Leroy Chiao
Lead Discovery spacewalker Leroy Chiao will be the first to admit that he and his fellow construction workers will be following a highly choreographed script as they attempt to add two new pieces to NASA's growing International Space Station.
Leroy Chiao
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But don't be surprised if suddenly you hear the astronauts reciting lines their favorite Mike Myers movies -- or Monty Python and the Holy Grail -- as they charge through NASA's most ambitious outpost assembly mission to date.
As fate would have it, NASA grouped together a bunch of slapstick film aficionados when the agency formed Discovery's crew, and the would-be comedy troupe just happens to have a knack for committing entire movie scenes to memory.
And that fondness for the farcical frequently spills out into the open in day-to-day life.
"Mike (Lopez-Alegria) and I are the sickest ones. We see a movie and we can remember any line from it. But Bill McArthur is right in there - he's pretty good at it."
Consequently, you might here a bit of frivolity during the four spacewalks that Discovery's crew plans to carry out. After all, they had a wide reputation for amusing themselves even during their most intense mission training sessions.
"We are at times a little frisky on the [air-to-ground communications] loops," McArthur admitted. "We have a tendency to quote some of our favorite movies and some of our favorite multimedia clips from the internet."
Said Chiao: "Somebody will say something, and somebody else will chime in and next thing you know, we're doing the whole scene," said Chiao.
McArthur, meanwhile, has a few tips for folks planning to follow the flight.
"I would suggest that any movie with Mike Myers in it might be a good warm-up for the mission," he said.
Any "Austin Powers" movies would be appropriate, and "So I Married an Axe Murderer" would be an excellent one," McArthur said.
Comic nature aside, Chiao, 40, has no plans to head to Hollywood after Discovery's flight.
A veteran of two previous shuttle missions, the single aerospace engineer - who hails from Danville, California -- probably will opt to build upon the 569 hours he's already spent in space.
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