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Week 5: NASA Astronaut, Dr Shannon Lucid

1. Haley Bakker, Lynmore School

Does America plan to have a space station of its own?

No. But, starting from next year there will be an International Space Station, which will be built by many countries. The Russians, Canadians, Americans, Europeans, Japanese and people from Asia will all be involved.

2. Rangikura School

What recreational activities did you do on Mir?

I like to read. There are also lots of Russian movies which have accumulated on Mir over the years and sometimes the three of us would watch these on a little TV screen which was there. We also had several laptop computers on Mir with computer games. My favourite recreation was to sit around and talk to each other.

3. Logan Clarke, South End School

What is rocket fuel made of and where do you get it?

There are different kinds depending on the rocket. Liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen fuel the main engines. They get the liquid oxygen by compressing air which is very cold. These two chemicals are what fuel the main engines on the shuttle.

4. Daniel, Taihape Primary School

Why has NASA decided to explore Saturn?

NASA likes to explore the various planets at different times. NASA has sent various probes to the planet. You might be aware that a few years ago a probe by the name of Galilleo was sent to Jupiter to explore Jupiter and all the satellites around Jupiter. The next probe built was the one to go to Saturn. Saturn was the next logical planet to explore after Jupiter.

5. Simon Godsiff, Waitaria Bay School

Do you grow in space?

Actually you do. Here on Earth when you’re standing up gravity is pulling down on you and gravity compresses your spine. As soon as you are in space you don’t have gravity pulling down on you anymore and your spine elongates. Generally you are then an inch taller than you are here on the ground. It changes back when you return to Earth.

6. Jessica Covell, Lynmore School

Which countries have you visited as a representative of NASA?

After my last flight I had the privilege of going to Russia and then to France for a short while. Then I was able to come out to New Zealand which is a real treat for me as I have never been before and I have always wanted to come here. It’s a gorgeous country and I have really enjoyed the scenery. But the nicest thing has been meeting all the schoolchildren – they have been absolutely outstanding.

7. Rangikura School

What long-term effects does living in space have on the body?

There have been several Russians who have lived in space for over a year at a time. When people come back from living in space they find that the bones have lost some of the calcium. Several months after their return from living in space, they have found that the calcium has been replaced. Also, if you don’t use your muscles up in space, then they will deteriorate and when you return to Earth and start to use your muscles again they are restored to their usual shape. However, no-one yet knows if there are any long term effects from living in space.

8. Allan Swenson, South End School

Do you get scared when you’re in space?

I only get scared if something happens which you’re not expecting. I have been very fortunate that things have generally worked as expected when I have been in space.

9. Taihape Primary School

What was the first animal used in space exploration? How are animals fed and cared for in space today?

Many many years ago the Russians launched a dog all by itself – it wasn’t with a human being. A little after that the USA launched some monkeys. The purpose of these launches was to find out if animals could survive the launch process and then survive being weightless for a period of time. When I was on one of my shuttle flights - it was a life science flight – we were studying how animals and humans react in space, so we had 48 rats on board and we did lots of experiments, for example, we wanted to see how blood changed in space.

We fed the rats by pressing the food into a solid ball and the rats would nibble at it when they were hungry.

10. Sam Browning, Waitaria Bay School

How do you get a continual supply of air into the shuttle while in space?

When the shuttle launches, it launches with a great big tank of liquid oxygen which is stored in tanks in the bay of the shuttle. The plumbing carries it to the mid and flight deck where the crew live. The crew can manipulate the amount of oxygen that comes into the area where they are living by command to the computer. The liquid oxygen warms up as it goes through the plumbing and becomes a gas like the one we breathe. We also have nitrogen in the atmosphere and we get that the same way from tanks in the bay.

On the Russian re-supply vehicle there is liquid oxygen, which is similar to that on the space shuttle. Also we collected all the urine from the crew members, then processed it removing all the impurities, ending up with pure water. Then electricity was passed through it. There are solar pads on the outside of the station which collect the sunlight and turn it into electricity which is then passed through the water, breaking it down into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen goes out into the vacuum of space and the oxygen remains in the space station for the crew to breathe.

11. Chris McKenna, Lynmore School

Which is your favourite planet? Why?

Earth – because I live here and I think that of all the planets it is the most beautiful – especially when you look down from it in space. Earth is very blue because of the oceans and you can also see the seasonal changes too.

12. Rangikura School

How do you celebrate festivals in space, such as birthdays or Christmas?

When I was up in space no-one had a birthday and we weren’t there for Christmas, but I do know that other crews have to plan ahead and take something special when they know they will be up there for a special occasion. The ground crew also try to make the day special by playing music and bringing people in to speak to the crew. When I was up on Mir we celebrated Easter and in honour of that the Russian ground control brought in the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church to speak to us.

13. Quintin Smith, South End School

Do you believe there is life in outer space?

I don’t really know, I have never seen any evidence other than on earth. In the last year or so they found some rock on Antarctica which came from Mars. Looking at the rocks scientists thought that there were some signs of life. It’s a very controversial subject right now and who knows.

14. Taihape Primary School

Why do we explore space?

I think there are very many reasons why. We have found that by doing various experiments, such as growing crystals in space, we get much better quality crystals than we do here on earth. We have been able to make medicine from these. Basically, I think humans just like to explore.

15. Willy Gerard, Waitaria Bay School

You have travelled on a Russian and an American spacecraft. Which was the most comfortable and the most serviceable?

I am very fortunate to have travelled on both. But the function of each spacecraft was different. The function of the Russian spacecraft was to be a long term home up in space and the function of the American craft was to be in space for a short time and then return back to earth. Both spacecrafts completed their functions in a magnificent way – the Russian spacecraft Mir has been in space for over 11 years and I think it is remarkable that people have been living on it for that long. The American space shuttle has gone to and from space over 100 times now, so that question is difficult to answer.

16. Casey Smythe, Lynmore School

Are your children interested in an Astronaut career?

No they’re not. My oldest daughter wants to be a schoolteacher and she currently teaches English to children who are 13 – 14 years old. My next daughter studies computers, writing programmes. My son loves animals and is studying this. He wants to work with wild animals when he finishes university.

17. Renee, Rangikura School

What do you do with your rubbish on Mir?

That’s a very good question. The Russians have a re-supply vehicle controlled from earth and it doesn’t have any humans on board. The vehicles are filled with water, food and new equipment, and periodically these come up to the space station and new supplies are removed leaving it empty to return. Over a period of several months we have collected our trash in rubberised bags and so then we load it into the empty vehicle. It re-enters earth’s atmosphere and burns up.

18. South End School

At what age do astronauts retire?

There is no set age for retirement. You have to pass a medical exam every year so as long as you maintain your health you can fly as many times as you want to.

19. Taihape Primary School

How come it’s so dark in space when the sun lights up the Earth?

The Earth is 93 million miles from the Sun and when Earth is facing towards the Sun it’s daylight here and the sun is very big. Space is very, very vast and there are tremendous distances from one side to the next. The Sun lights up our sky when we are facing it because it is relatively close to the Earth. In actual fact many of the stars are bigger than our planet but they are so many more miles away, that’s why we get such a small light from them.

20. Bradley Hayward, Waitaria Bay School

Is it harder for a woman than a man to be an astronaut?

No it isn’t. There are some men who have been really good astronauts, and also some women. Some enjoy it more than others do. It really depends of the individual and has nothing to do with being male or female.