Who's calling? It's space - The Nasa astronaut who rang a Kinsale pub from the ISS
Unless, of course, the pub in question is the Tap Tavern in Kinsale where Mary O’Neill reigns and the astronaut is Dan Tani, married to a Corkwoman and a regular at the Tap when space-time — and Nasa — permits.
“If you know Mary at the Tap Tavern, you have got to say hello on a regular basis, so when I couldn’t drop by, I gave a call,” said Mr Tani, who is in Cork for the International Space Studies Program being hosted by Cork Institute of Technology.
The call was answered by Mary’s son Brian, who, when he asked “who’s calling?” was told: “It’s space”.
At the other end of the line was Mr Tani, an American with a passion for golf that led him to meet his future wife, Jane Egan, as he told Ryan Tubridy on RTÉ radio.
“When I was single I would go golfing and go to Ireland for a week or two and I heard about this brand new course that sounded fantastic, so I went down to the Old Head,” said Mr Tani. “The weather was incredibly bad, so they closed the course and got to talk to the business manager at the Old Head who was this charming young lady. We ended up getting married a year and a half after I met her. She is a Corkwoman and her family live in Kinsale.”
Mr Tani, who has spent more than 100 days in space and completed six space walks, was chosen to deputise for space pioneer, Buzz Aldrin, last night to deliver a keynote lecture at CIT, part of the space programme being held in Cork over the next nine weeks.
His career path was not a straight trajectory.
“I can say I always wanted to be an astronaut when I was little but I didn’t think it was a realistic goal,” he told Tubridy. “But when I became an engineer and got to know some astronauts, I found out it is a career you just apply for, so I applied. Frankly, it’s like buying a lottery ticket. You send in the application. You never think you’re going to hit it big and I just got very, very lucky and got a call for the interview and got selected.”
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Mr Tani also revealed the arduous preparation his first foray into space.
“My first flight was in 2001 and we had been selected for the crew and we had all been in basic training,” he said. “We simulated launches over and over again. I was part of the flight crew. When launch day comes along, I am getting suited up where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin put on their space suits. We get into the space shuttle and we are sitting in the space shuttle on our backs and it feels just like the simulator. We are in there for hours before the launch and then the clock is counting down. Then the realisation that, holy cow, this is not just a simulation! It is a bit of an out-of-body experience.
“When you get kicked off the launchpad, you are pressed back into your seat, like in a sports car, going faster and faster. It’s fantastic. You go from zero to 17,500 miles an hour in eight minutes and it’s just awesome.”
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