Updated on Wednesday, January 07, 2009, 00:00 IST

Guwahati, Jan 07: NASA astronaut Edward Michael 'mike' Fincke onboard the ISS on Wednesday won the hearts of Assamese school students here when he spoke in their native tongue during a rare live interaction from the space lab.

"Moi alop kobo paru" (I can speak a little),' Fincke, who is married to an Assamese Renita Saikia, said when asked if could speak Assamese.

Fincke, who is learning Assamese during his space stint, won a loud round of applause from the students of Assam Jatiya Vidyalalya during a telephonic interaction from International Space Station (ISS) organised by Friends of Assam and Seven Sisters (FASS), an organisation of non-resident Assamese, in coordination with NASA.

Fincke's wife Renita also works at NASA and her parents had left for USA several decades ago.

Replying to queries from curious students, Fincke, who is also the commander of the current expedition 18 mission of the ISS, said the members eat normal food like hamburgers and sausages on the spaceship but they "are mostly packed food, prepared on ground but we do heat these sometimes".

"Water on the spaceship is used just like back in the planet but we recycle both water and urine," Fincke answered.

He and two of his other associates inside the space ship, however, cannot take bath due to zero gravity and they only swab themselves, besides wearing absorbent clothing.

They are also fortunate to see 16 sunrises and sets during the course of 24-hours as it completes 19 rotation during this period with one cycle taking 90 minutes.

In a similar interaction in 2007, audience in Delhi too had an opportunity to talk to Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams when she was onboard ISS.

Bureau Report