 We have some great explorers up there of our own following the footsteps of some of those great travelers of the north. Welcome to another day in space. We cover it up and then turn it off and let it all mix up, let it flow and then after the flow we let it mix. Okay, thanks. Right on. We were just wondering why they were short cycles. Can Jim or Ray copy your transfer information? Get back to you in just a moment. You went headquarters. Do you receive me better now? You're in headquarters. This is Mayor Lantus Loudon-Clear. Very good. Please stand by for Secretary General Puchos Puchos-Calley. Good morning. Good morning. I just want to express my gratitude that you have undertaken this mission during the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. I want to congratulate you and to tell you that we have the same objectives. Our objective is peace and cooperation in outer space. Our objective is peace and cooperation on Earth. And I'm very happy to see people from Canada, Germany, Russia, USA improve international cooperation and the importance of international cooperation. I have you to give me a message, okay, then I want also to say something very important that the United Nations have concluded an outer space treaty in 1965. It means 30 years ago where we are governing the role of the space. One space should be explored and used only for peaceful purposes and to the benefit of all humanity and what is more important, outer space must not be used for military confrontation. So once more, thank you very much for entertaining this mission during the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. And good luck. And I will be very happy to receive you in the headquarters of the United Nations when you will be back in New York. And I'm very proud to see the flag of the United Nations behind you with the flag of Canada, Germany, Russia and the USA. But for me to see the flag of the United Nations there give me a great satisfaction and I want just to express my gratitude to the symbolic gesture you have done and the dialogue which we have together while you are in outer space and I am here on Earth. Mr. Secretary General, we'd like to thank you for your kind words and for taking the time, sir, to address us. I don't hear anything. We are very pleased that you have seen the United Nations flag flying behind this international crew along with the flags of each of the nations and organizations which have sponsored this mission. This flag, as you may know, was launched to the Space Station Mirror aboard the Soyuz and will be returned to Earth aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis along with the documents commemorating the space treaty about which you have just spoken. And we hope that this gesture of transferring a United Nations flag through the Russian Space Agency launching to an international space station and then returning to Earth on the Space Shuttle will help commemorate the international nature of this venture and the future that we have in space together in the construction of an international space station. We will be very proud to return this flag and these documents to you at the general headquarters at your convenience, sir. We will welcome you. Thank you very much for what you have done and thank you very much for the cooperation existing between us through this dialogue. Dear Mr. General Secretary, thank you very much for your words. In our address, I would like to mention the Russian crew to tell you the following. It has been over 50 years since the people of the world who survived the most terrible war in the history of humanity decided to experience a horrendous war and to solve all the problems of the world. Up to those nations, they decided to organize a United Nations organization which has been playing a role. It was all a solid different kind of problem. And I think that the world is much better than the rest of the world. And they use the world as a hundred thousanders. And we can see very well what human damage causes the Earth to be quiet. And these problems can only be solved when the people of the world unite in order to somehow deal with these problems and in order to solve them in the future and to develop the United Nations organization. We congratulate all the countries of the United Nations organization. Thank you very much for joining us on this important international mission. Atlanta Smear, thank you very much for a great ceremony. I guess we'll go back to normal air to ground. Atlanta Smear, this is Houston PAO. How do you copy? Okay, please stand by for questions. This is Irene Brown with UPI. My questions for Thomas Ryder. As an ESA astronaut, you have a unique nonpartisan perspective on the United States and Russia's plans to combine their manned space programs. And now that you've had an opportunity to experience firsthand Russian and NASA flight operations, how integrated do you find the programs and what do you see to be the biggest challenges? The Ministry of Conference, which took place in Toulouse, the ministers decided that ESA will continue with the manned space program and make its contribution to the International Space Station. The experience I could gather up to now in this respect is extremely positive. I'm really impressed by the operations here on board, the combined operations and I think this is just an excellent sign for the next step towards the International Space Station. This is Marsha Dunn of the Associated Press. For anyone on the Atlantis crew, what struck you most or surprised you the most about mirrors you floated inside? And I'm speaking in terms of sights, sounds, smells or any other senses. There's a big vehicle, but most of it is apparently unpressurized space that we cannot live in. And our mid-deck and our flight deck is relatively small. But mirror is a huge, huge home and space. And that's the thing impressed me the most. Bill Harwood, CBS News for Thomas Ryder is a German astronaut on a Russian space station. Do you feel any sense of cultural isolation? Do you have enough to do? Do you have enough entertainment on board? How isolated do you feel up there for a long duration flight, please? Well, you bet that there is enough to do on board the station. That pertains to our scientific program, which I'm approximately two-thirds of the working time busy with. And one third, I'm helping Yuri and Sergei as a board engineer in their task to maintain the station. For the spare time, which we of course also have, we have a guitar here. Well, since Atlantis stopped, we even have two guitars up here. And I really enjoy playing guitar. We are singing together. We had already a great meeting yesterday evening where we all sang together. And the work here is quite interesting and a big variety. And I think there is a lot to learn in view of this multidisciplinary laboratory. I would like to call this future space station this way, which we can learn in this place at the moment. This is Stephen Young with Astronomy Now. I have a question