La Keller chatta nientemeno che con lo Shuttle in orbita!

Steve Bowen, un astronauta della NASA che ha appena terminato la missione con lo Shuttle, ha risposto direttamente dalla navicella spaziale alle domande che la 2K e la 3H gli hanno fatto.

Un ringraziamento particolare alla nostra collaboratrice Lia che ha reso possibile l'esperienza

Riportiamo qui di seguito la conversazione. L'ultima riga contiene anche il saluto dell'astronauta Paolo Nespoli.

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Good Morning Captain Bowen,

we are 12 and 13 years old students of the "Helen Keller" public secondary school, situated in Torino in North Italy.

We have the great opportunity to ask you some questions and we would like to know something about you and your missions

- How do you feel when the Shuttle takes off? And How long does it takes to get to the I.S.S.?

- What does the Earth look like from space? How would you describe this experience?

We really appreciate your availability in answering our questions.

Thank you from us all and Good Luck!

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Here are answers to your questions.

- How do you feel when the Shuttle takes off?

It is impossible to describe the launch. The main engines start about 6 seconds before lift-off so it starts to vibrate, then the Solid Rocket Boosters light and you leap off the launch pad. It all vibrates and accelerates for about 2 minutes, then the Solid Rockets burn out and are dropped off and the ride gets a lot smoother and faster. You accelerate for the next 5 minutes until you reach a point of 3G acceleration (3 times the force of gravity (about 30meters/second squared). At 8 ½ minutes the main engines stop and you are floating in your seat 150 miles or so into space.

- How long does it takes to get to the I.S.S.?

It takes us about 48 hours to get to the space station. Once on orbit they let us get acclimated and then we do a series of rocket firings which change our altitude and position so that we can then manually fly in and dock with the ISS.

- What does the Earth look like from space?

Earth is beautiful from space, but it is impossible to fully describe the feeling of looking at the earth and pictures will never really capture it.

- How would you describe this experience?

Unbelievable and surreal in the true sense of the word.

Thank you for asking such great questions and please come to Houston if you ever get to the U.S. I hope the vocabulary was O.K. there may be a few words that need explanation.

Paulo Nespoli is up here with us and he says, Ciao.

Steve Bowen