ISS - A Home in Microgravity:

A Live Virtual Tour of the International Space Station from Johnson Space Center

Wednesday November 28

11 AM - Noon Pacific

2 - 3 PM Eastern

1900-2000 GMT

On the screen you see Cheri Jules speaking.

Good Afternoon and welcome to the Virtual Tour of the International Space station. I am Cheri Jules and I am very happy to be here with you today.

Johnson Space Center is home to the astronaut core, the space shuttle program and home to the international space station, which is what we are going to be talking about here today.

On the viewer you see an aerial view of the Johnson Space Center which looks like several one and two story rectangular buildings.

First I want to show you just what Johnson Space Center looks like. It is just south of Houston. It is a beautiful campus. We are on 1620 acres. There are 2600 Federal employees 26,000 contractors who all work together as part of a giant team that supports the Human exploration of space you can notice off in the back there some blue coloring that is actually the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. It is very beautiful here and if you have never had the opportunity to visit us this is what it looks like and this is what you are missing.

Back to Cheri

I am going to be sharing you a little information about the International Space Station You can put your questions into the chatroom now so that we can answer as many of your questions as we can at the end of the program.

Johnson Space Center was founded in 1958 and is one of ten NASA Research Centers from across the United States which each have a special focus. Again the focus of the Johnson Space Center is the human exploration of space. Some of the space exploration programs that have taken control from the Johnson Space center prior to the space shuttle program include: the Mercury program where we could send one astronaut up into space; the Gemini program where we could send two astronauts up into space; and then the Apollo Program where we could send three astronauts up into space. This really put NASA on the map because this is where we put the first man on the moon.

A picture of an Apollo rocket taking of and a man walking on the moon in a space suit.

Skylab was our first space station.

A picture of the Skylab space station.

Then we partnered with our Russian counterparts on the Apollo- Soyuz

A picture of the Apollo-Soyuz space station.

And this is where we are now with the Space Shuttle. A picture of the space shuttle launching. And here is where we are going in A Picture of the International Space Station the future with the International Space Station.

Cheri back on screen

The International Space Station is in space right now 220 miles above the earth flying at 17,500 mph. That's very fast, I don't know about you guys but that is very hard for me to even imagine.

A map showing the route of the space station.

Let's take a look at where the space station is right now. This is live video coverage of the tracking map in Mission Control. Take a close look, the space station has a red circle around it. It is just of the coast of South America. There are some brown track lines, roller coaster lines those are the orbits that the International Space station is traveling on.

Cheri is on screen

We launched the first module, the Zarya module three years ago in November 1998. Since that time we have been continuously adding modules.

A picture of the International Space Station

In fact now we have about five years and 44 more missions to go launching the various pieces into space

On the screen you can see modules of the space station being added one at a time. Then a series of close ups and a rotating view.

In fact right now as we are looking at this animation you can see how many pieces will be added. When it is finished it will cover the area of two-football fields situated side to side. As you can imagine that's too big to put together here on Earth and launch together at one time. So we are sending them up piece by piece and then the astronauts are putting them together like a giant construction project up in the sky. Well its going to take about five more years to be completed as I mentioned. Once it is completed it is going to have an additional operating life of five to ten more years.

The screen shows Cheri again.

And traveling at that 17,500 mph the astronauts get to see sixteen sunrises and sunsets everyday. I can't imagine how beautiful that must be.

There are astronauts living aboard the space station right now. It has been inhabited for about one year. The current crew is the Expedition 3 Crew. There are three astronauts and they will be coming home STS 108 mission is scheduled to launch tomorrow to take the Expedition 4 Crew up and bring the Expedition 3 Crew home. They are on day 109.

Obviously we have to train our astronauts before we go in space and I am in one of the largest training facilities out here in Johnson Space Center and I want to share some of these mock ups and trainers with you.

The screen shows a mock up of the orbiter with the payload bay open.

