[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 27 (Monday, July 10, 1995)]
[Pages 1206-1207]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Telephone Conversation with Space Shuttle Atlantis Astronauts

July 7, 1995

    The President. Hello? Captain Gibson?
    Commander Robert L. Gibson. Hello, Mr. President. This is Captain 
Gibson. We're on-line.
    The President. Welcome home, and congratulations. We are very proud 
of you.
    Commander Gibson. [Inaudible]--Mr. President. It's a pleasure for us 
to be back--back on the ground again and to have had the opportunity to 
take part in this flight.
    The President. Well, the pictures were wonderful, and we all watched 
you with absolute fascination and incredible support and enthusiasm. 
This is truly the beginning of a new era of cooperation in space between 
the United States and Russia. We've built a new relationship between our 
two countries. We're doing things together. And I think that what you 
and your team and what the Russians did together symbolizes that more 
than anything that I could ever say. And I think because of your mission 
now, the United States and Russia, with our partners in Canada and Japan 
and Europe, are going to be able to meet the challenge of building the 
international space station. And I hope you and all of your team members 
will take an enormous amount of pride in that.
    Commander Gibson. Well, thank you, Mr. President, for those 
extremely kind words. We certainly will. And I can tell you very 
honestly that at least all of us on the crew have a lot of very good 
friends in Russia and among the Russian Cosmonaut Corps and elsewhere in 
Russia. And I look forward very much to all of us continuing this.
    The President. So do I. Before I sign off--I know you're tired and I 
know you're glad to be home--I want to offer a special congratulations 
to Norm Thagard on his record-breaking stay on orbit. We're all very 
proud of that. And I want to invite the entire crew to the White House 
as soon as you can come, because I want to hear some more about the 
mission, and we need to talk about where we're going from here to keep 
the United States commitment to space exploration, travel, and to keep 
our whole program strong and alive.
    Astronaut Norman E. Thagard. Mr. President, thanks for the words. 
This is Norm Thagard. The Russians took good care of me. We're great 
friends, so I think if what we did on a personal level is any 
indication, there won't be any problem with us on an intergovernmental 
level as well. And I'm sitting here looking at my two Russian crewmates, 
and I couldn't be more pleased with a crew that I've ever had.
    The President. The next time we have any problems between American 
and Russian officials, I'm going to send them into space. I think I now 
know how to solve all international problems. [Laughter]
    I thank you very much, and I look forward to seeing all of you. 
Welcome home.
    Commander Gibson. Thank you, Mr. President. We really appreciate 
your time and your support.
    The President. Thank you. Goodbye.

Note: The President spoke at 11:27 a.m. from the Oval Office at the 
White House.

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