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You look like you're having a fine time!
Thomas: Oh yeah. We are. This is a grand way to spend time. It's an amazing environment to be in that you can do this kind of thing at will ["stands" on his head]. Try that at home.
Do you enjoy standing on your head, Andy?
Thomas: I'm not standing on my head, though. This is zero gravity. There's no up or down. I enjoy the freedom that we have in this environment. It's really amazing to just function and just enjoy the freedom of movement that it gives you. It presents difficulties with working and so on, but just to savor it is really something I relish.
Actually, it would be at times hard work having to tether everything that you initially take hold of.
Thomas: Yes. That's true. When you're doing work with tools and instruments it can be very difficult because everything floats away. So the simple act, for example, of undoing a screw, can be quite complicated, because as soon as the screw comes free it will float away, the screwdriver in your hand will float away. So everything has to be tethered down, and it can be difficult to work under those circumstances. You need extra pairs of hands always to grab these things that are floating around. You get accustomed to it after a while, though. There's a learning curve you go through and then you become quite adept at it.
Andy, you're half way through your scheduled stay. How is it going?
Thomas: I think it's going very well. It's a little more than half way through. Yesterday was the 11-week anniversary of my launch on STS-89 in January. I have about seven weeks, a little more maybe, to go before STS-91 will arrive and pick me up. I'm very pleased with the progress. I've settled into what I think is a very stable routine and I think things are going well.
It has lived up to expectations?
Thomas: Oh yes. I think the expectations I had were largely accurate. I'm pleased with the way a number of things have gone. I'm pleased with the way I adapted to the zero-gravity environment because that's not always easy to do for some people. I'm pleased with the experimental program that I have and the work that I'm doing, and I'm pleased, particularly, with the crew that I'm working with and the rapport that we're developing.
Andy, I have to say that in the beginning there were reports of some hiccups. How accurate were they regarding your space suit and your Russian language?
Thomas: The problem with the suit was that when I tried it on up here, it wasn't adjusted correctly for my size because when you get into zero gravity, your spine actually grows a little bit and you become a little bit taller, so clothing has to have an adequate amount of adjustment. Of course it's a bit hard to predict how much adjustment that's going to be. So I tried to put this suit on, which you have to pull over your head, and I wasn't able to do it. And with the concurrence of the Russian commander we agreed that the best thing to do was to readjust the suit, and in concurrence with specialists on the ground in Russia, we made those adjustments and then the suit fit fine. So I was pleased about that. The Russian language, of course, is a big challenge for anyone who undertakes a mission like this because you need to have a reasonably good social vocabulary and, of course, a strong technical vocabulary as well, and that's not an easy thing to do. I think a measure of the communication skills you have is what kind of relationship you're able to establish with the people you fly with, your crew mates, and as I said a moment ago, I'm particularly pleased with the way we've built a relationship, a working relationship and a social relationship.
I thought you were brave in the first place to attempt to speak Russian.
Thomas: So did I. It was a big challenge, but that's part of the reason I did it. It was a very appealing challenge. I was quite enamored with the idea of learning this language, which, from our perspective in the West, is such a "foreign" foreign language if you follow my meaning. And it has been a fascinating experience.
Mir has come under a level of controversy. Is the ship sailing well, if I can put it that way?
Thomas: Yes, I think so. The systems on board have been functioning very well. We've had minimal problems as a matter of fact. The conditions on board are very stable, very comfortable. I've certainly had no complaints about it. I think we've got a very stable vehicle and it's running well up here.
No space walk yet. Would you like to?
Thomas: I've been through the training program in Russia to undertake a space walk, and I'm familiar with the suits, but there is not actually a space walk or an EVA manifested for me during this increment, because there's not a piece of U.S. equipment that really requires a U.S. crew person's presence. The space walks all require the cosmonauts because they're very labor intensive on the apparatus of the station and they've been trained for many hours in those activities. Should one ever present itself as, perhaps, one day it might, though I don't think during this flight, I'd like to step up to it, yes.
I know you have two colleagues with you, but there is still a level of isolation. How are you dealing with that?
Thomas: There is isolation, and there's confinement too. It's not claustrophobic by any means. We have a lot or room here and I feel very comfortable here, but there is a certain amount of confinement because you can't just get up and drive somewhere and visit someone or go outside. What you have to do is use methods to provide yourself some detachment from what's around you so that you can psychologically remove yourself from the environment you're in without physically doing it, and the way you do that is with music, books. I read a lot . There's a guitar up here that I've tried to play. I've got CDs. I've got CD ROMs for the computer. I've been writing. I've even tried doing some sketches. So there's a lot of things you can do to provide recreation. Of course, there's always looking out the window too, because we have a pretty spectacular view.
That view out the window must be quite something. What are you seeing?