This is the SST or full size fuselage trainer. It's hard to tell but an entire school bus could fit easily into the payload area of this mock up.

The screen shows a mock up of the CCT trainer from the outside about the 1st 1/4 of the shuttle orbiter.

This is the CCT the crew compartment trainer and this is neat because the crew can get into their space suits and put their seatbelts on and the trainer will tilt upright into a launch position. The screen shows the control panel of the orbiter. This is a picture of the control panel of the orbiter. To the left of the cockpit is where the commander would sit. On the right hand side is where the pilot might sit. You can see that there are all kinds of knobs and switches that the pilot has to practice with many times for launch simulations before they do it in the real launch.

A shot of some objects that could fit in the payload section like laboratories and centrifuges.

Now we are panning around the facility and you can see many modules of the International Space Station. I want you to see that they are all models with a cylindrical shape that is because they must fit in the payload section of the space shuttle in order to be transported into space.

Back to the shuttle mock up with the payload section open.

This is a look inside one of the space module. Its all white and kind of like a hospital but actually there is a whole lot of things inside this module and we are going to talk about them.

A picture of a room with white walls and cupboards.

Along the walls you can see International standard payload racks. They are about the size of a small refrigerator. They have all kinds of drawers and compartments to store the astronaut's food and clothes and equipment and tools and all of the things they need while they are living up in space for about four months at a time right now. You can see how these racks fit inside the space station and you can see the astronauts loading up these storage units right now.

Now the biggest difference between a laboratory here on Earth and one in space is microgravity. It is not zero gravity. There is some gravity but our bodies can not feel it like they can here on Earth. That's why you can see them floating up in space.

The screen shows astronauts floating in the cabin of the space shuttle.

Now here they are and you can see them floating all around. There really is no up or down in space. It's neat because they can utilize every inch up and down of the volume, unlike you and I.

Back to a picture of Cheri pointing up.

If you look up at your ceiling you can see there is a lot of dead space that we can't really utilize however in space they can go up and have an afternoon nap on the ceiling if they wanted to.

Well besides storing their clothing in the racks they store their experiments while they are up in space and they do a wide variety of experiments when they are up in space. It really is a unique opportunity to do microgravity research. We are not able to simulate microgravity on Earth so space is the next best place. Some of the research includes protein crystals. We can grow protein crystals in space in a near perfect formation as to when we grow them here on Earth and the gravity distorts their growth. They study combustion research science, fluid science, flames, materials science, all kinds of science. The study the effects of microgravity on our bodies. For example our bones lose density and our muscles atrophy because we are not using them the way we have to here on Earth. We have an aquatic habitat.

A picture of a space aquarium with fish floating around in the water.

You can see the fish are disoriented moving sort of sideways the ways we humans do in space however they are healthy.

Back to Cheri

That's some of the scientific stuff they do. We want to build a space station along with our partners because it offers a lot of advantages, we can study the universe and we can look back at Earth. We can take pictures and study our geography and weather patterns and all kinds of things like that. Again we have the opportunity to do microgravity research and we will gain experience that will help us to go to other planets, for instance Mars. We do have a long-term goal of getting to Mars and if we were to leave today it would take us a year and a half just to get there.

The screen shows a picture of Mars.

Then we would have to wait a year and a half to get back. We would have to wait until the planets get realigned. So a round trip would take three years just to get to Mars and back. Now I want you to guess if it takes a year and a half to get to Mars think how long it would take to get to Pluto. Fifteen years. That tells you just how long our solar system really is.

Back to Cheri

And since it takes such long trips to explore our universe then we need to learn how to grow food. Astronauts are studying how to grow plants up in space. These are the reasons why we want to build a space station.

Now I mentioned our partners, there are sixteen partners on the International Space Station.

A slide with the words United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, Brazil.

The five main partners are the US, Russia, Japan, Canada and Brazil

A new slide titled ESA listing Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Finland, Ireland, Austria, Portugal, and United Kingdom.

