[Mike Massimino] Hi I'm Mike Massimino
and this is Inside the International Space Station.
Intro clip: "You feel like you're not missing everything.
Just tell people you can call them but they can't call us.
Gimme a break, don't call so much.
Her grand kid floating in space."
[Massimino] We're going to talk to Joe Acaba and Suni Williams
about their upcoming space flight.
[Williams] You know, I think the space station life
and training everything fits my personality a little better
than shuttle.
You know, Shuttle is pretty, like Joe said, pretty direct
and you know what you're gonna do and boom, boom, boom.
For Station it's pretty, like, well we'll see what happens,
like Joe said, when you get there.
You sorta have to be flexible
and I think I live my life a little bit like that.
We'll see what happens and its okay.
I think it's a little bit of a change of pace.
Maybe it's a little bit slower in some regards
but it's a marathon so you have to be ready
to do this for a long time.
I like that, I like that better actually, I think,
than the rush, rush Shuttle flight.
And actually, one of the really cool things about it is you get
to engage people on the ground.
When you're up there for a long time uh folks know that we only,
we're launching out of Kazakhstan so it's a long trip,
it's expensive, not many of your guests get to go to launch
but that's okay because you're going to be in space
for a long time and you get to interact
with them for six months.
For example, my dad and my mom, they're not going,
they're a little bit older and I said don't go
and they're feeling bad about it.
I said the launch is only,
is only the first eight minutes really and the rest
of the time we'll be in space.
We'll be in space for six months on the Space Station.
We'll be able to use the phone and internet you know,
to do net meeting and see you down on the ground, you know.
I like the Space Station idea just
because you can bring a bunch of people along
with you for six months.
They're watching what you're doing if you have the ability
to write a journal or send down pictures or tweet
and do Facebook and stuff like that
from space it really engages a lot of people
and I think that's really important.
It's good for kids in school and other organizations so it's fun.
It's gonna be fun.
[Massimino] It's interesting you say that because sometimes,
one would think, not knowing the experience that you've had
that you going into space and you have your crew mates
but it's kind of like you're isolated
like in your own world more or less, almost,
literally off the planet.
Everyone else is here, and you're up there but really,
the way you describe it, you're connected.
[Williams] Oh yeah.
I think so.
I think you bring everybody along.
My sister said last time I would write a journal on Sunday night
so they would get up, her and her friends
at work would all get in their inbox at work on Monday morning
and they would read it and you know it was
like the New York Times or the Boston Globe.
They would be like, hey, when you come back you have
to keep writing a journal
because on Monday morning we will read your journal.
I was like, no way, there's more about my life you don't want
to know about on the ground.
Space, I can do that.
No problem.
[Massimino] Do you find you have more time to do that stuff
in space than you do on the ground too
because you get back to earth and ...
[Williams] Yeah, it's crazy [Massimino] Maybe you get back
into the routine where maybe you have even more time.
[Williams] Yeah, I think up in space you do.
You feel like you're, from my last flight,
you feel like you're rushed cause you have a lot of stuff
on the time line that you're trying to do
but they gave you part of the weekend off
and it's a good thing because you have time to look
out the window, time to enjoy the planet and then time to try
and relay that to the folks on the ground.
We're really lucky because there's only a handful
of us who get to see that.
And you just, I wish I could bring all
of my family and friends up here.
You wouldn't believe how beautiful this is,
and you try to capture it.
Luckily, we now have a 3-D camera and HD cameras up there
so we'll do the best that we can to send the stuff back down
but I think some of the human emotion is important too.
Journal that and send that out and people can sort of feel
like they're there too.
[Massimino] You mention that the way you stay connected;
on the flights I had we didn't have a phone, we went to Hubble,
nobody was there you know, we had to turn right back around
but the phone thing, you know, I've gotten some calls from some
of our friends up there.
It's pretty hilarious when that happens.
Have you had a lot of fun surprising people?
[Williams] Oh yeah.
[Massimino] Do you trick people;
do you make prank phone calls and order pizza?
What do you do?
[Acaba] That's a good one.
We gotta try that.
[Williams] That's a good idea.
[Massimino] I can give you ideas like that,
stuff that I would do.
You know, it's like a big thing to get a phone call
so I mean it must be, and we're astronauts so, what is,
I mean do you have some funny experiences?
[Williams] Most people don't believe it.
They're like, no, where are you?
Why're you calling?
We thought you were in space.
When'd you come home?
I missed it.
But it is surprising to a lot of folks.
They don't realize that actually we have a phone in space
and it's not a cell phone
but when we have the great connection we can call,
and you can call anywhere
and it's great cause it really does keep you connected
to your family.
We have video conferencing once a week but it's a perfect thing
to remember everybody's birthday and be able to call them
and say Happy Birthday.
Massamino: You listening Joe.
[Acaba] Now I gotta make a list for Birthdays.
I didn't plan on doing that
but now we all know I can use the phone.
[Williams] Yeah, holidays and stuff like that.
At least you don't feel like you miss it entirely.
I remember being put on speaker phone and folks
down on the ground having a party
and you can hear glasses tinking and stuff
like that and it's nice.
I think it's good for folks on the ground
but it's also good for us.
You feel like you're not missing everything.
You're up there and you know parties are going on and you're,
aw, I'm not there, and you can make a phone call
and everyone wants to say hi
so it makes you feel like you're involved.
[Massimino] What about you Joe,
you got to use the phone on your first flight?
[Acaba] Yeah, yeah, the phone is nice.
The good thing about the phone,
we always tell people we can call them
but they can't call us.
[Williams] That's key.
[Acaba] some people, they get a phone number on their caller ID
from Houston and they say, ah, I don't wanna talk to Joe today.
So you leave a message on their answering machine
and they're like, Oh man, I missed his call.
So that's always good, them having that.
It's a great way to connect with people and you know it's just
as good for us as for the people you call.
[Massimino] Did you ever have anyone not believe it was you
when you called?
You may not have as much time to call as Sunny did
but did you ever have anyone not believe you?
[Acaba] Yeah, what I thought was cool was
when I called my grandmother, you know,
for her to get a call from space.
Where she grew up she didn't have a phone,
probably didn't have electricity,
she grew up pretty rural in Puerto Rico, so for her to do
that and when we had a private family conference , you know,
for her to see her grandkid floating in space,
yeah, that was pretty cool.
[Williams] Actually, speaking about the phone though,
my husband was getting tired of me calling.
[Massimino] Really?
[Williams] He said we talk
to each other more now that you're in space.
You're not doing anything up there.
Get to work; I'm tired of you calling so much.
[Massimino] I've heard this problem before;
sometimes the kids are glad the parents are gone.
[Williams] Gimme a break, don't call so much, stop annoying me.
[Massimino] Come back to Earth, where you don't call so much.
But he really said that?
Mike said that?
[Williams] Yeah he was sorta joking around.
"We talk more now that you're in space then when you're at home".