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Interview Was Out Of This World

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By JOYCE McKENZIE

jmckenzie@tampatrib.com

Published: October 22, 2008

UNIVERSITY AREA - NASA Astronaut Christa McAuliffe likely would be proud of civilian astronaut Richard Garriott.

Garriott, the son of former NASA Skylab Astronaut Owen Garriott, climbed aboard a Russian spacecraft as a civilian astronaut on Oct. 12 en route to the International Space Station.

From the space station four days later he participated in an 11-minute live question and answer session with a group of third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students at Tampa's Museum of Science & Industry's Verizon Challenger Learning Center.

McAuliffe, who died in the Challenger's shuttle mission explosion on Jan. 28, 1986, was the first teacher to fly in space. Even though she had taken a year-long leave of absence from her teaching career to train, she planned to communicate with her students while in space.

Garriott, a successful video game developer, is carrying out the intentions of educator astronaut McAuliffe, who was designated as a NASA Teacher in Space.

By way of an amateur radio downlink from the spacecraft to an amateur radio station in Santa Rosa, Calif., MOSI technical officials rigged a telephone and microphone connection that allowed selected students from MOSI Partnership School to communicate with Garriott as he orbited Earth.

"When you want to go to sleep, where do you go?" asked 10-year-old Destiny Melendez.

Garriott replied: "I have a sleeping bag that's tethered so I don't go floating down the hallway."

"What is the most challenging thing about living in space?" asked Maya Owens, 10, who noted she and a few of her fifth-grade classmates were chosen to speak because of their "excellent questions."

Garriott, who plans to spend 12 days in orbit, answered: "Adapting to space leaves you feeling kind of sick for a few days."

The orbiting astronaut also answered a question about how he eats in space, to which he answered: "Some of us sit on the floor, some lean on walls and some of us hang from the ceiling."

Rickia Tucker, 11, was curious to know how he bathed himself.

"Because we have no running water, I actually take a sponge bath," Garriott responded.

Garriott also intends to record a series of video blogs for students while in orbit to explain how things work in a zero-gravity setting. In addition, he'll study the physical effects of weightlessness.

In addition to the MOSI site, Garriott was scheduled to connect with other Challenger Centers in Maryland, South Carolina and Indiana.

The centers were established by the families of the Challenger crew as a living memorial to their lost loved ones.

Reporter Joyce McKenzie can be reached at (813) 865-4849. Reporter Joyce McKenzie can be reached at (813) 865-4849.

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