• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

15 June 1998

TRANSCRIPT: U.S. ASTRONAUTS RETURN FROM SHUTTLE-MIR PROGRAM

(Press briefing and radio interview before leaving Mir) (5500)
Washington -- The Space Shuttle Discovery returned to earth June 12
with Andrew Thomas, the seventh and final U.S. astronaut to spend an
extended period of time on Russian space station Mir -- 140 days.
The three-year Shuttle-Mir program was set up to help prepare for the
construction of an international space station beginning later this
year.
Discovery's landing culminated 977 total days spent in orbit by the
seven U.S. astronauts who stayed aboard Mir at various times since the
Shuttle-Mir program began in March 1995. Of those, 907 days were spent
as actual Mir crew members. The landing was the end of an 812-day
continuous U.S. presence in space.
According to NASA, Discovery Commander Charles Precourt and Pilot
Dominic Gorie brought the shuttle down in a perfect landing at Kennedy
Space Center at 2 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (18:00 GMT). Also on
board were four mission specialists: Franklin Chang-Diaz, Wendy
Lawrence, Janet Kavandi, and Valery Ryumin, a veteran Russian
cosmonaut and manager of the Russian Mir program. It was Ryumin's
fourth space flight, his first aboard the Space Shuttle.
Earlier in the mission, designated STS-91, the Discovery/Mir crew took
time out from their duties for an interview via the CBS radio
network/mutual broadcasting system, fielding questions from both the
American and Russian media, and for a joint press briefing and
farewell ceremony.
For more information in the Shuttle-Mir program, visit their web site
at http://shuttle-mir.nasa.gov/shuttle-mir
Following are the NASA transcripts of the press briefing and radio
interview:
(Begin transcript of press briefing)
DISCOVERY/MIR CREW PRESS BRIEFING AND FAREWELL STATEMENTS
Commander Precourt: A great thanks to everybody who supported this
whole program, all of the Phase 1 flights as well as this one. We're
very thankful for all your efforts and we're most thankful for how
successful this whole program has been. We're going to have some
symbolic items to show and share with people when we return to Earth,
and some of them we'd like to keep for a surprise until we do come
home, but there is one thing that kind of symbolizes the efforts of
everyone who has participated so far.
We have a poster here that has a spot on it for the signatures of all
the crews who have participated in the Phase 1 program. It's in the
form of a wheel, and in each segment of the wheel is a slot made for
each of the crews beginning with Norm Thagard's crew on Mir 18 and
then STS-71, which docked first, and all of the flights since then.
There was enough room for seven shuttle flights and the corresponding
long-duration Mir flights, and then of course the program expanded and
we added a couple of flights and we had to add space down on the
bottom for adding those two additional flights. It's just really
awesome for us to think of all the work that went into filling out
this wheel and we've closed the loop at this point on Phase 1, and
it's a little bit sad for us to think about the closing of great,
enjoyable, and successful program, but it's also the beginning of a
new era that we're all very, very happy to be undertaking, and I think
we're going to see even bigger and better things to come as we move
into Phase 2.
As I said, we have some other things to share with you, symbolic items
representing the significance of Phase 1, but we'd like to keep those
until the flight comes to a close. With that I'll pass the microphone
to Talgat for a couple of words.
Commander Musabayev: Dear friends, today we have the final press
conference, and today you observe two space crews, shuttle crew,
STS-91, and the Mir-25 crew. It's time for us to complete the first
phase of the Russian- American program of space cooperation. We're
very fortunate in celebrating this, but I would like these relations
between Russia and America as the two greatest countries on the globe
not be completed. So that we have more exchanges we've been working
very well with these crews and there is a great deal of mutual respect
and hopes for future work.
Q: Commander Precourt and Commander Musabayev, if there was enough
room aboard Discovery, what you bring back to Earth as mementos of Mir
for the whole world to see, and is it sad to leave so much good stuff
behind?
