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CNN Live At Daybreak

Interview with Astronauts on Board International Space Station

Aired May 02, 2003 - 06:37   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.


ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: We are about to take you space for a very special live interview.
Miles O'Brien, our space correspondent, brings us a very special treat right now.

Miles -- good morning.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Arthel. Just don't call me the "spacey correspondent."

There you see the combined crew of the International Space Station. Screen left, Don Pettit. Beside him, Nikolai Budarin. In the middle, Ken Bowersox, current commander, or about to change the leadership there. Lower right, Yuri Malenchenko, and upper right, Ed Lu.

Gentlemen, good to see you all.

Ken Bowersox, about 160 days logged now. Excluding your family, what do you miss most about the earth, and what will you miss most about space when you return?

CMDR. KEN BOWERSOX, EXPEDITION 6 COMMANDER: Gosh, let's start with what I'm going to miss about the space station. I'm going to miss flying as I do my work, floating from place to place here in the station. I'm going to miss the food, and I'm going to miss the spectacular views. You just can't beat looking out the window and seeing our planet. We live on the most beautiful place probably in the universe.

What do I miss about home, besides my family? I think I miss windsurfing and being on Galveston Bay getting wet and having the wind blow by my face.

O'BRIEN: All right, a little spicy shrimp or something maybe.

Ed Lu, welcome to space. I hope you're getting your space legs back. How was that Soyuz ride up? Wasn't the spacecraft -- it's not the mission you initially trained for, but you're a flexible guy, I know. Nevertheless, do you think you're ready for the next six months up there?

ED LU, EXPEDITION 6: (AUDIO GAP) to be back in space, and the Soyuz ride was great. It was quite an experience. It's much smaller than the shuttle, of course, but it's a lot more maneuverable. It's more like a sports car as compared to the shuttle, which is sort of like a big, old station wagon.

But the docking went smoothly, and things are going great so far. These guys are showing us around. We're learning about the space station, all of the things that they never teach you in training. And we're having a good time so far. We're looking forward to the next six months.

O'BRIEN: You've got to tell me one thing they didn't teach you in training that you've learned since being up there.

LU: Gee, the biggest thing that they don't teach you is where everything is stowed. As you can imagine, this is a big ship, and you've got to keep all of your supplies onboard for months at a time, so you've got food down to office supplies, clothes -- all that sort of stuff. And it is stowed in bags in every little nook and cranny that you can imagine around this place.

O'BRIEN: All right, I expect both Don Pettit and Ken Bowersox would be getting calls at all hours of the night, where is the peanut butter?

Don Pettit, a question for you. You've made a name for yourself as kind of the Mr. Wizard of the NASA Corps, your Saturday morning science. I'm curious -- Don Pettit, the space guy, whatever you want to go with that. I'm curious, though, about as a science officer, an outgoing science officer, only two people on board, scant hours will be spent on science obviously, 11 hours a week or something like that. That's not a lot of science. Is it worth it just to have people up there just sort of doing glorified house-sitting?

DON PETTIT, EXPEDITION 6 SCIENCE OFFICER: There's certainly a lot more to space station than doing science. Science is (UNINTELLIGIBLE), but it's all part of exploration of space and human expansion into our solar system. So, I think one of the key things about space station, this international program is having many, many international partners all working together and keeping a human presence in space. And that is probably more important than the absolute magnitude of the amount of science you get done.

However, having said that, it is important to continue to do scientific explorations, because that legitimizes your efforts here. If you go into space and you don't do science, you're just wandering around. So, the science certainly does legitimize our efforts.

In terms of a two-man crew, in some respects when you're up here, you're always doing science. You're making observations, you're seeing how things work, you're taking notes, and that in itself is going to advance science, even though it is not necessarily a pre- programmed experimental rack type experimental piece of hardware.

O'BRIEN: All right, as I say goodbye, can you guys do a quick demonstration of zero-G? How about a group summersault, so we can show people what it's like up there.

Very nicely done. All right, thank you very much to the five- person crew of the International Space Station live from the Destiny Science Lab. We appreciate it.

