He told about his last mission on STS-74 Atlantis in 1995 where he served as commander. It was NASA’s second space shuttle mission to dock with the Russian Space Station Mir and it was the first time they would be using the shuttle to assemble a module and attach it to the space station.
They would be spending 8 days in the company of the Russian astronauts in their space station. The mission was highly challenging in terms of the engineering and precision required to attach the module but they knew the biggest challenge of the mission would be to be able to work alongside the Russians.
Mr. Cameron spent many months prior to the launch talking to his crew about how they could create the rapport they needed with the Russians during their 8 day stay there. They went back and forth with many ideas. They did not have culture in common and although Cameron spoke Russian, language and communication with the rest of the American crew was an issue.
Cameron was very intentional and careful in his approach. He studied and learned everything he could about each of the Russians in the space station. He knew they had been in space for close to 3 months, away from their families, confined to a small space and deprived of most conveniences. He planned on taking letters and drawings from the Russian’s families and deliver it to them in space. He even planned on taking a guitar for he knew one of the Russians was an avid player.
He thought they were on the right track but he still felt there was something missing. Something that would give them common ground and help them create an experience from which they could jumpstart a relationship. They had many brainstorming sessions and in one of those he had the idea to take with them BlueBell Ice Cream. Blue Bell Ice Cream is one of Texas' pride and joy.
They took the idea to the higher powers at NASA and after some resistance they agreed to let them take ice cream to space. The engineering team in charge of planning even the smallest detail of the cargo inside the space shuttle asked Mr. Cameron how much ice cream he wanted to take to which Cameron answered “as much as we can fit in the shuttle!”. The engineers went back and forth spending endless hours doing calculations and extrapolating the number of gallons of BlueBell Ice cream that would fit inside of the container that they were allowed to take. They came up with a number of 30 gallons of ice cream. Then they went to work on engineering the most space efficient way to fit the 30 gallons of ice cream into the small space they had (think of a game of tetris!). Cameron jokes about being shocked after getting the bill for the hours of engineering spent on the “ice cream” project.
At the end of his talk, Cameron showed us a video he made shortly after meeting the Russians and as they started pulling the BlueBell out and sharing it with them. It was priceless to watch!
The mission went on the be one of the greatest successes NASA had during their time working with the Russian Space Station.
My kids still talk about meeting Mr. Cameron and about the ice cream in space. It's probably been one of the most memorable field trip experiences we have had.
This is not the exact video we watched but if you fast forward to about minute 5:50 you'll see the Russians and the Americans first meeting. Around minute 7:31 you see them pulling out the ice cream.
Long story but it reminded me of what my pastor has been teaching our church for over a year now. We are made to live in community and to share life with others. Shared experiences are powerful in the making of a friendship... even if you don't even speak the same language.
Enjoy this video... it's amazing!
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