[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
[February 6, 1995]
[Pages 165-167]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Teleconference Remarks With the Crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery and 
an Exchange With Reporters
February 6, 1995

    The President. Hello.
    Comdr. James Wetherbee. Good afternoon.
    The President. Good afternoon. I didn't know you were on the line. 
Congratulations.
    Commander Wetherbee. Well, thank you very much, sir. And it's an 
honor to be talking to you. Thanks for calling.
    The President. I'm glad to do it. We're all following you with great 
anticipation, and we're all so impressed. You know, this really proves, 
I think, that Russians and Americans can work together and that we can 
make this international space station project successful. And I can't 
tell you how much I appreciate all the work that all of you have done to 
that end.
    Commander Wetherbee. Well, we agree, sir. What I kept thinking as we 
were rendezvousing on Mir was it's a great world. They have a beautiful 
spaceship, and we have a beautiful spaceship built by Americans. We met 
the people that built their spaceship. They love their space program, 
and we love our space program, and I think together it will be a lot 
better.
    The President. Well, we're confident that it will. As you know, this 
whole mission is a number of firsts. You're the first person to ever 
command our efforts to rendezvous with a Russian space vehicle, and I 
know that Eileen Collins is the first woman ever to pilot a space 
shuttle.
    So Eileen, I suppose you have literally shown young women all across 
the world they can fly as high as their dreams will take them.
    Astronaut Eileen Collins. Yes. I'd like to say I think this is one 
of the greatest jobs in the world. And for any young people out there, 
if you work hard enough, you can always, always reach your dreams.
    The President. Well, you certainly proved that. Look at that. We 
enjoy watching the microphone there. [Laughter]
    I want to ask Dr. Harris to pick it up as it flies toward him. I 
want to--he's going to set another milestone by becoming the first 
African-American to walk in space. So you'll be floating on air, but be 
sure you come back.
    Astronaut Bernard Harris, Jr. I'm really looking forward to that a 
couple of days from now, but I know I won't be--I may be the first, but 
I won't be the last.
    The President. No, you won't be the last. We'll have a lot more if 
we have you as an example.
    I'd also like to say something to our Russian partner in space, 
Vladimir Titov, who is one of the world's most experienced space 
travelers, and he's the first cosmonaut to see the Mir from an American 
spacecraft. So I'd like to give you a chance to say anything you'd like 
to the American people, Mr. Titov.
    Cosmonaut Vladimir Titov. And good day, Mr. President. Thank you 
very much. And I'm very happy of the possibility to have this great 
flight. And right now, our press conference, our organization listened 
on the Station Mir, and the crew on board Station Mir sent for you great 
hello.
    The President. Well, thank you very much. I want to say to all of 
you again, this is very exciting for us. You know, the Vice President's 
here with me, along with Dan Goldin, and our Science Adviser, Dr. Jack 
Gibbons, and we have supported this space program so strongly. And it's 
been, as you know, somewhat controversial in the United States in the 
past, but I think that people all over our country and all over

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the world will be seeing you today and will say, ``You know, this is 
something worth doing.'' All of you have made us very proud. I can't 
thank you enough.
    Commander Wetherbee. Well, we thank you very much for your support, 
Mr. President. We know you've done a lot of work over the last several 
years in getting us this far. There's a lot of people around our country 
and a lot of people in Russia that we owe a great deal of thanks, and of 
course it starts right at the very top. So thank you very much for your 
support.
    The President. You're welcome. And of course we want to say hello to 
Michael and Janice, too, with whom we haven't talked. We're proud of all 
of you. Have a wonderful time, and come home safe and sound.
    Give a speech. We're all----
    Astronaut Janice Voss. Thank you. As you saw today, Jim Wetherbee 
does a great job of flying this vehicle, and we're looking forward to 
seeing his landing.
    The President. I'll bet you are. [Laughter]
    Commander Wetherbee. Sir, it will be a very good one, I'm quite 
sure.
    The President. Well, come home to us. We're proud of you. Goodbye.
    Commander Wetherbee. Yes, sir. Thank you very much.

[At this point, the teleconference ended, and the President took 
questions from reporters.]

    The President. That's the best connection we've had, I think. Wasn't 
it?
    Q. Would you like to be up there?
    The President. You know, I would. That's pretty impressive.

Surgeon General Nominee Foster

    Q. How are you going to salvage Dr. Foster's nomination?
    The President. Oh, we're going to have hearings, and he's going to 
go forward. If the facts are no different than I understand them to be, 
I don't understand why he would even be in trouble.
    Q. How hard are you willing to fight for his confirmation?
    The President. Well, I'm going to fight for him. Like I said, if the 
facts are as I understand them to be, here's a man who has delivered, 
what, 10,000 babies, who was recognized by President Bush for his work 
in fighting teenage pregnancies and, in the process, reducing the number 
of abortions. If what he has done is what he has said he has done, I 
don't think that is disqualifying. And it is, after all, the law of the 
land.
    So I'm going to be--I'm going to be very interested to see how the 
hearings unfold and what arguments people would give against the person 
who has plainly devoted his life to bringing babies into the world in a 
healthy and happy condition and then try to make sure they live 
successful lives, that they do not have children prematurely, that they 
do not engage in the kind of conduct that's caused so much trouble in 
our society today. I'm impressed with his career and with his record, 
and I think he'll do well.

Baseball Strike

    Q. What do you hear from baseball?
    The President. We're working--I just keep telling them to play ball. 
It's time to go. You know, it's just a few hundred folks trying to 
figure out how to divide nearly $2 billion. They ought to be able to 
figure that out in time for the rest of America to enjoy this baseball 
season.
    Q. Do you have any hope that it will be finished tonight?
    The President. I just don't know. I don't know. I don't have a 
recent enough update to know that. But they're working, at least, and 
talking, and that's hopeful.

Note: The President spoke at 4:52 p.m. from the Oval Office at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Daniel S. Goldin, Administrator, 
National Air and Space Administration, and Discovery astronaut C. 
Michael Foale. A portion of these remarks could not be verified because 
the tape was incomplete.

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