Veteran
NASA astronaut Bill
McArthur has no qualms about hanging up his spacesuit after his stint as
commander of the International Space Station (ISS), but leaving the orbital
laboratory behind last month was no easy task.
"We did see
the space station recede in our view with a very strong sense of sadness
because it was home for us," McArthur told SPACE.com in a recent telephone
interview. "It's of course wonderful to be back."
McArthur, originally from
Wakulla, North Carolina, spent six months in command of the ISS alongside
Russian cosmonaut and flight engineer Valery Tokarev during their Expedition
12 mission. The two astronauts and ISS visitor Marcos
Pontes - Brazil's first astronaut - returned to
Earth last month.
"I think
our recovery has gone quite well, and it's nice to be home with friends and
family," said McArthur, who will discuss his 190-day spaceflight - the last of
his astronaut career - with the public tonight at the Space Center Houston near
NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
The
Expedition 12 crew arrived
at the ISS in October 2005 with the visiting U.S. space tourist Gregory
Olsen. McArthur and Tokarev performed two spacewalks
during their flight, as well as a myriad of experiments and maintenance tasks.
They also launched an unmanned
spacesuit into orbit from the ISS and caught a rare orbital view of a solar eclipse's
shadow on the Earth.
Like past
NASA astronauts, McArthur recorded a series of educational
videos to describe the experience of living in space.
"I think it
was a success because of not only the good training...but also the good relationship
between us and between NASA and the Russian space agency," said Tokarev, who
repeatedly referred to McArthur as his "space brother" throughout their
mission, in an interview.
Expedition
12 marked the first long-duration spaceflight for both Tokarev and McArthur.
Tokarev previously flew aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1999's STS-96
mission, while McArthur served aboard three orbiter missions.
Of all his spaceflights,
McArthur said Expedition 12 stands out, and not just because it was his last.
"On each of
my shuttle flights, at the end of the flight, I'd always hoped that we would
have a weather wave off day or two so we could stay in orbit just a little
longer," he said. "I kind of liken it to the difference between taking a
vacation to an interesting place and living in that place. We lived in space
for six months and it was a thrill."
With NASA's
space shuttle fleet bound for a 2010
retirement and a large number of astronauts still yet to fly, McArthur said
he believed it was time stay Earthbound to allow others the same spaceflight opportunities
he experienced.
"I'm ready
to sit on the sidelines as they go forward, and hopefully one of them will go
to Mars," he added.
But no
matter where future astronauts reach out in space, they will likely not forget their
home planet, Tokarev told SPACE.com, adding that he appreciated the warm
Earthly reception from Russian and U.S. flight controllers after landing.
"There's
only one planet for each of us," Tokarev said of Earth. "It's our home."
NASA
astronaut Bill McArthur will discuss his Expedition 12 spaceflight, as well as
present slides, video and answer questions about the mission at the Space
Center Houston (1601 NASA Parkway, 281-244-2100) beginning at 6:30 p.m. CDT. Doors
open at 6:00 p.m. CDT. The event is free to the public.
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