Mike Foale, KB5UAC, at the controls of the Phase 2 NA1SS station. Foale has conducted 13 ARISS school group contacts during his duty tour on the ISS. [NASA Photo]
Mike Foale, KB5UAC, at the controls of the Phase 2 NA1SS station. Foale has conducted 13 ARISS school group contacts during his duty tour on the ISS. [NASA Photo] |
NEWINGTON, CT, Apr 7, 2004--Astronaut Mike Foale, KB5UAC, told a group of students in France April 1 that he's looking forward to returning to Earth at the end of the month. But he was not especially enthusiastic about the prospect of having to reacclimate himself to Earth's gravitational pull. Foale made the comment during an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) school group contact with youngsters at two schools in Saint Mard, France. Speaking via NA1SS aboard the space outpost, Foale--who's the ISS Expedition 8 commander and NASA ISS science officer--said coming back to Earth is difficult for the first two or three days.
"It feels like I am carrying suitcases all the time," he said. "My body hurts and all the muscles hurt in my body as if I've had influenza." Foale has been living in zero gravity conditions for the past five months.
Participating in the contact were students at the College George Brassens of Saint Mard and the Ecole Jacques Prevert, both located some 28 miles northeast of Paris. Teacher Jocelyn Raffray, F5CAR, posed the questions to Foale on the students' behalf.
Foale also told the pupils that the ISS does sometimes get struck by small meteorite particles. "We can see one or two small holes in the large, large solar arrays that generate our electricity aboard the International Space Station," Foale explained. "We also have one or two small little pits or marks on the windows of the Service Module in the Russian Segment."
 Mia, a Sonoran Sky pupil, asks Mike Foale a question while third-grade teacher Carrie Cunningham, N7NFX, hold the KA7SKY microphone. |
 Sonoran Sky Elementary School ARISS contact participants pose with Carrie Cunningham, N7NFX. |
 The Expedition 9 crew of Mike Fincke, KE5AIT (left) and Gennady Padalka, RN3DT (center) will be accompanied into space April 19 by ESA astronaut André Kuipers of the Netherlands (right). Kuipers will return to Earth with the Expedition 8 crew. [NASA Photo] |
Youngsters at an Arizona elementary school that focuses on the theme of flight also enjoyed chatting with Foale on April 5. The contact with KA7SKY at Sonoran Sky Elementary School in Scottsdale marked the final school group contact for the Expedition 8 crew. The school has been following the ISS mission and daily events. As a part of Sonoran Sky's standard curriculum, third graders learn about space exploration beginning with the Apollo missions through the building of the ISS, and sixth graders attend Astrocamp every year.
Among other things, Foale told the Arizona students that being launched from Earth is a surprise and a shock. "The Soyuz provides a smoother ride as compared to the shuttle," he said, "but you are pressed down in your chair."
During the approximately 10-minute contact, teacher Carrie Cunningham, N7NFX, handled control operator duties at the kindergarten through sixth-grade school of some 500 students. The contact was broadcast live through the school as reporters from three TV stations and two newspapers looked on.
Another youngster at Sonoran Sky wanted to know what Foale liked best about being an astronaut.
"I think the best thing about being an astronaut is that you're taking part in an adventure--a human adventure," Foale replied. On the plus side of being in space, he said in response to another question, is that he gets to do something very few other people get to do. On the minus side, he noted, is "being away from my family and missing my children."
Foale won't be in space too much longer now. The Expedition 9 crew of Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, and Gennady Padalka, RN3DT, will launch from Kazakhstan April 19 aboard a Soyuz vehicle to relieve Foale and crewmate Sasha Kaleri, U8MIR. Accompanying Fincke and Padalka will be European Space Agency astronaut André Kuipers of the Netherlands, who is scheduled to handle two ARISS contacts with school groups in his home country during his week or so aboard the ISS.
Foale, Kaleri and Kuipers will return to Earth at the end of the month aboard the Soyuz vehicle now attached to the ISS. Fincke and Padalka will spend approximately six months aboard the ISS. Regular school group contacts will resume sometime in late May.
ARISS is an
international educational outreach program with US participation by ARRL, AMSAT
and NASA.
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