Now all of the remaining partners are a part of the European Space Agency and you can see here all of the countries that are a part of that.

Back to a picture of Cheri.

Now back inside the International Space Station. The astronauts use a glove box for certain kinds of experiments; for example experiments that have fluids or very small particles that they do not want to have flying around the space station. This glove box will help keep the experiment contained.

A picture of a glove box in a rack.

You can see here where the astronauts put their hands in and a glass panel up on top.

The picture changes to an astronaut with his hands in the glove box.

Here you can see one of our astronauts working on an experiment she can see easily what she is doing with out getting all the particles into the space station.

Back to Cheri.

Now the astronauts have another neat piece of equipment here that I want to show you. They control the giant telerobotics arm that they call they telerobotics station. This giant robot arm contributed to the space station by Canada.

A picture shows a workstation with three monitors across the top and a panel with lots of instrumentation.

Now you can see here what it looks like with monitors across the top. It is kind of like a video game with joysticks and knobs that they manipulate the robotic arm.

Picture shows an exterior view of the telerobotics arm

Here you can see the large robotic arm, which helps us combine all the very large modules of the space station. It can move with an inch-worming effect. It can attach its arm at one end to the space station and move the other end of the arm to another location and attach itself and disconnect at the other end and so on and so forth. So it can literally walk around to any location on the outside of the space station.

Back to Cheri

Now we have to train the astronauts for moving around in space. We do this at the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, NBL out here at Johnson Space Center, the world's largest pool.

The picture changes to a picture of astronauts

It holds 6.2 million gallons of water it is 202 ft long and 102 ft wide and 40 ft deep that's the same size as a four story building. I want you to know that this is live footage you can see right now. You can see the astronaut in the EVA suit surrounded by scuba divers. They are working on full sized mock ups of the space station which are submerged in this pool. This way they can practice working with their tools and the timeline before they ever go up in space. You can see here that he/she is using a power tool attached to the space suit. Now this space suit weighs about 300 lbs. before the astronaut ever gets into it.

Picture changes to a view of the whole pool.

They need help getting into the pool and so they are lowered down into the pool using a crane.

The picture shows an astronaut in the water.

This is an interesting way to get trained in microgravity.

Back to Cheri

Another way we train our astronauts for microgravity is the KC135 aircraft.

The picture changes to a plane in the sky and people floating in the plane.

The plane flies high and then changes directions and plummets back to Earth and during that decent the astronauts can experience 30-35 seconds of free fall. The plane will continue to do this over and over again. They typically fly along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. You can understand why this airplane has the affectionate nickname of the Vomit comet. If you can imagine flying like a giant roller coaster with those giant parabolas over and over again.

The astronauts also eat special food in space but I want to modify that slightly. Some of their food is very normal just like you and I eat for instance this is a pudding cup.

Cheri shows a pudding cup and M&M's.

It is not special. This is a package is M&M's. My favorite snack. But these are not like we have here on earth.

Cheri shows a vacuum packed plastic bag with eggs and another one with a sausage.

These are some yummy scrambled eggs and a sausage patty. These foods are not like that we have here on Earth, these are dehydrated.

The picture goes back to Cheri.

When I am ready to eat this the label tells me to add 25 ml. Of water through this spout right here. And then squish around to rehydrate it and then pop it in the oven. I do the same thing to my eggs. Then Voila! They taste remarkably similar to the eggs and sausage we have here on Earth.

We have food scientists and nutritionists that work here at the Johnson Space Center. They work hard to make sure that they make nutritional food as well as tasty food that the astronauts want to eat while they are up in space. And they have hundreds of items now that they can choose from they no longer have to eat the cube food and the tube food that they had back in the old days of the Apollo and Gemini programs.

As you can imagine it can be quite difficult to eat up in space. The astronauts have had a little bit of fun with this. They videotaped themselves playing with their food. I want to show you this.

The picture changes to an astronaut with a half-peeled banana with the peels extended like a propeller flying toward her.

