As astronauts aboard the International Space Station floated on the screen, an Avicenna Academy seventh-grader was among a small number of students across the country to pose a question up to space.
Maria Khan asked the two astronauts during a video conference Thursday attended by Avicenna and Hammond Academy of Science and Technology students if there’s any downtime on the spacecraft. ????? ???? ???? ?????
Astronaut and Hoosier native Kevin Ford answered.
“We go to the window as often as we can,” Ford said. “Occasionally, I’ll go to the window in the really early morning or the middle of the night to find another astronaut already over there looking out because it’s a great way to spend your time, getting really familiar with our beautiful planet.”
Avicenna Academy, a private school in Crown Point, has an experiment flying aboard the space station.
The school has participated in the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program for two years, which allows students to submit formal research proposals and fly experiments in space. The students then get the experiments back to analyze the results.
“This is the first time they actually get to interact live with astronauts,” said Amanda Arceo, Avicenna Academy’s principal “It’s a good opportunity. ????? ??? ????? SSEP has opened up a lot of things for them.”
HAST hosted the video conference and included its sixth-grade students on the talk because their curriculum focuses on the solar system.
“We’ve Skyped in authors and professionals from around the world before,” HAST Principal Sean Egan said. “Now we are actually going outside the world. It’s not unusual to use our technology to bring resources in, but this is really pushing the envelope. ????? ???? ?????? ”
Khan said she was nervous at the beginning but felt she asked the question well.
“I was really happy that I got the chance to,” Khan said. “I was really excited.”
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