22 NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2009
TECHNOLOGY
YouTube connects earthlings with NASA astronauts in space
BY MIKE SCHNEIDER
Associated Press
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — When it comes to sneezing in a spacesuit during a spacewalk in the void of space, it is best to aim well.
That was the advice lead spacewalker David Wolf gave Tuesday to Dawn from Indianapolis, who along with more than a dozen others had questions they had posted on YouTube answered by some of the crew of space shuttle Endeavour.
"I've done it quite a few times, most recently yesterday," said Wolf, who led the mission's second spacewalk Monday and was set to go on a third spacewalk Wednesday. "You learn in training, and I don't know how to say this, aim well. It can mess up your view and there is no way to clear it."
The YouTube questioners, mostly children and teenagers, had posted their questions well before last week's launch of Endeavour on a
16-day mission to the international space station. Their posts were played one at a time for commander Mark Polansky, pilot Doug Hurley, Canadian astronaut Julie Payette and Wolf, who took turns answering the questions live, more than 200 miles above Earth.
Other questioners asked the astronauts what they missed most in space — friends and family, what they did in their spare time — look out the window, and what would happen if the shuttle or space station flew into a black hole — don't know. There are currently 13 crew members at the space station — seven visiting from the shuttle and six living at the station.
The YouTube questions were the latest effort by NASA to embrace social media. Polansky has a Twitter account with more than 37,500 followers, and since the mission began last Wednesday, Polansky has tweeted regularly with the help of workers at the Johnson Space Center who post his messages.
In this image provided by NASA, astronaut Tim Kopra is pictured in the forward port side area of Endeavour's cargo bay July 18 during the first of five planned spacewalks to be performed on the International Space Station. When the Endeavour crew returns to Earth, Kopra will stay onboard the space station to serve as flight engineer for ISS expedition duty.
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