Back to Cheri.

I don't know about you but I would like to eat M&M's floating in the middle of the space station. Drinking can also be difficult in space. You can't simply drink a glass of water because the water would float all over the place. The way we do this is by using drink bags.

The astronauts have super-sized Capri sun juice bags.

Cheri displays a drink bag.

This one is labeled lemonade. It's thin. It's just the powdered drink and it has a straw. The way I would drink this is when I pulled the straw out of my mouth I would pinch this special clip to keep the lemonade from floating out of the sack.

Water and fluids do behave very differently in space and I find it very interesting. I want to put a special challenge to you. I am going to show you what a glass of water looks like in space and I want you to decide if this looks like water will stay in what looks like a spherical shape or if it change into a bunch of droplets and swirl all around. Let's take a look and see what happens.

A video shows a blob of water rotating in space.

Here it is! It is actually staying in a spherical shape. If we left this alone it would actually form a perfect sphere. Here you can see our astronauts having a little fun there is a flower and a little bit of tofu in that water and the astronauts are drinking the water right up.

Back to Cheri.

Their day to day living activities are also different than ours here on Earth in terms of hygiene. Their bathroom is not the same as our bathroom on Earth.

Cheri holds up two tubes of soap.

They do not have a shower that they can just climb into and bath with so what they do is use no rinse body soap and shampoo. They can just apply this to their bodies and take a clean towel and wipe it off. If they are staying up there for months at a time we definitely do not want stinky astronauts. There potty actually works differently than ours. Up in space because they have microgravity plumbing so their commode uses positive airflow to pull the wastes away from the body.

The liquid waste is separated from the solid waste. The solid waste is dehydrated and brought back to earth to be disposed of properly. We do not open up the back door of the space station and dump out waste. We do not want to junk up space. The liquid waste is recycled and used for water. As you can imagine water is a very special resource aboard the space station.

The picture shows the toilet on the space station.

Now this is a picture of what the toilet looks like aboard the space station. You can see that it looks something similar to one you might find in a camper.

The screen shows Cheri and another man.

I have talked about quite a few things and I have a very special guest with me.

Chris: Hi my name is Chris Chiluly I work in outreach here at Johnson with Cheri at the Johnson Space Center. I have been looking at the monitor here in front of me and we have they lot of correct questions. And Cheri and I are going to try and answer these as best we can. As a matter of fact we have one in Victoria Texas asking what do astronauts like to do for fun. That's a good question Juan as a matter of fact the astronauts have a lot of things they like to do for fun when they have some free time. By far and away their favorite pastime is looking out the window they have in the space station and the orbiter at the Earth and the universe. As I mentioned earlier they get to see 16 of those sunsets and sunrises every day. They have lots of beautiful views. And they can also take up books and spend time reading. They can keep up communications with their families via e-mail. They can write journals and they can listen to CDs. They can watch movies and they can also work out to and get some exercise. By far and away their favorite activities are watching the views go by.

I want to welcome Florence Nightingale Middle school. There is a question from Emily. Why did you design the international space station to be so large? The international space station is about two football fields in length and one football field wide. We have a lot of solar panels to collect energy so that we can power air conditioning, environmental systems, computers, pumps, and a lot of other electrical systems. Underneath these panels there are tubes, which are modules, made by different countries, and brought up by the shuttle orbiter and attached. They are put together kind of like tinker toys. They can be detached and brought back down. The modules accommodate research, living accommodations, scientific laboratories, and power system. This station is designed to provide space for all of these activities. This space enables the astronauts to live and work safely.

We have another question from David he asks if the international space station malfunctions what sort of equipment to you has to return safely to earth.

Cheri: We do have a way to get our astronauts back safely. The Russian Soyuz spacecraft can seat up to three astronauts. The astronauts can get into the module very quickly and escape back to the Earth.

The screen shows a picture of the Soyuz capsule.

