HOUSTON - Astronauts on board the
International Space Station (ISS) received a special phone call today from
former President George H. W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush.
Shaking
hands before they sat down in the space shuttle flight director's chair, the
presidential couple picked up telephones to shoot the vacuum with space station
and shuttle Discovery crews.
"Bush
is here, and she brought here husband," said Mike Antonelli, spacecraft
communicator here at Johnson Space Center (JSC), before STS-120 commander
Pamela Melroy and ISS commander Peggy Whitson exchanged greetings with the
Bushes.
"We're
really happy to have you here with us," Whitson said as mission
controllers and their special visitors listened on.
"Good
luck to you," former President Bush said to the astronauts, who are
gearing up to repair a ripped
solar array on Saturday. "We're so very proud of what y'all are doing.
Barbara and I are just thrilled to be here."
"Thank
you Mr. President and Mrs. Bush. We are absolutely thrilled and honored to
speaking with you," Melroy said. "We just want to thank you for your
support of the space program. This is the visible evidence of it," she
said, referring to the new Harmony module she and her fellow astronauts floated
in during the special visit.
"God
bless you all," said former First Lady Bush.
"And God
bless you as well," Melroy responded.
"Back
to work, back to work all you guys! Don't just be sitting around having fun!"
President Bush said to the astronauts before signing off. "We're so proud
of you all. Very, very proud."
Before the
former President and First Lady left, flight controllers tacked an STS-120 pin
and Expedition 16 pin to the former president's collar. Staff in the room also
showed Bush the cuff-link-like repair devices that spacewalkers will use to button
up a ripped solar array on Saturday.
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