When you talk to crews that went to Mir or have gone up to International Space Station, they say that you go through different phases of adaptation or getting used to the space environment.

CASIS has to succeed because for it not to succeed would be a huge setback for the International Space Station program.

A space station is a rangy monstrosity, a giant erector set built by a madman.

I think both the space shuttle program and the International Space Station program have not really lived up to their expectations.

Finally my dream came true in that there was a possibility that I could travel to the International Space Station. I've gone through the medicals and the training and now I'm officially, by the Russian Space Federation, a cosmonaut in training.

At this point I thought 'We made it,' by which I meant 'We survived.' I also was acutely aware that my childhood dream of flying into space had just come true.