>> Station Houston on two for mic, your guest is entering the room
and will be calling up shortly.
>> Okay, great.
[ Pause ]
>> Mike, can you hear me?
>> Hey Dusty, we hear you loud and clear.
Do you hear us?
>> Well we've been watching you on the NASA channel, all all all three of you guys.
How you doing?
>> Hey Dusty we're doing great, it's good to hear your voice, man.
>> Well I'm at the end of my tour, I guess you're near the end of our tour
but I'm closer to home than you are.
>> You know the advantage of your tour is you get little breaks where you get to go home
and spend some time at home and that's pretty special and we need
to get our transporter workin' up here.
>> Listen you guys look great up there.
It looks very roomy to me.
I don't know, you know you got plenty of room.
What, do you got an indoor pool and?
>> No indoor pool up here.
It is roomy.
There's a there's a lot of room up here.
There's there's probably about as much room as oh maybe all three of your tour buses.
Maybe a little more.
>> Well I know there's a lot of room outside, you know,
so you want to make sure you hang onto that string.
>> Oh yeah, you want to to definitely make sure that,
that you're tied in, there's no doubt about that.
So where, where were you just comin' back from?
I know you've been on the road a lot lately.
>> Like I said, not as far as you.
We were in Laredo last night basically on my way to Kansas City.
Just kinda did a detour through here, everybody's been so nice.
So we came by pick up a NASA cap and a t-shirt and go on up to Kansas City
and tell 'em what it's all about.
>> Oh that's great.
That's really good.
Then how long will you be on the road then?
>> Actually this is the last week of the tour.
You know it started last April and this is the last week.
That's why I look so, so vibrant.
You know I'm sure I look vibrant.
It it's all smoke and mirrors but it's the last week of the tour so we're wrapping it up.
>> Oh that's great so you're, you know I left home in in April too to go to Russia
and finish the final training over there before we launched the beginning of June so,
yeah our tours are overlapping pretty much this time.
>> Yeah I I know, I told you before you know when you pass
over you just blink your lights at me, I'll wave at you.
>> Oh you bet.
Honkin' the horn doesn't work though, that doesn't cover, that doesn't cover.
>> Well you know I was talkin' to a couple people here you know we, we've made guitars
out of a lot of different things so we're thinking about doing one space thing.
>> Okay a space thing for not not for this last couple
of concerts you're doing but for the next one, huh?
>> Oh absolutely.
And thank you for playing our song when you took off too.
>> Dusty, that was so huge!
That that was so huge.
Y- just couldn't believe the the, your generosity to let us use Flyin' High,
a brand new song, unreleased song and it was so cool to have the three of us on the launch pad
and we're all strapped in, we're ready to go and they give us a little bit of time to relax
with some of our favorite music and you know I contacted you
and said what would be the best song to use and we were talking about a couple
of things then all of the sudden Flyin' High comes out of the blue
and that was just such a great thing.
It's a really fun song.
Chuck was right, she she she was really bragging on the song
and how much she loved it and so she was absolutely right.
It was a fun song and everybody really enjoyed it,
so from our crew to your crew, hey man thanks a bunch.
>> Oh my pleasure, man.
It's li- it it was like predestined that it's like we wrote the song and then it was
like of course it was perfect for what you used it for.
Thank you.
>> Yeah you bet.
Hey we do have a guitar up here.
I told you about this.
>> Hold onto that.
Now let me let me show you because, you know,
you guys have a trick where you spin the guitar right?
Watch.
[ Pause ]
>> It's like magic.
No no, no belt or anything for it.
>> Yeah no belt for this one.
No belt for this one.
We're gonna have a lot of fun with this up here.
You guys need to get up here and do some playin'.
>> Well my, my problem would be I think my beard would float in my face
and I wouldn't be able to see anything.
>> Oh that, that probably would get pretty old.
You'd you'd have to, you'd have to tie it down probably.
We have plenty of duct tape and bungee cord up here.
>> Yeah that's about right.
You know that sounds, we couldn't tour without that stuff.
>> Oh I know, I know that's right.
Are you enjoying the tours around Johnson Space Center today?
>> Oh they've been excellent.
We've been everywhere.
You know it was, you know, Pablo-- you remember Pablo our [inaudible] it's hard to keep him
out of the pool but, you know there i-, I think the whole thing's the deep end.
>> Oh definitely the whole thing's the deep end.
I saw Pablo walk by the camera there.
I'd like to say hi to him too.
