Photo by Julianna Leopold

CUMMING—On Sept. 30, Pinecrest Academy students participated in a question-and-answer session with NASA astronaut Col. Mike Fincke aboard the International Space Station.  

The live contact was part of the school’s selection in the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station program, which connects students directly with astronauts to promote science and engineering education.  

Students asked about the realities of living and working in orbit, including how astronauts eat, sleep and communicate with family while in space.  

The session invited curiosity and wonder, helping students further understand space. The questions and answers follow:  

TERESSA SLOAN, SECOND GRADE: How do you sleep in space? 

COL. MIKE FINCKE: In space, we don’t really feel that there’s an up or down. So, I actually have a very tiny room where I sleep standing up because I can’t lay down in it.And I sleep in a sleeping bag, and it’s great.  

LIANA GRIGORYAN, EIGHTH GRADE: Is your food rationed, or can you eat as much as you want? 

FINCKE: The answer is both. They give us a certain amount of food, but it’s so much that we can eat as much as we want.  

HENRY SCHAFER, 12TH GRADE: I once heard that we could be on Mars around 2035. Is that still a reasonable timeline? 

Col. Mike Fincke, astronaut, spoke to Pinecrest students Sept. 30. Photo by Robert Markowitz/NASA

FINCKE: It could be you on Mars someday, you never know, or some of your classmates. In any case, I think that’s a reasonable timeline, but it’s going to be very tough. So, we need all the engineers and scientists we can get.  

ELIZABETH NOLAN, THIRD GRADE: What is your favorite space food? 

FINCKE: We love tortillas. Tortillas are the best plates that you can eat up in space. So, we put a lot of our food into tortillas and just eat it. It’s one of my favorite spacefoods.  

ANNAMARIE CLEMENTS, EIGHTH GRADE: What does it feel like to be in microgravity? 

FINCKE: It’s great to be in microgravity. You feel normal, except you can fly.  

ELIZABETH WASHBURN, NINTH GRADE: What happens if you get sick in space? 

FINCKE: We try not to get sick in space, so we get a lot of medical tests before we fly. And when we’re up here, we all have medical training, we’re not doctors, but we can help each other. And then we can always call for help to our doctor friends on the ground.  

BEN BARTON, FOURTH GRADE: How long does it take to get to the International Space Station?  

FINCKE: Great question. It all depends on when we launch. For us on the Dragon Crew-11, we launched and in 14 hours we were docking to the space station.  

VAL LANCHEROS, EIGHTH GRADE: How is it living in such close proximity to coworkers? 

FINCKE: I come from a big family, so it seems like I’m still in a big family. But, we have such a great crew that I really like working in close proximity with my crewmates.   

ALICIA SALAZAR, NINTH GRADE: What systems of your body are most affected by the lack of gravity, and how do you mitigate the effects of exposure to microgravity? 

FINCKE: Our bones and muscles deteriorate rapidly if we don’t exercise. So, we mitigate it by exercising every day for about two hours. That includes cardio, workouts and weightlifting.  

CAMERON TOLLETT, FIFTH GRADE: Have you ever had a scary moment in space? 

FINCKE: My first spacewalk was a little scary because we were running out of oxygen. So we came back inside pretty quickly. But I wasn’t really scared. I was just glad to be out on a spacewalk.  

BEN SNYDER, EIGHTH GRADE: How do you perceive time in space? 

FINCKE: We use a standard clock, and we perceive time by just using our watches. We run on Greenwich Mean Time up here, so it’s a standard 24-hour clock.  

GRACE JACOB, 12TH GRADE: How has living in space changed your perspective on Earth? 

Nate Robinson of Pinecrest Academy, dressed as an astronaut, high fives classmates during the special assembly. Photo by Julianna Leopold

FINCKE: When you’re up here, it really looks like everybody on the planet is not getting along sometimes for no good reason. I think that we’re all brothers and sisters, and we should all be working together and hugging each other, and going flying and exploring the universe instead of fighting downstairs.  

MARIANA NOGUERA, KINDERGARTEN: Do you play games or sports in space? 

FINCKE: So, we don’t play so many games or sports in space. We have a lot of word games, but there aren’t a lot of places to kick a ball around.  

JACKSON NEFF, EIGHTH GRADE: Where did you go to college and what degree did you get? 

FINCKE: I was very lucky. I got to go to a lot of really fine schools. One of them was MIT, another one was Stanford, and I studied aerospace engineering.  

SAM ANSLEY, 12TH GRADE: Does stargazing lose its beauty after a while or does it remain inspiring? 

FINCKE: I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. Looking out the window and looking at the stars and looking at planet Earth hasn’t gotten tiring yet.  

ANTHONY METZ, FIRST GRADE: Can you see other planets from the space station? 

FINCKE: We’re only 250 miles away above planet Earth, so all the planets are still the same size, except we can see them a little more clearly because we don’t look through the atmosphere.  

CADEN MEDEIROS, EIGHTH GRADE: What do you do on a day-to-day basis? 

FINCKE: Every day is different. One day we’re doing science, next day we’re fixing something, next day we’re moving cargo around and next day we’re moving the robot arm around. It never gets old.  

AIDAN LECORPS, NINTH GRADE: Have you seen the Aurora Borealis from space? Can you describe it? 

FINCKE: I’ve seen both auroras, both the northern and southern lights. There’s a glimmering curtain of green and red. It’s beautiful. I hope you get to see it someday.  

SIENNA DAVIS, FOURTH GRADE: Do you ever do a back flip when you are floating? 

FINCKE: I do a backflip and a frontflip every time I can do it. Especially in front of a camera. 

AUBREY SMITH, FIFTH GRADE: How do you see your family? 

FINCKE: I see my family on video calls once a week.  

Before signing off, Fincke left the students with a warm piece of advice.  

“To all the students out there, be good, study hard, be nice to each other and always do your best,” Fincke said.  

ABOUT THE ASTRONAUT 

Col Mike Fincke was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1996. He is a Pennsylvania native and a veteran of three spaceflights. He flew to the space station for the fourth time on Aug. 1, 2025. 

Col. Fincke has logged more than a year in orbit, with nine spacewalks totaling 48 hours and 37 minutes of spacewalking time. Read more about Fincke at https://www.nasa.gov/people-of-nasa.