| Abstract: | This article is an interview with U.S. astronaut Norman Thagard. He was on the Russian Mir 18 mission. Launched to the space station from Baikonur on March 14, 1995, he returned to Earth on the Shuttle 115 days later. With the completion of that mission, Thagard holds the U.S. record for the most time spent in space. Topics of discussion during the interview include: the cultural isolation faced by an American astronaut on a Russian space facility; the physiological and psychological effects of long-duration space flight; the problems of loss of bone and the radiation environment; readaptation to gravity on Earth; and, recommendations to the designers of the Alpha station. |