A: Precourt: We've been talking about that continuously as we have a
meal on the flight deck of the shuttle, and last night Valery and I
were just thinking how great it would be if we could bring back one of
the modules. For instance, put the Krystal in the payload and bring it
back for all the world to share and see in a museum somewhere or even
the base block. It would be a very, very complex task to undertake,
technically perhaps feasible, but the practicality of it of course
would be very difficult. So we would like to have the whole world
share this vehicle on the Earth for what it is historically and short
of that, we are bringing back some small pieces, mementos that we hope
everyone can see.
Musabayev: We have yesterday, already, with the commander of the
shuttle and with both crews come to a common opinion and have found
the souvenirs that we would like to send to the first International
Space Station. This will remain a surprise and we will not be
revealing the details of that.
Q: Commander Musabayev, will it be difficult to keep Mir going without
an American crew member and shuttle logistics?
A: Musabayev: A very interesting question, of course, but in actuality
the station has flown even before the docking of American space
shuttles and we consider that there, of course, have been
difficulties, but we would have overcome them in any event. Of course,
having joined our forces in space it is much easier to accomplish
this. It is better for us to work together with shuttle crews, and a
craft such as the shuttle allows us not only to work better in space
and to accept large cargoes, but has also permitted us to solve
problems that could not otherwise be solved. So this is the result of
our common effort and we amplify the capabilities of both our
programs.
Q: Andy, what kind of physical shape are you in for your return to
Earth, and do you anticipate a difficult readaptation or an easy one?
A: Thomas: You know, the readaptation is going to be part of the
interesting aspects of this whole process, which is by no means over
for me. I think readaptation is a very personal thing. It depends on
your own vestibular system and your own neurology so I don't really
know how I'm going to react. I'm expecting that there will be perhaps
a day of some vestibular uncertainty, shall we say, and that's going
to be a very interesting experience in itself, but in detail I don't
know and I won't know until I experience it, but I'm looking forward
to doing it because I think one of the really interesting aspects of
long- duration flight is how you adjust to being back on the Earth
having been weightless for some four and a half months.
Q: Franklin, I hear you cook excellent Chinese food. Can you cook
Chinese food on the shuttle?
A: Chang-Diaz: We have tried many different types of international
food and we keep bringing new types of delicacies into space. We
enjoyed quite a few of them in this flight. And of course, I am from
Costa Rica, so I brought many delicacies from my country, and some day
we'll be able to cook a good Chinese meal here on future space craft
and the station.
Q: Janet, as one of the first-time visitors to Mir, please share your
initial impressions of the station, and now that you've been there for
a few days, what do you think of it?
A: Kavandi: My first impression was my first sight of Mir, which we
were able to see when it was still quite a ways away, when we were
initializing our rendezvous, and I thought it was one of the most
beautiful things I've ever seen, because against the darkness of space
it just literally shines against that darkness and it was just a
beautiful sight. Then once we docked and came on board, I was very,
very impressed -- and still am -- about how well it's been maintained
and how well it looks after being up here for so long. I'm just very
impressed with the whole thing and how much we can learn from it when
we're making our own International Space Station.
Q: Mr. Ryumin, what can you tell us about your inspection of Mir? What
systems, if any, are most troubling to you, now that you've had time
to look around?
A: Ryumin: We have, over the past few days, seen what we can. We have
not determined or identified any system that is in any kind of
critical state and that would require an interruption of flight. We do
not know the actual state of the hull. We cannot assess the current
state of connectors between modules. Such things cannot be observed,
but the things we have observed have led us to conclude there are no
critical points and no worrisome items.
Q: Commander Musabayev, you're going to be saying goodbye to Andy
Thomas in a little while. What are you going to miss about him? What
particular trait might you miss about him when you have to say goodbye
and he's no longer on Mir?
A: Musabayev: Actually, both for me and for Nikolai Budarin, my
colleague, we've had the opportunity to fly with our American
colleague, Flight Engineer 2 Andy Thomas. This was a long period of
time. I must say that not everything went well and smoothly at the
beginning because we had differences of a cultural nature. We had
differences in our technical approaches to things, but regardless of
that, in the course of several weeks found a common language. Our
American colleague, Andy Thomas, became a part of the crew and became
just an integral part of the crew here at Mir. We're very happy. And
here at the end of the flight and when we say goodbye to Andrew
tomorrow, we will be flying another two months without him, until
August. We have become very used to having him around. We are thankful
to him for his fine work. We thank him and we wish him a good trip
home.
