Transcript: Space station crew interview

CNN conducted an exclusive interview with the first crew of the International Space Station Alpha on December 14, 2000. CNN Space Correspondent Miles O'Brien talked with Alpha Commander Bill Shepherd, Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev and Soyuz Commander Yuri Gidzenko, asking some questions of his own and many drawn from e-mail sent to him by CNN.com/Space readers. Thanks to all for the great questions.

We have several questions this morning -- many of them coming from the Internet -- but I am going to start with mine first, since I have got control of the microphone here. A question about MirCorp -- there is talk about potentially sending citizen explorers to the International Space Station instead of Mir, which appears on its way to its demise. How do you as an ISS occupant feel about that? Do you think that is a wise and safe idea?

BILL SHEPHERD : Well I think the definitive answer to that question is beyond my pay grade. I do think that there is a place for people who want to travel in space and see what it is like to do that -- it is certainly something that will happen in the future -- it'll probably be Mr. Goldin's (NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin) decision to figure out if that fits on ISS -- I think it is a good idea, though.

O'BRIEN: Question about the holidays coming up -- do you have any special plans for meals or gift exchanges?

SHEPHERD: We have got some goodies stashed away to do some of that. We'll have to get a little inventive with the menu. Sergei (Krikalev) says 'we will probably open two cans instead of one' (laughter) We have some other things we have stashed away that we will break out.

O'BRIEN: the slip on STS-102 (Discover mission moved from February 15 launch date to March 1) -- I know that is a mission you are very much interested in inasmuch as it is your ride home -- I am just curious -- I know in the back of your mind I know you expected a slip or two, but mentally, how long a mission did you prepare for -- assuming there might be some delays?

SHEPHERD: Well, I think we are all kind up here for the duration. I kinda went into it personally thinking that anything up to six months was probably gonna be fine and I am kinda prepared to do that. So I don't like to see slips in the shuttle program -- but I don't think it is going to be a huge impact to us in the way we approach the rest of our mission now. KRIKALEV: There is also some positive things. We are going to have (U.S.) lab (Destiny) in January -- so if end of our mission will be postponed we will have more time to play with new toy.

O'BRIEN: That should be an interesting toy to work on. I am curious Shep about your setup on the treadmill. Have you had a chance to get your movie machine going, and are you watching your favorite movie as you are on the treadmill -- "Manchurian Candidate?"

SHEPHERD: Well I haven't tried it yet. One of the reasons is the area around the treadmill is kind of busy. I tried a laptop out but it was kind of in the way -- so I haven't done that -- I am going to do that before too long here because I think a lot of the business of being able to work out in space is you have to put your mind elsewhere and that's why I do that.

O'BRIEN: And speaking about putting your mind elsewhere -- have you had much of an opportunity to follow news events down here and or do you find you don't care so much about it when you are up there?

SHEPHERD: Well, I think my interest in the news is pretty much the same. I like world affairs ... what is going on in the U.S. -- and I am kinda glad to see we finally elected a president -- that was pretty good news. But NASA does a pretty good job of sending us summaries of that is going on -- on the good Earth.

O'BRIEN: I guess you could say there was a slip on the election ...let me ask you -- I probably won't get a chance to talk to you before then -- but you are going to be in orbit on the 15th anniversary of Challenger -- and I am just curious what your thoughts are about NASA in general and the shuttle program in particular 15 years post Challenger ...

SHEPHERD: well I think astronaut Joe Allen said it very well after Challenger accident: He said what this will mean is that NASA will probably really take every measure to ensure that the shuttle flies safely and we will have 15 to 20 years of doing so -- and we was exactly right. I think for me personally -- it just means that we should never forget that space is a fairly hazardous place and getting there is not a trivial event, no matter how simple it may seem on the surface. So I think we should never forget that fact.

E-mail Questions:

"Have you managed to create some sort of routine to accomplish each day's tasks or do you find yourself wishing there was more time in the day, like many of us?"
Michael Todaro, captain, USAF
Michael.Todaro@dtra.mil

GIDZENKO: There is not enough time in the working day ... sometimes the working day last maybe 10, 12 hours

KRIKALEV: I would like to have more than 24 hours in a day but this is the same problem we had on the ground

O'BRIEN: Some things don't change in orbit I guess.

I want to be an astronaut when I grow up, but I have a question about it. Do you get bored up there in space?
Amanda Parker-Berg
Age 6
Beaverton, Oregon, USA

SHEPHERD: Well Sergei says we haven't had time and I agree -- we have been really busy and boredom has not been one of the things that we have had to deal with -- maybe Sergei and Yuri can talk about their experience being in space for longer periods.

KRIKALEV: I was in space for 16 months before but I never had this problem. A lot of things need to be done and you have little free time and it is a very nice view outside of the station

GIDZENKO: I agree

What is the most popular activity on the space station when you have down time?
Russ Weber
rweber@inno-usa.com

SHEPHERD: We have kind of enjoyed gathering around the ward room table in the evening having some dinner and watching movies -- we have been doing a lot of that and ...

GIDZENKO: And after that, write a letter to your family or to our friends and maybe read books.

SHEPHERD: Hey Miles just a question for you -- are you reading any of the logs

O'BRIEN: The logs? ... No.

SHEPHERD: We have a daily summary I thought PAO was making available to you guys -- maybe they should discuss with you how these things could be made readable by the press -- it is kind of a summary of what we are doing every day.