If you ever have the chance to tour the Johnson Space Center you can see a model of the space capsule. We do have a plan to implement the X33 crew return vehicle, which will replace the Soyuz capsule.

This screen shows a video of the X33 descending and deploying its parachute to land.

The X33 can hold up to seven passengers. It can be ready to leave the station in two minutes for a return to Earth in an emergency. When and the X 33 is ready this station can have a larger crew. It has the world's largest parafoil. You can see it here and it skids and lands. The screen shows Cheri and Chris. Chris: That's really kind of neat to see how it works. It's exciting to think that this is being engineered here at the Johnson Space Center. Hopefully it will be deployed in 2005 or 2006 arrive.

I have a question here from Alysio. What are some of the precautions we need to take for the international space station program?

The screen shows Cheri.

Cheri: Well Alysio, that's a good question. We have a lot of safety and security things implemented in the space station. For example, first aid kits in case there are some minor injuries, and there are fire extinguishers all over the space station in case of fire. Several systems have been built into the space station to monitor the atmosphere in case there is a change and the integrity of the exterior for safety. There are many processes built into the space station to insure a safe environment.

Chris: Alahandra asks how long will the crew remain on the international space at space station?

Cheri: We have a new crew going up tomorrow at 6:21 p.m. Central time. It takes a few days for and the shuttle to catch up with the international space station the crew goes up for three or four months at a time entirely on their own. They work and live until they return to Earth.

Chris: Matt wants to know how high up in space are the international space station.

Cheri: Now if you can remember I mentioned before that the space station is 220 miles above the Earth.

Cheri holds up a global of the Earth. She moves her finger about 2 in. above the globe came.

Cheri says it isn't really very high at all.

The screen shows Cheri and Chris.

Chris says we have another question from Johnson Middle school. They ask how many people can fit on the international space station. There are two answers to this question and one for now and one for the future.

The screen goes to Cheri.

Cheri: That's right. As I mentioned before the crew escaped vehicle only holds three people right now. Future designs of the crew return vehicle will hold up to seven passengers.

This screen shows Chris and Cheri.

Chris: Sherry is asking the question now. She asks do the astronauts have to wait for mail delivery.

The screen shows Cheri.

Cheri: Another good question. The astronauts like to hear from their friends and family while they are the board the space station. They are in constant communication with mission control on the ground and Johnson Space Center via radio they used e-mail to stay in touch with their friends. Some of the astronauts are ham radio operators and they communicate with friends on the Earth via ham radio.

The screen shows Chris and Cheri.

Chris: I have another question here from Danielle George and David. They ask how many people are involved in the construction of the international space station.

There are only seven astronauts on the international space station at most. There are supported by hundreds of people here at Mission Control and Johnson Space Center. And thousands of people working to build the systems and maintain the systems for the international space station.

Chris: Rose has a question here. She is asking how many different crews have lived on the international space station.

Cheri: Great question Rose. The first crew was the expedition one crew made up of three astronauts. Then they came back home and as the expedition to astronauts also three persons on the space station. Then they came back home in the expedition three astronauts also three. Persons and they are on the space station right now. So far only three crews have lived on the international space station for almost one year. As we mentioned earlier the extradition for crew is going on the shuttle to the space station tomorrow evening. May be one day you can be a crewmember on the 20 expedition.

Chris: Now we have another question from Blanca. She asks how many experiments are being done on the international space station.

Cheri: I don't know exactly how many experiments are being done on the international space station. I know that they are being monitored through Marshall Space Flight Center. Their web site if you are interested in further information is science.nasa.gov/ They have very detailed information about all of the science and research being done on the international space station.

Chris: Here's a question from Joanna and Albert from Florence Nightingale Middle school. They asked how the research being done on the international space station would help mankind in the future.

