NASA calling Ireland

A US Astronaut is set to link up with his Irish family from space tomorrow. A live link between an Dan Tani astronaut on board the International Space Station and his Irish in-laws will be televised live tomorrow.

NASA Astronaut Dan Tani, is married to County Cork woman Jane Egan, and he will be quizzed by local students visiting Blackrock Castle Observatory, a new science centre in Cork Institute of Technology. NASA has arranged for their astronaut to celebrate his recent birthday with the youngsters, including his own nephews, and talk about life in deep space.

His wife’s parents – Mary and Larry Egan of Kinsale – will also be able to catch up with their son-in-law, who they claim is so down to earth he once called one of President Mary McAleese’s daughters from the station because she had an interest in space.
“Dan is very at home in Ireland and usually visits three times a year. He loves it,” said Mrs Egan.
“He’s very well known in the area and has called the local pubs in Kinsale - the White Lady and Tap Tavern – to say hello to all his friends there.
“They have pictures of him up in the pub and the whole place follows him.”
The couple met in 1998 when Jane, 34, was working at the Old Head Golf Club in Kinsale and Dan came over to Ireland to play. They wed two years later.
Mrs Egan admitted that she was not impressed when first told her daughter’s new boyfriend was an astronaut – but that was forgotten when they met at a family barbecue.
“The idea of him being an astronaut went out the door,” she said.
“He was just so nice, so normal, and he just became part of the family.
“He was absolutely brilliant and we all fell in love with him.”

The couple now live in Houston and have two daughters, Keiko aged three and 18 month old Lily.
“The children are completely switched in to what he does, Nasa is very family orientated,” continued Mrs Egan.
“Jane has a live link from the space station in to their house and they do video conferences all the time and he calls her.
“He calls us too and we chat to him.”
But his mother-in-law said his job is a roller coaster of emotions.
“When he is going up sitting at at the top of a rocket going off it is frightening,” she said.
“The more you know about it the scarier it gets.
“But it’s also very exciting at times. It’s a real roller coaster ride.”
Mrs Egan said she knew absolutely nothing about space before Tani became part of her family but now finds it incredible, watching Nasa television as often as possible.

The 46-year-old from Chicago took his first 10 day mission into space in 2001. This time he went out on the Discovery Shuttle on October 23, and hopes to be back on home soil by the end of the month.
Irish Community Images

Daniel Michio Tani (born February 1, 1961) is an American engineer and a NASA astronaut Although born in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, he considers Lombard, Illinois, to be his hometown. With Peggy Whitson, Tani conducted the 100th spacewalk on the International Space Station.
Tani graduated from Glenbard East High School, Lombard, Illinois, in 1979, and received a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984, and 1988, respectively.
After Tani received his bachelor's degree from MIT,
NASA career
Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in April 1996, Tani reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996. After completing two years of training and evaluation, he qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist in 1998. He performed technical duties in the Astronaut Office Computer Support Branch, and Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) Branch, and has served as a Crew Support Astronaut for Expedition 2.
Tani flew on STS-108 in 2001, and logged over 11 days in space, including over 4 EVA hours in one space walk. STS-108 Endeavour (December 5–17, 2001) was the 12th shuttle flight to visit the International Space Station. During the mission, Tani served as Mission Specialist 2. Endeavour's crew delivered the Expedition 4 crew to the station, and returned the Expedition 3 crew. The crew transferred over three tons of supplies, logistics and science experiments from the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the station. Tani performed a space walk to wrap thermal blankets around the ISS Solar Array Gimbals. STS-108 was accomplished in 185 Earth orbits, traveling 4.8 million miles in 283 hours and 36 minutes, including an EVA of 4 hours and 12 minutes.
Following his return from STS-108, Tani was assigned as the Expedition 9 backup flight engineer. Tani was eventually assigned to Expedition 16 as flight engineer, and launched to the station aboard STS-120 on October 23, 2007. Tani completed one EVA with the crew of STS-120, and four additional spacewalks during his increment aboard the space station. Originally scheduled to return to Earth with the crew of STS-122 in December, the mission was delayed due to engine cutoff sensor issues during countdown, and a launch date is yet to be determined.

Dan Tani is a Member of the, Japanese American Citizens League, Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
Awards
Orbital Sciences Corporation Outstanding Technical Achievement Award, 1993.

The Tani's family Journey from Alien to Astronaut
During World War II, his family were relocated from their California farm to the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah as part of the Japanese American internment program of the U.S. government. They lived for several months in converted horse stables at the Tanforan Racetrack. On December 19, 2007, during Tani's stay on the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 16, he was informed by the ground team that his mother had been tragically killed when a freight train collided with her car.

However, tomorrow’s link up with Blackrock Castle will be a celebration for Tani, who has been stuck aboard the station since technical problems grounded the Space Shuttle.
History will be made when a musical piece called 'Song from Earth', written especially for the astronaut by Kila and Cork’s Ger Wolfe, will be beamed direct to the space station.

NASA will later beam the Beatles track 'Across the Universe' directly into deep space to mark the 50th anniversary of NASA’s founding.
Clair McSweeny, from Blackrock Castle Observatory, said the link up was a unique opportunity to showcase Irish culture on a universal scale.
“The event is unlike anything NASA has ever been involved in before,” she added.
The event can be watched live here online at 12.30pm

Irish Forums Members Only Article:
You need to post in this Irish Forums topic to see the full article.

Register

The Irish Community have posted
23 REPLIES TO THIS TOPIC
for logged in members to view.

Irish Forums Message Discussion :: NASA calling Ireland

NASA calling Ireland