Q: The station has undergone a number of shake-ups under your watch. How has science fared through the changes?

Goldin: I think we have better science. For example, we now have a platform on the station where we are going to do fundamental physics. That was not in the plan in 1993. And I don't think that came into the plan until three or four years ago. Due to the delays in the station, we have been fortunate.

Some of the researchers that were engaged in building the facilities had been frustrated. Had we built the facilities that we had conceived in 1993, I don’t think we’d have as robust a station as we will have now. In fact the advancements in the field of bio-infomatics, genetics, is just breathtaking in the last two or three years. We’ve been overtaken by events due to delays, but it's given us a chance to step back and say, "lets look again at what we are about to do in the research facilities."

We are going to have a much better set of research facilities as a result. There is disappointment because there have been slowdowns, and there are disappointments because we didn’t move, but the richness of the research five years from now I think will be factors better.

Q: We recently talked to a researcher who said he is not overly concerned about the reduction in crew capacity onboard the station because he never put much stock in the crew-hour numbers he was given. So he designed his facility so it can operate with much fewer crew hours than he was initially allotted. Other researchers may not fare so well with a three-person crew. Should researchers still be perfecting their experiments and designing equipment plan on six crew members or three crew members?

Goldin: That’s a great question. First let me say, I want to wait to answer that question until May. We haven’t given up on six or seven crew members. We think we have ideas on how to get at it. To be quite candid, you’re the first one to ask me that question. I don’t want to shoot from the hip. That’s a very interesting question and it’s one I’m going to ask our people to consider between now and then.

Q: What are some of your ideas for achieving a six- or seven-person crew capability? Do they include using more Russian Soyuz spacecraft?

Goldin: We have a variety of ideas.

Q: What are they?

Goldin: We'll get back to you.

Q: Would you say you are holding them close to your chest at this point?

Goldin: Only because we don’t know if they are going to work or not. I feel we shouldn't be shooting our mouths off until we have substance to say and setting up false hopes.