 in elementary where your daughter Stephanie is, in South Shore Harbor. The kids in the books in elementary, they did a wonderful job with that and it's a great way to wake up on orbit listening to a beautiful song like that from a bunch of beautiful kids. We agree. Discovery Houston, that's a good looking crew. Are you ready for the event? Discovery's ready. KSCPAO, this is Houston. Please call Discovery for a voice check. Discovery, this is KSCPAO. How do you hear me? Discovery, read your line clear. Does the flight crew have an opening statement they'd like to make? We'd like to welcome you aboard Discovery. It's been a spectacular mission for us so far, launching within 60 seconds of a scheduled time after a short delay was a spectacular beginning of the mission. Our first day was the smoothest day I've seen in any mission. The deployment went off without a hitch. Our primary mission is complete with the TDRS on its proper orbit now. We're working this week on the secondary experiments. We'll be glad to talk to those during the conference and we're looking with optimistic pleasure to joining everyone back on the ground this coming Friday and we're just now approaching the coast of Baja 160 miles above the ocean and you can go ahead with your questions. Marcia Dunn of the Associated Press for Don Thomas. I'm wondering if you feel like you're on a talk show circuit up there considering some of the questions you've been asked and does it matter what kind of questions people ask as long as they're interested in why is this important to NASA? A great time and we're up here to share this with the rest of the country and the rest of the world, a spectacular experience of flying in space. Irene Brown with UPI. Your colleagues on STS-71 and MIR-18 had some insightful and poignant remarks on long-duration low-Earth orbit spaceflight. I'm wondering how you would feel about a three or four month space station research assignment and if any of you have your names in the hopper for the shuttle MIR mission. Wouldn't I like to go for three or four months aboard the MIR or before the international space station that we're going to be building? There's some challenges to doing that but I think the excitement and the benefit to all of the world would be well worth it. This is Seth Borenstein at the Orlando Sentinel. The Orlando Sentinel online asked our users to send a question for you in George Below of Satellite Beach, Florida asked how do you feel about completing the mission space shuttle challenge started over nine years ago? To be assigned any space shuttle mission, this one had particular meetings for all of us because it was a replacement satellite for the teachers that was lost on Challenger and I think it just speaks very highly of the way that the agency has recovered from that. All you have to do is look at our first day, just absolutely flawless countdown, no problem at all, right on time, everything the first day worked as well as I've ever seen anything on any mission work and we've just been very, very pleased thus far with how the mission is. This is Jim Banki of Florida today. I guess I'll ask this one of Tom. Norm, coming back from MIR, talked about psychological aspects, cultural isolation and that kind of stuff. Could you just talk generically when you're on a shuttle mission, how you guys on the orbiter stay in touch with what's going on, on space related world down here on the ground and how you stay in touch with your families? And could you give a specific example of how you exchanged greetings perhaps with your families? It's a program that allows us to transmit messages between the orbiter and Houston and our family escorts that are helping the families on the ground will collect and distribute those messages. So once a day, we transmit personal messages from the orbiter to our families and when those messages are uplinked to us, they also include updates on major news events, sporting events and anything else that may be of interest to the crew. We also have what we call private family conferences which give us an opportunity once during the mission to talk directly to our immediate family members through mission control and we also have Sarex on board this flight and that also gives us one opportunity during the mission to make a personal phone call to a family member. Peter Galtieri with the West Kentucky News from Mary Ellen. Being a rookie on board, when you're here on Earth, you don't have to worry about things float around in front of you. Do you have to take any special precautions while you're breathing? Make sure you don't suck in an M&M's strolling around up there or maybe a fly maybe. Sometimes I try to suck in any M&M's that are floating around but in general the air is pretty clean up here and you just live and go about your business normally. There's always a little bit more of a risk of getting something in your eye or getting something up your nose but we can take care of that. This is Dave Lohr with the Columbus Dispatch in Columbus, Ohio for Commander Hendricks. Today is the anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11 and I'd like your views and anybody else who wants to comment on whether you would put a priority on returning to the moon and why. I think NASA has had that as a goal for at least a decade now is to return to the moon with the physical reality of the present economy. We aren't going to be able to do that in the near future and that's why we're concentrating on endeavors like the International Space Station and cooperating with the Russians to make that an affordable project but long range definitely we will be going back to the moon and beyond. We should end at the AP again for Colonel Hendricks. I'm wondering if you're starting to feel more like a space salesman than an astronaut because of all the budget cuts to the program and when when does talking about all this sort of stuff to people like us start to be intrusive to your job in orbit? Budget cuts aren't affecting this mission. We're completing the TDRS system and we were scheduled years before the cuts began to materialize. As far as this becoming a generic or everyday activity I think that's still years away but the research that we're conducting now does have immediate benefit to researchers on the ground and the experiments that are relating directly now include the bioreactor experiment, the