times and

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tumbled and then finally skidded to a

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stop. It was a rough ride, but I

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got to tell you, when we skidded to a

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stop and I looked out the window and I

293
00:12:06,089 --> 00:12:09,749
was about 12 inches from dirt, I was

294
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at that moment, it was a huge, you know,

295
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sigh of relief and I was like, okay,

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we made it.

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What was your communication to Alexei at

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that point? We were grins ear to ear,

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00:12:20,269 --> 00:12:22,648
looking at each other, giving each other

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00:12:22,649 --> 00:12:27,028
you know a high-five, and you

301
00:12:27,029 --> 00:12:29,879
know cracking a couple jokes about it

302
00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:31,888
being, you know, a short flight or

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00:12:31,889 --> 00:12:35,818
completely something unexpected, but it

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was just this sense of relief, you

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00:12:38,519 --> 00:12:39,599
know, being able to look each other eye

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to eye and knowing, okay, wow, we

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00:12:42,269 --> 00:12:44,578
just survived that. So how much were you

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00:12:44,579 --> 00:12:47,659
hearing from Mission Control during this?

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Yeah, so you know, as soon as we were

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extracted from the rocket, and Alexei was

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00:12:53,519 --> 00:12:57,208
reporting our condition, we were tied in a

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00:12:57,209 --> 00:13:00,119
knot with Mission Control in Moscow,

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00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:02,249
which is where we would normally talk

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once we've made it to orbit. But we're

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actually talking to flight controllers

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there and Baikonur, and so they were

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in contact with us, we were reporting

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that we were in good condition, we were

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trying to get their advice on ballistic

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decree entry and activating that mode,

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and they were able to provide that

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to Alexei, and then we just continued

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reporting down. So, we had fairly good

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contacts throughout the entire flight.

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How long were you on the ground before

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the search-and-rescue crews got to where

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you were? When we landed and we skidded

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to this stop, we were kind of hanging

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from our straps inside the capsule

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because of the way the the capsule was

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oriented on the ground, and so we were

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trying to make the decision whether we

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were just gonna hang there and wait for

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them to come get us or we were gonna try

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to open our buckles and and maybe fall

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in the capsule, and then try to figure

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out how to open the hatch when we're

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standing on top of it.

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The SAR forces had almost you know

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within a minute or so of us being on the

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00:14:07,070 --> 00:14:07,729
ground,

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they said they had visual on us and that

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they were gonna be, you know, on the order

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of 10-20 minutes to get to us. I guess

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I'd never realized, you know, so they had

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three pararescue jumpers that, as soon as

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they had found where we were at, you know

348
00:14:23,540 --> 00:14:25,879
the plane circling over, they jumped

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in to get to us as quick as they could

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and so it was a handful of minutes, and

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then somebody was tapping on the window

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00:14:32,930 --> 00:14:35,269
next to me giving me the, you know, the

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00:14:35,270 --> 00:14:37,279
okay symbol and I was answering back

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00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:39,439
with a big smile and then they had the

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00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:42,709
hatch open, so I was just amazed at their

356
00:14:42,710 --> 00:14:45,709
response and that, you know, you got to

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00:14:45,710 --> 00:14:47,539
think that they haven't practiced, so you

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know, they practiced this all the time

359
00:14:48,830 --> 00:14:50,239
but they haven't had to put it to use

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right in 35 years, yeah, and for them to

361
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just respond the way they did is a

362
00:14:56,420 --> 00:14:58,609
true testament to the how serious they

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00:14:58,610 --> 00:15:00,829
take their responsibilities and

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00:15:00,830 --> 00:15:03,679
their job. Well, it was an amazing

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day and I know it was a mission failure,

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but it was as successful of a failure as

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you can possibly have and I just hope

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you know, Nick, how proud your whole

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country is of you. I hope you know, I hope

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all of America knows how proud they

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should be of the agency, of NASA, of the

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engineers,

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the mission controllers, and of course,

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the astronauts. I will tell you, this was

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my first launch as the NASA

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Administrator for me to attend and

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just to have the opportunity to see,

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00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:46,309
you know, the Russian counterparts to

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00:15:46,310 --> 00:15:50,479
America's crew just demonstrate such

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00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:53,809
excitement when they realized that

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00:15:53,810 --> 00:15:55,399
you were safe, that you were coming down

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safely, that you were gonna land safely,

383
00:15:57,820 --> 00:16:02,779
watching our engineers and our mission

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00:16:02,780 --> 00:16:04,999
controllers embrace the Russian

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00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:06,499
engineers and the Russian mission

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00:16:06,500 --> 00:16:09,439
controllers, it was a sight to behold. And

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I know that before you launched, I had

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00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:13,849
the opportunity to speak to you and I

389
00:16:13,850 --> 00:16:16,159
said that your mission is not just one

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00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:18,319
of science and discovery, it's not just