Q: Andy, what activity on the Mir will you miss once you get back to
Earth - if any?
A: Thomas: It's a very interesting life that you have up here. It's
kind of ironic, because the tasks we have to do up here are very
complex, but the lifestyle itself is very defined so you know what you
have to do, so in that sense it's sort of an uncomplicated lifestyle.
You know what you have to do and you just go about it, and that's
quite an easy part of the life. Having an uncomplicated life in that
sense will be something I'll miss. I'm going to miss the aspect of
being weightless continuously. I've found that something to just revel
in. It's really a great feeling and I enjoy it immensely, so I'm going
to be kind of sorry that I'm not going to have that freedom of
movement. I've enjoyed the view, I've enjoyed the sights of looking at
the world as we go around, and that's something that's always been
there and will now not be there, and I'm certainly going to miss that.
And I'm going to miss the camaraderie that my colleagues Talgat and
Nikolai have offered me. They basically opened up the station to me
and allowed me to establish a home here and they've been the basis of
all my social interactions for four and a half months and we've had
some great times together, and that's something that I'm also going to
miss.
Q: Andy, give some examples of the cultural and technical differences
that you had with your Russian crew mates that Talgat just mentioned
and how you managed to resolve those.
A: Thomas: You know, while I was up here, I didn't feel a strong sense
of cultural differences because I'd already spent a year in Russia
training for this flight and I'd sort of become in tune with the way
the Russian culture is and the way it works, so when I arrived on the
station I found it very easy to adapt to the lifestyle and enjoy the
lifestyle. One aspect that I've enjoyed very much has been the food
that we've had up here. The Russian food has been excellent,
especially the soups and the juices, and I've enjoyed those very much
and I'm going to miss those when I finally return.
Q: Commander Precourt, how will you feel tomorrow as you close the
hatch? This is your third visit to Mir and I wonder what emotions you
might be feeling as the hatches close and you depart Mir.
A: Precourt: I'll feel a little sad that we're not coming back because
each of my three flights here has been an adventure that I'll remember
for ever, and it's been an adventure I wish all astronauts and
essentially any human on the planet could experience. You can fly to a
station like this and pick it out from such a long way away, and feel
the impression of arriving in space at a home or outpost in space and
being welcomed aboard, it's just a tremendous adventure and a
tremendous feeling. So having been through this three times now, it'll
be sad to know that no other American and perhaps no other astronaut
or participant will have that opportunity. But, at the same time, we
look forward to being able to do bigger and better operations together
on the International Space Station, so seeing the history of this
program close is somewhat sad, of course, and that's, I'm sure,
what'll be going through our minds as we close the hatch, knowing that
we're not going to be coming back to this particular station.
Q: Are you celebrating the religious holiday of the Trinity, which is
today, in any way?
A: Ryumin: We celebrated this holiday through our labor. Musabayev:
Actually, we don't really have the time to sing or otherwise celebrate
because it is of course an important, happy occasion for celebration,
but there is no time. There is a lot of work to do.
Q: Mr. Ryumin, tell us, please, as an experienced cosmonaut and
designer and worker at Energia, how do you assess the technical
condition of the station?
A: Ryumin: I've answered that to the American correspondents. We have
examined all of the aspects of the station that we could, and we have
not found any critical elements that would lead to a conclusion that
the Mir is not functional or that there are any threats to the
station. I will explain in detail after I return, but this is our
general opinion at this time. We have exchanged opinions on this
subject and other opinions we do not have.
Q: Commander Musabayev, you have worked in the station for
sufficiently long time. How much longer do you believe it can be
operated.
A: Musabayev: This is a question you could have asked Mr. Ryumin. I
think we can operate it for a long time and at a very high level, but
what is needed is financing. With sufficient financing we could not
just maintain the station for one year but for longer.
