 Good afternoon, Houston. I'm Tom Jones, mission specialist on the space shuttle Columbia on mission STS-80 here on the flight deck of Columbia. We're about 220 miles above the surface of the earth, eastward across the western Pacific Ocean now at a speed of about five miles every second, about 17,000 miles an hour. We're on the fifth day of our mission. We had a very successful deploy of two satellites so far in the flight. They're trailing us in formation. Out there behind us we just saw them in the windows a few moments ago. One's an astronomy satellite and one is a material science satellite, helping us understand how to make higher performance semi-conducting materials for the electronics industry in space. Our astronomy mission is out there looking at stars throughout the universe, looking especially at very hot objects in the universe. Black holes, white dwarf stars and the cool gases that float in between those bright hot stars and our own world. We're finding out a lot about the universe and our own future in space with those two satellites out there. Columbia also is a flying research laboratory in its own right. We have a lot of experiments going on downstairs even as we speak. In the mid-deck we're looking at an experiment called UCPL and that's a heat transfer device that could be used on future satellites. Out in the payload bay we have some research experiments going on too. One in particular I'd like to talk to you about today is called Space Experiment Module or SEM. And the purpose of the Space Experiment Module is to inspire and excite the young people down there on our own planet today to look for a better education for themselves and perhaps careers in math and science and space exploration one day. But we have a more direct way to inspire people today by using our research facilities on the Columbia and that's with the Space Experiment Module. It gives students a chance to actually participate in experiments in space. And we hope that that will give students around the country a hands-on opportunity for a learning experience that will inspire their future careers in math and science and space exploration. We hope the Space Experiment Module work will spur them to a greater interest in career fields that will all benefit from one day. And generally we hope that this will just lead students to perform better in school and take a greater interest in their own education. Now let me give you some facts about the Space Experiment Module. It's about the size of a large trash can and it flies out in the payload bay of Columbia. It weighs about 700 pounds and has about five cubic feet of usable volume. Inside the field canister, which is just like a getaway special that we fly on other missions, is a pressure of one atmosphere. So inside the can we have a weightless environment but one that's pressurized to the same atmosphere we have on Earth. And the Space Experiment Module teaches kids to use the tools of science to explore the world around them. And it gives teachers the opportunity to use a new way to teach science and math and inspire students with real space activities. Students use this lab on Columbia to do experiments in the payload bay and they as a result get hands-on experience with a real working experiment that they construct themselves with NASA's help. And NASA provides a laboratory, if you will. We provide the laboratory workbench, the Bunsen burners, the test tubes, the electricity, even the computers for the students to do their experiments just like we would in a laboratory on the Earth. Here those facilities are in the Space Experiment Module and the students then provide the imagination, the ideas for the experiments, and the energy to carry them out. And we hope after these 16 days in orbit the Space Experiment Module will return a lot of successful and exciting results to all of the young experimenters across the country that are participating. Now NASA here provides some basics for the Space Experiment Module. Here's the students' small module. We have 10 of those that fit inside the can outside the payload bay. It's a mounting plate, really, that the students can build their experiment on. And we also provide a ground electronics module that interfaces the computer commanding or the electronic measurements back into the recording devices and computers aboard the Space Experiment Module. And the students can use that mounting plate and electronics capability to construct whatever kind of experiment they'd like. We have 10 experiments on STS-80. 7 of them are active in that they use the microgravity environment of space to record actual measurements about their materials in the environment. And 3 of them are passive. In other words, we're just testing the effects of microgravity on some materials and they'll be examined upon their return to Earth. Let me give you some examples of the kinds of material we have on board. From Albion Junior High School in Ohio, we have a heat transfer experiment where students heat up one end of a copper rod and the copper rod is actually instrumented to measure heat flow down the length of the metal rod. The metal rod is actually made of stacks of pennies. So we have some pennies stacked up that we're heating up out in the cargo bay right now. We also have a group from Albion that's flying some bacterial experiments. We're looking at bacterial growth in a series of 6 test tubes. And the growth changes in terms of color can be recorded in the module during the flight here. We have a can-do group of experimenters from Charleston, South Carolina, and they have a series of experiments. One is measuring the shuttle's own accelerations in space by using a pendulum that's balanced very carefully and it can measure the shocks and shakes on the shuttle from our thruster firings as we station keep with our two satellites. We have some more bacteria growth cultures provided by that group. And they're also growing some crystals in microgravity using solutions of salt and alum, some common household materials we have on the ground. And those crystal growth patterns will be recorded in the module. We're even measuring Earth's magnetic field with a series of iron filings that are shaken up in a small chamber and that we hope will align themselves in the magnetic field of the Earth and they can be imaged while we're here in microgravity to see if those field lines are visible. Norfolk, Virginia and Pocassan, Virginia, we have a group of experimenters that are looking at how immiscible materials, materials that don't mix on Earth like oil and vegetable, vegetable oil and water, behave in the microgravity environment of space. So they're mixing salt, water and vegetable oil and then seeing how those two materials separate out. And from Greenbrook North High School in Illinois, we have a surface tension experiment where fluids are spread on a slick surface of paper and we're watching how that fluid beads up and how surface tension drives the behavior of that liquid. These are all active experiments that we have on space experiment modules. We have some college experimenters from