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CNN Live Today

Hooking Up

Aired October 09, 2002 - 11:26   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.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: High above the Earth this morning, the shuttle Atlantis should be docking with the International Space Station right about now.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's bring in our Miles O'Brien to see if things are going as planned.

Miles, good morning.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you both.

KAGAN: Right about now is a technical term, I think.

HARRIS: Got it. It's as close as I'm going to come.

O'BRIEN: Of course, NASA uses a little more precise language. Yes, they're in the process of docking. I believe it's already happened. I'm watching it right now.

We just lost our live signal, of course, as fate would have it just as you came to us, but the picture that we were seeing there was pretty fascinating. It was a shot from the International Space Station, right down on the orbiter Atlantis, just as it nosed its way into the orbital docking system. These pictures came down about a half an hour ago. Isn't that spectacular? Flying over the north Atlantic, space shuttle Atlantis there. Let me get the right thing up there, on its way in.

Command Jeff Ashby at the controls of the space shuttle as it inched toward the International Space Station at a rate of one foot per second.

Now, what you have to keep in mind is that although it seems ever so benign, both the vehicles involved in this are traveling close to 18,000 miles an hour at an altitude of 250 miles, well above the weather that you see below, as we mentioned. Inside the docking bay, the a cargo compartment of Atlantis, a school-bus sized truss, a girder that will be latched on to the International Space Station beginning tomorrow with the first of three spacewalks and some work with the robot arm.

There you see it right there. It's called S-1 Truss. You don't need to know that's it S-1. Inside, here there are actually a series, well, as it moves in toward the forward compartment of the space shuttle, you'll see the two aft windows there. That's where Jeff Ashby is right now. He was working right there, looking at the space station, firing the shuttle's steering jets to inch the space shuttle orbiter toward the International Space Station.

And you see these little boxes here, one, two and three, those are radiators that are folded up like a map. Those radiators will be part of the cooling system of the space station. One of them will be deployed during the course of this mission.

Back to those live pictures. We are on the space station right now looking down. Let me orient you, because this is not easy to figure out. Those are those two aft windows I was telling you about, that Jeff Ashby was using, the commander, to inch the space shuttle towards the space station. These are the forward windows that you see at the nose of the space shuttle. This is the forward direction of Atlantis. Right down here is that orbital docking ring where the two vehicles meet. He has to bring it in with incredibly tight tolerances. After all, these are the best pilots in the world. He's probably done it a thousand times in simulation. It's the first time he's done it for real, of course.

And as is NASA's custom, he pulled it off so far without a hitch. We're watch it as they seal up that docking ring. We've got to make sure there's no leaks in all of that before they open up hatches, always a wise thing to do, and once that is completed. There you see another shot looking down. There's the orbiter there. There's the docking ring I was telling you about, a little different angle.

Once that has occurred, the process of opening up those hatches, which takes the better part of an hour, will occur, and there will be a little handshake, and the folks inside the station, they've been there for four months now, will be quite happy to see some other human beings, six of them, there for a visit for about a week.

Among the items they brought, Leon and Daryn -- look at that, isn't that a spectacular shot right there?

HARRIS: That's beautiful.

O'BRIEN: That's gorgeous. That shows that docking ring in the foreground with the space shuttle coming closer over the North Atlantic as they approached Europe just a few minutes ago. But when they come on board, what do you think is on the top of the list of items they are bringing the space station crew?

HARRIS: See, I was going to ask you.

KAGAN: I cheated.

HARRIS: You did?

You know what it is, right?

Before you say, let me guess. I'm going to guess it's got to be something to eat. Is it something to eat?

O'BRIEN: Yes, I think food is probably a safe bet. Food is a safe bet, and we're not talking hot pizza. Let's eliminate that.

HARRIS: I figured that. I'm going to guess is a treat of some type. Chocolate maybe. That's usually a favorite.

O'BRIEN: Chocolates you can bring up and store. Think of something you couldn't store.

KAGAN: Something fresh. Something fresh.

HARRIS: Krispy Kreme.

O'BRIEN: Krispy Kreme donuts. When you go to Florida, Leon, what do you bring back often? A bag of what? Oranges, grapefruits, lemons. They're jonesing for citrus up there.

KAGAN: I also heard, though, hot sauce and pecan pie.

O'BRIEN: Well, you know, sounds like a well-balanced meal to me.

KAGAN: Pecan.

O'BRIEN: Let's call the whole thing off?

KAGAN: Thanks, Miles.

