Birthday link-up for grieving astronaut

BIRTHDAY wishes will be beamed into space today to an astronaut mourning the death of his mother while he was on his mission.

Thousands of school children are expected to log on to watch Nasa’s live link-up with Dan Tani who has been living on board the International Space Station since he blasted into space on the shuttle Discovery last October.

Just before Christmas his mother died in a road accident. But Nasa hopes to lift his spirits today.

They have teamed up with Cork Institute of Technology’s new science centre, the Blackrock Castle Observatory, to send birthday wishes to Mr Tani, who is married to Corkwoman Jane Egan. Her parents, Mary and Larry Egan, will watch the link-up at the observatory and will have the opportunity to talk to their son-in-law.

The observatory and Discover Science and Engineering urged schools to watch the event live on www.nasa.gov/ntv.

Nasa expects the link-up to take place at 12.45pm and last about 10 minutes.

Mr and Ms Egan attended the official opening of Cosmos at the castle exhibition last November and watched a clip of Mr Tani performing a space walk.

The exhibition was the final element of a €7 million project which has transformed the 16th-century castle into one of Ireland’s top astronomical research facilities.

Blackrock Castle Observatory, and its interactive visitor centre, is a joint venture between Cork City Council, CIT and a private benefactor.

The castle houses three telescopes linked via the internet to a global network of larger telescopes. Scientists are searching for extra-solar planets (planets orbiting distant stars), studying the effects of black holes, and making optical observations of gamma ray bursts.

Visitors can compose electronic messages and fire them at an exoplanet orbiting a distant star using the radio telescope on the observatory roof.

“The universe is a wonderful place with wonderful things in it but if you want to get them to work for you, you need to understand them,” said CIT’s head of research Dr Niall Smith.

The observatory is open Monday to Friday from 10am to 5pm, and on Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 5pm. Family tickets cost €16.

* www.bco.ie