Astronaut recounts tales of expedition Astronaut recounts tales of expedition (April 15, 2005)

Kids find out what its like on the Space Station Kids find out what its like on the Space Station (April 15, 2005)

By Kathy Schrenk

Michael Fincke was 2-years-old when Americans landed on the moon. That was when he started dreaming of being an astronaut.

Last year that dream came true, as Fincke spent six months on the International Space Station with Russian astronaut Gennady Padalka.

That's part of the story that Fincke shared with local school kids this week at NASA Ames Research Center and at his alma matter, Stanford University. "Dreams can come true," he said. "Through hard work and luck, I got there."

Fincke, who said he loves talking to school kids, is traveling around the country sharing stories about his months on the Space Station. He and Padalka were part of Expedition 9, the latest pair to work on the 7-year-old station, which is about half-built, Fincke said.

Just about everything he and Padalka did on the space station was exciting, but the four space walks Fincke completed were some of the major highlights.

His first space walk was an unplanned expedition to fix the power supply on a gyroscope, which helps the station maintain proper position.

Fincke "walked" hand-over-hand across the station wearing a Russian space suit and using American tools, a first for space flight, he said. That space walk was an exciting moment, Fincke said, but he had to be very focused, because there was so much to do and he didn't want to make mistakes or slow things down.

His fourth and final walk was a chance to "smell the roses," he said. The station was over the Pacific Ocean at the time, and Fincke got a breathtaking view of a typhoon formed over the water. "I was able to look out and really appreciate what we were doing."

Fincke and Padlka kept busy much of the time working on science experiments to further test people's and objects' reaction to space and weightlessness.

Fincke and Padalka experimented on each other using an ultrasound machine to measure bone loss. Scientists know that astronauts' bone density goes down during flight, but they've never before had pictures of the changes that occur, Fincke said. Based on the images Fincke and Padalka took, doctors can work on exercises and medicines to minimize bone loss.

"We're learning all these things so when we go to Mars and have lunar bases we have some more tools to keep people healthy," Fincke said. Another project involved soldering joints on some equipment to see how the repairs would hold up.

Until recently, broken equipment on a space flight would be sent back to Earth for repair. But with astronauts spending more time in space and with hopes of getting further out into space, NASA is working on ways to make repairs in space.

"Liquids behave differently in space," Fincke said. Bubbles in the liquid metal boil off when soldering on Earth, but those bubbles might remain in the space joints, he said.

When the Space Shuttle flies again for the first time since the 2003 Columbia disaster in a several weeks, as hoped, astronauts will bring back the equipment that was soldered to see if bubbles have resulted in weak spots.

Fincke hopes to be back in space in a few years. In the meantime, he plans to spend lots of time with his family -- including his second child, a daughter who was born while he was on the space station.
E-mail Kathy Schrenk at kschrenk@mv-voice.com.

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