ID :
39487
Thu, 01/08/2009 - 05:48
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Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/39487
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School students talk live with space for the first time ever
Guwahati, Jan 7 (PTI) An American astronaut aboard the
International Space Station (ISS) Wednesday talked live with
the students of a school here for the first time in the
country's space history.
NASA astronaut Edward Michael 'mike' Fincke, who is
married to a girl from India's northeastern state of Assam
answered 14 questions from students of Assam Jatiya Vidyalalya
at a programme organised by Friends of Assam and Seven Sisters
(FASS), an organisation of non-resident Assamese, in
coordination with NASA.
The ground station of Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS)
at north California coordinated the talk and the audience,
comprising more than one thousand people, heard Fincke answer
the students' queries over telephone connected to the ISS
groundstation which established the link with the spaceship.
Students got a fresh insight into the world of space
with Fincke informing them that they sleep normally inside the
spaceship and have set their own timings according to a
24-hour cycle working from ten to six.
Asked about the difference in environment inside and
outside the space ship, Fincke said it was extremely hostile
and cold outside but inside it is as comfortable as it can be
with the temperature set at 24 degrees Celsius.
The quality of the air inside the spaceship is
maintained by oxygen manufactured inside while carbon dioxide
is recycled, said Fincke, who is also the commander of the
current expedition 'Mission 18' of the ISS.
Members of the spaceship eat normal food like
hamburgers and sausages but they "are mostly packed food,
prepared on ground but we do heat these sometimes", he said.
"Water on the spaceship is used just like back in the
planet but we recycle both water and urine", Fincke answered
to a student's query on water management aboard the spaceship.
He and two of his other associates inside the space
ship, however, cannot take bath due to zero gravity and they
only swab themselves, besides wearing absorbent clothing.
They are also fortunate to see 16 sunrises and sets
during the course of 24-hours as the spaceship completes 19
rotation during this period, each cycle taking 90 minutes.
Seasonal changes along with man-made and natural
structure of earth are also visible from aboard the ship.
Presently, "we are observing winter in the northern
hemisphere and summer in southern hemisphere and we can also
observe large objects like the pyramids and great wall of
China," the astronaut said.
Fincke and his colleagues relax on the spaceship with
books and watching movies and exercise two hours daily on
bicycles and treadmills.
Fincke, who is learning Assamese in space through
flash cards, was asked, 'apuni Asomiya kobo parenaki' (can
you speak Assamese) and he replied with aplomb, 'moi alop kobo
paru" (I can speak a little), winning a loud round of applause
from the audience.
Fincke is married to Renita Saikia, who also works at
NASA, and her parents had left for USA several decades ago.
PTI
International Space Station (ISS) Wednesday talked live with
the students of a school here for the first time in the
country's space history.
NASA astronaut Edward Michael 'mike' Fincke, who is
married to a girl from India's northeastern state of Assam
answered 14 questions from students of Assam Jatiya Vidyalalya
at a programme organised by Friends of Assam and Seven Sisters
(FASS), an organisation of non-resident Assamese, in
coordination with NASA.
The ground station of Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS)
at north California coordinated the talk and the audience,
comprising more than one thousand people, heard Fincke answer
the students' queries over telephone connected to the ISS
groundstation which established the link with the spaceship.
Students got a fresh insight into the world of space
with Fincke informing them that they sleep normally inside the
spaceship and have set their own timings according to a
24-hour cycle working from ten to six.
Asked about the difference in environment inside and
outside the space ship, Fincke said it was extremely hostile
and cold outside but inside it is as comfortable as it can be
with the temperature set at 24 degrees Celsius.
The quality of the air inside the spaceship is
maintained by oxygen manufactured inside while carbon dioxide
is recycled, said Fincke, who is also the commander of the
current expedition 'Mission 18' of the ISS.
Members of the spaceship eat normal food like
hamburgers and sausages but they "are mostly packed food,
prepared on ground but we do heat these sometimes", he said.
"Water on the spaceship is used just like back in the
planet but we recycle both water and urine", Fincke answered
to a student's query on water management aboard the spaceship.
He and two of his other associates inside the space
ship, however, cannot take bath due to zero gravity and they
only swab themselves, besides wearing absorbent clothing.
They are also fortunate to see 16 sunrises and sets
during the course of 24-hours as the spaceship completes 19
rotation during this period, each cycle taking 90 minutes.
Seasonal changes along with man-made and natural
structure of earth are also visible from aboard the ship.
Presently, "we are observing winter in the northern
hemisphere and summer in southern hemisphere and we can also
observe large objects like the pyramids and great wall of
China," the astronaut said.
Fincke and his colleagues relax on the spaceship with
books and watching movies and exercise two hours daily on
bicycles and treadmills.
Fincke, who is learning Assamese in space through
flash cards, was asked, 'apuni Asomiya kobo parenaki' (can
you speak Assamese) and he replied with aplomb, 'moi alop kobo
paru" (I can speak a little), winning a loud round of applause
from the audience.
Fincke is married to Renita Saikia, who also works at
NASA, and her parents had left for USA several decades ago.
PTI
