Dubai students thrilled to receive mail from International Space Station

Students at the camp sent their questions to the astronaut via email and received a response.

A group of Dubai students have spent part of their summer communicating with an astronaut living in space. Students who took part in the Space and Rocketry Academy Camp interacted with the commander of the International Space Station (ISS), Drew Feustel.
The campers sent their questions to the astronaut via email and received a response. The first batch of campers have already completed their course and learned about basic rocket aerodynamics, designing the model rocket, mission patch design and presentation, tasting space food for astronauts, know-hows of living and working in space and Mars, mission to Mars and take part in an engineering design challenge.
Senior Nasa expert Dr Jim Rice was one of the guest teachers at the camp and he shared his knowledge on working on Mars rovers. Dr Rice is the Nasa geology team leader and co-investigator on the Nasa Mars Exploration Rover Project Science Team.
One of the students that took part in the camp and sent questions to Feustel, Abrianna Grace, said: "The camp was an amazing experience and I learned so many new things I didn't know earlier. It made space so much fun and interesting for me. Getting answers from astronauts in the ISS is such a proud feeling. I felt extremely privileged to be communicating to someone in space," Grace said.
Another camper, Ahmed Abdulla Al Sadi, said he took part in the camp to learn more about rocketry and what it would be like to live in space. "Being able to connect with the ISS captain is something I couldn't even think of in my wildest dreams. I feel so happy and proud that our team's question has been answered by the captain of the ISS," Al Sadi said. "At the camp, I learned a lot about the history of rocketry and facts about living in space. It has been very enlightening as far space and rocketry is concerned."
The camp is being held from July 15 to August 23 by Compass International, in collaboration with the UAE Space Agency.

Questions to the astronaut