ISS austronauts contacted from ancient Incan city
August 27th, 2010 - 4:10 pm ICT by IANSBuenos Aires, Aug 27 (IANS/RIA Novosti) The ancient Incan civilisation city of Machu Picchu in Peru made history Thursday when a radio contact was established from there with the Intetrnational Space Station (ISS).
The Russian and Peruvian delegations talked with the ISS crew for 10 minutes Thursday.
The conversation was made in three languages — Russian, Spanish and the Peru Indian language of Quechua. ISS Commander Alexander Skvortsov said it was the first time Quechua had ever been heard on the ISS.
Quechua is spoken by some 10 million native South American Indians.
Russia is helping Peru to build its first ever satellite, media reports said. It has also agreed to grow Peruvian potatoes on the ISS.
The rector of the Peruvian National University of Engineering, Aurelio Padilla Rios said the potatoes “will be healthy for the cosmonauts’ food ration during a proposed three-year flight to Mars.”
The current ISS crew is made up of Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov, Mikhail Korniyenko and Fedor Yurchikhin, US astronauts Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Shannon Walker and Douglas Wheelock.
Machu Picchu, “The Lost City of the Incas”, is Peru’s top archeological site, and was built in the middle of the 15th century.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
snb/vt
- Russia's Soyuz spacecraft blasts off to ISS - Jun 16, 2010
- Russia's Soyuz spacecraft docks with ISS - Oct 10, 2010
- ISS crew to return to Earth Nov 26 - Nov 23, 2010
- Two astronauts celebrate birthday on board space station - Apr 15, 2010
- Russian spaceship docks with ISS - Sep 12, 2010
- Russian rocket takes off for International Space Station - Apr 02, 2010
- Russian cosmonauts take a six-hour spacewalk - Feb 17, 2012
- US, Russian astronauts arrive at space station - Jun 18, 2010
- ISS crew to launch mini-satellite Aug 3 - Jul 22, 2011
- Russian spacecraft docks with ISS - Apr 07, 2011
- Russian space mission returns to earth - Mar 16, 2011
- International space station expedition 24 crew lands safely - Sep 25, 2010
- Space station crew lands in Kazakhstan - Apr 27, 2012
- New space station crew in orbit - May 15, 2012
- Russian spacecraft undocks from ISS - Nov 22, 2011
Tags: 15th century, delegations, fedor, food ration, incan city, incas, indian language, iss crew, machu picchu, quechua, radio contact, ria novosti, russian cosmonauts, shannon walker, snb, south american indians, space station iss, three languages, tracy caldwell, wheelock