Purdue University looking at fluid thermal convection and how fluids transfer heat without gravity to cause convection as we know it on Earth. And they also are raising some brine shrimp on a little shrimp farm out in the space experiment module. Some of the materials in our past experiments include seeds from both trees and tomato plants. We have some yeast cells out there, popcorn, soybeans, soil, and even some materials that are going to interest our youngest experimenters, some crayons and some silly putty. And they'll be examined for how the microgravity environment changes those materials while they've been in flight. Here's some silly putty I've brought on board myself to show you some kinds of behavior that we might expect to see in a putty type material on orbit. You can see it's pretty easy to manipulate and quite interesting to watch. And I hope the space experiment module experimenters will get some sort of similar satisfaction when they get to watch their experiments on return to Earth. Well, that's a short summary of what the space experiment module does and what we hope it will do for our useful experimenters back on Earth. We know that the space experiment module experiments will fly again with different groups of student experimenters from across the country. We look forward to those opportunities on the shuttle in the future. The space experiment module is a good example of how the space program inspires our young people to better education, how they can improve their own academic performance by using some exciting experiments that they can really get involved in. And I think it's just a nice example of how the space program in general can add educational opportunities and excitement to all sorts of subjects across the disciplines that we study in elementary and high schools and even college in our country. So it's a pleasure to work with the space experiment module on STS-80. And this is Tom Jones signing off to have some more fun with my own silly putty up here. I understand you had some excitement last night when you were attempting to launch a satellite that came within 10 feet of the cruise cabin. Was that a close call? Well, that was not a close call. This vehicle is an incredibly good flying machine in terms of relative motion. We have flown satellites like Intel sat right down in the payload bay and we routine in terms of rendezvous and proximity ops. We bring objects right down into the payload bay. If during a space walk we dropped some tool, we were able to fly that tool right down to the hand of the space walker so the hand can reach out and grab it. We have those kinds of capabilities. The thing we were up to yesterday was that for seven straight hours we did not fire a single jet on this vehicle to keep a pristine environment for the Wake Shield facility. We could have flown away at any time. The reason we hesitated and did exactly what we did was not to fire a jet and we had good view on that in television cameras and we let it float on by. You were told by NASA before you took off on this mission that this would be your last space flight in the program. Knowing that, has it changed the approach of the way you have viewed this mission emotionally? It has not. I'm such a long-term investor in this program. Space is my calling. Whether I'm on the ground or in flight or whatever my next participation in space flight will be I'm such a long-term investor that I know there'll be a continuity to it. It's been an incredible privilege to work for about 30 years both on the ground and in space and I also have the kind of imagination that I've had enough experience up here and the imagination will be able to put me up here in the future. Are there certain images of space though that you're trying to freeze in your mind so you simply just don't forget the magic of all of this? I work very hard on that all the time not only to technically do the job I need to do but to be in a way a parallel processor that has an experience of space. What is going on in the head? What is going on in the heart? What is going on in the soul? I'm having a human experience. I try to catch those experiences and bring them home and express that to other people such that they can vicariously also get into space and so that we as a space can evolve into being space creatures which we actually are. And so even on this flight here too now there are some images I could go over hundreds of them but just the picture of the Baja California the picture of Mexico is being embedded in my mind right now even though I've seen it many times before the look of Saudi Arabia, the Near East, the Nile swinging over the Himalayas as we've done multiple times those images are being implanted those experiences are being carried forward. As you look out the windows of the shuttle are you trying to concentrate on different things this time around for your collective memory? In having experience you look at what opportunities are available to you that maybe weren't on earlier flights but you try to enrich the previous ones you had it's spectacular to look out there to sunrise and to see our two satellites out there trailing behind us to look at the two bright stars that are out there. We've never flown a four-body problem where you had an earth of space in two satellites before so to look out behind you and see the two satellites that you're working to see them follow along behind you is a unique experience. We recognize how fit you have to be to participate in this program but a lot of a lot has been made of the fact that you are 61 years old do you feel any differently physically on this mission than let's say you did on your first mission 13 years ago in space? It's pretty much the same as I told my colleagues here one of Tom Jones who's working over here that you spoke with on an earlier mission he was sitting next to me I had the easiest launch I've ever had I am usually pretty frightened during launches because I'm not a risk taker and I was frightened before this one by once we got underway I had total faith and confidence that it was going to take me into space I had the easiest launch I've ever had this time Does that mean you completely got rid of your butterflies as you lifted off? Well I don't get butterflies I just get scared I don't blame you I understand that one of your favorite things is to enjoy the weightlessness that you feel in space I'm wondering if you could give us any sense of what that might feel like or look like from this perspective? Yeah, Plotin is a delicious kind of thing to do because we as creatures are created and evolved here on earth we have been designed by that force between us and earth and now you have a unique environment that maybe we weren't designed to perceive or to live in and so that's what makes it totally unique but the three-dimensional orientation in which you can make that direction the down direction you can feel that this is down and feel that that is the ceiling and put that anywhere you would like eventually the idea of just as the engines are shutting down you can close your eyes and pull the main