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CNN Live Sunday
Astronauts Inducted Into U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame
Aired June 22, 2003 - 16:22 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: On now to other news. Space exploration. Four new names have been added to a pretty impressive list of NASA pioneers. Former astronauts Story Musgrave, Sally Ride, Daniel Brandenstein and Robert Hoot Gibson were all inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame yesterday. Fresh from that honor, Story Musgrave. Congratulations to you.
STORY MUSGRAVE, FORMER ASTRONAUT: Thank you, Fredricka. Glad to be here.
WHITFIELD: Well, give me an idea of what that was like. What a great honor it must have been.
MUSGRAVE: It is an honor, but I also know, in a sense of humility, that lots of other people could have done that just as well had they had the opportunity, so I did for over 30 years, you know, I was the best I could be.
WHITFIELD: Well, this Hall of Fame was something that was just a concept, an idea by survivors of the Mercury 7, and back in the '80s, then in 1990s, the Hall of Fame actually came to be, and here you are now one of the inductees. Did you expect that you would be eventually, or were you crossing your fingers that you would hope to be?
MUSGRAVE: Well, it's an honor I'd like to have, but in the victories and the triumphs, I take them as part of the journey. I just do the best I can, and if they come my way, that's wonderful.
WHITFIELD: What do you suppose the future of space exploration is like these days, particularly after the latest explosion of the shuttle and how much of a setback so many seem to believe this is for NASA space exploration as a whole?
MUSGRAVE: The Columbia gives us a hard decision point to be reflective and contemplative about the posture we were in, and it makes us -- it forces us to look at the vision that we have for the future.
WHITFIELD: Are you pleased with the way in which the investigation is going? Initially NASA was getting a lot of praise for being very forthright in information, but then suddenly there was sort of a clamming up of public details being released.
MUSGRAVE: I think it is all going to get out, and I think NASA will take the right action to be as safe as they possibly can. WHITFIELD: Well, let's talk about the future of space exploration as it applies to the astronauts to be, some of the young people now. Are you encouraged there seems to be a greater fascination or even, you know, perhaps pursuit of a lot of young people to want to get into space exploration?
MUSGRAVE: Fredricka, the hunger's there. We just have to feed it, and we need to feed it with exploration. Big telescopes that look way out into the universe, and satellites, robotic satellites, spreading themselves across the solar system.
WHITFIELD: Story Musgrave, thanks very much, and congratulation to you as being one of the latest inductees.
MUSGRAVE: Thank you very much, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Thanks for joining us.
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 June 22, 2003 - 16:22 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: On now to other news. Space exploration. Four new names have been added to a pretty impressive list of NASA pioneers. Former astronauts Story Musgrave, Sally Ride, Daniel Brandenstein and Robert Hoot Gibson were all inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame yesterday. Fresh from that honor, Story Musgrave. Congratulations to you.
STORY MUSGRAVE, FORMER ASTRONAUT: Thank you, Fredricka. Glad to be here.
WHITFIELD: Well, give me an idea of what that was like. What a great honor it must have been.
MUSGRAVE: It is an honor, but I also know, in a sense of humility, that lots of other people could have done that just as well had they had the opportunity, so I did for over 30 years, you know, I was the best I could be.
WHITFIELD: Well, this Hall of Fame was something that was just a concept, an idea by survivors of the Mercury 7, and back in the '80s, then in 1990s, the Hall of Fame actually came to be, and here you are now one of the inductees. Did you expect that you would be eventually, or were you crossing your fingers that you would hope to be?
MUSGRAVE: Well, it's an honor I'd like to have, but in the victories and the triumphs, I take them as part of the journey. I just do the best I can, and if they come my way, that's wonderful.
WHITFIELD: What do you suppose the future of space exploration is like these days, particularly after the latest explosion of the shuttle and how much of a setback so many seem to believe this is for NASA space exploration as a whole?
MUSGRAVE: The Columbia gives us a hard decision point to be reflective and contemplative about the posture we were in, and it makes us -- it forces us to look at the vision that we have for the future.
WHITFIELD: Are you pleased with the way in which the investigation is going? Initially NASA was getting a lot of praise for being very forthright in information, but then suddenly there was sort of a clamming up of public details being released.
MUSGRAVE: I think it is all going to get out, and I think NASA will take the right action to be as safe as they possibly can. WHITFIELD: Well, let's talk about the future of space exploration as it applies to the astronauts to be, some of the young people now. Are you encouraged there seems to be a greater fascination or even, you know, perhaps pursuit of a lot of young people to want to get into space exploration?
MUSGRAVE: Fredricka, the hunger's there. We just have to feed it, and we need to feed it with exploration. Big telescopes that look way out into the universe, and satellites, robotic satellites, spreading themselves across the solar system.
WHITFIELD: Story Musgrave, thanks very much, and congratulation to you as being one of the latest inductees.
MUSGRAVE: Thank you very much, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Thanks for joining us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
