Transcript of Star City Press Conference with Soyuz TMA-3 Crew

Moderator (Maiboroda): Welcome, ladies and gentlemen to the Cosmonaut Training Center, the Star City. Let me tell you that the main stage in the training of crews for the eighth long expedition to the International Space Station and the program of the fifth visit expedition has ended.

There has just been a meeting of the interagency commission which considered the results of the training of crews and determine that another crew is ready for the space mission.

Let me introduce the crew. The main crew. ISS commander, flight engineer-2-1 of the transport vehicle Michael Foale, NASA, the United States; Kaleri Alexander Georgiyevich, commander of the transport ship, flight engineer ISS RKK Energia, Russia; and Pedro Duque, flight engineer-1, ISS visit expedition and flight engineer-1 of the transport ship Soyuz, European Space Agency, Spain.

I must say that the main crew are very experienced. Kaleri Alexander Georgiyevich has made three prolonged space flights of a total duration of 415 days, he is Hero of Russia and Cosmonaut of Russia. Michael Foale has been on five space flights including a prolonged one (168 days) on the Mir station. And Pedro Duque went on a Shuttle space mission in 1998 for ten days.

The stand-by crew: ISS commander, flight engineer-2-1 of the transport vehicle William McArthur, NASA, the United States; Tokarev Valery Ivanovich, commander of the transport ship, ISS flight engineer, Rosaviakosmos, Cosmonaut Training Center, Russia; and Andre Kuipers, flight engineer-1, ISS visiting expedition and flight engineer-1 of the transport vehicle, European Space Agency, the Netherlands. That crew is also fairly experienced. Both Tokarev and William McArthur have space flight experience. Only Andre Kuipers still hasn’t. But let us hope that he will be working in space soon.

We have given you information handouts to save time. There are biographical sketches of all the crew members, the main tasks of the mission, the list of scientific experiments and other information. So, considering that our plans have changed somewhat and the crews, both the first and the second, are due to see the top officials of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, we have 30 minutes for the press conference. As usual, introduce yourselves before asking questions.

Q: ITAR-TASS. I have a question for the main crew. I am told that you will be preparing for the link-up unit of the European transport spaceship.

Kaleri: Well, preparing the link-up sounds a little too grand… It is a slight exaggeration. Not the link-up unit, but a station ready to receive ATV. This is work of considerable duration, but we will be doing part of the work to lay the cables, fix some items of equipment and also the task of our egress will be work near the link-up unit that will receive the ATV. This is scheduled for September of next year. But I must say that the main work for bringing additional equipment not to the unit itself, but the surroundings, the antennae, light reflectors will be carried out by the next crew in the course of two or three EVA sessions in the spring and summer of next year. That would be ISS-9, I think.

Moderator: Dear friends, forgive me, I forgot to introduce some other panelists: Gorbunov Sergei Alexandrovich, press secretary, director general of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency and Kharlamov Maxim Mikhailovich, head of the department of the Center’s cosmonaut training. I am Maiboroda Andrei Petrovich, deputy head of the Center. Your questions, please.

Q: Yaroslavsky, the city of Korolyov. Some employees of RKK Energia have asked me to put a question to which they have no clear answer. The question is very simple: will a candle burn in the conditions of the ISS?

Foale: The question is whether or not a candle will burn in outer space. I know from anecdotes that if the candle floats close to the axis of the vehicle of station, then it can burn, if there is a flow of air, there is a flame, it burns. If it simply floats, then it goes out.

Moderator: When there is a flow of air —

Foale: There is always some air movement on board because we had ventilators, even human breath.

Moderator: The employees of RKK Energia are members of the spearhead organization in manned space flights and we should be asking them such questions, not the other way around. Yes, it’s a joke.

Kaleri: I think the candle will burn in the direct and indirect sense, that is, the candle of manned space exploration should continue to burn.

Q: Radio Rossii, Vladimir Belov. What are the most interesting experiments that will be carried out on the station?

Kaleri: I think because we will start with the Spanish program, we should give the floor to the Spanish cosmonaut.

Duque: We are not supposed to be telling you what is the most interesting experiment because we are supposed to go through all the experiments with equal concentration. Perhaps of more human interest, we have an experiment to study the behavior of a fly in the state of weightlessness. Geneticists study them because scientists have deciphered the genetic code, the full genetic code of the flies. And after the fight we will be able to find out what parts of the genetic code will work more or less in the state of weightlessness and thus gradually begin to learn what parts of the code have to do with detecting weight and little by little, as we know, we should begin the study of the corresponding parts of the human code and identify parts of it that can causes diseases or improve the human conditions.