engine shut down and then you can free fall through the dark and I don't know if you've ever free-falled through the dark but that is one delicious experience to be able to simply fall through a dark environment forever I think I've done that in my dreams can you give us a demonstration right now of what weightlessness looks like? Oh, I don't have much you want but there's a real art in how you drop things perfectly once you put the model out to Tom this is the best example I got you've seen us spin things around and you've seen us throw things but I think there's still this kind of drop you do a good drop Tom that says as much as anything right there you've seen us play with water that's another good way to do it these things are moving now because there's an airflow Oh it looks extraordinary from here have any of the scientists at NASA been able to figure out what impact all this weightlessness you've experienced has had on your own body? But it's basically the free-flow condition in which your cardiovascular system there is picking up the bottom of the shuttle there things such as not having to use bones up here the cardiovascular system not having to move blood uphill and those kinds of... What maybe we could study more in the energy of space different kinds of perceptions of what's up and what's down I think that's where some of the exciting areas that we haven't explored too much that day will be really exciting One of the things that you have been quoted in the past about is being receptive to extra-terrestrial life Do you have any indication that exists or is that just an extension of your imagination? I have no physical evidence I've never seen a signature of intelligent beings out here I think it's a common sense rational individual as a scientist I know it's out there because you're dealing with billions and billions of galaxies I know there are other universes other than our own and a lot of this has been around for billions of years the probability is a certainty that it's out there and myself in terms of a human being who is part of the human species which is evolving to recognition of their place in the universe and what the universe is all about I try to acknowledge those living creatures out there and just simply take quiet moments and say, yes, I know you're out there and I also communicate in ways similar to prayer that if you hear me come get me but I have no physical evidence I have seen no signatures I'm also as grounded as anyone around I know that the probabilities are one trillionth or less that anyone is going to hear but I think it's important in terms of our evolution the way we think of ourselves to recognize that we are not alone We also recognize even though you will not fly in any more of these missions you will continue to be involved with NASA on an ongoing basis What is it that you think Americans should understand about the future of the space program particularly at a time when a lot of Americans seem to have doubts as to where this really is taking us particularly when they look at the vast amount of money that are spent on it I think we need to have a very far-reaching vision I think we need to conduct space for spaces not for any other reasons one is used for other reasons for the pursuit of space I think then we get off the track I'm always working kind of at the philosophical level I'm interested in the great big very long-term pictures I think space is very important for us as human beings to show us what our place in the universe is what it means to be human I think that is one of the most important reasons that we're into space is the quest the reach out there for meaning down here So I think we need to not only do the practical things but I think we need to have a very very far-reaching vision a unified vision and have that communicated and have a very solid path to pursue In closing tonight what is it that you think you will reflect upon most when you come back to Earth at the end of this mission knowing that this was your final mission in flight and that you are in fact the oldest astronaut to attempt what you have just done I'm very glad to be in space for the things that I am at the age that I am but the age is only coincident with the fact that I have had the incredible privilege of pursuing my calling for almost 30 years Space is not just a job and a life for me it's a calling it's something I believe in and it's something I have a passion for I have a heart for it and I've had the privilege and opportunity to do it for 30 years and so I love doing these kind of things at my age but the important thing is I have the privilege of doing it throughout my entire life time but I have had something which is a calling that I have had something in which the passions could push me and give me the energy to attempt to always do things perfectly Columbia for story surgeon tells us he has your albedo for your head on file we'd like to compare it to your current albedo so if everybody else can stand back a little bit we'll get a good feeling for it as it's increased substantially SDS, 80 probes are real magicians they can work on something which isn't there good teamwork we're good for another five days the students at Thames Elementary School Hattiesburg, Mr. Roy Musgrave MS3 on this flight we hear that being in space decreases the size of your bones and your heart do you feel any different when you come back to earth we certainly do out here floating around at zero gee, we don't need the bones that carry our weight they carry that force between us and the earth they carry our weight down there because we don't need the bones it's just like a muscle if you don't use your muscle the muscles tend to get smaller and weaker so not using your bones out here they tend to become smaller and a little less strong likewise with the heart the heart doesn't have to pump blood uphill against gravity you don't need to carry as much blood by them so those things diminish in size too when you come back to earth just like when you come into space you have to adapt to the space environment when you come back to earth you've gotten very used to space bones, muscles and hearts have started to adapt to space so they have to re-adapt to earth my name is Ken Cockrell and the third question the final question we have today from Thames Elementary we have played the CD-ROM software the magic school bus in the solar system to help us learn about space do you ever use computer for learning? well I'd say that we are surrounded by computers the space shuttle is run by five computers and in addition to that we have eight laptop computers that run various other aspects of our mission here with us on the flight deck so when we train for this mission we use computers all the time we use similar computers to the ones that are in the space shuttle in our simulators on the ground and we also can use the computers that we have at our desk to run various training programs to help us learn the details about our mission and about how the space shuttle operates so we certainly do use computers we use them a lot thanks for your question