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| S P E C I A L | Mission Mir |
Astronaut Thomas: All's well aboard Mir
April 23, 1998
Thomas says life on Mir is a "fascinating experience ..."
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Web posted at: 3:40 p.m. EDT (1940 GMT)(CNN) -- A busy month of spacewalks has done much to improve life aboard Mir, and astronaut Andy Thomas says he's delighted with the state of his current home.
"I think conditions (on Mir) are very good," Thomas told CNN's John Holliman on Thursday. Thomas arrived on the often-troubled Russian space station 13 weeks ago.
"I think we've got a very good environment here. We've worked hard to arrange everything and put everything in order. It's tidy. I'm personally very pleased with the quality of the environment that we have now," Thomas said during his brief interview with Holliman.
Since April began, Thomas has watched closely as his two Russian colleagues undertook five spacewalks to make repairs to the aging station. The final walk, completed Wednesday, replaced an engine that will help keep Mir oriented toward the sun so its solar panels can absorb the maximum amount of energy available.
Other than the spacewalks, and Thomas's experiments for NASA, life aboard Mir has been pretty routine, the astronaut said.
Image from Wednesday's spacewalk on Mir Everyone aboard remains healthy,
said Thomas, who added that he is thankful for the reprieve from the seasonal ailments that typically plague him in Houston, Texas.
Thomas told Holliman that when he first arrived on Mir he took some sleeping aids and some vitamins, but that he no longer needs either and has fully adjusted to space living.
He has lost a little weight, but that doesn't seem to bother Thomas -- after all, he says, he gained some weight while he was in Russia training for his current mission. The gain came from all that good Russian food, Thomas said, adding that he'd planned to work it off anyway.
Thomas is scheduled to return to Earth in June.
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· MIR MAIN PAGE · RELATED SITES · HISTORY · TIMELINE |
· GALLERY · SOYUZ · CREW · REPAIR MISSION |
Related stories:
- Mir spacewalk ends with new engine installed - April 22, 1998
- Cosmonauts return to Mir after stabilizing solar panel - April 6, 1998
- Shuttle-Mir: an experiment in science and politics - April 2, 1998
Related sites:
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- NASA Shuttle-Mir Web
- ISS Phase I - Space Station Mir
- Mir Status Report
- Mir Space Station
- How to See Mir in Space
- SpaceViews: Mir Interactive Display
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