>> It was eight weeks ago
tomorrow the last time
00:02
that a Soyuz spacecraft
returned to Earth,
00:06
bringing international space
station crew members home.
00:09
In this particular case,
after 188 days in space,
00:12
more than 3,000 orbits
of the Earth,
00:16
totaling some 79 million miles,
00:18
it delivered cosmonaut
Mikhail Tyurin, JAXA astronaut,
00:21
Koichi Wakata, and NASA's Rick
Mastracchio, who joins us here
00:25
in the flight control
room this morning.
00:29
Rick, it's nice to
see you back on Earth.
00:31
>> Good morning, Pat.
00:33
>> We've spent an awful
lot of time talking
00:34
about how astronauts take
care of themselves on orbit.
00:36
In fact, I've done it
already this morning.
00:40
To get prepared to return to
a one-gravity environment.
00:42
So first question
is how you do it?
00:46
>> Oh, I'm feeling great.
00:50
We exercise quite a bit
onboard space station:
00:51
a couple hours a day.
00:54
I push myself very
hard in the hopes
00:55
that it would make my life
easier after I landed.
00:58
And I think I was
pretty successful;
01:01
I felt a lot better
than I expected.
01:02
I thought it would take many,
01:04
many weeks to really,
to feel good.
01:05
But I had some vestibular
for a couple hours.
01:08
That went away pretty quickly.
01:10
And in terms of muscle
strength, my strength never --
01:12
didn't change from pre-flight.
01:15
So, I'm feeling pretty good.
01:16
>> That's -- that is an
improvement, I think,
01:18
over much earlier in
the station program
01:20
where astronauts came home
and felt pretty crummy
01:23
for quite a long time.
01:26
Do you think that the work
01:27
that you're doing is
what's made the difference?
01:29
>> Yeah, of course.
01:30
You know, the engineers,
the scientists, the doctors,
01:31
they're getting much smarter.
01:34
They're figuring out the
right exercises for us.
01:35
We got better equipment.
01:37
And so, all that comes together
and if you work hard on orbit
01:38
and do what the exercise
folks tell you,
01:41
you could come back
pretty good shape.
01:43
>> Any thoughts about
improvements
01:45
that could be made in that area?
01:47
Or things that you
might want to do?
01:48
>> You know, there's
always room for improvement.
01:50
One of the things is that we
actually have to spend two,
01:51
two and a half hours
a day exercising.
01:54
So the goal now would
be try to now figure
01:56
out what exercise can we do
but shorten that length of time
01:58
so that the crew member can
spend more time doing science
02:01
and doing maintenance and
not as much time exercising.
02:04
But still come back
feeling as good
02:06
and being as healthy as he is.
02:08
>> This mission was your first
flight in a Soyuz spacecraft.
02:10
What was that like?
02:14
>> Soyuz is -- I flew
space shuttle three times,
02:16
so Soyuz is obviously
quite a different vehicle.
02:19
A space shuttle is much
bigger, much roomier,
02:21
has incredible capabilities;
02:23
whereas the Soyuz is a very
small, very compact vehicle,
02:25
but also very reliable,
very efficient.
02:28
So, going up wasn't much
different, but coming back,
02:31
it was a -- it was quite
a bit of a, kind of --
02:34
I called it the wild
ride to come home.
02:36
And it was quite interesting,
and it was actually kind of fun.
02:38
When you say "wild ride..."
02:42
>> Yeah, a lot of
rotation, a lot of spinning,
02:43
a lot of being tossed
about, hitting hard
02:45
when you land on the ground.
02:48
So nothing like a space
shuttle, which is basically
02:50
like an airplane
landing: very comfortable.
02:51
>> Those retro rockets --
02:54
they fire a few feet
off the ground --
02:56
make all the difference?
02:57
>> Yeah, I assume they do.
02:59
I only have one landing under
my belt with the rockets,
03:01
so I assumed they helped.
03:04
>> A hundred and
eighty-eight days in space,
03:05
your first long-duration
mission.
03:07
Was it what you expected
it to be going in?
03:10
You must have had
some preconceptions
03:12
of what it's going to
be like to have to spend
03:14
that much time in that place.
03:16
>> Yeah, I think it is.
03:18
You know, we do a
lot of training,
03:19
we do a lot of preparing for the
science, we do a lot of training
03:20
with the scientists
and the investigators
03:23
on their experiments.
03:25
So we -- you kind
of get a good feel
03:26
for what it's going to be like.
03:29
And of course, I've been to
space station several times
03:29
so I knew what living up
there was going to be like.
03:31
So I think it was
exactly what I expected.
03:34
>> Did it feel longer or
shorter than you expected?
03:37
>> Well, you know,
people ask me that.
03:41
But the days go by fast -- the
workdays go by very, very fast.
03:43
But there's just a
lot of those workdays;
03:47
188 days is a long time.
03:48
But it did -- of
course, you know,
03:50
time goes by fast the
older you get it seems.
