WDRB speaks with upcoming International Space Station crew

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- On March 18, WDRB News got the opportunity to speak with three men who are preparing for an incredible voyage. On May 28 of this year, Reid Wiseman, Max Suraev and Alexander Gerst are expected to take off aboard Soyuz space capsule from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Their destination: 370 kilometers up to the International Space Station, where they'll be staying for six months with three additional crew members.

Wiseman, an American, Suraev, a Russian, and Gerst, a German, spoke with WDRB News by phone about their upcoming mission, what it means to the people of Kentuckiana, and the possibility that a certain Snow Fox could someday join the astronaut corps.

Here is some of what they had to say:

WDRB: Thanks for speaking with us! Our meteorologists are really good about letting our viewers in Kentucky and Indiana know about space station sighting opportunities, when they can see it from their back yards. What do you want the people of Kentucky and Indiana to be thinking about when they see the station pass over, during the six months you guys are up there? What does it represent?

REID WISEMAN: So first and foremost, I want them to come outside, and I want them to bring their kids outside, and just look up and watch this thing fly overhead. That's primary. And then, when they see this little tiny star, I want them then to just think in their heads that there are six little humans floating around in there, and they're going 18,000 miles an hour. That, to me, just sparks the imagination of, 'Wow. That's amazing.' We've got Russians. We've got a German. We've got Americans. We'll have a female Russian on the second half of the mission. So if they start to think about that personal side of humans up there...and what are they going through? They're floating. Are they eating right now? Are they having coffee? Is it morning up there or is it night? I think that kind of touches the individual really well.

Then if they make it beyond that point, then start thinking about, 'Alright, in my daily life, if I took gravity and removed it, what would happen to me?' And if they have a scientific mind, they'll start thinking about all the crazy science experiments that they can start to do, when you remove gravity, and see what happens to those science experiments. If they have the capacity to go that far, that would be fantastic. But really just to think about how crazy it is to live 250 miles up traveling this fast and floating around that's a great start.

MAXIM SURAEV: For me personally, you know, I wanted people, you know, to see, when they can see the space station in the sky that this is really human laboratory for science experiment. And the people, you knowactuallythe people right now who are flying and doing these experiments, they really want to make our lives better. To make our lives healthier. To make humans' bodies living more time and longer and to be in good shape as long as we can. We build this to help our human generationto be stronger, better and happier than we are right now.

ALEXANDER GERST: Well I think what's most amazing to me when I look up there is...on that little dot of light that travels over our heads, somebody lives in there, right? It looks like a satellite or a star that's moving a shooting star. The difference is that this object was built by us us humans. More than 100,000 people on 16 different nations built this place, and then there's six guys of us that live there. We sent them out there because we think it's important to have people in space as a first step: explorers who venture out there as a first step to reach our surroundings and the solar system...it's just amazing to think that this is possible, that we've done this, that we've achieved this."

WDRB: Will there be opportunities for you guys to be taking pictures of Kentucky, Indiana that area? Is that something that you'll be doing?

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WDRB speaks with upcoming International Space Station crew