Category Archives: Transhuman News

KSP LIVE - Space Station DYSS [Part 6/6][Stream][german]
Hey Ho Leute, es hat doch tatschlich funktioniert! Die Space Station hat nun eindeutig eine ausreichende Strom Versorgung und fhlt sich dort oben erstmal wohl. Natrlich sind noch diverse...

By: Dyrator214 | Let #39;s Play

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KSP LIVE - Space Station DYSS [Part 6/6][Stream][german] - Video

STORRS, Conn. - University of Connecticut alumnus Rick Mastracchio took a break from orbiting the globe on the International Space Station to deliver an address to students graduating from the university's School of Engineering on Saturday.

With a large black UConn banner and UConn baseball cap floating behind him, Mastracchio hovered between two space suits and spun upside down several times during the pre-recorded address for the 400 graduates and a crowd of about 5,000 at the university.

"I could not be there with you on this big day, but being in space I was trying to figure out how to make this speech different than all the other commencement addresses that are given each year," he said.

"And then I realized - I'm in a weightless environment. So maybe, I should give the speech in a different orientation."

Mastracchio, 54, who is on an eight-month stint on the space station, then floated upside down, before spinning back to an upright position, bringing laughs and cheers from graduates and their families.

"I probably have the best job on and off the planet," he said.

Kazem Kazerounian, dean of the engineering school, who set up the speech from space, said: "Many of us, faculty and students, were inspired to become engineers because of space exploration and this was a perfect way to bring more reality to our dreams."

Mastracchio, who will return to Earth next week aboard a Russian spacecraft after completing his fourth trip into space, had a final message as he grabbed and put on the UConn baseball cap.

"Go Huskies," he said, referring to the nickname for the school's sports teams, as he spun upside down again.

Originally posted here:
Astronaut gives graduation speech from space

STORRS The commencement speaker for the University of Connecticut's School of Engineering couldn't make it to campus to give his speech in person on Saturday, but the graduates seemed to understand. After all, the International Space Station is a long way from Storrs.

As he began his video speech to approximately 400 engineering students about to receive their degrees, astronaut Rick Mastracchio speculated about how to make the address memorable.

"I thought, I'm in a weightless environment," he said. "Maybe I should give the speech in a different orientation."

The crowd of students, faculty and parents inside Gampel Pavilion laughed and applauded as Mastracchio proceeded to flip himself upside down, floating between two spacesuits aboard the space station, where the Waterbury native and UConn alumnus has been for the past six months.

"I probably have the best job, on or off the earth," Mastracchio said, after he righted himself for the camera.

He went on to explain that getting the job wasn't easy; after his own graduation from UConn in 1982, Mastracchio earned two master's degrees, worked several engineering jobs and repeatedly sent in applications to NASA's astronaut corps. After nine years of applying, Mastracchio was chosen as an astronaut candidate in 1996.

"Nine years is a long time to pursue anything, especially a job," he said.

Mastracchio said that becoming an astronaut is like accomplishing any goal: It takes "hard work and perseverance," qualities he said the graduates had already shown by making it through UConn's engineering program.

"That is not easy," he said. "I have been there."

This is Mastracchio's fourth mission to the International Space Station, which is orbiting about 260 miles above the Earth's surface. He told the graduates Saturday that at his commencement, he never could have imagined he'd be where he is today.

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UConn Alum, NASA Astronaut Gives Commencement Speech From International Space Station