Foale: I would like to add that we had a full program of science on ISS-8 expedition, involving Russian, American and European researchers. And to put it simply, we have experiments, we the Americans, experiments conducted by the participants and by university students and on behalf of the air force. They have an experiment called “Shary” in Russian and “Spheres” in English and they are swimming as if they were robots there in the average space of our “nod” at the station, in the American segment, and they seem to be flying with one another and they continually divide the distance between them. They are under the control and under the governance of the brain inside, so they will find themselves. It is quite interesting to me. It is a kind of a show which is being continuously demonstrated to children and specialists from outer space in the course of our expedition.

Regarding the rest, we have very much biology and this is very interesting for us. We will work with Sasha on that and we will try to do “an echo of man”. We are now studying the heart and the lungs and the breathing of man with the help of ultrasound. It differs from the X-ray because it is not as expensive and it is not very difficult to take it to orbit and that would be the first step. Already now on Earth it replaces the X-ray in areas of extreme weather, in Canada, and it is already progress of mankind when we meet in outer space.

Q: My question is to Mr. Duque. You have already flown in the shuttle and now you have the opportunity of comparing training in the United States with training in Russia. What is the difference of the style of work and training in general in Russia? And what is your general impression of Russia? What were you surprised by or maybe impressed:

Duque: I can say that all cosmonauts — they also had their training in two places. That is why I am not the only one. Of course, there is a difference between the approach here and in the United States. It is simply that there is a history of this. Here the training is more geared to preparations for lengthy flights and so here they have more experience in this respect. In America the training is more geared to performing brief flights and there have been many enrollments of cosmonauts who have been trained and are ready. And of course the approaches differ because of this.

But more surprising is the fact that there and here there are many common things, and when all this being developed and when there were no links, it later turned out that there are some principles, there is one common approach that permits to train cosmonauts correctly. And I think that something has been changed by us here and something may change in the United States and now we are using the experience of there and the experience of here.

Q: What are your impressions of Russia?

Duque: As to my impressions in Russia, I have been undergoing training here 11 years ago and that is why my impressions, as is the case maybe with all non-Russians, are that Russia is changing very rapidly and basically in the right direction. That is why we like this very much.

Moderator: Thank you, don’t offend the second crew, put questions to them also.

Q: Before the flight of the past expedition they said that two men at the station is a certain extreme variant simply for the survival of the station. Now that same situation continues and for how long can the station go on without Shuttles because they say the Shuttles will fly only in summer and it is also not known definitely. In your opinion, how long can this continue?

Foale: I would say from experience that it may take another year or maybe several years. It is because the cargo flow with the help of Progress is already quite reliable. If there is financing, the program may continue. When there is the need for a Shuttle to take something to the Earth, this presupposes only something heavy. It is because the Shuttle permits taking heavy things to the Earth. Barring that, the program may continue generally a long time without a Shuttle, I think.

Q: Is it possible in terms of survival or development?

Foale: It is not even survival, I would now say that we have a sufficiently packed program, scientific program and I am very glad and I am even surprised because even one and a half months ago I did not know that there would be so many experiments and so much science, but this is indeed so. It is quite interesting to me and it shows us that we are doing something at the station in addition to doing the servicing.

Kaleri: It seems to me that such a situation might stimulate researchers in some areas because in some of the experiments the most valuable thing is information. And information is probably simple to take back to the Earth because you don’t see big volumes or mass, you need only channels. And this could provide incentives for research and for experiments so as to carry out something even in these conditions. So, not everything is so bad, I think. Let us be optimistic.

Q: The question is to Michael Foale. Yes, both in Russian and in English, if that is possible. How do you feel setting off for a long flight, six years after your flight in Mir? And how do you feel working again with Russian cosmonauts, close in a boat?

Foale: The first question. I am very glad to be preparing for the manned Soyuz and not only because of that. It is back in space for a long flight. I was pleased because I have good friends, cosmonauts and Russian friends here in Russia, through my flight in the Mir station. And I expect the same, this is already a month with Sasha now. This was also, I think, on the ISS. I already heard about the conditions there because the station is more modern, slightly easier than it was in the Mir station. That is why I am waiting with impatience to work there, to enjoy working.

Do you want me to answer in English? I am looking for very much to flying a second time for a long duration flight. My first was on the Mir six years ago. I was launched to the Mir on the space shuttle and this time I am going to be launched on a Soyuz spacecraft and that’s a new experience for me and I am looking forward to that very much.

I had a lot of enjoyment from my Mir flight in spite of some of the serious events that occurred during it because I am going to meet my very very dear friends, starting with cosmonauts and then later on other Russian friends here in Russia. And I fully expect that same process to take place during this flight. It has already been started with my friendship with Sasha.

