Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
What were your first impressions of space once you got on orbit, each one of you?
Scott - Well certainly when the solid rocket motors light, you know,
for the first time, that gets your attention.
I mean, there's nothing that, that prepares you for the amount of energy that's involved
with getting the space shuttle into space.
It's, you know, seven and a half million pounds of thrust all in an instant.
You know, you get the impression you're going somewhere.
You're really not sure where but you're, you're going there in a hurry
and you're not coming back to Florida.
I mean, it just, you know, kind of looks slow when you're watching it as a spectator
but when you're inside there's nothing slow about it.
I mean, it just really takes off.
You know, that's certainly ma-, makes a significant impact, significant impression
and also, you know, just seeing the earth for the first time.
It's incredibly blue, you know, brilliant color blue and incredibly beautiful.
Mark - I have this very vivid recollection of about Mach 15 on my first flight,
looking over my right shoulder out the window and seeing this blue planet behind me and it,
it's a view I've never had before, you know, it was the first time seeing something like that
and it was really, really impressive.
I even said something to, to Dom at the time, Dom Gorie, my,
the Shuttle Commander, that, you know, it's like, "Wow!
That is really amazing."
Scott - I, you know, obviously we've had similar, like we've discussed, you know,
similar backgrounds and experiences, you know, similar training as astronauts
and between the time I flew my first flight and when Mark flew his, I tried to explain
to him what that first eight and a half minutes was going to be like and, and after his flight,
when he landed I was there in the, you know, the crew transport vehicle when the hatch opened
and the crew came out and the first thing he said to me when he,
when he came out of the shuttle after his first flight was, he said, "I had no idea what
that ascent was going to be like."
Mark - That's true, you know.
You just try to describe it to other people that are getting ready to do this and, you know,
I remember after the solids lit and the main engines looked okay and I had a few seconds,
I looked over, you know, I started thinking, "Well, this just doesn't feel
like I expected it to feel, you know."
It's not as smooth as you expect, kind of feels like you're
on a runaway train going a thousand miles an hour.
I remember looking over at Dom because I thought, "Well, this wasn't,
this isn't quite right" and he, you know, he was okay with it, so like, "Well,
must be what it's supposed to feel like."
Was, how much of a 'wow moment' was it for you, Scott, when you first pulled
up alongside the Hubble Space Telescope knowing this icon of astronomy you were about it,
you and your crew were about to go service it, upgrade it and for you, Mark,
to see the International Space Station at that time in its fledgling state
but nonetheless pretty impressive.
What were your thoughts?
Scott - Well, you know, just knowing, you know, what we've learned from Hubble and how far back
in time it can see, you know, it's, it's impressive for those reasons, you know.
It's, it's about the size of a school bus so as far as telescopes go it's pretty big
but just understanding, you know, the impact it's made on our understanding of the origins
of the universe is, you know, makes it a very impressive sight.
Now, compared to the space station, you know, the, you know, especially the last time I,
well when I saw it on my one flight, it's, you know, Hubble's a lot smaller
and less, you know, visually impressive.
Mark - As the pilot of the space shuttle doing a rendezvous, approach and a docking like the ISS,
you're actually not doing the piloting.
The Commander is.
He's doing the, the flying and the final phases of the rendezvous and the approach
so as we first approach the space station, I'm sitting in the left seat
so I can't really see anything so I didn't have, you know, my first look at the space station was
after we docked and, you know, having that big picture view of station
as a shuttle pilot you don't get until you undock and you,
you're leaving space station and it's, it's, it's impressive.
I've seen the thing grow, you know, over the years.
I've visited ISS in 2001, 2006 and 2008 so I've seen through, you know, from the beginning here
through a lot of different stages.
Scott, as Commander of STS-118 and, Mark, as Commander of STS-124, I have to ask who,
who threaded the needle the best for docking?
Scott - I don't know.
Mark - I, you know, I watched his, his approach which looked really, really good.
I think it was almost as good as mine.