Astronaut aboard space station answers Talbot students' questions

Its not something students get to see every day: an astronaut, on screen and transmitting from space, demonstrating in real-time weightlessness and conversing with them.

On Thursday morning, students from one sixth-grade science class and one seventh-grade science class at Fall Rivers Talbot Innovation Middle School got to talk with NASA astronaut and flight engineer Chris Cassidy.

Cassidy is currently orbiting Earth aboard the International Space Station. He occasionally did flips and let his microphone float in front of him, and he answered the wide variety of questions students asked him.

Talbot science teacher Ben Squire, instrumental in organizing the event, introduced the class to Cassidy.

Some questions were scientific for example, weight versus mass. Others were about how long the trip was from Earth to outer space.

Normally, the trip from the ground to the space station would take two days. This expedition took only six hours.

The flight from the ground to the edge of the atmosphere lasts for only eight and a half to nine minutes, Cassidy explained. Then the ship is safely in orbit.

The difficulty is boarding the space station, which moves through space at a speed of 17,500 mph about five miles a second.

Cassidy compared it to a quarterback throwing a pass and hitting a fast-moving target perfectly.

NASA scientists use complex calculation and geometry to compute when targets can be hit. It usually takes about two days to get from the ground to the station, but Cassidys recent trip to station in March lasted only six hours under the right conditions. He and Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin launched from Kazakhstan.

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Astronaut aboard space station answers Talbot students' questions