Astronauts reply to questions posed by fourth graders from Karachi
Crossed their fingers and shot for the stars.
A group of fourth graders from The Cornerstone School Karachi were overwhelmed with excitement as they posed questions for crew members aboard for the orbit and beyond and actually got a reply!
Using Twitter to spread the message across NASA, Aimun, a teacher at their school, asked the audience to help gain traction on her post.
"We read about you in all your books and are fascinated by your adventure in space. We really admire your work and have some questions for you, eagerly waiting for your reply," the little ones said.
Soon, more than 2000 people were sharing it, and the astronauts tagged, ended up replying.
10-year-old Alisha: What fuel does a spaceship use?
"Alisha - All different types! Some popular rockets that you'll see will use a fuel + an oxidizer," replied Emily Calandrelli, an American science communicator and the host of Xploration Outer Space.
"For example, something called RP-1 and then liquid oxygen. These are combined together and then ignited and burned to create a big (controlled) explosion that moves the rocket!."
10-year-old Minahil: What should I study to become a part of NASA?
"NASA needs all types of people for their missions! Mostly scientists and engineers (so studying a STEM degree is a good idea!) but also IT people, human resources specialists, accountants, technicians, writers, etc! But remember you will probably need to be a US citizen."
10-year-old Mahrukh: How do you feel when you get blasted off in a space shuttle?
"Mahrukh, I flew in the Space Shuttle twice. You feel violently shaken, squished, super-focused, excited and lucky," said Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield.
Rayyan, age 10: Do you get scared that your space shuttle might get lost?
"Rayyan - I wasn't scared we'd get lost. We had the Earth nearby, and used the stars to steer. I felt especially comforted when I flew over home. Here's a photo I took of Karachi - can you find your school?" he asked.
The reactions!
Aimun then took to Twitter to share how she had wrapped the answers in formal envelopes for an official delivery to the students.
At first the students couldn't believed it.
And then they danced with joy!
While the little ones are ecstatic over their replies, we can feel the energy blooming all the way till here. Need more teachers like Aimun in this world.
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