INDIANAPOLIS (AP) The Notre Dame grad Indiana native who's commanding the International Space Station said Thursday he's looking forward to a visit back home after he returns from his five months in orbit. <\/p>\n
Astronaut KevinFord spoke via video hookup to the Indiana Senate in the Statehouse, where his older brother, David, was a state senator when he died of cancer in 2008. <\/p>\n
Ford wore a blue shirt with a large Indiana flag emblem as he floated inside one of the space station's modules for the 20-minute conversation that was shown on a large video board above the Senate's rostrum. He spoke about the scientific work being done on the station during his stay as he took questions from senators and a couple of teenage family friends from his Blackford County hometown of Montpelier. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Ford demonstrated biting a solid bubble of juice that floated in front of him before seventh-grader Kelli Neff asked Ford what he wanted to do first after returning to Earth. <\/p>\n
Ford drew laughs when he exclaimed he wanted a shower \"because I haven't had a shower in 107 days.\" <\/p>\n
The 52-year-old Ford flew to the space station in October with two Russians aboard a Soyuz that lifted off from Kazakhstan. He's scheduled to be at the station until March. <\/p>\n
State Senate leaders invited schools around Indiana watch the conversation with Ford that was streamed over the Senate's website. <\/p>\n
Ford said he didn't see himself becoming an astronaut while he was a student at Blackford High School but always wanted to be a pilot. That led him to study aeronautical engineering at the University of Notre Dame and join the Air Force. <\/p>\n
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VIDEO: Notre Dame grad, space station commander anticipates trip home<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" INDIANAPOLIS (AP) The Notre Dame grad Indiana native who's commanding the International Space Station said Thursday he's looking forward to a visit back home after he returns from his five months in orbit. Continue reading