“What do Stars Look Like From Space?

International Space Station – August 16, 2007 – If you could ask an astronaut aboard the International Space Station a question, what would it be? How far they can throw a baseball in space? What do stars look like in space? What’s it like to be weightless? Select elementary and middle school students from across the country asked those questions and more Thursday during a live conversation with the day’s most famous teacher, STS-118 astronaut Barbara Morgan, as well as with crewmembers Clay Anderson, Dave Williams and Alvin Drew. So how fast can you throw a baseball in space? The question should actually be how slow could you throw it, Morgan said, with Anderson demonstrating. “He can actually play catch with himself,” she said. “You probably shouldn’t throw a baseball as fast as you could because you’d break something on the station.” What do stars look like in space? You actually see fewer stars in space since the lights from the ISS are so bright, Drew said. “Stars don’t twinkle at all; they just shine steady.” What’s it like to enter space and be weightless? “As soon as you arrive, and the main engines stop you float forward in your seat, and your arms start rising up,” Williams said. “It’s an incredible sense of freedom as you’re floating around in microgravity. Students also asked how the astronauts get clean air on the station, if they could view the effects of global warming from space, and what is the most challenging part of manipulating the robotic arm. If you want their answers or want to hear the rest of the teleconference, click here. The four didn’t just answer questions, however. They demonstrated how to use a “weight machine” — with Morgan picking up Drew and Anderson as if they were feathers — and treadmill, juggle with ping-pong balls, and even how to drink in weightlessness. As for the last, it’s easier if you use the straw. But the group got laughs as they tried to drink the blobs that floated around.

Mission Specialist Barbara R. Morgan pauses for a photo while working the controls on the aft flight deck of Space Shuttle Endeavour. Image: NASA Mission Specialists Barbara R. Morgan, holding a Challenger crew patch, and Alvin Drew talk with students at the Challenger Center for Space Science Education in Alexandria, Va. Image: NASA

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