Q: Commander Precourt and Commander Musabayev, how do you assess the
results of this joint flight?
A: Precourt: Personally I believe this joint flight has been
wonderful. We are working very well together. We understand each other
very well. There are no problems.
Q: Musabayev: I agree, we have no problems. We have worked with a
great deal of respect for one another, like professionals. We've
learned a lot from each other. Both sides have a lot to learn from
each other and I believe that this cooperation and that
Russian-American relations will not be the last ones. I think that
there stand before us even greater efforts.
Q: Mr. Ryumin, as director of the Mir-shuttle program, could you give
us an overall summary. This is the final stage of the final flight.
Can you give us an overall summary?
A: Ryumin: In a word, I would say very positive. On July 14 there will
be a joint meeting in Washington where a summary of the work in Phase
1 will be made. At that time it will be possible to express an answer
in more detail. It's just not possible under these circumstances here.
Farewell Statements
Thomas: When a flight like this takes place, a lot of the attention is
turned to what happens on the space station and the individuals of the
crew, but it needs to be remembered that work like this and a flight
like this is not possible without the ongoing support of a number of
people on the ground. I've been particularly fortunate during my stay
up here to have a great team in Moscow supporting my operation. They
were always there when I needed them and needed support from them, and
whenever I had questions, they would research and find the answers and
provide whatever I needed. To them I owe a great of deal of thanks and
a huge debt of gratitude and I hope they understand how much I
appreciate their efforts. It was not an easy time for them either.
They had to move to another country, take their families with them in
many cases, and adopt a new lifestyle, had to work very long hours,
sometimes through the middle of the night, so it's been a very
demanding experience for them as well. And to them I want to express
my thanks and say thank you all, very much. You've been great to me
and I'm looking forward to us all getting back to Houston and talking
about our experiences.
Precourt: While we still have a little bit of time, I guess what would
be nice is for each of us to say a couple of words to the teams on
both sides for the great work that they've done, in Houston and in
Moscow. I'd just like to pass the microphone around to each of us and
let everyone say a couple of words of thanks to the great team on the
ground that supports us.
Lawrence: I've been involved in Phase 1 now for three years and I've
had a variety of jobs. My first was working the crew support issues
back in Houston, followed with the DOR role and then training as a
crew member and then being a shuttle crew member, flying to Mir. So
I've had an opportunity to work with all the troops who put this
together, and as Andy said so eloquently, usually the spotlight is
focused on the astronauts, and that's not appropriate. It needs to be
focused on the many, many people who have worked those very, very long
hours and have to handle very many details and do it in two languages,
nine hours time difference, and all you have done a tremendous job. I
want to thank each and every one of you for the hours that you've put
in to make all my work successful. I thoroughly have enjoyed my roles
in the Phase 1. I've really enjoyed working with all of you. You're an
outstanding group of people and I'm very, very proud that I can say
I've been associated with each and every one of you.
Chang-Diaz: I'm especially thankful because I had the opportunity to
fly on the first flight of Phase 1 and also on this last flight of
Phase 1, so I have seen the beginning and I guess the end of a
chapter, which to me has been a real eye opener. When we first did
this mission on STS-60 it was a very simple mission with the beginning
of testing the waters and seeing how things would work out. What I saw
in this flight was completely different: A real graduation exercise I
think is what we owe to ourselves, and it really bodes well for the
future of joint operations in International Space Station. I look
forward to those new days as they unfold in the months and years to
come.
Budarin: Good day, dear friends. Today, unfortunately, we are at the
final press conference of our two crews, and we are concluding joint
operations that have proceeded for more than three years. The first
flights of our cosmonauts on the shuttle occurred. We had our
dockings. I had the opportunity to fly with Charlie Precourt and to
almost start this program on STS-71. On that flight we docked with the
Mir station and that really began our joint work here in space. Over
the past three years we've had an American astronaut here on board and
I believe that the experience that we have accumulated over this time
will be of great use to us in exploration of space and in our future
work on the International Space Station. In concluding the press
conference today, I'd like to say very kind words to all of those who
helped us achieve this flight, both American and Russian specialists,
American managers and Russian managers, our European colleagues. In
short, everyone who participated in this program and who financed this
work. Thank you very much.
