Long-Distance Chat

Edward Michael Fincke

Age: 37Hometown: Emsworth, Pa.

Family: wife, Renita; one child

Education: Degrees in aeronautics, astronautics and earth sciences from MIT, Stanford and University of Houston

Career: Joined NASA astronaut program in 1996; lieutenant colonel, U.S. Air Force; space systems and flight test engineer — —– BLOOMINGTON — Blaise McNeese, 11, was curious what astronauts do for fun, so he asked.

Evan Allen, 10, wanted to know what an astronaut misses most in outer space, so he asked.

Both were a bit surprised by the out-of-this-world answers they got Monday from American astronaut Mike Fincke.

Fincke is orbiting the Earth with a Russian cosmonaut aboard the International Space Station. Thanks to an amateur radio hookup, a dozen students participated in a question-and-answer session with Fincke at the Challenger Learning Center, Bloomington.

For fun in space, Fincke said he liked to watch planet Earth and read books.

“I thought he was going to say he played games on the computer,” said Blaise, a sixth-grader from Bloomington.

Evan, meanwhile, heard Fincke say he misses fried chicken. The astronaut, who has been in space nearly four months, eats a lot of freeze-dried food.

“It was one of the most exciting things I’ve done. It was really cool,” said Blaise, a son of Jill and Dennis McNeese.

For his second question, Blaise asked what tools Fincke and cosmonaut Gennady Padalka use in space.

“I was surprised to hear they use most of the same tools (wrenches and screwdrivers) that we do,” Blaise said.

This could be useful information to Evan, a son of Jeni and Jay Allen, of Bloomington. He said he would like to be a pilot or astronaut someday.

Chase Southwood likewise wants either to fly in space or teach when he grows up.

Space exploration is important, Chase said, because “the more we know the better off we are.” Chase, a sixth-grader, is a son of Tonya and Klayton Southwood of Bloomington.

All the students who asked questions Monday had attended space adventure camps at the center this summer.

The center is a not-for-profit organization offering interactive space mission simulations for students and the public. It uses the former Central Illinois Regional Airport terminal.

It ran its first simulated space mission, geared for students in fifth through eighth grades, early this year.

Norm Wingler, president of Prairie Aviation Museum, which worked with the learning center and Central Illinois Radio Club to make Monday’s hookup possible, was among those observing the question- and-answer session.

“These kids will remember this day forever,” he said.