Space, as one well-known saying goes, the final frontier.
For the pioneering spirit that is still so strong in Â鶹ÊÓƵeast Saskatchewan, these words perhaps kindle some interest in the minds of young girls and boys, as they look up at a sky un-cluttered by the light of 'big city.'
Recently, grade six students at both Arcola School and Carlyle Elementary School had a chance to speak first-hand with one of the brave explorers of that endless ocean overhead when, thanks to a program offered by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the students held a video conference call with Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield.
Hadfield, without a doubt the most senior and experienced astronaut from the CSA, is presently located at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre on the outskirts of Moscow, Russia.
In the midst of some rigorous training to prepare for his next mission, Hadfield took the time to have a live video conference with each class for 30 minutes on the morning of Friday, Feb. 4.
The students from Arcola School were set to begin their interview with Hadfield at 9:30 a.m.
In preparation for the video conference, the school room had been visited earlier by a technical support person from the CSA who set up the extensive selection of equipment.
Looking as high-tech as can be, the students came into a classroom wired for sound and image, with Hadfield's video feed being displayed both on a monitor in front of where the students sat to ask their questions, as well as on a big screen at the front of the room for everyone else to see.
Speaking first, Dacey Fleck and Brody Geddes asked Hadfield a question about living in space.
"Do you have to train to learn how to sleep on with your hands through loops?" Darcy asked. "Do you know if you're lying down or standing up while you are asleep?"
"Sleeping in space is the most comfortable sleep you can have," Hadfield said in response. "Because you are weightless, you don't feel yourself on the mattress, you don't even need a pillow."
"Since there is no up or down, you can sleep up against a wall, and it doesn't feel any different," Hadfield continued. "We have sleeping bags that have arm-holes in them."
"What you do is you pull yourself into the sleeping bag, and put your arms through the holes," Hadfield explained. "Then you zip it up, and all you need is a little bit of Velcro on the wall, and you attach yourself onto that so you don't float away while you are sleeping."
Playing musical chairs with each other in front of the camera and monitor, the next student to ask a question of the astronaut was Shaleen Hengen.
"Why did you switch from being a fighter pilot to being an astronaut?" Shaleen asked of the former Canadian Armed Forces pilot.
"I knew I wanted to be an astronaut when I was nine years-old," Hadfield said in response. "When I saw the first moon landing back in 1969, I said to myself that that is what I wanted to do."
"So I joined the Air Cadets, because I knew that they could teach me to fly for free," Hadfield said. "Then I joined the Armed Forces to learn to fly jets."
"After I had piloted fighter jets, I became a test pilot," Hadfield continued. "And from there, I was able to get into the Canadian Space Agency's astronaut program."
"For me it was all about being an astronaut, and being a fighter pilot was just one step along the path to that," Hadfield said. "It wasn't any different than being a test pilot, because I knew what it was that I wanted to be doing."
Another of the interesting questions asked of Hadfield by the students came from Ally Landrie.
"How do you get rid of garbage and waste once it has been collected?" Ally said, in reference to Hadfield's scheduled six-month stay on the International Space Station (ISS.)
"Imagine what it would be like if you had garbage in your room, and you couldn't throw it out," Hadfield explained. "It would start to go off, and smell really bad after a while."
"So we take garbage very seriously on the ISS," Hadfield said. "We collect everything and place it in a special little pod that is attached to the space station."
"Once the pod gets full enough of stuff we can't recycle, we close it off," Hadfield said. "Then we launch it into the atmosphere where it burns up like a meteorite."
"Water though, we don't throw that out," Hadfield said. "All the water on the space station, even the water from when you pee, gets recycled and filtered and used again as drinking water."
"I know that sounds really gross," Hadfield said with a smile. "But once it's been recycled and treated, it doesn't taste any different than regular water."
While it was apparent the Arcola students were having a fascinating time speaking to a man who has twice before slipped the surly bonds of earth's gravity, the 30 minutes allotted to the group passed quickly.
As the group said its formal farewell to Hadfield, a voice wishing him a safe journey could be heard from the group.
"Thanks a lot for your support guys, it has been a real pleasure speaking to you," Hadfield said in response. "Study hard and be good!"
Chris Hadfield has two previous space missions under his belt.
Having been aboard the former Soviet space station Mir, and installing the Canadarm II onboard the ISS while it was under construction, Hadfield's long and extensive experience in space travel has ensured that he will be the Station Commander during his six-month tenure on the ISS in the coming months.
While there, Hadfield will lead the crew of six and monitor the housekeeping and maintenance work on the ISS.
Hadfield will be leading a crew consisting of three Russians, two Americans, and a Japanese astronaut.
Edward Tabarach, the Deputy Director of Astronauts for the CSA spoke about the other duties which Hadfield will be performing during his time on the ISS.
"Chris will be running numerous experiments and monitoring several different scientific projects while he is commanding the ISS," Tabarach said. "While the total slate of projects that we will be sending to Chris hasn't been fully confirmed yet, there will be experiments involving material sciences, agriculture and plant growth in zero-gravity, and many others."
"Chris is a great asset, and as the first Canadian to be in command on the ISS, he will be very busy during his time there," Tabarach said. "But Chris is a very quick study, he learns very rapidly, and he is very dedicated to the program and the projects that accompany it."
Hadfield, who travelled into space previously on space shuttles, will this time be arriving at his destination via a Russian Soyuz space craft.
First designed in 1960, the Soyuz design is widely considered the safest, most cost-effective method of space transport presently in use.
As mission commander and craft commander, Hadfield is presently undergoing the training he will need to pilot and manage the craft.
