[Mike Massimino] Hi Iím Mike Massimino and this is Inside the International Space Station.
Intro clip: ìYou feel like youíre not missing everything.
Just tell people you can call them but they canít
call us.
Gimme a break, donít call so much.
Her grand kid floating in space.î
[Massimino] Weíre 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 youíre gonna
do and boom, boom, boom.
For Station itís pretty, like, well weíll 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.
Weíll see what happens and its okay.
I think itís a little bit of a change of pace.
Maybe itís a little bit slower in some regards but itís 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 youíre up there for a long time uh folks know that we only, weíre launching out of
Kazakhstan so itís a long trip, itís expensive, not many of
your guests get to go to launch but thatís okay because youíre 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, theyíre not going,
theyíre a little bit older and I said donít go and theyíre feeling bad about it.
I said the launch is only, is only the first eight minutes really and the
rest of the time weíll be in space.
Weíll be in space for six months on the Space Station.
Weíll 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.
Theyíre watching what youíre 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 thatís really important.
Itís good for kids in school and other organizations so itís fun.
Itís gonna be fun.
[Massimino] Itís interesting you say that because sometimes, one would think, not knowing
the experience that youíve had that you going
into space and you have your crew mates but itís kind of
like youíre isolated like in your own world more or less, almost, literally off the planet.
Everyone else is here, and youíre up there but really, the
way you describe it, youíre 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, thereís more about my life
you donít 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 Ö
[Williams] Yeah, itís 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 youíre, from my last flight, you feel like youíre
rushed cause you have a lot of stuff on the time line that youíre trying to do but they
gave you part of the weekend off and itís 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.
Weíre really lucky because thereís 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 wouldnít 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 weíll 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 theyíre there
too.
[Massimino] You mention that the way you stay connected; on the flights I had we didnít
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, Iíve gotten some calls from some of our friends up there.
Itís 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] Thatís a good one.
We gotta try that.
[Williams] Thatís a good idea.
[Massimino] I can give you ideas like that, stuff that I would do.
You know, itís like a big thing to get a phone call so I mean it must be, and weíre
astronauts so, what is, I mean do you have some funny
experiences?
[Williams] Most people donít believe it.
Theyíre like, no, where are you?
Whyíre you calling?
We thought you were in space.
Wheníd you come home?
I missed it.
But it is surprising to a lot of folks.
They donít realize that actually we have a phone in space and itís not a cell phone
but when we have the great connection we can call, and you
can call anywhere and itís great cause it really does keep you
connected to your family.
We have video conferencing once a week but itís a perfect thing to
remember everybodyís 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 didnít plan on doing that but now we all know I can use
the phone.
[Williams] Yeah, holidays and stuff like that.
At least you donít 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 itís nice.
I think itís good for folks on the ground but itís also good for us.
You feel like youíre not missing everything.
Youíre up there and you know parties are going on and
youíre, aw, Iím not there, and you can make a phone call and everyone wants to say hi
so it makes you feel like youíre 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 canít call us.
[Williams] Thatís key.
[Acaba] some people, they get a phone number on their caller ID from Houston and they say,
ah, I donít wanna talk to Joe today.
So you leave a message on their answering machine and theyíre like, Oh
man, I missed his call.
So thatís always good, them having that.
Itís a great way to connect with people and you know itís 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 didnít have a phone, probably didnít 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 youíre in space.
Youíre not doing anything up there.
Get to work; Iím tired of you calling so much.
[Massimino] Iíve heard this problem before; sometimes the kids are glad the parents are
gone.
[Williams] Gimme a break, donít call so much, stop annoying me.
[Massimino] Come back to Earth, where you donít call so much.
But he really said that?
Mike said that?
[Williams] Yeah he was sorta joking around.
ìWe talk more now that youíre in space then when youíre at
homeî.