O'BRIEN: That would be excellent -- I presume someone is listening as we speak ...

Would you support a level of interactivity on the Internet for normal citizens like myself to take part in on a regular basis? It would be interesting, let alone educational, if folks like myself with computers could familiarize and also learn more about your endeavors on a regular basis. Steve Wheeler

SHEPHERD: We'd be really happy to do it -- the problem is that we are kind of at the bottom of a pyramid that is upside down. We have a lot of people on the ground that are trying to help us get through he day and trying to deal with Internet traffic would be a huge task for us. I think we would be up for it if we could develop a rational plan to do it, but I am not sure how exactly we could throttle that so it would be a reasonable amount of work for us. I don't think it is fair to a lot of people on the Internet who would like to correspond with us -- we wouldn't be able to handle it.

Do you notice any change in your physical or mental abilities when you arein space?
Bill Cain
BillC@tomah.k12.wi.us

KRIKALEV: We don't need much abilities here in space because to move around you don't need to apply any force -- apply the touch of your fingers and you can fly from one wall from ceiling to floor and back without much effort. Of course long exposure to weightlessness will cause some change in our muscle system -- that's why after the flight we need some time to rehabilitate back

How is the air quality in Space Station? Are there any odors that you find offensive or irritating, such as body odors or equipment odors?
Pamela Dalton, Ph.D.
Monell Chemical Senses Center

SHEPHERD: I think the air quality has been very good. I am surprised at the amount of air that gets moved through filters up here -- it is pretty substantial. Anything we have that gets loose -- food, things like that -- they are in a filter in matter of a minute or two -- it is pretty surprising. Odors? Non-existent. I am very surprised at how well all the environmental equipment has been working so far.

KRIKALEV: We had about the same on Mir station -- so it looks like the experience we got on Mir is working here on the new station. Talking about the odor: here is probably one kind of common odor when you open a hatch that has been exposed to a vacuum -- or if you do an EVA -- and back from EVA -- you do smell something, like ionized air, maybe something else -- people recognize it and they name like smell of (unintelligble).

O'BRIEN: Sergei as long as I have you -- this is a question from me. I was thinking about Mir -- and you will be very likely in orbit on ISS assuming all goes as planned when Mir is de-orbited -- I assume that will be a sad day, expecially for folks like you who spent such long stays on it. What will your thoughts be on that day?

KRIKALEV: Everything is born sometime and everything dies sooner or later, so my hope is when Mir finishes its lifetime we need to go further and this station is the next step in space projects -- so I hope we will move further and further.

What does it sound like in the space station? Is there a lot of mechanical noise, or is it filtered out?
Lee Grannell
lgrannell@clearsource.net

GIDZENKO: I think the main problem for us is not the noise from within but from the comm -- we have a lot of noise via comm.

SHEPHERD: The noise has not been as severe as I think we anticipated on the ground. We have measured it -- the numbers are on the high side -- but I think it is very much like being on a ship, frankly, and it's not a really quiet ship, but it is certainly workable. We would like to have the sound be a little bit less, but we are getting by.

O'BRIEN: I know you were equipped with earplugs and noise attenuating headsets and so forth - have you felt compelled to use them a lot, Shep?

SHEPHERD: We all put our earplugs on at night -- to be honest, it is a little too inconvenient running around during the daytime with your earmuffs on. As Yuri said the biggest noise generator that we have is the comm that we have -- we have VHF comm to the ground -- and often with a lot of static. If we could make that better that would be a big factor in reducing our noise environment.

Do you ever feel alone up there?
Wayne Gummelt
wayne.gummelt@usa.alcatel.com

KRIKALEV: No -- it is just the three of us up here. No -- no one is alone (laughs). We have comm with the ground each orbit and we have capability to read and write mail -- so I never felt myself alone.

Is this adventure what you dreamed it would be?
Delores M. Troxell
detrox@blackfoot.net

SHEPHERD: (laughing) Well we still have a little more of it to realize before we are done. Sergei and Yuri and I waited four years to do this. Fortunately, getting the arrays up and having Endeavour in the hole -- the P6 element went very well I am very pleased with that -- I have to say that part of the mission was beyond expectation -- we'll just have to see how the rest of it unfolds.

After some rest and recovery time on Earth, would you consider returning back to Alpha with another crew or should this be a one-time only experience? If no, is it for health reasons or policy?
Michael Todaro, captain, USAF
Michael.Todaro@dtra.mil

GIDZENKO: I don't think about future now, because for me, the main idea is to finish this mission successfully -- and after that I will think about my new mission.

SHEPHERD: I'll go with Yuri's answer I think that was a good one.

Although both the political and scientific accomplishments are unquestionable, do you feel a strong desire to expand even further outwards? Do you feel an intuitive aspiration to reach even further out?
Irina Chernyavskaya [mdanilkis@telus.net]

SHEPHERD: Everyday I look down at the Earth, and I wonder why this couldn't be the surface of some another planet. I think the things we are doing now on the station are the precursor for being able go elsewhere -- and I think a lot of good thoughts and good ideas and thoughts about what we need to do to make that possible is part of why we are in the space business.

O'BRIEN: That's all the time we have. Alpha -- this is CNN concluding its portion of the event. Thanks for your time gentlemen. We appreciate it and continued good luck on your mission.

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