We were pretty busy, so I actually didn't feel myself isolated. And of course we had a pretty nice view of Earth. Readjusting to the home world Shepherd, Krikalev and Gidzenko exercised vigorously aboard Alpha to minimize damage from living in low gravity. All three surprised flight surgeons by walking off the space shuttle Discovery, which brought them back to Earth March 21. Shepherd even had an appetite, celebrating his homecoming with a beer and a cheeseburger.
Many astronauts get queasy at the sight of food after even short space flights.
Lessons learned Shepherd said the most important lesson he learned living on an international space station is that you have to respect other cultures. Shepherd also hopes mission managers lighten up a bit on the new space station crew. He said he really didn't get to have much downtime in space. We did enjoy working hard and getting the station ready. But I think looking back on it we would have liked to have had a little more time to relax.