Atlantis crew chats with "Early Show" from space
Shuttle Atlantis left the International Space Station for the last time Tuesday and is now heading home, as the 30-year long U.S. shuttle program comes to a bittersweet end.
The crew chatted with the "Early Show" crew Wednesday, with Cmdr. Chris Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim reflecting on the space program's past and future.
Ferguson greeted the show's anchors with "Good morning to you, CBS. It's always a treat for us to share a little piece of the excitement of space flight with you."
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Co-anchor Chris Wragge asked Ferguson if it's bittersweet to know he's on the way home.
The astronaut replied, "We have had just an event-filled and packed mission, and you know, we had told everybody all along we were not going to fully appreciate the significance of the event until the wheels had stopped. Yesterday, in the mid-deck, I was talking to Sandy about the fact that, you know what? I really feel like it's coming near the end, and I can almost sense that final wheel-stop call, and it's going to be tough. It's going to be an emotional moment for a lot of people who have dedicated their lives to 30 years. We're going to try to keep it upbeat, light and the celebration of the tremendous crowning achievements that have occurred over the last 30 years, with the tremendous satellite deployments from the shuttle and the construction of the International Space Station."
And though the shuttle program is ending, Walheim described the future of the space program overall as bright.
"We're in a kind of transition period, which is a little bit uncomfortable, as usual," he said. "But we're going to be handing over the access to low-Earth orbit, getting the station to commercial providers to build rockets getting us to and from the space station, that will free up NASA to go do the heavy-lifting of the beyond lower orbit flights we haven't been for a long time or ever, like the moon, an asteroid or maybe Mars. ... It will be hard, but we'll get there, and we'll be going farther and farther and going to new places real soon."
Wragge asked Magnus, "What is your message to the thousands of people over the years that have been such an instrumental part of the shuttle program as you now say good-bye to this program after 30 years?"
She replied, "The heart and soul of the space program is the people that work in the space program. It's a group of people unlike any other field, I guess, because everyone's so passionate and so dedicated, they work so hard, they take it to heart."
She continued, "...There's a huge number of people worldwide who passionately believe in space flight who dedicate their lives to it and it's because of these people that the shuttle program was so successful for the last 30 years, and we were able to do the amazing things we were able to do. And it's because of these people that the International Space Station has been so successful and will continue to be successful. This same group of people will carry forward the momentum and eventually get us out of low-Earth orbit to the other destinations."
On a lighter note, Wragge asked Magnus, whose hair was spread out above her head in zero gravity, "Has anyone been giving you a hard time, the crew, e-mails or messages from mission control about your space hair?"
Magnus said, "Usually for events like this, I like to leave it out because we are indeed in zero gravity. I mean these guys have brain hair, so it's not so fun. But they do occasionally give me trouble about the Medusa-like effect of it."
Wragge responded, "It's an interesting look that's for sure. We wish you the best and we thank you so much for taking the time in talking with us. This has been a treat for all of us, we're proud of you and wish you safe to planet Earth. Thanks so much."
Ferguson replied, "Thank you so much."