Thomas: It depends where you look. From my position here I have windows to either side, and apparently for our orientation at this particularly moment we're looking toward deep space with those two windows. There are two windows down in the floor in front of me and I can see light from them, so that suggests that the Earth must be down there. I haven't checked our orientation at this particular moment. But you have a great view. Right now we're passing over the Eurasian continent, probably south of Moscow and approaching the terminator where it'll soon become night, and then we'll head on south down toward Australia. We should be flying over Australia in about 30 minutes. I've had some spectacular passes over Australia, actually. It's gorgeous to see from space. It really a multitextured land.
What do you actually see? Is it color or is it texture?
Thomas. It's both. You see texture, you see color. The mountains you can see as folds in the land and you can see things like mountain ranges as a collection of mountain ranges. For example, when I fly over South Australia I can see the Mount Lofty ranges as distinct from the Flinders range. The Flinders range stand out very much as their own set of ranges. You can see the way they're all folded together, a bit like a rumpled carpet, and they're all connected. And of course you can see color too. You can see agricultural regions from space very clearly. The areas that are farmed stand out as opposed to the natural areas with different shades of green. Of course, it depends on the season. In the northern hemisphere you see, at this time of year, a lot of ice and a lot of snow. It's very white over Canada and Siberia. Perhaps one of the most spectacular views I've had was actually one night when we were flying south of Australia across the Great Australian Barrier. I could see Australia city lights on one side, and then as I looked at the other side, which was due south, I could see the Aurora Australis over the southern polar regions, and it was this shimmering curtain of iridescent green waving across the sky and it was really a dynamic thing, moving and shimmering,. It was just a beautiful sight. Unfortunately I don't have any film that's sensitive enough to capture, but it was quite impressive.
You look absolutely wonderful. You're obviously in good health?
Thomas: Yes. Actually, the lifestyle up here is very good for you. We have extremely good food. The Russian food is excellent. The soups are outstanding and the juices are just marvelous and there's plenty of it, and I also have an abundance of American food at my disposal. We exercise regularly. I'm on a treadmill running 2.5 - 3 K on a treadmill every day, something that I'm not perhaps as disciplined on Earth as I should be. So, yes, it's going well. I feel good. That's one of the amazing things about this environment. You can feel very good in this environment, which, if you think about it, is a very alien environment to us.
You're telling me space suits you.
Thomas: I find it a very agreeable place to be. This is an amazing experience to go through. To be able to live and function in weightlessness and have to do everything in weightlessness - eat, drink, sleep, and work -- for this period of time is an extraordinary undertaking. It really is quite amazing.
Some of the experiments that you're conducting do involve how the body reacts to long-term weightlessness. Have you noticed anything about your body?
Thomas: I've lost some weight, which was probably not a bad thing. I've had a few aches and pains, which I think are a consequence of the fact that there's a certain amount of spinal extension. Other than that, no I haven't. I don't have any vestibular problems, I haven't had any gastrointestinal problems. I feel very normal and feel very healthy and comfortable, so I have no complaints about it at all.
You only have two months to go. Will you be disappointed if you don't take a space walk, or it doesn't matter?
Thomas: No, I wont' be disappointed. I'm having a very good experience up here. There was never a space walk planned or manifested for me. I don't have expectation of it. I'm happy to support my crew mates when they do the space walks as they've been doing over the last few days and will be doing in the coming weeks. This flight is turning out to be a really good experience from my perspective, and I'm very pleased with the outcome of it, because as you observed, there were lots of questions about the flight program before I left, and I'm very pleased with this outcome.
It does occur to me that there is very little privacy. Am I correct in understanding that you are monitored almost 24 hours of the day.
Thomas: No, not 24 hours of the day. When I do exercise I wear a heart monitor and we transmit the data to Earth so that cardio performance can be monitored. We periodically do tests that monitor physical parameters during physical exertion, just to ensure that our health is maintained. That's clearly important. But other than that, no, we're not monitored. We work on a very normal work cycle based, of course, on Moscow time. Get up at about 8:30 in the morning, which is a quite comfortable hour, have some breakfast, start work. We usually work through the day. Around 1:00 or 2:00 I will stop and do my exercise and then clean up. Following that we will have lunch, perhaps at 3:00 or 4:00, a late lunch, and then we'll continue working usually to 7:00 or 8:00 in the evening, follow that with dinner, perhaps then watch a video, watch a movie, read a book, write a diary, write letters home, read e-mail, that kind of thing, and go to bed at about 11:00 or 12:00. It's a very interesting way to spend a day. Each day is good. If you look at each day and what I do, I have a lot of really interesting things happen. My only thing I would say about it is that every day tends to be like every other day so there is an element of monotony to it a little bit. That's the only problem with this kind of life.
We're almost out of time. Do you want me to send you up anything? Vegemite? Anything that you're missing out on?
Thomas: I've already put in my request for a number of items that I'd like and some of them they're a bit reluctant to send up a spacecraft, but they'll be waiting for me when I get back on the ground. But thank you nonetheless.
Enjoy your stay. We look forward to seeing you again.
Thank you very much. I've enjoyed the conversation.