Gorie: I'd like to just say that I think any first flight is a
wonderful flight, but this flight that we've had on STS-91 up to Mir
probably could not be topped by any other flight. Working with a
wonderful crew and getting to meet the Mir crew in space after seeing
them in Moscow has just been an incredible adventure and I'd just like
to thank everybody at home and at work who allowed this to happen.
Thank you.
Kavandi: I don't know what else I can add except thanks from myself as
well, and in our hearts we brought you all with us.
Precourt: Before we close, I know we've got some equivalent crew
exchanges going on in the control centers. We know that Viktor Blagov
is there in Houston and to the CapCom in Houston, perhaps you could
come up on the loop in Houston with the flight director, and if Viktor
is there we'd like to hear his voice and maybe say hello to some of
the folks that are working so hard to support us from there in the
control center.
Mark Garneau, CAPCOM: Discovery, Mir, Houston - Unfortunately Viktor
isn't here although he was here for your docking.
Precourt: OK. Well, that's great. Maybe the flight director and a
couple of others would like to say a few words from down there. I know
it's nice for us to hear their voices.
Paul Dye, Lead Flight Director: Charlie, this is Paul from down here.
We just had to quickly change the plugs. We don't have everybody else
plugged in, but we're all watching your smiling faces and we're happy
to see you up there. We're happy to see the magnificent work you're
doing on this flight and closing things out. We're a little sad to see
it come to an end, but it really isn't an end, of course, we're all
looking forward to flying the International Space Station as it comes
up. So thanks for the opportunity to serve you and serve the whole
program.
Precourt: Thanks Paul. We really appreciate it. Our work is
continuing. As you said, we're not saying "goodbye," we're saying "da
svidanya," which is "until we meet again."
(End transcript of press breifing)
(Begin transcript of CBS radio network/mutual broadcasting system
interview)
Discovery/Mir Crew Interview 
Q: You told flight controllers in Moscow yesterday that you were
surprised how cluttered the Mir was after 12 years in space; just how
serious an issue is that and could this become a problem on board the
International Space Station?
A: Ryumin: I've been on the station and have seen what a serious
problem this is, but we are thinking about this problem. The question
of items on the station is important, and is going to be an important
consideration for the International Space Station. I'd like to know
why this happened, we didn't plan for this to happen in the course of
so many years. We've brought so many things here over the course of
the first five years that it became impossible to store all of them. I
think that if we manage this part for the ISS from the very beginning
that we will be able to address and solve this issue. And we'll be
able to understand what we bring and where we're going to put it and
how we're going to dispose of it. This needs to be managed as a
serious issue, other wise the ISS will likewise be filled with extra
articles.
Q: Andy, I know you've been asked this many times, that when you get
back to Earth it will have been 140 days in space for you -- what are
you looking forward to most once you get you're land legs back?
A: Thomas: I guess what I miss most is free time. Every moment up here
is sort of committed and planned out ahead of time, because time is a
very valuable resource up here. So I'm looking forward to not having
anything to do for a while, that's going to be a great pleasure for
me. Another thing I'm looking forward to is not having to eat my meals
out of packets, not having to drink my drinks out of a bag with a
straw; to eat meals on a plate and drink coffee out of a cup, I think
that is going to be kind of a fun feeling too.
Q: Andy, you're the last American to make a long duration stay aboard
Mir, is there a single thing that leaps out at you as the most
important lesson learned from the shuttle/Mir program as NASA and the
Russian Space Agency begin building the ISS?
A: Thomas: Based on my experience I think the training program that
you are put through ahead of the flight is extremely important. And
you have to spend a lot of time working with the crew you're going to
fly with so you can get to know them and build a relationship before
you fly. I think that's very critical when we've got members of the
crew that are coming from such diverse backgrounds as we do in this
case, and as we will in the days of the International Space Station.
