The three astronauts currently living aboard the
International Space Station are more than mere space explorers. They're also dedicated
fathers working hard to keep in touch with their families while on the ultimate
work trip 200 miles above planet Earth.
Expedition 19 commander Gennady
Padalka, a Russian cosmonaut, and flight engineers Michael Barratt of NASA
and Koichi Wakata of Japan have all left important people back on Earth.
Barratt, a first-time spaceflyer, spoke
to his wife and each of his five children on March 28, shortly
after arriving at the orbiting laboratory, which will be his home for about
six months.
"Happy anniversary, and thanks for letting me do all
this," he told his wife Michelle, since the occasion happened to be their
wedding anniversary. "It was an awfully fun ride. I know we're going to
miss you all but it's going to be a terrific 200 days up here."
Barratt's daughter Meeta told her father she was really
proud of him, and then admonished him, "Don't break anything!"
"I'll try not to," he responded with a laugh.
Family at heart
Astronauts have said that the
separation from their families and friends during long space missions, and
during the even longer training periods on Earth, is one of the hardest parts
of their jobs.
Barratt told reporters that
talking to his family from space was a moving experience.
"I have two daughters
and three sons to go with them and it was just wonderful to hear their voices
up here," he said. "I think that they all sweated along with me during
these years of training, and I think they've all had a pretty good idea of what
it all meant to me before I launched. But seeing the launch actually, and
seeing me come through the docking hatch and meeting people that they also know
up here — we've all gotten to know each other and are great friends — I think
it was incredibly meaningful for both of us. "
Aboard the space station,
astronauts have an Internet Protocol phone to call their families whenever they
have time, and can also communicate through video links and e-mail.
Padalka, a veteran spaceflyer, has
three daughters — Yulia, Ekaterina and Sonya — with wife Irina.
After arriving for his second tour of duty on the ISS,
Padalka spoke to one of his girls. "I already miss you. I love you, my
sweet little girl," he said in Russian.
"Say hi to all the crewmembers," his daughter
responded, according to a translator. "Hugs and kisses, Dad."
Wakata, who is serving as his nation's first long-duration
astronaut, has one son, age 10, with his wife Stefanie.
Astronauts in the past have occasionally had to miss
important family events going on back home.
In 2004, NASA astronaut Michael Fincke was orbiting the Earth
as an Expedition 9 flight engineer when his second child, daughter Tarali, was
born. He spoke to his wife by telephone during the delivery, but had to wait
until he landed four months later to meet his daughter for the first time.
Fincke recently completed his second tour of duty on the
space station as Expedition 18's commander, and landed
safely in Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on Wednesday.
In December 2007, NASA astronaut Daniel Tani's 90-year-old mother
died in an auto accident while he was completing a long-duration stay on
the space station. The astronaut had to grieve from more than 200 miles away in
orbit, until he came back to Earth about two months later.
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