Cheri: Part of that answer as to do with biomedical research. They can grow crystals on the international space station that have a purer quality and can help treat some of the illnesses it here on Earth. Scientists are looking at some special kinds of materials as well. We have a lot of benefits from the international space station. The smoke detectors we in the homes are one invention of the space program. The medical technology used by the doctor when he looks in your a ear or down your throat was developed by the space program. When you do extreme sports and wear a helmet and kneepads the materials used in the space program developed the manufacture of this protective equipment. In fact we have over 20,000 technology spin-offs developed by the space program. Some examples are the M R I, the CAT scan and others.

Chris: It's kind of interesting how we take for granted the technologies developed by the space station. If you look around you the plastics, the materials, the telephone and so many things benefited from space station technology.

Now Josh has a question. Josh asks how fast the space shuttle can travel.

Cheri: This space shuttle travels at a very fast speed of 17,500 mi. per hour.

The screen shows Cheri holding up an inflated Globe and an inflated space shuttle.

Cheri: This speed keeps the shuttle in orbit of the Earth. At this be the shuttle is in a constant state of free-fall orbiting the earth. Let me explain what I mean by a constant state of free-fall.

The screen shows a cartoon of a girl in a glass elevator. The girl is holding an apple in her hand. It appears that the elevator cable has snapped the elevator car is descending the girl is floating in the elevator car and the Apple is floating out of her hand.

The girl obviously weighs more than the Apple and the elevator weighs more than the girl. They are all descending at the same rate.

This screen shows a video of an astronaut floating in the space shuttle.

This is exactly what is happening in space. The space shuttle and the space station are all falling towards earth at a constant rate. That is what gives the appearance of the floating but actually they are all falling at the same rate. The screen shows a cartoon of the shuttle descending of around the Earth in space. This gives the appearance of floating in space but what you actually see is free-fall constant state of free-fall.

Chris: Now Tina is asking a question. Why is the international space station so big when it can only hold six or seven people.

The international space station has two very large solar panels. The need to be this size because they're not very efficient at gathering energy. The modules must fit in the payload section of the shuttle. Together they can hold both living and sections and laboratory spaces.

It is very expensive to get these modules into space. We cannot afford to put a whole city in but space.

We have a new question from Francis. How many astronauts does it take to do an experiment?

The screen shows Cheri.

Cheri: I'm going to be guessing maybe some experiments require only one astronaut to monitor the experiment occasionally. Maybe some other experiments require more than one astronauts attention or participation in order to monitor the experiment 24 hours a day. We can conclude that it depends upon the experiment was there one or more astronauts will be involved in monitoring the results.

Chris: Now we have two related questions the first one is from Raquel she's a freshman in high school and says she has always dreamed of being an astronaut and wonders what class's she should take to prepare herself for a restaurant to become a astronauts.

The second question is from Nathan and he wonders how old do you have to be to be a NASA astronaut.

Cheri: There is no minimum age requirement to become an astronaut. However, there are lots of educational requirements. In high school you need to be thinking about going to college. You need to have a four-year college degree in math or the sciences. Astronaut candidates must pass the physical exam. There are lots of other requirements as well if you are interested I suggest to visit the Web site at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov Under the reference section you can find other requirements such is the height requirements and so forth.

Chris: Now Ann is asking what happens if one of the astronauts get sick on the New international space station?

Cheri: Frequently one of the astronauts has a medical background or training. All of the astronauts are trained in first aid. There is also an extensive medical facility available on this space station. However if this was not sufficient to treat a medical emergency the astronauts could return using the Soyuz capsule or the crew return vehicle in the future. You might consider becoming the medical doctor you're interested in being an astronaut.

Chris: Now Jason is asking a question. Would you receive a more solar energy on the international space station or on Earth?

Cheri: If you we were comparing the same area of solar collection on the international space station and on the Earth this space station would receive more solar energy because the atmosphere absorbs some of the solar energy, which could be collected on the Earth.

Chris: Emily is asking how large is the international space station.

