 Unfortunately it will be dark, but I got a good day view the other night just before we fell asleep. Mike and I have been transitioning and having some good pass down. Mike is very well situated, specters in perfect order. I think on this mission I've done it both ways. We've got shuttle in good order and we also have Mike in good order on mirror. We're just doing a few loose ends and a review of what's already been covered. And so we're in very good shape and a good job everybody on the ground that helps support that. We'll pass along those words. That's from the Spacehab module on the Space Shuttle. Ten people who consider themselves among the luckiest in the world today, the joint crew of Mir and Shuttle Atlantis. Shuttle Commander Charlie Precourt, ground controllers tell us both the spaceships are working well together. What's your assessment of the health of Mir now compared to what you knew about it a year ago? You know the Mir has gone through a few maintenance problems here in the recent few months as everyone is aware. I could compare it for you with what I experienced a couple of years ago when I docked with the mission of STS-71. I would say that it is not much different overall and with the exception that they've added two more modules. They have more volume, but they have also more equipment on board now. I'd say the health is in really good shape at this point and they've recovered nicely from the failures of the last couple of months. That's certainly good news. Eileen Collins, you were the Shuttle pilot getting up and you'll be the pilot coming down again. I'd like your assessment as to how crowded it is on Mir compared to the shuttle in the place where you are right now. Is it as much like Fibromigui's closet with just wires and pipes falling out all over the place as some of the pictures we have seen lead us to believe? It has more interior volume. This shuttle flight the Atlantis has a space have in the back, which adds to our volume. I would have to say that living in space whether you're on the shuttle or Mir, you're going to have a lot of equipment around, equipment for cooling and maintenance of the spaceship as well as scientific experiments, which is why we're up here. So yes, both the spaceships are a little bit cluttered, but I would say it's an environment that I enjoy being in and I'm having a great time up here and I know we're contributing very well to science, international science and the health of people around the world with the mission that we're doing up here. I've got a question for the two rookie astronauts, Carlos, Noriega and Ed Lue. They have been doing much of the heavy lifting of equipment back and forth between the two ships and both are rookies. The transfer seems to be well ahead of schedule, fellas, which means you're doing your jobs well. Carlos, I'd like your impressions and maybe then Ed's impressions of launch and your thoughts today about what you're going to remember most about this trip. Incredible feeling being on our first mission, especially with this group of people here. I've got a great crew that I belong to and we've got some great friends on the Mir. We had a chance to work with them before we came up here and just being able to renew that friendship and continue to work together is just great as an international cooperative effort that we have here. The reason things have been going so smoothly is probably because of the hard work of the other rookie here who's been in charge of the transfer operations. I'll let him talk a little bit. Well, there's a lot of really memorable things, of course, about flying in space from the launch to looking out the window, seeing the air go by to the docking day when we first saw Amir from more than about 30 or 40 miles away. Surprisingly enough, what I think the most memorable thing about all of this is the people around me, the people I've gotten to work with for the last year and my friends from Russia who we first met almost a year ago. They're a really special group of people. They work really hard and I'll always remember this just mostly for the people, I think. The other day we saw a picture of all of you eating dinner together. It was this big international meal and the microphone was left on while you guys were there and it was sort of like a fraternity house party. I mean, a lot of hooping and hollering going on. Is that really what the spirit is like when you guys aren't lined up in front of TV cameras like this and everybody has to be on their best behavior? Well, John, that was initially intended as a home movie, but we had such spontaneous good time with our international colleagues that we felt we ought to share it with everyone. We worked pretty hard up here and we asked the time-liners for this mission to set aside a couple of hours where we could have an international meal and our crew prepared a lot of different types of foods from around the world to bring up and share with our Russian colleagues and Jerry. They managed to find the time for us so we went over and relaxed for a little bit and we turned on the video camera and let it run. We wanted you to see that life in space can be enjoyable even though we're doing a lot of work. Folks need to take a break from time to time to keep their energy up and that's what we were doing. We wanted you to see that. Yeah, well, Charlie, the thing that everybody is saying in this interview is how well everybody is getting along together despite the fact there are different cultures represented there on the spaceship and that party sort of indicated that to me. I want to talk to Jerry Leninger and Mike Foll next. The two of you have traded jobs this week. Leninger moving to the shuttle crew for the trip back home and Foll joining the MIR crew for another long duration stay in orbit. Jerry, you and I have talked a couple of times during this mission about your family, your personal life, but we haven't talked directly since the fire and the series of equipment failures. Tell us about MIR. Is it working as well today as the day you arrived more than four months ago? We've had difficulties throughout those four months, but I think we've overcome it. And I think at this point, yeah, I'd say we're back to the condition that we were at when I arrived. On the other hand, I think Mike is going to have a challenge ahead of him. And, you know, it's part of the exploration process out here. We're pushing the limits and it's tough being out on the frontier. So Mike's got a challenge ahead for him. Yeah, Jerry, before you hand the mic over to Mike Foll, what was the best advice that you think you gave to Mike Foll as he came aboard or in the few days you've had to sort of cross pollinate? Mike's really experienced courageous, you know, well-traveled space travelers. So I guess the thing I did more for Mike is just show him around, show him where the equipment is. Some of the little things that I learned over the four or five months up here and just giving him little pointers that I think a month from now he'll say, oh yeah, I remember Jerry telling me something about that. And just make his life a little more pleasant up here by learning some little tricks of living in space. Yeah, Mike Foll, a couple of weeks ago you told us you were much more worried about the shuttle launch than about a long time stay on Mir. Has anything happened in the past few days to change your opinion of Mir for better or for worse? Right, the biggest risk that we all went through was launch and that includes the cosmonauts also. But no, I've been pleasantly surprised here. In fact, I'm not realizing rapidly that the food is even better than I first thought it was going to be. So I'm enjoying very much just having regular meals with the C.D. here and Sasha across there for me, Elena. And we have a very relaxed and easy-going relationship. I think when you're on board a space station rather than a space shuttle, you basically live. And so you have to have regular meals and I've noticed a difference even already. The shuttle guides are having to work to a timeline that's compressed, they have to get back on earth. And the beauty of being here with a long-term cruise is you get to relax and think about a long term and enjoy your meals, enjoy your conversations, pace your work out. And so it's actually quite a new way to work and I'm enjoying this transition. Mike, one last question. What is the best that you can accomplish in your four and a half months on MIR? What do you think? What's the best you can do while you're there? Have a good time. I really think that's the most important thing here. I'm quite efficient anyway getting my scientific work done and I'll do that anyway. The most important thing is that all of us, the three of us on board the station and the three of you guys that come up in August, that we all get along together and enjoy each other's company. At last it's MIR crew. Thank you. I've been here for many, many years. I wish you all the best. On the American side, we're wishing Luda Nikolaeva a happy 50th birthday today. She's the Russian timeline who's worked so hard to put our schedules together up here and make them work jointly between the US and Russian sides. Luda, positive values in your marriage.