Students speak to Space Station commander

Three Heathwood Hall students were among a group of 13 South Carolina schoolchildren who had a once-in-a-lifetime experience at the SC State Museum: a live radio interview with an astronaut aboard the International Space Station. Just before 10:00 on November 30, Emily Carson, Stephen Clifton and Jamie Crenshaw spoke directly with Commander Frank Culbertson (pictured above, center) via a HAM radio link as the Space Station flew over Hawaii. Heathwood's entire 8th-grade class attended the event, accompanied by teachers and several parents, and overheard a lively student-astronaut Q&A session until the Station's orbit took it past Hawaii and radio contact was lost. Among the questions: How much do you exercise? What's it like eating food from foil pouches? What are your thoughts about the Sept. 11 tragedy? How often do you talk to your family? and Do you have artificial gravity onboard the Space Station?