Cheri: We have answered a similar question before. However if you go to the web site which shows where the international space station is compared to where you are on Earth, you'll notice that you can actually find the international space station in the night sky without binoculars. It is the second brightest object in the night sky. It has an H shape.

Chris: Now we have a question from Fairly, Vermont they are asking when will the international space station be finished and will we ever enlarge it.

The international space station will take about five more years to complete because there are so many pieces to be carried by the space shuttle up to this space station. So now it is almost 2002 will and we have about five more years to complete the construction of the space station. This space station will continue to grow larger with the addition of each module.

Chris: We have a question from Stephanie and Myrna; they're asking when you are studying plants on the international space station how long does it take for the plants to grow.

Cheri: I am not sure of the exact details regarding plant research. I know that we as studying how to grow plants in space is order to grow food for researchers on the space station to eat. It is not exactly as simple to grow plants in space as it is here on Earth. You cannot use your watering can because the water would float into the air that and not even reach the roots of the plants.

Chris: I was visiting another building here at Johnson Space Center. They were doing plant research. They were trying to learn ways to trick the plants. Because there is no gravity in space they were trying to fool the plants into having their roots grow down instead of all over the place.

Chris: Now Sebastian has a question from Florence Nightingale Middle School Grade 6. He asks when did the international space station first begin. Cheri: We launched the first model, the Zaire module in 1998.

Chris: Now Cecilia is asking a question, isn't it true that the astronauts are awakened each day with music?

Cheri: It is true that the astronauts wake up each day to music. Sometimes the music is chosen by Mission Control and sometimes friends or family of the astronauts requests the music. Sometimes a husband or wife of an astronaut made chose a special song to let the astronauts know they are remembered at home.

Chris: Jason is asking if there is a problem with the escape pod how will the astronauts return to Earth?

Cheri: Jason we have built a great deal of redundancy into the international space station so if one computer fails there is a backup system which can even diagnose what caused the first computer to fail. There is a second back up Soyuz capsule here on Earth, which can be launched in an emergency. There is also lots of emergency equipment for fire fighting, and for repairs to the international space station.

Chris: Alejandra is asking how long will crew No. 4 stay on the international space station?

Cheri: I would have to check the schedule to see exactly how long the crewmembers for will be on the space station. You can check at spaceflight.nasa.gov The average stay on the international space station is about four months.

Chris: Now John asks how much will the international space station cost when it is completed?

Cheri: I don't know the answer to that off the top of my head. However this information is available on the web site.

Chris: Now the question is from Kevin and Edward at the Florence Nightingale Middle school. How far has the space shuttle gone in space?

Cheri: I do not know what the maximum altitude is that the space shuttle has reached.

Chris: Austin asks can you play sports or games in space? We have just a revised the program called some toys in space. I tried to play with four other students hockey, soccer and lacrosse here on Earth. We are going to ask the astronauts to try and play these sports on the international space station. It will be interesting to see the results.

Cheri: On the web site you can see some videos of the astronauts playing in space. You can see them doing somersaults running around the walls and playing with balls.

Chris: The member countries of the international space station will be sending cultural toys from their countries to be played with in microgravity as well.

Now Kayla has a question. How does it feel to be in micro gravity?

Cheri: That's a good question Kayla, many people wonder if it feel like you're falling all the time because you are in a constant state of free-fall. The screen shows a video of astronauts floating in space. It takes about 48 hours for the astronauts to become acclimated to the micro gravity environment.

This screen here shows and the astronauts floating.

Cheri: Some of the physical changes that the astronauts this experience are that their faces tend to become puffy because the fluids and float to the upper part of their bodies. Their lakes tend to get very scanty. This is called the bird leg syndrome. Also that there news is can to field all little stuffy.

I want to think you Chris for joining us here today who and also thank all of the classrooms out in Internet land for sending in the great questions they did today.

On behalf of the outpost distance learning Center here at Johnson Space Center and NASA Quest at NASA Ames Research Center I'd like to thank you for joining us and hope that you join us again in the future!