Guwahati students link up to space station commander

MOI alap Asomiya kobo paro. (I can speak a little bit of Assamese) was Edward Michael Finckes reply when Dhrubajyoti Das...

MOI alap Asomiya kobo paro. (I can speak a little bit of Assamese) was Edward Michael Finckes reply when Dhrubajyoti Das (16),a Class X student of Axam Jatiya Vidyalaya asked him in Assamese whether he could speak the language.

Fincke,a US astronaut who is currently the commander of the International Space station,is married to a US-based Assamese,Benita Saikia. Fincke who is docked about 350 kms away from the earths surface,interacted for eleven minutes with 14 students of the school via satellite. The interaction was facilitated through NASA by Friends of Assam & Seven Sisters (FASS),a non-governmental international think-tank floated by the Assamese diaspora.

Describing the opportunity as historic,school rector Ranjit Narayan Deka,said ,This day will always remain the most significant day for our school.

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The students,including 7 girls,were eager to question him on a broad range of issues,from scientific queries to questions about his life in the spaceship. If Gitartha Kalita wanted to know how many sunrises and sunsets the astronaut sees in a 24-hour cycle, Nirvan Khound wanted to know whether seasonal changes on earth were visible from the spaceship.

As the space station moves at a speed of 26,000 kilometres per hour,we go round the earth once in 90 minutes,which is 16 times a day. Hence we see 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets in every 24-hour cycle, Fincke replied.

It was definitely the greatest moment in my life. I will always carry this notebook where I have already jotted down my feelings while interacting with an astronaut in space, said Abhrakash Talukdar who wants to become a scientist when he grows up.

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