A Date with an Astronaut

Today, my daughter had a once in a lifetime chance! As I mentioned a couple days ago, The pup was chosen to participate with her school in a live Tele-Conference with the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery as they prepared for heading home tomorrow. You see, the pilot, William Oefelein is an Alaska – the first from our state to go into space.

Last night it was “Go to sleep! Shhh! Go to sleep! Common!” as I tried to get her calmed down enough to do so. Then it was my turn and “Crap! Now I can’t sleep!” And then “What’s that noise? Oh… the phone. Guess I slept after all…”

So, this morning just before 10am, we arrived at the Alaska Challenger Learning Center to get checked in and seated for the Tele-conference. That’s when they told me that I could go get her seated, but then I had to leave the room (WHAT?) and go sit with other parents in the overflow room because of limited seating. Harumph. Sure, I’d be able to see the same thing she did – but not be able to actively share it with her. Oh well – this was HER day, anyway, right? But then, Ms. Christy came in, grabbed me and said “get your purse, follow me. now.” And so I did. And I ended up in the Conference room, lined up with other parents along the back wall. Score!

The pup, herself, was sitting right in the front row, right in front of the screens, AND the network news camera. Go figure. Heh. We listened in on the CNN and ABC question/answer session, and then it was our turn.

When we did the sound check, the Discovery Crew reached behind them and hung an Alaskan flag, to the deafening roar of our cheers. They then answered questions from a few kids (pre-chosen). Things like what the earth looks like, wha ts the best part of being in Space, and what kinds of food they eat up there. The latter was answered by a crewman who tried to show a pouch of apple cider – that promptly floated away from him, much to our amusement. Then someone tossed a marshmallow to Pilot Oefelein, who caught it in his mouth! More cheering, of course!

The pup, never shy, was looking at her picture (Every student got a Crew Picture) noted that one of the astronauts had a different flag on his suit. Not recognizing it, she asked the NBC Camera man where it was from. Apparently (According to her) he turned the camera on her, and then answered “I don’t know.” (The Flag? Sweden. *g*)

It seemed to go very quickly once we finally got started (It did – 15 minutes, tops) but it was well worth the wait. The pup was thrilled with the experience, and is all excited to watch the local news tonight to see if she makes an appearance on TV. If she does, and you happen to see a very cute little blond with a pink and black striped shirt in the front row – that’s mah pup!