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August 22, 2001 07:10 CDT

In a live interview with CNN, departing residents of the
ISS said that astronauts should have little trouble
adapting to Mars after a long flight in zero gravity.
As they made their final laps around the planet
yesterday, the three took part in a long distance
conference call with CNN Space Correspondent Miles
O'Brien.

Noting that the duration of their flight was similar to
the time necessary to send a manned mission to Mars,
O'Brien wondered if humans arriving at the red planet
would "be able to do any useful work" or "stand up in
the one-third gravity of Mars?"

Certainly, if the crew worked out with specialized
exercise equipment, like that onboard space station
Alpha, said Jim Voss, along with fellow NASA astronaut
Susan Helms and Russian Cosmonaut Yury Usachev.

"We have a pretty good program for keeping ourselves in
good shape. We have two bicycles, a treadmill and an
exercise device that simulates weightlifting," Voss
said. "I think the same thing would be true of going to
Mars. As long as people worked very hard, they would be
in reasonably good shape and they would quickly recover,
especially with a little bit of lighter gravity there."

Despite their exercise regimen, which they did for at
least an hour each day, the last Alpha crew can expect
weeks of physical therapy to regain muscle and bone
strength lost during the flight, which is the second
longest in NASA history.

Having spent two long-duration missions on the retired
Russian space station Mir, Usachev could have an easier
time recovering than the other two crewmembers.

As far as adjusting goes, when they began their trip
from normal gravity to the weightlessness of space,
Helms said it was a breeze. "We definitely became
accustomed to the space environment very quickly. And
after five and one-half months, it seems completely
natural."

However, there is much that Helms longs for on the
ground: family, friends, band mates in an all-astronaut
rock band, and even simple, everyday sensations. "I
think we have all missed certain smells, such as the
smell of the beach and pine trees. We have a very
sterile environment on the space station and you just
don't get the variety that you get on Earth, as far as
the different smells of nature."

The shuttle Discovery is scheduled to land at 12:46 p.m.
EDT today at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Source: CNN
Cosmiverse Staff Writer


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