Mission to Mir Page #4

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Shannon Lucid and many cosmonauts.

They are the true pioneers...

the first settlers

of this new territory beyond Earth.

Others will follow,

but this is John's room now.

It's still adorned

by Shannon's birthday balloon.

And she's left him her beloved library, too.

I told John

he was going to have a great time.

You know, just to take each day

as it comes, and enjoy that day.

There we go, clock's running.

We have good physical separation.

Looks beautiful.

Watching MIR recede...

I was saying goodbye

to my home for six months.

I was also saying goodbye to my friends.

So, it was really with mixed emotions

that I said goodbye.

The day after Shannon's landing...

President Clinton comes to Houston

to welcome her home.

Defying all predictions, after 188 days...

and more than 67 million miles in space...

Shannon stays on her feet

for the celebration.

There were many times

when I was up on MIR when I'd think.'

"Wow! Who would've ever thought

that a child from Oklahoma, in the '50s...

"would've grown up

to spend six months...

"on a Russian space station

with Russians?"

It was something you wouldn't have put

in your fiction novel...

if you were writing one.

When Dr. Lucid was in the 8th grade...

she wrote an essay saying

she wanted to be a rocket scientist.

She was told by her teacher...

there is no such thing

as a rocket scientist...

and if there were,

it wouldn't be a woman.

Our space pioneers reflect the very best...

and Dr. Shannon Lucid today...

stands tall among them all.

We are grateful for her,

we welcome her home. Thank you.

It takes a lot of learning

and a lot of knowledge...

to be able to fly humans in space.

For so many years, we did it

entirely separately from each other.

It makes so much more sense

for us to work together...

building a future

more endowed with peace...

and prosperity than with competition.

We are building a bridge to the future.

Cooperation will make it stronger.

There may be obstacles along the way...

but our children will reach the planets.

New worlds are theirs to discover.

How neat it would be

if the United States and Russia...

could cooperate and go to Mars together.

And choose us to be the crew.

I walked into my house for the first time,

it felt like I'd never been gone.

Everything looked really nice

and everything was picked up.

I mean, it was just great coming home.

A couple of the first comments

my kids made were.'

How gray my hair had gotten...

and how skinny my arms looked.

They sort of call it like it is.

English

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