protein crystal growth experiment and Hercules which is a device that can geolocate images while we're opening the earth. So I think there is return that's being generated now but the majority of the return is yet to be seen. This is Irene Brown with the UPI. I'd just be interested in Nancy's response to my earlier question about long duration low earth orbit missions and how you'd feel if you would take such a thing would that be too much of a hardship with separation from your daughter and your family? I'd take an assignment like that in a heartbeat. I think any of us would that were in the program and we're all looking forward to the years that we're going to be assembling and then later on flying on the space station particularly because it's now such an international effort and as far as any of our families I think I speak from almost everybody on the crew that all our families are very supportive of what we do, understand that we're here to do the job that we do and accept the separation as a part of that. This is Seth Bornstein from the Orlando Sentinel for Colonel Henrichs. I believe you're doing these vision tests on people who are in their early 40s and I guess you qualify as the oldest crew member. Have you noticed any vision deterioration and are those vision tests pretty easy or are they uncomfortable? Well the vision function test is a follow-on. This is actually number four in a series and I had the pleasure of flying it on one of my previous flights in a different version and yes I have noticed some change in my vision on orbit. One of the tests that forces us to react quickly from a far target to a near target is changing. My response time has changed and I think that's due to the fluid shifting and changing the shape in the eyeball a little bit. Of course we are doing some sleep shifting so we're not completely arrested at the moment so we're not sure exactly which factors will affect the vision and this test will help determine that. This is Jim Bank of Florida today again a question maybe for Kevin Kriegel since we haven't heard him yet. I think there's still a feeling here among the general public that once you guys deployed t-dress the mission was essentially over. Of course you're up there another week. Why are you still in space and which one of the secondaries that you're doing do you think offers the most practical and immediate benefit for the average guy on the street? Well the reason that we're still up here in space is the initial cost the big upfront cost is the launch and once you get that out of the way you might as well stay up for a while and use the space and the weight that we have to do some of these experiments especially some of the experiments that couldn't justify the cost of a shuttle mission. As Tom said we've got the crystal growth experiment which was flown several times and we are seeing some benefits with any if you're on type drugs which is going to help the common person on the streets. This bioreactor is has great potential for growing different tissues and maybe organs in the future. They're doing the NIH experiment to look at several different things on the exoskeletal system and the nervous system. So we're doing a lot out here and I think it's well worth the time spent up. Pete Galterry with the West Kentucky News. This is for anyone who had a good window seat. During the ascent there was quite a spectacular show during the Max-Q when there was a lot of condensation coming off the shuttle. It looked real spectacular from here. How did it look from inside? Anything out of the front window but during ascent I had my little hand mirror out and I was able to look out of the overhead windows and I could see some of the plumes coming off their condensation plumes and it was pretty spectacular from the inside. This is Dave Lor from the Columbus Dispatch for Dr. Weber. As a skydiver are you looking for any chance to put on the suit and get outside and is that possible if the mission remains trouble-free do you have any influence on doing that kind of activity? St. Thomas and myself would love to get outside and see what it's like out there but we'll only do that in the case of an equipment malfunction and none of us on board are hoping that that happens so maybe the next flight. Discovery stand by now for Lewis PAO. Good morning Discovery this is Lewis PAO. How do you hear me? Good morning Cleveland Rod and Claire. Good morning this is Harry Boomer from Cleveland television news channels 1943. How are you this morning? We're having a great day here in orbit. How are things in Cleveland? A little hot but it's kind of nice. How do you guys pull off getting an all Ohio crew up there? It's not entirely an all Ohio crew. The governor helped make it an all Ohio crew by christening Kevin Krigel as an honorary Buckeye. It's quite by coincidence. The one thing that does influence it is the fact that Ohio has produced more astronauts than any other state and it was just by coincidence that four out of five of us claim Ohio was our home. Joe Frohlich from the Cleveland plane dealer for Mary Ellen Weber and Kevin Krigel but before you fly you hear a lot before you fly you hear a lot from other astronauts about the experience of launch and of being in space uh what are your sort of initial impressions on that and what are you going to be telling other astronauts other future astronauts when you get back? Having gone through it I understand why everybody has said that it's just spectacular and indescribable and it really is. It's it's just an incredible feeling being on top of this rocket and feeling feeling the sheer power and force of it. Um as far as the weightlessness it's uh again until you actually experience it words can't quite describe it. So I have a few more days to work on how I'll explain that down to the folks to the ground. This is Carol Wilkinson with WJWTVA here in Cleveland. I have a question for you I can remember back when men was trying to get to the moon when astronauts were trying to reach out and and just take the universe and bring it closer to earth. Are you sensing that same sort of excitement or has the excitement about space shuttles and missions to other planets died down a bit? Well I think I can speak for everyone. We wouldn't be in this job if the excitement had died down. We still think that we're on the frontier and and part of building the