World Space Week- Two "Stellar" Skype Chats: Commander Nader & Mike Lutomski!

1. Ecuadorian Cosmonaut: Commander Nader

·       We learned that he is a cosmonaut who got trained in Russia. We also learned that Ecuador’s second satellite, Krysaor, was built to capture the signal of Ecuador’s first satellite, Pegasus (R. N.).

·       We learned that when a nanosatellite is built, the pieces are very small. If a measurement is off by even a fraction of a MILLIMETER, then the whole project can be a disaster (J. D.)!

·       We learned that Sir Isaac Newton explained a law where things will move forever, unless something runs into it (G. M. S.).
 

·       Cartoons are super important in our lives because they inspire us, and they inspired Commander Nader, to want to learn more about space. When he was 2 ½ years old he saw a TV show where Pegasus flew a boy to the sky, and this image inspired him to think that a fantasy like that was for him. Space has “his name all over it” (E.B.)

·       When you keep dreaming, your dreams get bigger and then you can achieve them (A.V.).



2. (Retired) Risk-Manager for the International Space Station: Mike Lutomski!

·       It takes about two years to train an astronaut to work on the ISS (R. N.)

·       Astronauts on the ISS eat tortillas instead of bread, because bread can crumble and the pieces can get into the other machines (J.M. P.).

·       Mice were just sent to the ISS to learn about their muscles and bones and how they react without gravity (J.V.)

·       Mr. Lutomski told us that when the rockets took off there was about 3G’s of force, which probably made the mice get squished in their cages! (J.F.B.)