for Thomas Reiter. You've been on board the space station for nearly three months now, and the shuttle crew is the first human contact you've had apart from radio and TV with the ground. And it will be another three months before you see any other human beings. How will you feel as the shuttle hatch is closed and the shuttle gradually disappears into a dot? Now I can tell you, beside myself, there are still two more human beings here and we have a very good relationship. Of course, this visit was absolutely pleasant. It's great after these more than two months. If you see some friends coming up as you can talk with them a little bit, sit together. It's just great. So, yeah, you're right. When the hatch closes, it will be a kind of scary feeling, but the remaining three and a half months are not that much amount of time, so we will get over that without any problems. Frédéric Castel with the BBC French Service to the commander of Mir. How pleasant is it to have the visit of the shuttle and to enjoy American ice cream? Inside your space station? Yes, it was a great pleasure, wonderful event in Astronautics and with the docking of the shuttle, we had a great deal of pleasure working with American crew. We socialized well, we rested well. This is an unforgettable experience for us as well as I would expect for the American and German astronaut. Neil Bowen from the Sarni Observer to Chris Hatfield. Chris, as the rookie on the board, what's been your biggest surprise about the space flight? Yes, nice to talk with you again. The biggest surprise is just how natural weightlessness is. You adapt to it instantly and it just becomes the norm to be able to float, to be able to let go of something and have it go nowhere. It's just natural and it's a wonderful feeling and I think it's going to be a big disappointment to get back into 1G. Hello, gentlemen. Happy to see you. I want to ask both commanders so as not to take too much time to do it quickly. I have other colleagues who want to ask questions. I have a question for two commanders and I want to be brief because there are some other of my colleagues who want to ask questions of you. We on Earth have the feeling that you have the prototype of International Station Alpha. People from US, Russia, Canada and European Space Agency. I hope that Ken still remembers Russian. Here on Earth we have an impression that there up in space you have a prototype of the International Space Station Alpha. You have representatives of Canada, Germany, Russia and the USA. Of course, we're just lacking a Japanese. We have this impression. I'd like to know what impression you have. We are looking at Japanese astronauts but this is just an impression. I want to ask you if you think that you are ready to build this International Space Station. If you can embrace each other and say that you are all set to go. Or are you still trying to understand how to work together? I have the feeling that in our current condition the prototype of the Station, this is a correct opinion, as concerns our joint work and our joint measures, this work had begun already half a year prior to the flight and actually during our joint visit in Houston with the American astronauts and the astronauts in Star City. We worked well. We rested together. Now that they have come to us, we understand each other very well. We know each other. We work together. And we, yes, can embrace one another and show that this is the future prototype of the International Cooperation in the Station. Absolutely true. Each crew must work together in training in each country to know each other well. And then to fly into space, they will be able to deal with a new situation of what to do and how to work in difficult situations. And I know that the Atlantis crew and the Mir crew knew each other very well. And I, prior to the docking, knew that the joint flight would be successful. Houston-Mir-Atlantis complex, we've come to the end of what I think has been the most successful mission I could have possibly imagined. We've worked together extremely well, had a great launch, rendezvous and docking, and the chance to see the station mirror to fly around inside an exchanging cargo, conducting experiments. And most of all, seeing and working with friends has been an experience that none of us will ever forget. Yuri Sergei, it has been wonderful to see you again, to work with you and fly with you. The Russians, I think it's most difficult to say goodbye, and the Russians have a much better expression, which is, until we see each other again, even better, the score of the nature, at our soon for a meeting again soon. That is what is in all of our hearts, that we see you and meet again soon after the flight. Thank you very much that you came, that you arrived successfully, we worked successfully, and that we will part in good company and we will meet again soon on Earth. Thank you. And as part of the tradition of flights that come to Mir, we would like to add the STS-74 patch wherever it flew to, to the bulkhead, and in addition we have a patch representing Phase 1 and also a patch from the Canadian Space Agency. We will add the patches to the wall and perhaps our crew names and all of the crew in Houston to this venture, which has been the first step in trying the techniques and building, adding on to a space station, which we hope will lead to the successful completion of an international space station in the near future. A little compliment, the shuttle and Mir station are great job. Lannis, we'll take the video down unless you'd like to keep it up a little longer. It's up to you, we're going to be turning to the wall here and signing the pictures or the patches on the wall, and you're welcome to stay with us in the base block of Mir as we complete that process. We'll stay with you then, Ken, thank you. I think we're transferring the final cargo to Mir, which will be these three patches. I'll make nice additions and decorations on the space station. It's here. I congratulate you with your conclusion of flight. Unfortunately, RMCC cannot establish communication via translation, so we're observing you here from Houston and convey congratulations from our consultation group and the entire Moscow management group. Thank you very much, Sergey. Hang on a little bit. We'll say goodbye. Okay, we're looking at you, and if we're able to do so, Moscow will look at you as well if we can establish comm. We'll return the crew of STS-74 to its craft so it can go back to Houston, and we'll go down and visit them later. Yes, outstanding, thank you. Thank you for good work, and we're all happy with your efforts. And, Dave, I think pictures can say it better than words. Better sweet moment here, parting, leaving three friends up here for a longer stay. But we're looking forward to meeting them and not to disappear. We've enjoyed it vicariously through you, our visit to the Mir space station. It is a little sad breaking that bond right now. Houston, let us stand off cross and start hatch closed.