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American Morning

To Boldly Go...

Aired January 14, 2004 - 09:06   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Mae Jamison was the first African- American women ever to go into space. She's live in Houston, to talk about the space plan a bit later today.
Doctor, good morning to you there.

DR. MAE JAMISON, FMR. SHUTTLE ASTRONAUT: Good morning.

HEMMER: For an astronaut's perspective now, what is the biggest challenge you see that the president is set to announce?

JAMISON: Well, I think the biggest challenge really is to wait to long enough to hear all aspects of the program and what the proposal is, because I think we're all very excited about it.

I'm no longer in the astronaut program. I now work a lot on issues on science literacy, on issues of how do we use different technologies with medical devices? But when I look back and think about space exploration, the biggest challenges to help people understand, why is it important? What does it do for us here on Earth? the whole idea is -- I would go to Mars tomorrow, of course. I think any astronaut, former astronaut, that you talk to would probably say the same thing.

But the challenges we look for when we talk about the proposal and the pieces that we've seen are, first of all, how does it coordinate and balance with the rest of space exploration? For example, will it be wise for us to retire the shuttle, retire our means of getting into space prior to establishing a lunar base and establishing lunar vehicles? That would be a big question I would ask.

HEMMER: You bring up countless possibilities there in your answer. Let me backtrack just a little bit. I know you're not in the astronaut's program anymore, but have you ever stopped and thought about what it would be like for a human to actually take that voyage to the planet Mars. And if so, what images come to your mind? Can you relay that to us?

JAMISON: Oh gosh, I've thought about that since I was a little girl and people were going to the moon, and I always assumed I'd go. The reality is that it would take a long time to go. So right now, we would think about taking at least six months to get to Mars. So that means that during that six months, you'll have to think whether you'll be weightless the whole time, what are you going to do. People would probably have aspects where you do training while traveling, so that all your training wouldn't be done 12 months before you ever landed on the planet; you'd continue to train all the time. You'd also have to figure out how to keep your body healthy, so you wouldn't deteriorate, you wouldn't have too much damage from radiation, because when you go into deep space, those kinds of issues come into play.

HEMMER: What kind of travel time is this, are you thinking, days, weeks, months?

JAMISON: Right now, when people think about going to mars with some of the propulsion systems, we're talking three months to six months to a year, depending where Mars is from the planet Earth at the time. So you have a little bit time on your hands. It's a little longer than a regular road trip.

HEMMER: Listen, doctor, back to your first answers, you talk about the challenges with money, you talk about the challenges in putting this lunar facility on the moon, you talk about the future program for the shuttle. How is it that NASA -- how is that the White House and this president convinces Americans that this is worth the money, the time and the investment?

HEMMER: Well, I really have to wait and see what the program is. But first of all, when we talk about space exploration, we have to remember that space exploration is really what allows us to right now use satellite technology, whether it's for communications, whether it's for remote sensing; our resources, geology, what's happened in the planet, our defense, those are part of space exploration. Sometimes we get too narrow with our focus.

We also have to understand, as we know more about other planets, we actually know more about the Earth. So the more we know about Martian geology, the moon, Venus, the more we know about what's going to happen on Earth.

And then I think there's a part about each one of us as humans, where we want to see what's out there, we want to explore and expand our presence in the universe, and it's one of those worthwhile goals, that as a country and as a planet, as a species, we could actually move forward.

HEMMER: Curiosity is huge.

JAMISON: Thank you. We got to run. Mae Jamison there in Houston. You're on the record, by the way, you said you'd go.

Thanks. Talk to you later, all right.

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 January 14, 2004 - 09:06   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Mae Jamison was the first African- American women ever to go into space. She's live in Houston, to talk about the space plan a bit later today.
Doctor, good morning to you there.

DR. MAE JAMISON, FMR. SHUTTLE ASTRONAUT: Good morning.

HEMMER: For an astronaut's perspective now, what is the biggest challenge you see that the president is set to announce?

JAMISON: Well, I think the biggest challenge really is to wait to long enough to hear all aspects of the program and what the proposal is, because I think we're all very excited about it.

I'm no longer in the astronaut program. I now work a lot on issues on science literacy, on issues of how do we use different technologies with medical devices? But when I look back and think about space exploration, the biggest challenges to help people understand, why is it important? What does it do for us here on Earth? the whole idea is -- I would go to Mars tomorrow, of course. I think any astronaut, former astronaut, that you talk to would probably say the same thing.

But the challenges we look for when we talk about the proposal and the pieces that we've seen are, first of all, how does it coordinate and balance with the rest of space exploration? For example, will it be wise for us to retire the shuttle, retire our means of getting into space prior to establishing a lunar base and establishing lunar vehicles? That would be a big question I would ask.

HEMMER: You bring up countless possibilities there in your answer. Let me backtrack just a little bit. I know you're not in the astronaut's program anymore, but have you ever stopped and thought about what it would be like for a human to actually take that voyage to the planet Mars. And if so, what images come to your mind? Can you relay that to us?

JAMISON: Oh gosh, I've thought about that since I was a little girl and people were going to the moon, and I always assumed I'd go. The reality is that it would take a long time to go. So right now, we would think about taking at least six months to get to Mars. So that means that during that six months, you'll have to think whether you'll be weightless the whole time, what are you going to do. People would probably have aspects where you do training while traveling, so that all your training wouldn't be done 12 months before you ever landed on the planet; you'd continue to train all the time. You'd also have to figure out how to keep your body healthy, so you wouldn't deteriorate, you wouldn't have too much damage from radiation, because when you go into deep space, those kinds of issues come into play.

HEMMER: What kind of travel time is this, are you thinking, days, weeks, months?

JAMISON: Right now, when people think about going to mars with some of the propulsion systems, we're talking three months to six months to a year, depending where Mars is from the planet Earth at the time. So you have a little bit time on your hands. It's a little longer than a regular road trip.

HEMMER: Listen, doctor, back to your first answers, you talk about the challenges with money, you talk about the challenges in putting this lunar facility on the moon, you talk about the future program for the shuttle. How is it that NASA -- how is that the White House and this president convinces Americans that this is worth the money, the time and the investment?

HEMMER: Well, I really have to wait and see what the program is. But first of all, when we talk about space exploration, we have to remember that space exploration is really what allows us to right now use satellite technology, whether it's for communications, whether it's for remote sensing; our resources, geology, what's happened in the planet, our defense, those are part of space exploration. Sometimes we get too narrow with our focus.

We also have to understand, as we know more about other planets, we actually know more about the Earth. So the more we know about Martian geology, the moon, Venus, the more we know about what's going to happen on Earth.

And then I think there's a part about each one of us as humans, where we want to see what's out there, we want to explore and expand our presence in the universe, and it's one of those worthwhile goals, that as a country and as a planet, as a species, we could actually move forward.

HEMMER: Curiosity is huge.

JAMISON: Thank you. We got to run. Mae Jamison there in Houston. You're on the record, by the way, you said you'd go.

Thanks. Talk to you later, all right.

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