HARRIS: See you in a bit.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired October 9, 2002 - 11:26   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: High above the Earth this morning, the shuttle Atlantis should be docking with the International Space Station right about now.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's bring in our Miles O'Brien to see if things are going as planned.

Miles, good morning.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you both.

KAGAN: Right about now is a technical term, I think.

HARRIS: Got it. It's as close as I'm going to come.

O'BRIEN: Of course, NASA uses a little more precise language. Yes, they're in the process of docking. I believe it's already happened. I'm watching it right now.

We just lost our live signal, of course, as fate would have it just as you came to us, but the picture that we were seeing there was pretty fascinating. It was a shot from the International Space Station, right down on the orbiter Atlantis, just as it nosed its way into the orbital docking system. These pictures came down about a half an hour ago. Isn't that spectacular? Flying over the north Atlantic, space shuttle Atlantis there. Let me get the right thing up there, on its way in.

Command Jeff Ashby at the controls of the space shuttle as it inched toward the International Space Station at a rate of one foot per second.

Now, what you have to keep in mind is that although it seems ever so benign, both the vehicles involved in this are traveling close to 18,000 miles an hour at an altitude of 250 miles, well above the weather that you see below, as we mentioned. Inside the docking bay, the a cargo compartment of Atlantis, a school-bus sized truss, a girder that will be latched on to the International Space Station beginning tomorrow with the first of three spacewalks and some work with the robot arm.

There you see it right there. It's called S-1 Truss. You don't need to know that's it S-1. Inside, here there are actually a series, well, as it moves in toward the forward compartment of the space shuttle, you'll see the two aft windows there. That's where Jeff Ashby is right now. He was working right there, looking at the space station, firing the shuttle's steering jets to inch the space shuttle orbiter toward the International Space Station.

And you see these little boxes here, one, two and three, those are radiators that are folded up like a map. Those radiators will be part of the cooling system of the space station. One of them will be deployed during the course of this mission.

Back to those live pictures. We are on the space station right now looking down. Let me orient you, because this is not easy to figure out. Those are those two aft windows I was telling you about, that Jeff Ashby was using, the commander, to inch the space shuttle towards the space station. These are the forward windows that you see at the nose of the space shuttle. This is the forward direction of Atlantis. Right down here is that orbital docking ring where the two vehicles meet. He has to bring it in with incredibly tight tolerances. After all, these are the best pilots in the world. He's probably done it a thousand times in simulation. It's the first time he's done it for real, of course.

And as is NASA's custom, he pulled it off so far without a hitch. We're watch it as they seal up that docking ring. We've got to make sure there's no leaks in all of that before they open up hatches, always a wise thing to do, and once that is completed. There you see another shot looking down. There's the orbiter there. There's the docking ring I was telling you about, a little different angle.

Once that has occurred, the process of opening up those hatches, which takes the better part of an hour, will occur, and there will be a little handshake, and the folks inside the station, they've been there for four months now, will be quite happy to see some other human beings, six of them, there for a visit for about a week.

Among the items they brought, Leon and Daryn -- look at that, isn't that a spectacular shot right there?

HARRIS: That's beautiful.

O'BRIEN: That's gorgeous. That shows that docking ring in the foreground with the space shuttle coming closer over the North Atlantic as they approached Europe just a few minutes ago. But when they come on board, what do you think is on the top of the list of items they are bringing the space station crew?

HARRIS: See, I was going to ask you.

KAGAN: I cheated.

HARRIS: You did?

You know what it is, right?

Before you say, let me guess. I'm going to guess it's got to be something to eat. Is it something to eat?

O'BRIEN: Yes, I think food is probably a safe bet. Food is a safe bet, and we're not talking hot pizza. Let's eliminate that.

HARRIS: I figured that. I'm going to guess is a treat of some type. Chocolate maybe. That's usually a favorite.

O'BRIEN: Chocolates you can bring up and store. Think of something you couldn't store.

KAGAN: Something fresh. Something fresh.

HARRIS: Krispy Kreme.

O'BRIEN: Krispy Kreme donuts. When you go to Florida, Leon, what do you bring back often? A bag of what? Oranges, grapefruits, lemons. They're jonesing for citrus up there.

KAGAN: I also heard, though, hot sauce and pecan pie.

O'BRIEN: Well, you know, sounds like a well-balanced meal to me.

KAGAN: Pecan.

O'BRIEN: Let's call the whole thing off?

KAGAN: Thanks, Miles.

HARRIS: See you in a bit.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com