Shuttle, Station Crews Chat Up President Obama

The joined crews of shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station just fielded a space-to-ground telephone call from President Obama, who congratulated the astronauts and cosmonauts on their ongoing assembly mission in low Earth orbit.

Obama was joined by Washington, D.C., area schoolchildren and members of Congress who included U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Orlando, and U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, D-New Smyrna Beach, both of whom represent voters in the Kennedy Space Center area.

The half-hour conversation was about space exploration in general and in particular, work going on aboard the international outpost -- a joint project of the U.S., Russia, 10 European countries, Japan, Canada and Brazil.

Noting that the shuttle and station are circling Earth at 17,000 mph, Obama said he was glad outpost commander Mike Fincke was "using the hands-free phone." He also expressed genuine interest in the solar power technology that's being employed to generate electricity to run all station systems.

"We are really excited about the project you are doing," Obama said, referring to the delivery, installation and activation of the station's fourth and final set of massive American solar wings.

"Well, this is really exciting because we're investing, back here on the ground, in a whole array of solar and other renewable energy projects. And so, to find out that your doing this up at the space station is particularly exciting."

Saying hello to the international partners onboard -- Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata -- Obama said the station "is an example of the kind of spirit of cooperation that we can apply not just in space but here on the ground as well."

Obama threw the session open to questions from the schoolchildren, and while none asked how you go to the bathroom in space, they did want to know about space food.

Discovery mission specialist Ricky Arnold told them the food, for the most part, is like the type you would take back-packing. He also noted the astronauts eat of lot of "Meals Ready To Eat" -- the packaged military-style food many of them depended on after a hurricane swept through Houston last year.

"Do you guys still drink Tang up there?" Obama asked with a laugh. "I've got Bill Nelson here and he says that's been taken off the menu. That's, by the way, before the time of you young people. We used to drink Tang."

One kid wanted to know if you could play video games in low Earth orbit; another wanted to know whether the astronauts had seen any other life forms in space. And yet another wanted to know how many stars are in space.

Obama wanted to know about the experiments the astronauts are carrying out on the station, whether fitness requirements for astronauts are the same as they were for the original astronauts, and whether weightlessness has an effect on sleep.

One other thing caught his attention: the free-flying, long curly hair of NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus, who is wrapping up a four-month stay aboard the station and will be returning to Earth aboard Discovery on Saturday.

Obama asked if Magnus was tempted to cut her hair shorter during her tenure on the outpost.

"Well, that's a really good question because there is a little bit of overhead taking care of all this hair here," Magnus said. I think ideally the short haircut is the way to go, but quite frankly, on me it wouldn't be so nice. So I kept it long."

Said Obama: "I think it's a real fashion statement."