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Space Station Astronauts Talk with Troops in Iraq

   VOA News 29 December 2009
   US  forces  in  Iraq  speak with 2 NASA astronauts aboard the ISS in a
   video downlink aired on NASA TV, 29 Dec 2009

Photo: NASA

   US  forces  in  Iraq  speak with 2 NASA astronauts aboard the ISS in a
   video  downlink  aired  on  NASA  TV  about life on the station, their
   military  careers  and  what  it  is like to live in space for up to 6
   months, 29 Dec 2009

   Two U.S. astronauts aboard the International Space Station have held a
   question-and-answer  session  with  soldiers in Iraq, saying their own
   Army  experience  has  helped  them  face the challenges of working in
   space.
   Space  Station  Commander  Jeff Williams, a retired U.S. Army colonel,
   and  Flight  Engineer  T.J.  Creamer, a colonel who is the Army's NASA
   detachment  commander,  talked  to a group of U.S. forces stationed in
   Baghdad via a NASA satellite connection Tuesday.
   The  two  astronauts  compared  their experiences on the space station
   with  those of the soldiers. Like troops, the astronauts said they are
   separated  from  their  families  for  long  periods, have bonded with
   people  they  are living with, and struggled at times with a different
   language spoken by counterparts.
   Williams  has been on the space station since October. Creamer arrived
   at the outpost earlier this month for a five-month mission.

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