Spaced out

Sarge, that would mean the space station would be intelligent, self aware, and capable of murder. Which is exactly why people in 1968 didn't have a clue about the future, not unlike ourselves today.

"See it's like a capsule hotel, but really high! I mean really high, higher than the tallest building you can think of!"

Good for her. Must be radical way up there in space.

Grown adults playing with toy models very cute. Maybe she should be PM. She probably could bring the country back from the brink of economic chaos !!!! If she runs for PM, I'll vote for her.

...and the Prime Minister asked her: "Explain to me how you managed to get the tea for everybody every day in zero gravity again?"

She's been on tv almost every day for the past couple weeks. Is it that big of a deal for her to be an astronaut? just wondering what the craze is all about. I realize she is representing Japan well and all but still...

You don't have many women astronauts, add on you don' have many astronauts that are moms, add on you don't have many Japanese women astronauts who are moms, add on you don't have many japanese women astronauts who are moms, who's husbands give up their career so their lady can pursue her dreams.

I think it's a pretty good story.

I wonder if Mrs. Yamazaki got to answer questions about seeing Prime Minister's spouse passing by on a UFO..

Love u DamoSuzuki!

Did she explain why the current space station is nowhere near what some of us back in 1968 envisioned we would have in 2001?

I am sure now he understands the space station completely. Maybe he can design a better one, the same way he designed a better Okinawa relocation plan :-)

@combinibento thank you for making me laugh!

She's been on tv almost every day for the past couple weeks. Is it that big of a deal for her to be an astronaut? just wondering what the craze is all about. I realize she is representing Japan well and all but still...

I sense a Zoolander type moment about to happen with PigeonMountain suddenly bursting out with- "I don't believe your cockamamy story at all! This space station would have to be at least... three times this size for you to fit in!"

Yep- Hatoyama sure loves him his outer space- where no one can hear his shirt scream.

That's no moon... That's a space station.

In the name of people, and freedom, and democracy, and stuff like that, I hereby kidnap myself, and I'm taking this ship with me. Whoo!

Sorry, I'm kind of in a weird mood here... Where do these quotes come from? One movie and one book. Just a little challenge.

You guys are a riot...; ) What I wanna know is... How many yellow-silver-white ties does this dude own?

"Your lego sets are very nice, Naoko, but if you don't mind I need my desk back to start drafting my resignation."

Astronaut Yamazaki was on NHK NewsWatch 9 last evening for a short interview. She was wearing a simple yet very classy and stylish dress and not any of her Astronaut uniforms. She talked about some of her most memorable moments during her mission and showed some photographs she had taken while in space, explaining why they had special meaning to her. She is articulate and can easily 'translate' the complicated "space talk" into everyday language.

Ms. Yamazaki is married with a young daughter and the family lives in Houston, Texas. She is a new image of NASA (and related space programs around the world) that tries to show 'average' persons can learn, train, and become an astronaut. She is the last Japanese astronaut to fly on a Space Shuttle because Astronaut Soichi Nogushi currently on the ISS is part of the Russian space program and will return to Earth on a Soyuz spacecraft.

Hopefully, Ms. Yamazaki will get a chance to go back into space, and in the meantime use her experiences and communication skills to inspire young people (kids) to become astronauts.

Talking with Mr. Hatoyama, do you think she was able to ‘translate’ the space jargon into everyday words and then into the Loopy Language he is accustomed to?

surely Hatoyama's wife has already explained the SS to him based on what her alien friends told her?

If you listen very very closely, you can hear Hatoyama softly asking Astronaut Yamazaki if she thinks a replacement facility for Futenma can fit into/onto the ISS.

If only he had half of her brains

I bet Hatoyama wishes he could go up to the space station and get away from his problems for a few weeks.