'It’s a cool experience': North Bay students speak to astronaut in space
Grade 8 students at West Ferris Secondary School had an out-of-this-world experience Monday morning speaking with an astronaut who is currently orbiting Earth on board the International Space Station (ISS).
"It’s going to be fun talking to them. I’ll be nervous," said student Silvianna Stewart.
"But it’s a cool experience. I’m glad I get to enjoy it."
While waiting for the call to link up, the students only heard static. Then a successful linkup connected with the space station and on the other end of the line was Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who is currently on board.
Using a relay station in Belgium to transmit the long-distance call, the contact lasted for about 15 minutes and students had a chance to ask questions about Wakata’s time in space and his daily trip around the Earth.
Grade 8 student Daoshil Patel is interested in science and space exploration. He had a chance to ask Wakata about his time as an astronaut.
"I’d want to feel how it would be on that kind of experience," Patel said.
"I will get to hear what it feels like to be an astronaut."
Wakata first became an astronaut in 1993. His first mission off-world occurred in 1996, on the Endeavour Space Shuttle. He is currently on his fifth mission in outer space.
"When you go on a spacewalk for six hours, you get really tired, especially through your head," Wakata told the students.
He explained more about the joy he gets looking out and seeing the planet, his role on board the space station, what his favourite memories are and what the food tastes like. In total, he has spent over a year in space.
"Today, I surpassed 400 days in space," he said.
Grade 8 science teacher Jason Henstridge has been teaching his students a little bit about gravity, velocity and the feeling you would have of floating in the atmosphere.
His fellow teacher Kelly Shulman made a proposal several years ago with the Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS) and through that, the school was granted contact with the crew.
The ARISS program lets students around the world, experience the excitement of talking directly with crew members of the International Space Station, hoping to inspire them to pursue interests in careers in science, technology, engineering and math.
"There are always a few students who get inspired by things like this," said Henstridge. "So we’re really excited to give them the opportunity to do that."
It was an out-of-this-world contact, a call thousands of kilometres away, that few will ever forget.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Attempt to have murder charge quashed against alleged serial killer dismissed by judge
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.
Government proposes new policy for federally regulated employees to disconnect from work
In their 2024 budget, the federal government wants to amend the Canada Labour Code, so employers in federally regulated sectors will eliminate work-related communication with employees outside of scheduled hours. If implemented, this would affect roughly 500,000 employees across the country.
Earthquake jolts southern Japan
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 hit southern Japan late on Wednesday, said the Japan Meteorological Agency, without issuing a tsunami warning.