Ford students receive gift from above: Chat with astronauts scheduled for Jan. 3

LYNN-Even as the Space Shuttle Atlantis remains grounded indefinitely because of fuel gauge problems, students at the Ford school found out they will not have to wait until June to speak to astronauts as was originally thought.NASA informed Ford K-8 Principal Claire Crane on Wednesday that the school would participate in a live downlink with astronauts on the International Space Station sometime between 9 a.m. and noon on Thursday, Jan. 3, one day after students return from the holiday vacation.Ford, a NASA Explorer School, was originally scheduled to link with astronauts traveling on Atlantis Jan. 9. But two delays in the launch of the shuttle due to a faulty fuel gauge have delayed the mission, and appeared to have postponed the live downlink for students also.But NASA informed Crane of a change in plans Wednesday, and the students will now have the opportunity to speak with three astronauts already living on the International Space Station. The students will speak with astronauts Daniel Tani, Peggy Whitson and Juri Malechenko, all of whom live on the space station and have completed some important repairs in past weeks.Tani and Whitson made history Thursday, participating in a space walk around the space station to try and identify and repair a problem with two solar panel mechanisms on the outside of the space station. NASA officials believed that problem may have been linked to a collision with space junk, but no signs of impact were found.The astronauts also inspected a grinding problem within one of the solar panel’s joints.Whitson, who is the first woman to live on the International Space Station, made history because Thursday’s space walk was the longest any woman has spent in the vacuum of space, totaling over 32 hours when all was said and done.While students had expected to ask Atlantis astronauts about the European Lab, Columbus, which they are scheduled to deliver when the mission takes place, the school has revised their questions to cover the repairs recently made, and the historic overtones of Whitson’s time in space.In a pre-approved list of questions, students will ask Whitson about remaining clean in space, lifting weights and the meaning of becoming the first woman on the International Space Station. Questions for other astronauts include, “How do you eat and drink in micro gravity,” and, “What else can you see besides Earth?”Crane said NASA is expected to notify her of a more precise time for the downlink as the date grows closer, and will announce the official start time of the event sometime over the holiday vacation.This will be the second live downlink between Ford students and NASA, who collaborated on a similar effort last August. Unfortunately, a hurricane forced the Space Shuttle Endeavor back to Earth early, preventing students from speaking to astronaut Barbara Morgan. Students were able to speak to two astronauts at NASA’s command center in Houston.