03:52
But yeah, it went
by pretty quick.
03:55
>> Did you get enough
opportunity to maintain contact
03:58
with your family and friends so
that you still feel connected?
04:02
The space station we have quite
a few tools to stay contact --
04:07
connected with our families.
04:10
We have the Internet,
of course, with email.
04:12
We have telephone, the IP phone.
04:15
And we have the video
conferencing once a week.
04:17
So I felt very connected to
my wife and kids and friends.
04:19
I've called friends that I
haven't talked to in years,
04:23
usually I don't make many phone
calls when I'm here on Earth,
04:25
but I took the opportunity
to call a lot of friends
04:27
and all my family members
while I was up there.
04:29
>> That must have been quite
a surprise from somebody
04:32
out of the blue calling
from space?
04:34
>> Yeah, I think they --
I think folks enjoy it.
04:35
So it was fun to talk
to folks, get caught up.
04:37
>> Do you get to feel like
you live there instead
04:40
of just being visiting there?
04:42
>> Oh yeah, you absolutely
feel like you live there.
04:44
I mean, you sleep there, you
eat there, you work there,
04:47
and on the weekends
you're there.
04:50
So you are there 24/7,
so you absolutely feel
04:51
like you're living
there for a long time.
04:54
>> What were the most memorable
events for you from this flight?
04:57
>> Like any space mission,
05:00
the most memorable events
are the dynamic events.
05:02
The things like ascent
and entry,
05:04
the things like the spacewalks.
05:06
We did several spacewalks.
05:07
And of course, the
visiting vehicles;
05:09
it was always a fun day when
a visiting vehicle came,
05:10
it brought food, it brought
science, it brought equipment.
05:13
So it was always a great day
when a visiting vehicle came.
05:15
We got to open the hatch
to a new shiny vehicle.
05:18
So all those events are
obviously very memorable.
05:20
>> The space walks, as you
mentioned, that just gets
05:24
to be something of a memory
since they were not expected;
05:27
they were added after
you arrived.
05:30
>> Yeah, absolutely they
were not expected in any way.
05:32
But, you know, the space station
is getting a little older
05:34
and we have a lot of
spare parts up there.
05:36
So the system is made to go
out and repair these components
05:38
as they fail, that's
how it was all designed.
05:42
And yeah, we got
to do a few of them
05:44
and get the space station
back up and running.
05:46
>> Now those weren't
your first spacewalks,
05:48
but another opportunity
to go crawl around on
05:49
that thing must be --
must be pretty exciting.
05:52
>> Yeah, spacewalks
are a lot of work,
05:54
they're very challenging
mentally and physically.
05:57
But they're very rewarding.
05:59
It's great when you're
out there,
06:00
you get great views
of the Earth.
06:01
It's just -- it's
enjoyable to be working
06:02
on the hardware out there.
06:05
>> You mentioned
visiting vehicles
06:06
and the station right now has
got another visiting vehicle,
06:08
a Cygnus vehicle, that
should be arriving next week.
06:12
That must be pretty interesting,
too, to do that prep work
06:15
that Steve Swanson and
his crewmates are involved
06:20
in right now, to brush up on
the skills that will be needed
06:22
to go reach out and
grab that thing.
06:25
>> Yeah, absolutely, it's --
06:27
we have a great trainer
up there called Brobot,
06:28
where the crew members can
actually practice capturing the
06:31
visiting vehicles
with the robotic arm.
06:35
It's a great tool, it
prepares the crew very well
06:37
for the actual operations
in the Cupola.
06:39
And of course, the actual day
06:42
of the capture is a
very exciting day.
06:44
It's a very busy
day for the crew.
06:46
But it's also very
rewarding; at the end,
06:48
you have another module hooked
06:50
up to the space station,
a visiting vehicle.
06:52
And you open the hatch and you
got all this great equipment
06:53
being delivered to you.
06:56
>> And with any luck
a little fresh food.
06:57
>> Yeah, usually there's some --
06:59
a few surprises onboard that
everybody really enjoys.
07:01
>> You spent about seven
months of your life off
07:05
of the planet now, which I guess
is not something you expected
07:08
was going to happen when
you were a young boy
07:12
or like a college student.
07:15
Looking forward,
what's next for you now?
07:17
You were saying a moment ago
07:19
that you got some
unused vacation time.
07:21
>> Oh yeah, of course I have
lots of unused vacation time.
07:23
I'm going to take some
time off and enjoy myself
07:25
and recharge my batteries.
07:27
But I think we're -- the United
States space program is coming
07:29
into a very exciting time.
07:32
We got Orion and we have the
commercial vehicles being
07:33
developed and we'll be
launching soon in a few years.
07:35
So I hope to get involved
in that and the design
07:38
and the development
of those vehicles.
07:40
>> Rick, I really appreciate
you taking a couple of minutes
07:42
to talk about it
and welcome back.
07:45
>> NASA astronaut,
Rick Mastracchio,
07:47
back from 188 days in space.
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07:50