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CNN Live At Daybreak

South African Returns From Space Vacation

Aired May 06, 2002 - 05:18   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You may have a special summer vacation planned. But just imagine the story South African Mark Shuttleworth will have to tell. Shuttleworth is, of course, the South African who paid 20 million bucks to ride into space on a Russian rocket for a 10 day stay on the international space station.

Our Jill Dougherty watched his return to earth.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They plummeted back from space at 20 times the speed of sound, slowing as they hit the atmosphere, the heat so intense it scorched their Soyuz capsule black, at times a frightening experience, Mark Shuttleworth told CNN later.

MARK SHUTTLEWORTH, SPACE TOURIST: ... the window nuts and bolts, great big sheets of material, you know, fibers, asbestos type material and large pieces of metal coming sort of drifting past your window.

DOUGHERTY: Shuttleworth was the last to emerge after Italian engineer Robert Vitori (ph) and Russian commander Yuri Godzanko (ph). Doctors checked their pulse. Normal.

The Sunday return fell on Russia Orthodox Easter. Rescue crews greeted them with colored eggs and cakes, then off to a tent for more medical evaluation.

(on camera): The first thing these men feel back on earth is how heavy everything feels. After 10 days of weightlessness in space, they have to get used to gravity again and they'll need several days of rehabilitation to do that.

(voice-over): Mark Shuttleworth's 10 days on the international space station made him a hero back home in South Africa, where he was dubbed "The Afronaut." In an interview a few days before his return, Shuttleworth told me his seven months of training in Russia helped him adapt quickly to space.

MARK SHUTTLEWORTH: I feel just as I do on the ground. I don't feel any strange effects other than the fact that things don't stay where you put them.

DOUGHERTY: Shuttleworth conducted experiments while on the ISS and brought one of them back with him, how animal embryos adapt to weightlessness.

RICK SHUTTLEWORTH, MARK'S FATHER: Once Mark decides to do something, there's just no stopping him. So there's no point in deciding it's not a good idea. But I know Mark and I know the way that he does things. He does things in a way that benefit many people.

DOUGHERTY: Back on earth, a hug from his father Rick. Space tourist? Mark Shuttleworth doesn't see it that way. He says he's an amateur astronaut. After paying $20 million for his ticket to space, Shuttleworth has two more purchases he hopes to make -- the Soyuz capsule he rode in and the space suit he wore.

Jill Dougherty, CNN, Kazakhstan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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