the future for us and going out to space with the space station back to the moon, back to Mars. It's just a long haul and we're still real excited about being part of that. This is Steve Green from 3WE Radio in Cleveland. I got a question about music. Every morning uh that there's a mission with the space any of the space shuttles you guys wake up to music in the morning and being that you guys have a mostly Ohio crew you've got uh your New York crew member as well uh how you know it seems like you've got the perfect promotional team for uh the Rock and Roll Hall hovering over us. What have you got to say about the Rock Hall in Cleveland? As a matter of fact we are flying an item in our special flight data file for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and after the flight we plan on visiting Cleveland to help commemorate the grand opening and return that item. Hi this is Jacqueline McLean from Channel Five. My question is really basic. What's it like to be of this space? Oh it's a very pleasant experience to be here in microgravity. It's physically effortless. As you can see we're floating free here. The only thing we're doing to maintain a position is sliding our feet under something. The experience of licking out the window is absolutely spectacular. You cannot get enough of it even on a dark path with the moonlit night that we are experiencing now we can see cloud tops. You look down and you see how fragile our atmosphere is. You realize that uh even you there at the Lewis Research Center are traveling on a spaceship and it's the one way I'll share it called the Planet Earth. Harry Boomer from channels 19 and 43 again. I see you guys are having to try and steady yourselves there. How difficult is it for you to maintain the posture you have right now instead of floating around the cabin there? It's pretty difficult. We learned that yesterday during one of our events and that's why the three of us in the back are uh fought against the wall secured by the sleeping bags that we use and uh Tom Merion and Foot Restraints. So the first couple days you get your rates down it's very easy to someone get out of control particularly in the midday because of a wide open area. Carol Wilkinson with WJWTVA again. A question for the ladies on board. Do you think emissions like this are the pathway to us seeing more women in space more women as part of the space program and more women traveling in space in the future? Yes, I think more and more women will be traveling in space to have careers in the background as more and more women go into those kinds of fields and get the necessary education uh they will more and more will be selected as astronauts. So I think uh the future is very bright for the women of our country. This is uh Jacqueline McLean against the channel 5. You guys are in your fourth a day right now. How would you rate it so far? Is eight days too long to be up there or do you think emissions can even go longer? I was on a 15-day flight a year ago up in orbit on STS-65 and uh they keep us so busy on these missions that 15 days was a pretty good workout. We were all exhausted when we landed on that one and talking to other crew members and I've talked with some Russians and everybody seems to agree about a seven or eight day mission such as we have here it's just about perfect. Steve Green from 3WE again uh you guys had some trouble with woodpeckers on your way up are you looking forward to them when you get back and maybe will you bring a woodpecker with you in the future? Well as a matter of fact we do have a mascot on board and there's also one in Mission Control. We realize that the Kennedy Space Center shares that territory with the bird sanctuary and the birds took their toll on this flight but again the troops there at the Kennedy Space Center did the correct thing and patched those up and caught us off safely. As far as looking forward to our return to Earth we're looking forward to going back to the Kennedy Space Center and thanking those thousands of people that have made this vehicle flawless. We have not had one anomaly on this flight it's operating perfectly and uh whether they're having fun with the birds or not they're doing a great job at the Kennedy Space Center. Discovery we're with you on the middeck. You can see that Don has his hairball returned on. This is Mission Control Houston this. Discovery go ahead Don. I'm at uh step five on page one dash seven I just put the G3 plus cartridge into the PCBA and I got a message it says to uh replace with another cartridge. It says analyzer interrupted use another cartridge code number eight. The copy let us check. This is Mission Control Houston this television shows the bioreactor development system of which Don Thomas onboard Discovery was just talking with Mission Control about that's one of the secondary experiments currently on the lower deck of the spacecraft. It studies the growth of cell cultures in weightlessness using a cylindrical vessel for their growth cell cultures. I believe to be able to be grown in a much more precise and identical fashion in weightlessness then can be performed in Earth's gravity due to the fact that in weightlessness they can be flown again in this grown in this cylindrical vessel with no pressure points since they're floating in the middle and the rotating cylinder serves to provide nutrients constantly surrounding those samples. Currently uh Thomas is working to take a standard daily sample of the medium in the bioreactor development system that's done each day as part of the experiment. This is Mission Control Houston this television view from Discovery shows Mission Specialist Nancy Curry uh taking a microbial sample of a water supply on board the spacecraft. This experiment is being done as a method of evaluating uh Discovery Houston uh surgeons really interested in this video and appreciates the time spent getting it. Discovery now you should be seeing a live downlink of BDS and we have that discovery looks fine. This view shows the medium in the bioreactor development system uh the rotating cylinder that's being studied as a cell culture growth device on board shuttle. Again this device allows uh cell cultures to grow with no pressure points uh in the weightlessness of orbit um which cannot be achieved in laboratories on earth. Discovery Houston, TDRC now. Discovery Houston, nice view of Chantel.