100 Days in Space – International Space Station Travel Bug Mission Update

GISfor Interview

“What does your food taste like?” Students from Tinker School in Waterbury, Connecticut ask astronaut Rick Mastracchio and get the answer straight from space.

Mastracchio says: “We have all kinds of food here on the space station. Most of the food has all the air and water removed to make it smaller and lighter. Then when we want to eat it we add water to it and it returns to its original form and shape. It does not taste as good as the food you have at home but it is pretty good.”

spacecaching2schoolpics

Almost 100 days ago geocachers at more than 1100 events across the globe cheered a Travel Bug as it rocketed toward the International Space Station. Now the Travel Bug has circled the Earth many times (How many times a day? Find the answer here) and made up a mind blowing distance of more than 40 million miles.  More than 1200 posts have been logged so far on the Travel Bug page, as classrooms ask questions and Mastracchhio (Geocaching name AstroRM) answers them from zero-gravity.

Also dangling in zero-gravity are hitchhikes attached to the famous Travel Bug. There’s a hitchhiker for each of the schools following Rick’s adventure from the Travel Bug page. It’s been so popular additional hitchhikers have been flown to the space station on supply missions. Each of the current schools will receive one of the Travel Bug hitchhikers once Rick returns to Earth in May of this year.
Check out the Q&A with Astronaut Rick Mastracchio here. This is a great resource for teachers to bring to their classroom and anyone interested to learn about life on the ISS, geography and science. For the visual learner, have a look at the Pinterest board or check out the gallery on the trackable details page.

installing telescope

Do you or your students have questions about space travel, that have not been answered yet? Post them on the Travel Bug details page! Let us know what school you are from, the grade, city, state and country!

When I'm outside I'm happy. Besides geocaching I love gardening, hiking, cooking and spending time with my wonderful two and four legged friends. Got eight legs? Sorry, but please stay far away from me!