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From:
J.D.
Lenzen from Tonkawa, Okla., age: 35
To:
Mission
Specialist Andrew Thomas
Question:
I have noticed that you use your hands a lot to move around during
the mission. Does your wrist or the related muscles hurt the next
day? Do you strengthen those muscles before your flight?
Thomas:
No, not really because you actually don't need a lot of force
to move around in zero gravity. You do have mass even though you
have no weight. But, the amount of force you need to move is actually
quite small, so you don't notice any effect on your muscles or
hands.
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From:
William
Luhn from Chicago, Ill., Age: 41
To:
Mission
Specialist Andrew Thomas
Question:
When docking a small watercraft, it is important for all occupants
to not move so they do not affect the path of the vessel. Is this
true when docking the shuttle to the ISS? Are there special "movement
restrictions" on the crews during the final stages of docking?
Thomas:
Well, you wouldn't want the center of gravity of the shuttle
to move around too much during a docking, just like in a boat,
but of course the shuttle has got so much mass and [is] so much
larger that people moving around won't affect it terribly much.
Of course, if masses will move substantially, then the center
of gravity would be thrown off, and if you fire jets to move in
a certain direction, it might change how much reaction you would
get from those. And that could have an effect, but certainly people
moving around inside doesn't. | 
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From:
Gary
Skinner from Normal, Ill., Age: 46
To:
Mission
Specialist Andrew Thomas
Question:
What kind of view do you have from the cockpit of the booster
separation and of the external tank separation?
Thomas:
Booster separation you see a big flash as the pyrotechnics explode
and the separation rockets fire to move the boosters out of the
way. It lights up the whole front of the vehicle. It is very spectacular.
For external tank separation you don't see very much of that but
you feel it and hear it as a sort of a "clunk" as the pyrotechnic
bolts fire and release it. You don't see anything because it is
underneath you.
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