CSULB
students interview space station astronauts
By
Jack Schneider
On-line Forty-Niner
Two
students from the Cal State Long Beach American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
chapter were given the chance to interview
astronauts from the International Space
Station last Thursday.
Chosen
by the institute and NASA, Ashley Carter
and Jeffery Tai asked questions regarding
the careers of astronauts Ed Lu and Yuri
Malenchenko.
Eric
Besnard, advisor to the chapter said interviewing
the astronauts was an exclusive event that
was open to only a select amount of students.
"Only
a handful of students from different schools
were selected to ask questions," Besnard
said. "This is the first year we participated
in this event."
Besnard
said major universities such as USC or UCLA
did not participate in the event.
Only
14 students from CSULB, Lakewood High School
and The U.S. Air Force Academy were given
the opportunity to ask one question for
each student, Carter said.
"Jeff
and I were only able to ask one question
each," Carter said. "Jeff's question
was to [astronaut] Ed Lu, 'What person on
the ground crew could you not do without
and why?' My question was to [cosmonaut]
Yuri Malenchenko, 'what advice can you give
a student who wants a career in the space
industry?'"
Liu
said each of the questions asked by the
students dealt with educational and career
paths toward becoming an astronaut.
The
interview lasted 20 minutes due to the timeframe
available due to the ISS's orbit of the
Earth, Carter said.
Before
Carter and Tai could ask questions, Besnard
said rehearsals had to go be done getting
responses from the spacemen.
"The
questions were scripted by AIAA and NASA,"
Besnard said. "There was some script
in the process. [Carter and Tai] practiced
and went on NASA-TV."
After
the conference, Tai said he has a better
outlook on getting a job due to the entire
experience.
"I
do feel that I have a better chance of getting
a job in the aerospace industry after the
conference," Tai said. "This is
not because of the ISS interview, but more
from the other events of the conference."
The
college of engineering held a display in
the Education Hall at the conference in
which AIAA president Alan Mulally came up
and spoke to faculty and students.
Although Carter said her chances of getting
a job in the aerospace field might not have
improved, she was glad to have participated
in the session with the spacemen.
"While
I don't know if this experience has increased
my chances of getting into the aerospace
field, I do know that it has definitely
heightened my interest in it," Carter
said. "The entire Space 2003 conference
has increased my interests in the field.
I feel very lucky to have been involved
in the conference and to meet and talk to
new and important people in the field."
Tai
said he feels was one of the most important
parts of the conference was talking to Malenchenko
while in orbit.
The
actual experience of the interview was one
of the highlights of the conference,"
Tai said. "It is a rare opportunity
to speak to people in orbit, even within
the space industry."
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