It's been a l- been a, been a few years since I talked to him.
>> We'll let Chuck say hello to you real quick since you're both Aggies here.
I know you have to say hello, so hold on.
>> Hey Mike, I'll talk to you first then I'll put Pablo on.
I couldn't be more proud today to be an Aggie.
I mean we're so proud of what you guys are doin' up there.
And I never ask this and I've met a lot of famous people,
but do you think you could bring me back Satoshi and Sergei's autographs?
>> Oh Chuck we could work that out.
I guarantee we could work that out.
[laughing] Oh y- yeah that's great.
I'm glad you're havin' a good time.
>> You know I'm a huge NASA Television fan so I watch my ISS update every single night
and that's what I watch instead of the news.
And you guys have such infectious smiles and I've learned so much.
And I told Ron Garan earlier that it's not lost on anybody, especially me,
of how his- how much history you guys make every single day and all these people around,
so anyway it's it's so great to every night learn something that's going
on in the world that's not bad.
So if the world could come together and take lessons from NASA and what you guys are doing
up there together I think we could, we could just have peace, so really good.
Here's Pablo.
>> Well Chuck, before you hand it over Chuck, I just wanted to say that it's, it's really,
it's so huge, 15 countries came together to to build this space station,
build and operate this space station.
We have mission control centers spread, you know around the US and around the world and,
and there's not just hundreds but thousands, tens of thousands of people have worked
on this program and and have have, you know, put so much of their not just treasure
but their their blood, sweat, and tears into this program.
It's amazing.
It's it's a real privilege for us to be up here doing our part to keep it running and
and keep the experiments and the science moving forward, keep the space station running.
But you're also in a room right now, in a building that is a huge part of history too.
The the men and women of the mission control center are are amazing.
It is one of the coolest places in the world 'cause every one of 'em walks in every morning,
every day, every middle of the night when it's time to come in for another shift with the pride
and intensity, because their job is intense.
Most of the time, you know they're watching the details, lookin' out for things,
but they're trained to handle anything and they're ready to spring into action.
And that, that is, we sleep well at night knowing that they're on duty
and that they're minding the, minding the details
and standin' [inaudible] watch while we rest at night.
And it's, it's I'm glad you're really getting to see and be inside mission control
and meet the flight directors and the flight controllers and everybody there too
because they are the, the real unsung heroes of the space program.
>> Well we appreciate the invitation and believe me, I see these guys every night,
I love it when they come back here and just show 'em doin' their thing so.
And sometimes I wonder what each of these things mean [inaudible] I see all those names 'cause
they show that, so it's really cool.
So I I I, I know, I know without these people
down here you guys wouldn't be safe up there, so we get it.
I'm just hopin' the rest of the world gets it, so.
I'm gonna let you talk to Pablo.
It's nice to meet you guys, I mean seriously, you have the most infectious smiles every night
or every day when I see you guys I go,
I just can't believe how happy you guys are up there, so keep it up.
Yeah we'll .
. .
>> Hey we're livin' the dream, you know that.
Pablo, you're lookin' good.
>> Hello, gentlemen how are you?
Commander Mike, it's great to see you sir.
I'm kinda shaking a little bit here to be honest, my my little pinky toe's just
like outta control right now doin' just the- these circles but I just want to say gentlemen
to everybody you know this room and you guys up there,
thank you so much for all the storytelling and the education
that you give us all here on planet earth.
I know that it's a, an enormous sacrifice to be away from home and such but it's a,
it's a wonderful pleasure the things that we learn from, from you and
and how you teach us here in planet earth and to this whole room too.
You guys are absolute space rock stars and if you ever need a tour manager, hey.
[laughing] Great to see you sir and thank you so much for this moment.
>> Pablo I'm really glad you could join us today too.
You know you've been on, you've been on the front
of that stage what, how many thousand times?
Y- I know you've lost count, but it's, y- you know you help tell the story
because the space program's an amazing thing.
It's an amazing adventure.
It's an amazing challenge.
It takes a lot of hard work and dedication but it's really for the whole country,
it's for the whole world, and this one's for the whole world.
And thanks for just helpin' tell the story and helping share the excitement of this kind
of thing and and just for being here today.
I appreciate you supporting me and being part of my ground support team today.
I appreciate you coming in today and and congratulations
on just about finishing up your tour.
Good luck with the last, the last few and look forward to seeing you back
on planet Earth in a month or so.
>> Okay, adios amigo.
>> Adios.