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ISS News

Opening Access To Space A Bit Further

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
May 19, 2021
Filed under
Opening Access To Space A Bit Further

Students to Sign and Speak to NASA, ESA Astronauts in Orbit, NASA
“Space-savvy students from across the nation who are deaf, blind, hearing and visually impaired and their mentors will have a unique opportunity this week to connect with astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The Earth-to-space call will air live at 10:40 a.m. EDT Wednesday, May 19, on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.”
Keith’s note: I am certainly happy to see this. FWIW I spent a decade employed as a professional Sign Language interpreter – so I have a keen interest in things like this. in 2011 I noticed that the images and video of Robonaut-2 on the ISS certainly looked like it was signing or at least capable of doing so. So I posted a suggestion that they might program it to speak some ASL and reach an audience among taxpayers that is usually over looked. On 13 March 2012, Robonaut-2 said “hello world” in American Sign Language (ASL). I am told that the idea for this came from my suggestion posted on NASA Watch. How cool. Alas, the @AstroRobonaut tweet NASA PAO put out said “Did you catch that? I don’t have a voice, but I sent you a message — Hello world … in sign language!” Um, news flash: hearing impaired people certainly have voices and they speak using ASL – so Robonaut-2 had a voice and was speaking. Just sayin’
Back in 2010 NASA was making frequent mention of Tracy Caldwell Dyson’s knowledge of ASL. She even recorded a video in orbit. So I responded to an offer from NASA PAO for the media to interview her in orbit and offered to conduct the interview partially in ASL. I suggested that we’d tape my side at NASA. NASA PAO declined my request – no reason given. Oh well. BTW the first signed message from orbit was done by Bill Readdy on STS-42 in 1992.
FWIW if you sign while weightless in just the right way you can exert a gyroscopic effect on your body orientation. I did it on a ZeroG flight. I also signed a short phrase while pulling 6.2Gs in a centrifuge. A very, very short phrase.
Update: a video of the even is now online below:

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

3 responses to “Opening Access To Space A Bit Further”

  1. Todd Austin says:
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    This is good to see. I hope that they graduate from this to providing for live Q&A for kids with various disabilities, just as they already do for kids without communication disabilities. ASL & CART support should also always just be a given, not something for a special event only.

  2. Moonman1969 says:
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    If all NASA does is a quick downlink/q&a session with some students, then I suspect that means they are just looking to keep the NASA name in the news. If NASA were serious about establishing some real activities with the disability community then there would be plenty of projects to pursue and some people to assign. NASA is just taking the easy way out.

    • Brian_M2525 says:
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      Disappointing but not a new situation. You have to remember back a few years to “The Year of Education on Station”. They were going to have several actually trained teachers on ISS and at the last minute NASA ‘leadership’ decided they ought to do something educational. This was when they implemented the several times a week Q&A sessions between astronauts and student classes. There were proposals for more, like lessons, with lesson plans, supporting resources…..but the leadership decided that was too difficult, so they didn’t.