Mir to Columbia: Pleeease, tell us about Mars

Web posted July 9, 1997

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Scheduled for 8:20 AM EDT - July 9, 1997

By MARCIA DUNN
AP Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Mir astronaut Michael Foale had a burning question Tuesday for his colleagues aboard space shuttle Columbia: How are the pictures from Mars?

``The most frustrating thing ... is that I haven't seen a picture from Mars yet. None of us on this spacecraft has seen a picture from Mars, and I'm sure you have,'' Foale, an astrophysicist aboard the Russian space station, said in a radio hookup with the shuttle crew.

He listened with delight - and a little jealousy - as Columbia astronaut Michael Gernhardt described the ``awesome'' photos taken by NASA's Mars Pathfinder and beamed up to the shuttle by Mission Control.

Foale informed the shuttle crew that he was enjoying his first cup of tea in two months, courtesy of the supply ship that docked with the crippled station on Monday.

He said when he and his two Russian crewmates opened the hatch to the supply ship Tuesday, ``There was this wonderful smell of fresh air. It smelled like apples. But as we've been unpacking it, we haven't found the fruit yet.''

Foale said it was like Christmas aboard Mir. Besides food and crucial repair equipment, the cargo ship delivered some of the things Foale lost when another supply ship plowed into the station on June 25 and ruptured a lab module. Virtually everything he owned was in that lab.

``One of the nicest things I think I've got here is a new video player'' to watch movies, he said.

Foale invited Columbia's seven crew members over to share in the goodies.

``We have tea. We have coffee. We have chocolates, candy. In fact, we have everything here on space station Mir you might want except for one particular item. Well, I won't go into that,'' Foale said, chuckling.

Replied shuttle commander James Halsell Jr.: ``OK, I'll read between the lines there.''

NASA officials said they had no idea what Foale meant.

Mission Control arranged the 10-minute linkup. Mir and Columbia were more than 1,200 miles apart during the call.

For the record, Columbia cannot fly to Mir. The shuttle doesn't have the fuel or the necessary docking port to visit the space station.

Foale isn't scheduled to return to Earth until space shuttle Atlantis returns for him in September, four months after it dropped him off.

The Columbia crew is due back July 17 after a 16-day laboratory mission.

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