Canadian astronaut Dave Williams took some time out from his busy schedule in space on Monday to speak with a handful of students on planet Earth below -- specifically, La Ronge, northern Saskatchewan.
Williams, from Saskatoon, and two other crew members on Space Shuttle Endeavour spent 20 minutes answering more than a dozen questions from schoolchildren via video link.
The starry-eyed students wanted to know everything from how to stay oriented while walking in space, to why astronauts "grow'' on missions.
"We were told that because there's very little gravity in space, the vertebrae on an astronaut's body separate, and they actually get taller. How much taller do you get?" asked seventh-grader Tiara Slingerland.
Williams said he and his fellow crew members "elongated'' by about an inch-and-a-half during the trip.
"You know, if I maintained this height when I got back on the ground, I might actually be able to play basketball reasonably well,'' he said.
Eleven-year-old sixth-grader Josh Bull, the youngest student to take part in Monday's chat, asked Williams how he knew which way was down during a spacewalk.
"In space, you know, we love to say that there is no up and there is no down,'' Williams replied. "I've learned, for myself anyway, that up is always wherever my head is.''
Williams performed three walks during the mission, setting a Canadian record by topping astronaut Chris Hadfield, who performed two spacewalks in 2001.
Williams spent 17 hours, 47 minutes outside the space station during his three spacewalks, bettering Hadfield's total spacewalk time of 14 hours and 56 minutes.
Williams also earned the distinction of floating freely in space for longer than any other Canadian.
Endeavour's trip was scheduled to end a day early because Hurricane Dean, which whipped up into a Category 5 storm on Monday night, was threatening Mission Control's Houston home. While the threat to the U.S. has diminished, space officials didn't want to take chances.
NASA said the preliminary weather forecast looked good for Tuesday's planned early afternoon touchdown at Kennedy Space Center. The main concern appeared to be a possibility of stiff crosswinds.
"Will the hurricane affect how you would prepare the shuttle your landing?" ninth-grader Natasha Boyes asked shuttle commander Scott Kelly.
Kelly said it hadn't, other than it forced them to undock from the international space station a day early on Sunday.
"The hurricane is now heading toward Mexico and it's unfortunate for the people of Mexico that it is going there, but for us what that means is, even though we undocked a day early, we might not have to get home on Tuesday as urgently as we did before,'' said Kelly.
Before signing off Monday, Williams talked about his Saskatchewan roots and reminded the students that anything is possible if they work hard.
"I'm very proud of my Saskatchewan heritage and, for those of you who are sitting in the audience looking at this today thinking about the possibility of doing what we're able to do, remember that I was once in your shoes and I never thought that my dream would be able to become possible,'' he said.
"But with a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck, patience and persistence, who knows what dreams can come true.''
With reports from CTV's Kelland Sundahl in La Ronge, Sask. and the Canadian Press