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





Station>


Aired May 2, 2003 - 06:37   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: We are about to take you space for a very special live interview.
Miles O'Brien, our space correspondent, brings us a very special treat right now.

Miles -- good morning.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Arthel. Just don't call me the "spacey correspondent."

There you see the combined crew of the International Space Station. Screen left, Don Pettit. Beside him, Nikolai Budarin. In the middle, Ken Bowersox, current commander, or about to change the leadership there. Lower right, Yuri Malenchenko, and upper right, Ed Lu.

Gentlemen, good to see you all.

Ken Bowersox, about 160 days logged now. Excluding your family, what do you miss most about the earth, and what will you miss most about space when you return?

CMDR. KEN BOWERSOX, EXPEDITION 6 COMMANDER: Gosh, let's start with what I'm going to miss about the space station. I'm going to miss flying as I do my work, floating from place to place here in the station. I'm going to miss the food, and I'm going to miss the spectacular views. You just can't beat looking out the window and seeing our planet. We live on the most beautiful place probably in the universe.

What do I miss about home, besides my family? I think I miss windsurfing and being on Galveston Bay getting wet and having the wind blow by my face.

O'BRIEN: All right, a little spicy shrimp or something maybe.

Ed Lu, welcome to space. I hope you're getting your space legs back. How was that Soyuz ride up? Wasn't the spacecraft -- it's not the mission you initially trained for, but you're a flexible guy, I know. Nevertheless, do you think you're ready for the next six months up there?

ED LU, EXPEDITION 6: (AUDIO GAP) to be back in space, and the Soyuz ride was great. It was quite an experience. It's much smaller than the shuttle, of course, but it's a lot more maneuverable. It's more like a sports car as compared to the shuttle, which is sort of like a big, old station wagon.

But the docking went smoothly, and things are going great so far. These guys are showing us around. We're learning about the space station, all of the things that they never teach you in training. And we're having a good time so far. We're looking forward to the next six months.

O'BRIEN: You've got to tell me one thing they didn't teach you in training that you've learned since being up there.

LU: Gee, the biggest thing that they don't teach you is where everything is stowed. As you can imagine, this is a big ship, and you've got to keep all of your supplies onboard for months at a time, so you've got food down to office supplies, clothes -- all that sort of stuff. And it is stowed in bags in every little nook and cranny that you can imagine around this place.

O'BRIEN: All right, I expect both Don Pettit and Ken Bowersox would be getting calls at all hours of the night, where is the peanut butter?

Don Pettit, a question for you. You've made a name for yourself as kind of the Mr. Wizard of the NASA Corps, your Saturday morning science. I'm curious -- Don Pettit, the space guy, whatever you want to go with that. I'm curious, though, about as a science officer, an outgoing science officer, only two people on board, scant hours will be spent on science obviously, 11 hours a week or something like that. That's not a lot of science. Is it worth it just to have people up there just sort of doing glorified house-sitting?

DON PETTIT, EXPEDITION 6 SCIENCE OFFICER: There's certainly a lot more to space station than doing science. Science is (UNINTELLIGIBLE), but it's all part of exploration of space and human expansion into our solar system. So, I think one of the key things about space station, this international program is having many, many international partners all working together and keeping a human presence in space. And that is probably more important than the absolute magnitude of the amount of science you get done.

However, having said that, it is important to continue to do scientific explorations, because that legitimizes your efforts here. If you go into space and you don't do science, you're just wandering around. So, the science certainly does legitimize our efforts.

In terms of a two-man crew, in some respects when you're up here, you're always doing science. You're making observations, you're seeing how things work, you're taking notes, and that in itself is going to advance science, even though it is not necessarily a pre- programmed experimental rack type experimental piece of hardware.

O'BRIEN: All right, as I say goodbye, can you guys do a quick demonstration of zero-G? How about a group summersault, so we can show people what it's like up there.

Very nicely done. All right, thank you very much to the five- person crew of the International Space Station live from the Destiny Science Lab. We appreciate it.

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





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