FOLLOW AOS SENIOR CARTER HUFFMAN AT THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE OLYMPICS IN RUSSIA

 

OCTOBER 18: Carter gave his presentation today to the Russian judges. He received the highest score of all of the 45 foreigners competing here in Moscow. We don't know yet what the Russian scores were.
He's off to a great start; he was well prepared for his presentation, and many adults--Russian and British--told me that it was clear he had worked the hardest and was the best prepared.

Tomorrow (Monday) he will take the Math exam, and will present his paper to his peers.

 

OCTOBER 16th:  The first official day of the Space Olympics in Russia took place Friday, October 16, 2009. Carter Huffman, Bill Brazier, Dan Crowe, and Beverly Thurston (from the VADOE) visited the Mission Control Center in Korolev, Russia. The stately building was paneled in marble, with high-tech equipment nestled in compartments and screens in the walls. The group visited the mission control and saw the giant screen for tracking satellites and talked with Russian cosmonauts about the cosmonauts' experiences in space.

Carter Huffman was able to talk on the phone via radio link with all 6 astronauts aboard the international space station. As the only student representative from the United States, Carter was able to ask the first question of the astronauts.

Carter's comments follow:

Today was the first official day of the International Space Olympics!  We visited mission control in Korolev, which is basically the center of space-related activity in Russia.  The opening ceremony of the Olympics were held in the mission control room, and we heard from a cosmonaut who had been on the Mir Station and International Space Station.  We got to ask him a few questions, such as what landings were like and if he had ever had a major emergency.

After the opening ceremony, we were able to talk with the astronauts/cosmonauts currently aboard the International Space Station!  Being the only American, I was one of the ones allowed to ask them a question.  It turned out that I went first, and I asked them what types of experiments they were conducting aboard the ISS.  They gave me some broad categories, such as biological and astrophysical experiments, but unfortunately didn't have time to elaborate.  It was still absolutely one of the greatest experiences of my life!  We got both audio and visual from them, so we were able to see them spin around in zero gravity!  Overall an excellent day and a great start to the competition.