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00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:20,989
of exploration, but it's one of diplomacy,

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00:16:20,990 --> 00:16:24,079
and Nick, I can tell you that

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00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:27,319
diplomacy was on full-display as we saw

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00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:30,469
two nations that, in many cases, are not

395
00:16:30,470 --> 00:16:32,629
aligned and in fact, our interests

396
00:16:32,630 --> 00:16:35,119
diverge in so many ways, but when it

397
00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:36,889
comes to space exploration we've always

398
00:16:36,890 --> 00:16:38,839
been able to put those things aside and

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00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:41,649
work together, hand in glove,

400
00:16:41,650 --> 00:16:45,139
and that was on full-display. For me, as

401
00:16:45,140 --> 00:16:47,809
the NASA Administrator to watch. It was

402
00:16:47,810 --> 00:16:51,709
just amazing. And then once you guys got

403
00:16:51,710 --> 00:16:54,379
back to Baikonur, and I had the

404
00:16:54,380 --> 00:16:56,089
ability to see you firsthand and, of

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00:16:56,090 --> 00:16:58,689
course, spend some time with your family.

406
00:16:58,690 --> 00:17:03,769
It was emotionally draining for others,

407
00:17:03,770 --> 00:17:06,139
probably even more than me, certainly for

408
00:17:06,140 --> 00:17:10,549
you, but I will tell you the relationship

409
00:17:10,550 --> 00:17:12,259
between the United States and Russia in

410
00:17:12,260 --> 00:17:15,049
space is probably as strong now as it's

411
00:17:15,050 --> 00:17:18,499
ever been and your mission was truly

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00:17:18,500 --> 00:17:20,779
a mission of diplomacy, so we are all so

413
00:17:20,780 --> 00:17:23,419
grateful for you and I just hope all

414
00:17:23,420 --> 00:17:27,319
of America understands how amazing this

415
00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:29,869
NASA family is because I got to see it

416
00:17:29,870 --> 00:17:30,499
firsthand,

417
00:17:30,500 --> 00:17:33,619
really, for the first time and I was

418
00:17:33,620 --> 00:17:37,099
blown away, so thank you for what you do.

419
00:17:37,100 --> 00:17:39,539
Thank you sir, I appreciate the kind

420
00:17:39,540 --> 00:17:41,989
words. I couldn't agree with you more,

421
00:17:41,990 --> 00:17:46,259
being able to fly on a Soyuz and

422
00:17:46,260 --> 00:17:50,099
participate in all of that training and

423
00:17:50,100 --> 00:17:53,789
get that exposure to Russia, and to

424
00:17:53,790 --> 00:17:56,519
the people that compose that comprise

425
00:17:56,520 --> 00:17:59,308
the organization over there, I can

426
00:17:59,309 --> 00:18:02,069
tell you that I was not surprised by

427
00:18:02,070 --> 00:18:03,869
their support and how well they worked.

428
00:18:03,870 --> 00:18:05,939
It's on display every day over

429
00:18:05,940 --> 00:18:08,909
there and it's just a privilege to be a

430
00:18:08,910 --> 00:18:11,279
part of that. I have to say that, you know,

431
00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:13,499
for a first flight for me, it was, it was,

432
00:18:13,500 --> 00:18:15,299
extremely memorable. I'm sure you'll

433
00:18:15,300 --> 00:18:18,329
never forget it. But I would be remiss if

434
00:18:18,330 --> 00:18:20,069
I didn't invite you to my next flight,

435
00:18:20,070 --> 00:18:22,079
whenever that might be. You can count on

436
00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:25,199
it. I will be there, and next time we will

437
00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:26,639
get you to the International Space

438
00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:31,049
Station. Okay, sounds good. Nick,

439
00:18:31,050 --> 00:18:32,129
you're an American Hero,

440
00:18:32,130 --> 00:18:34,889
and our whole country is very proud

441
00:18:34,890 --> 00:18:37,769
of you. And you have an amazing family

442
00:18:37,770 --> 00:18:41,428
and please share my regards with your

443
00:18:41,429 --> 00:18:43,409
wife and with your kids and with your

444
00:18:43,410 --> 00:18:46,259
mom and dad, it was amazing to see them

445
00:18:46,260 --> 00:18:48,419
as well and they handled it with so much

446
00:18:48,420 --> 00:18:51,149
grace, it was incredible. Will do, sir. All

447
00:18:51,150 --> 00:18:53,119
right. Thank you so much.

448
00:18:53,120 --> 00:18:55,889
Well, thank you for watching Watch This

449
00:18:55,890 --> 00:18:57,928
Space, I'm NASA Administrator Jim

450
00:18:57,929 --> 00:19:00,058
Bridenstine, you can follow me on Twitter

451
00:19:00,059 --> 00:19:02,909
@JimBridenstine and of course, if you