Deutscher Amateur-Radio-Club



Interview with Catherine Coleman

The Buehl-Realschule Dornstadt conducted an interview with Catherine Coleman, KC5ZTH, on the board the ISS on 2nd February 2011 over Ham Radio frequencies. Due technical reasons the interview was done in a very short time, (about 7 minutes). Catherine spoke very quickly in typical spoken English (American dialect). This report is written down from recorded tapes. DL1WOL

Wolfgang: “OR4IIS calling DN1WOL [1]. Can you copy? Over.”

Catherine: “DN1WOL, this is OR4ISS. I can hear you loud and clear. Go ahead with the first question. Over.”

1. Samuel: What qualifications and skills do you need to become an astronaut? Over.

Catherine Coleman: For astronauts in the future it is hard to tell. I will tell you, you need engineering, and you need science and maths - at the minimum. And I think that whatever science and math skills, whatever you like to use them for, will be great in a space program because you need all sorts of skills. Over.

2. Xenia: Do you miss your family and can you talk to them? Over.

I talk to my family every single day, we have an internet protocol phone that goes down to the ground and goes out to them. It’s great. Over.

3. Madeleine: What will you do if you get ill? Over.

We have a checklist and procedures that can help us diagnosed ourselves. We are trained to do many medical things and we can certainly talk to the ground and the doctor is there and we do that if the first chance[2] we get. Over.

4. Tobias: Do you sometimes argue with your colleagues? Over.

We don’t always agree. I don’t think we usually argue, but we find a way to decide what we would do with the team. Over.

5. Daniel: Do you think there are other living beings in our universe? Over.

Daniel, personally I do. But I know I haven’t seen any myself. I’m always looking. Over.

6. Lea: What was your best experience as an astronaut? Over.

My best experience, Lea, is just living every single day up in space, waking up in the morning, and realising that everything is just floating including me. I really love living up here. Over.

7. Nico: How do you train for a flight? Over.

Nico, we practice the important things over and over again: Training for emergences. Some of the more complicated things that we do like capturing the Japanese supply ship like yesterday and the last week with the robotic arm. We practice, practice, practice and it really helps, even if it is sometimes boring! Over.

8. Alicia: Do you think living in universe is better than on Earth? Over.

Well, Alicia, the earth is part [3] of the universe and that’s why I like living in space. I’m orbiting the earth but I have a very nice view of the rest of the universe and it’s our neighbourhood. Over.

9. Simona: Is it exciting to see the Earth from the ISS? Over.

Simona, I love seeing the earth from space. It is beautiful. Every single time. I look down the weather is different somewhere, the sun angle is different, I see something else, it’s night, it’s day, it’s beautiful. Over.

10. Maximilian: Isn’t it boring so far away from the Earth? Over.

Maximilian, for me it’s actually never ever boring. There is always something that needs done here in the space station and it’s always a way to go – and it’s always looking out the window which is never boring. Over.

11. Tobias: What do you have to do on board the ISS all day long? Over.

Tobias, after we wake up in the morning there is a schedule on board and it tells us what we need to do because the people on the ground have figured out what needs to be done. And also what - what order to do it and so does it when. So that we don’t all try to work in the same place at the space station at the same time. Over.

12. Daniel: Do you have a shower onboard the ISS? Over.

We don’t, and sometimes I wish for one, but truthfully every day if we did that, you’d [4] have to clean up the shower all the time because the water would be everywhere. So[5] we take a sponge bath and it works at just fine. Over.

13. Simone: How long does it take to fly from the Earth to the ISS? Over.

Simona, it takes only 8 and a half minutes. (Noise). Isn’t it fantastic? It’s an amazing journey. And I came here in a Russian rocket called the Soyuz. Over.

14. Alicia: Could you see the fireworks on New Year’s Eve? Over.

Alicia, we did see fireworks. We had been flying over some places on the earth where it was midnight and it was dark. And we did see fireworks over Spain. And just last night I saw fireworks over China – a lot of them everywhere, and I think it’s because of the Chinese New Year. Over.[6]

15. Maximilian: How much does it cost to fly from the Earth to the ISS? Over.

Maximilian, it costs a lot of money and that’s what we need to fix [7]. We need to make it, so that it will be easier to go to space. So more people can do it. For my mission my government paid about 55 Million Dollars. It’s really a lot of money. Over.

16. Samuel: Have you ever worked outside the ISS and what’s the temperature outside the ISS? (The signal is getting weak.) Over.

Samuel, I have not done a space walk yet. I hope to do one soon, we will see.

And the temperature depends on whether you are in the sun or the shadow on the other side of the earth. And here it’s either very, very cold or very, very warm, but in our space station it always feels the same. Over.

17. Lea: Have you ever experienced a dangerous situation in space? Over.

Lea, it’s actually always dangerous in space, and we understand that before we come. And we practice for the most dangerous situations. And just last week we had an important electrical problem that could have taken power out most of the space station, but we are trained to make sure that we understand what to do in these situations and then it was fine. Over.

18. Xenia: Can you see different planets? Over.

I can see the planets much like you see the planets, Xenia. They just look like very bright stars to me. I think I can see them little bit easier because I’m not looking through the atmosphere. Over.

19. Madeleine: How long do you have to stay on board? Over.

Madeleine, I get to stay on board until the middle of May. That’s about 3 and a half more months. I tell you that right now: I don’t really want to go home. I like to stay here even longer than May! Over.

20. Nico: How high above the Earth are you at the moment? Over.

(The signal is bad.)

Well, we are about 400 km above the Earth, Nico. And that’s last question. (…Noise…) Cheerio!

[pic]

11 Dec. 2010 --- NASA astronaut Catherine (Cady) Coleman, Expedition 26 flight engineer, signs a Soyuz launch picture in the Korolev Museum in the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Picture:

-----------------------

[1] Radio Amateurs always calling the other station first and then tell their own call sign.

[2] This word could not be precisely understood.

[3] Catherine emphasises this word.

[4] Translate this word to German with “man”.

[5] Original radio spoken text she says “And”

[6] The Chinese year of the Tiger ended at 02.02.2011 – just before the interview.

[7] Meaning: It must be cheaper.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download