Linda Wertheimer speaks with Captain Mike Coats, pilot of the space shuttle Discovery’s 1984 maiden voyage.
Wertheimer. Now, what do you remember about that first flight? What’s your thing you think about when you think about it?
Coats. Well, when you first get into orbit, looking out the window and seeing the earth from space, you just, you can’t take your eyes away. I mean, we have a living, beautiful planet – spaceship earth we call it here. And you see this living planet that’s green and blue.
Wertheimer. Now, what do you remember about that first flight? What’s your thing you think about when you think about it?
Coats. Well, when you first get into orbit, looking out the window and seeing the earth from space, you just, you can’t take your eyes away. I mean, we have a living, beautiful planet – spaceship earth we call it here. And you see this living planet that’s green and blue.
And then you see it going through the blackness of space – the utter void of space. And every astronaut and cosmonaut has this same reaction when they first get up there is – you want to put your arms around this little planet that we all live on, and protect it. And it’s – everybody has that same feeling.
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