Astronauts Payette, Thirsk take minister's call

Canadian astronauts Julie Payette and Robert Thirsk spoke from space Sunday, sharing their impressions about living and working at the International Space Station with federal Science and Technology Minister Gary Goodyear and reporters.

Their conversation was transmitted live from the space station to the Canadian Space Agency in Saint-Hubert, Que., and on the CSA's website at 6:08 p.m. ET.

"The entire nation has been focused on your missions," Goodyear told the astronauts.

Thirsk, who arrived at the space station in May and is on a six-month mission, said living and working at the space station is different from working on a shuttle flight, which is much shorter.

He said he has had to learn to be productive and efficient in a weightless environment, and that he has had to learn not to lose his things.

When asked by Goodyear what it was like to be part of the crew and working at the station, Thirsk said, "The best thing about being an astronaut is working with my crewmates."

'It's a habitat now'

He also said he was "very proud" to be Canadian.

Payette, who in 1999 was the first Canadian to visit the space station, said the orbiting outpost has been transformed. The space station is in the final stages of an 11-year construction project.

"It's a habitat now. People are living here for long periods of time and you can see that it's a home, not just an empty laboratory like I saw 10 years ago," Payette said.

She said she was amazed by the size of the station 10 years ago — "but it was nothing compared to what I saw days ago [when she arrived]."

The two also described what it was like to live in close quarters with 11 other astronauts.

"If you're the type of person who enjoys camping you'll love it here," Thirsk said, adding it's a rather rustic lifestyle.

One of the two toilets aboard the space station was not working Sunday, but two crew members are repairing it and it's expected to work again Monday, Thirsk said. In the meantime, six station astronauts are using the one in the Russian Zvezda module while the seven Endeavour astronauts are using the one on the space shuttle.

On the eve of Apollo 11's 40th anniversary, Payette and Thirsk reflected on the importance of the lunar milestone by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Both said the mission inspired them to become astronauts and that everyone will celebrate together Monday with a communal meal.

The two ended their chat with Goodyear and reporters by mentioning that they were able to watch the wonderful scenery as the space station travelled over Canada late Saturday.

Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a statement praising the astronauts.

He said Canadians are "rightfully proud of our country’s quarter-century of leadership in the exploration of space."

"This week we are marking a special milestone in Canada’s history of space exploration," he said. "For the first time ever two Canadian astronauts, Julie Payette and Robert Thirsk, are in orbit at the same time; each is playing a vital role in an international space mission."

Mission objectives

On Wednesday, Payette and six other astronauts blasted off aboard space shuttle Endeavour from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Their 16-day mission includes five spacewalks and the installation of two platforms outside the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo experiment module at the space station.

Payette, the flight engineer, will operate the shuttle's Canadarm 1, the space station's Canadarm 2 and a third mechanical arm that is to be installed on Kibo.

Payette, who was born in Montreal, flew on the shuttle Discovery in 1999.

Thirsk, 55, and two other astronauts flew to the space station aboard a Russian spacecraft in May. A major goal of their six-month mission, dubbed Expedition 20/21 by NASA, is to test the endurance of the human body in space. Scientists hope to use the information to one day build space colonies on the moon and Mars.

In addition to performing scientific experiments at the space station, Thirsk, who was born in New Westminster, B.C., serves as the crew's medical officer and robotics specialist.

It is his second time in space. He made his first 17-day space flight aboard the U.S. space shuttle Columbia in 1996.