Q: I was just curious if in you're four and a half months aboard Mir,
was there ever a moment when if you had a ride home you would have
taken it?
A: Thomas: No...the toughest moment was right at the beginning of the
flight when we had a lot of people aboard and it was very crowded.
Once we fell into a routine, just with the three of us, it then became
a lot easier, getting into the work routine, the recreation routine. I
became very comfortable on board the station, and at no point did I
feel like I needed to leave. It became a very sort of comfortable,
easy life-style in some ways.
Q: Commander, this afternoon you're going to release a gas into the
punctured Spektr module, to see if you can possibly locate the source
of the leak in that module, could you tell us: is there any real
expectation that Spektr could ever be repaired, or is this just an
exercise for the sake of the International Space Station?
A: Musabayev: Yes, indeed, one of our goals is to restore the
functionality of the Spektr, but this is not an end in itself. It is
more of a scientific experiment in order to, in the future, be able to
have the experience determining, if necessary, God forbid, such
information from the ISS. This experience will come in handy. Our
mission, Mir 25, I with Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin, have been
performing engineer work to restore the Spektr module. We have done
two EVA's, and have restored much of the structure of the solar
arrays, and have assured the possibility of safe shuttle approach for
our friends from America, which is why we today are calmly discussing
this issue aboard the Mir space station.
Q: This is your first flight to the Mir space station, an inspection
flight as you have said yourself, what have been the results so far -
what do you consider necessary to perform on Mir, what work needs to
be done?
A: Ryumin: I would not want in this interview to give you a thirty
second answer, but I will say that together, with commanders Musabayev
and Precourt we have assessed the condition.
Q: Talgat, as I understand it, today you have yet to do the first
pressurization of the Spektr with the flourescent gas - could you give
us a few words on that?
A: Musabayev: Well, the experiment can't be explained very quickly -
the idea is to input into the pressurized module a fluorescent gas
that will exit through the hole, or holes, causing a
de-pressurization. We will then be looking through all the windows we
can and be using various methods to see where the gas is coming out.
That will perhaps allow us to assess where the origin of the leaks,
that is the experiment we will be performing today with our American
colleagues.
Q: Valeri, it is well known that in December of '99 the Mir will cease
to exist; in your opinion could it continue to operate past that date?
Are the reasons more political or technological? Can the Mir continue
to exist without the help from the shuttle?
A: Ryumin: First of all, I am not aware of this date - I think this is
only a proposed date for the end of the work. As far as the Mir's
continuation of work, yes it could be done if the resources could be
found to support it - and of course there must be a crew to be here.
Q: A somewhat unusual question; if you were permitted to return
something as a souvenir, what would you take?
A: Musabayev: We have already, yesterday, decided to give to the
shuttle crew one souvenir - this is our key... well we won't even call
it a souvenir, it's more of a surprise. The idea was that we wanted
something that had been on the station a long time... a suprise for
the first ISS crew.
Q: During the World Cup in France you will still be on Mir; will you
be following it, and what team do you think will become champion?
A: Musabayev and Budarin: Well, we're not big soccer fan, but we get a
report from Central Asia about the progress and we listen to these
reports, and I guess if we were to be fans we would be fans of our
national team, even though they didn't make the finals.
Q: Talgat, how has progress gone aboard Mir, have you been satisfied
with the rookie on your crew?
A: Musabayev: Yes, for over four months we have worked shoulder to
shoulder, and I must say we have developed a deep and mutual respect.
Andy Thomas has been a great member of our crew, and of course we had
some doubts originally, and some journalists made a big thing of it,
but I can tell you Andy Thomas and Nikolai Budarin work very well
together and it will be somewhat difficult for us to now go our
separate ways.
(To Thomas) Yes, I would like to say thank you for your help during
the flight, we had a very good time together on the Mir.
Q: Talgat, have you prepared a celebration or any suprises for the
guests tomorrow night, the eve of the shuttle departure?
A: Musabayev: Well, yes, the best gift for people is song, so tomorrow
we will perform songs in English and Russian.
(End transcript of interview)