____ + ____
____ = ____
:^)
Posted on 07/19/2003 2:14:45 PM PDT by BenLurkin
EDWARDS AFB - Living in space can make a person more appreciative of the Earth's variety. It also can increase one's capacity to tolerate hot sauce.
Remarks ranging from the holistic to the humorous were downlinked Tuesday from the crew of the International Space Station to a group of educators gathered at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base.
Teachers attending a workshop at NASA Dryden asked the two-person crew of the International Space Station how being in space has changed their lives. The 25 teachers, representing five schools, are participating in the new NASA Explorer Schools program. The program establishes a three-year partnership between NASA and the schools, designed to increase middle school students' interest, participation, and ability to apply science, mathematics, and technology concepts.
Tuesday's conversation from space was viewed by the teachers on a large glass screen in Dryden's auditorium, while a telephone patch provided audio communication with a delay of a couple seconds.
American astronaut Ed Lu said his favorite recreation while in space is to look out the window.
"I'm only going to get six months here," Lu told teachers. After he returns to Earth he can resume other activities like reading.
"The view up here … makes me want to travel the world even more," the NASA astronaut said.
The educators asked several questions about the effects of weightlessness on the body. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, speaking through an interpreter, said full recovery time from a period of weightlessness can sometimes equal the duration of a mission in space.
Lu said the first few days back on Earth see rapid initial recovery from weightlessness, but the last 10% of the recovery can take months.
The two space station residents are studying the effects of weightlessness while they are in orbit, and Lu said they have a stationary bicycle and a treadmill - fitted with elastic bungee cords to keep the astronauts from floating away - on which they exercise regularly.
The teachers brought questions from their compatriots in other NASA Explorer Schools. What emerged was a discussion about everything from ways to use the space station to chart coastal erosion over long periods of time, to the kind of preparation students might consider if they want to become astronauts.
The specialties pursued by future astronauts can be varied, Lu said.
"The important thing is that you find something you really like doing."
When asked if microgravity has affected his appetite in space, Lu replied, "I still like to eat a lot," to the amusement of the teachers.
What he and station mate Malenchenko have both noted is an increased capacity to consume spicy hot sauce on food. Lu said in space he consumes quantities of hot sauce that would render him unable to speak back on Earth. "Up here it tastes just great."
When mission control announced the end of the available link period between the teachers and the astronauts, thanks and goodbyes were said, and Lu playfully rotated upside down and floated off-camera while Malenchenko remained in view, and upright, until the end of the transmission.
Think how good they would be with a BIG bottle of Tabasco sauce. Most folks don't know that Tabasco comes in pint bottles (as my Cajun paw-in-law used to buy it).
____ + ________ = ____:^)
Hey, just like government workers back here on planet earth!
I wonder if it's equally tame when it comes time to fire up the zero-g toilet.
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