CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- The crew of the international space station joined Steven Spielberg and Universal Studios Florida on Tuesday in celebrating the 20th anniversary of the film "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial."

One of the 28 school children gathered at Universal Studios Florida's E.T. Adventure attraction in Orlando asked the astronauts how long it would take to get to E.T.'s home.

"As far as we understand it, the green planet is 3 million light years away," astronaut Daniel Bursch replied. "Using the engines, technology, that we have today, it will only take about 75 billion years to get there. But hopefully, we'll be going a little bit faster soon."

Spielberg, joining them in a phone call from Los Angeles, said there will never be a sequel to "E.T." But the director noted that allowing movie fans to ride the E.T. Adventure and to talk with orbiting astronauts "is absolutely an incredible sequel or follow-up to any film."

"Take care of yourselves up there," Spielberg told the three men aboard the space station. "And thanks for helping E.T. phone home again and for providing celestial guidance to his home planet."