The second question was (switches over to Russian). Shall I say something more in Russian?

Q: … (inaudible) …

Foale: I must somehow tell you that the joint work for me now is great and it is already an event in the world, in the political sphere which is very important, I think for the world. And cooperation in outer space between the two worlds is very important and I am glad to be taking part in it. It is an ongoing dream.

Moderator: Thank you. Novosti Kosmonavtiki.

Q: I have a question for Alexander. How many exits into outer space are being planned during the expedition and what will be the main works?

Kaleri: Our nominal flight plan has one egress at the end of February. The date is February 26. The main tasks of the egress are to dismantle and replace some scientific equipment, mainly samples of construction materials used not only in the Russian segment, but in the modules of other international partners, notably Japan. Then, there is work in the interests of the forthcoming flight of ATV and inspection of several places… Yes, plus Russian equipment on the outer surface of the station and an inspection of several places which have recently prompted questions to specialists. Because they are in the zone of the main work, it won’t hinder the main work if we inspect them and fix something. If I go into further detail, it will become very technical and I wouldn’t like to take your time.

Q: I have a question for Kuipers. As a doctor you probably had the worst of it preparing for the mission as a flight engineer within such a short space of time. How did you manage to cope with these difficulties to be approved by the interagency commission?

Kuipers: I think for me the difficulty was learning Russian. This situation was such that European cosmonauts had little time for training. And being a doctor it was difficult for me to study the system, a very interesting system, but it was interesting to work in a different language. I was pleased with the training as a stand-by crew. Now I still have half a year training for the next flight. I will work with ISS cosmonauts. But on this mission I will be at mission control working with our men, Pedro. And then in April Michael and Sasha will be here. So, to me they are one crew.

Q: Today you will be issued special watches at Rosaviakosmos. Can you tell us what sort of instruments these are?

Moderator: How did you know that they will be given these watches? They don’t know yet.

Kaleri: Frankly, I only heard about it from you, so I cannot tell you anything. And then it is probably not a question to us, we were not even aware of such an intention. The press secretary is sitting here and perhaps you could put this question to him.

Moderator: Are there any more questions?

Question asked in Spanish.

Duque (translates the question): Did you meet a long time ago? I am sorry I missed the middle part of the question, but the last part is this, behind us are people from NASA, from Russia, from Europe who also are working together.

Kaleri: Have you long known Michael and Sasha?

Duque: And how do you feel about it?

Foale: How should I answer it? Perhaps in English? I can’t speak Spanish yet.

Duque: Can you do it in German?

Foale (speaks English): Yes, I have known Pedro for a long time. I have something special to say about him. When I first started studying here in Star City in 1995, I had to learn the Russian language and it was very difficult for me. But it was greatly helped in one special system, the life support system and because that was the first time I was given a good description of the Soyuz life support system and when I looked into it further, I saw that it had been written by Pedro Duque in 1992 or 1993, I think. I started to become aware of what Pedro Duque was and who he was and what he had done long before I actually got to know him as a friend. And this was a special thing. So, for now to train with him is a bit of a privilege and I’ve been enjoying it.

There are behind us people at NASA, in America in Europe and in Russia who are getting us ready for this flight and it’s always very difficult to take part in a flight like this and not being able to name every single person that has been contributing to it. But we are very aware that they are the ones who are directing us and putting us in the direction of the expedition and who are following everything that we do.

Is that enough?

Moderator: I think’s it’s enough.

Duque: (speaks Spanish).

CROSS-TALK

Moderator: Our time is almost up.

Q: A question for William McArthur. Is he a descendant of General McArthur of the Second World War fame?

McArthur (laughs): No.

Moderator: Thank you dear friends. As I have said, our time is running out. The next stages in the crew activities are as follows: they are going for a rest before launch tomorrow. On October 6-7 they work on Baikonur, on the 12th they will go to Baikonur. So, on October 12 we invite you for a send-off party if you wish. Today they also have a crowded program: a talk at Rosaviakosmos, then visiting Red Square and the Kremlin Wall to lay wreaths at the burial sites of cosmonauts and general designers.

So, we wish success in pre-launch training to the main and stand-by crews. We wish Pedro Duque to work a week jointly with the two crews and return together with the crew of the seventh expedition on October 28. And we wish Michael Foale and Alexander Kaleri to work well and as a good team for 200 days. We will welcome them back to Earth in April.

Thank you for coming. We have no time left. Pedro, correspondents from Spain would like to talk to you for just 30 seconds. Please, don’t bring in the other members of the crew, we simply don’t have time. Thank you until further meetings. Let us just stand up for pictures.