INUVIK - Students at Samuel Hearne Secondary School are preparing for contact from outer space. On Friday, Oct. 23, students will speak via radio feed to astronauts on board the International Space Station, including Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk.

Curious students submitted hundreds of questions for the astronaut and of them about 22 were chosen, ranging from "What does it look like up there?" to "What's your education background?" to "What do you do when you have to use the washroom?"

These Grade 10 Samuel Hearne Secondary School students show their fascination for the globe last week at their library. They will be among several students who will be asking questions of astronauts aboard the International Space Station through a live radio feed. The event will be held at the school's gymnasium on Friday and will be open to the public. From left, Baruch Watters, Andrew Greenland-Jerome, Brittany Lucas-Cockney and Alyssa Ross. - Andrew Rankin/NNSL photo

Science teacher Sheena Anderson said the impending conversation with Thirsk, organized by the NASA-sponsored educational outreach program Amateur Radio International Space Station, has really piqued the interest of her biology students. They want to know how space travel affects the human body and the brain.

Anderson said the event will give students - and other Inuvik residents who want to attend - an opportunity to explore "big picture" topics like the development of the universe and the potential for life on other planets.

"A lot of kids really get excited about space. It's a bit of a frontier. It tickles people's fancy and gets them interested in science," she said. "I think we don't talk enough about space and what's out there."

Once a radio link to the space station is established through a telebridge communications station in California, the conversation is scheduled to last from 9:30 to 10:15 a.m. and students are planning to rehearse their questions beforehand.

Grade 10 student Brittany Lucas-Cockney knew exactly what she would ask Thirsk.

"I want to know how your body reacts after you come back from space," she said, adding that when she was younger she had wanted to become an astronaut.

Baruch Watters, a Grade 11 student, said he was looking forward to hearing what the astronaut had to say, especially since only a select few get to go up in space.

"It's a one-of-a-kind experience," he said. "Not many people get to do that."