With MirCorp’s Help, International Space Station Astronauts Receive Father’s Day Gifts
The Russian cosmonauts who ferried up a fresh lifeboat to the
International Space Station are delivering surprise Father’s Day gifts for
American astronaut James Voss and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Usachev. RadioShack
is sending them talking picture frames with photos and 10-second voice
messages from their daughters.
LunaCorp of Fairfax, VA, set up the picture frame project for RadioShack by
collaborating with MirCorp and NASA’s multimedia partner, Dreamtime. The
companies jointly earned the approvals required from Rosviakosmos (the
Russian space agency), NASA, and RSC Energia, which is the Russian company
that builds the Soyuz vehicles.
Today’s Soyuz docking is the last opportunity to have a crew deliver
Father’s Day gifts before Sunday, June 17. The visiting Soyuz cosmonaut crew
of Talgat Musabayev and Yuri Baturin, who blasted off from Baikonur,
Kazakhstan, on April 28, carried both frames up to the International Space
Station.
Each talking picture frame is a pocket-sized black square that opens like a
book to reveal a photograph on one side and a microphone and speaker on the
other. The frame records a message up to 10 seconds in length with the
simple press of a button.
Kristie Voss, a 21-year-old student at the University of Texas at Austin,
sent her dad, James Voss, a recent photo with voice greetings from her and
her dog.
The other gift was personalized by 12-year-old Evgenia Usachev for her
father, Yuri Usachev. She recorded her greeting at her parents’ apartment in
Korolev, Russia: “Hey dad, we are wishing you good fortune and success in
your job, and good relationships with the crew.”
The frames underwent extensive safety analyses and vacuum chamber tests
before being certified for flight last week. The tests confirmed the picture
frames weren’t an electrical hazard and would not give off any dangerous
fumes in the recycled atmosphere of the space station.
RadioShack also is working on a way to honor Susan Helms, the third member
of the Expedition Two crew who is now on the station. Helms plays keyboard
in the astronaut band “Max Q” when she’s on Earth, and RadioShack would like
to send Max Q music to the space station via the MP3 players the retailer
sells.
“Our MP3 players are the next perfect gift for the space station,” said Jim
McDonald, senior vice president of marketing and advertising for RadioShack.
“MP3 players take up virtually no room since they’re smaller than a deck of
cards, and you can always get new music delivered instantly by computer link
even when you are very, very far away from home. Plus, no matter what
acrobatics the astronauts do in zero gravity, the MP3 players will not
skip.”
LunaCorp and RadioShack will work with NASA and Rosviakosmos over the next
few months to ensure that the MP3 players are “space qualified” – able to
fly to the International Space Station without posing any danger to the crew
or environment.
About RadioShack
RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH) is the nation’s largest and most trusted
consumer electronics retailer and offers both on- and off-line shopping
convenience. With more than 7,200 stores and dealers, RadioShack sells more
wireless telephones, telecommunications products and electronics parts and
accessories than any other retailer. Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin is
RadioShack’s space ambassador. For more information, visit the RadioShack
corporate Web site at www.radioshackcorporation.com.
About LunaCorp
LunaCorp is developing a series of space initiatives including landing a
remotely controlled high-bandwidth robot on the Moon in late 2003.
RadioShack became the Moon robot’s first corporate sponsor last year. A
prototype lunar robot, built by LunaCorp’s technical partners at the
Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, will carry out field
trials this July in the Canadian Arctic at Houghton Crater. For more
information, contact LunaCorp President David Gump at 1-703-207-4500 or
visit the Web site: www.lunacorp.com.
About MirCorp
MirCorp is the leading manned commercial space exploration company, working
with customers in the media and in private tourism. It is developing a
man-tended module capable of being docked to the International Space
Station. Corporate headquarters are in Amsterdam, Netherlands (telephone :
+31 20 520 68 40); the media contact is Jeffrey Lenorovitz of the InfoWEST
Group (U.S. telephone: +1-703-448-5669, European cellular: +33 6 80 85 86
25).
About Dreamtime
DREAMTiME, a privately held Silicon Valley-based new media company, is
focused on increasing awareness of space through education and multimedia
technology. Under the terms of a multi-year agreement with the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), DREAMTiME is digitizing
existing NASA archives and providing new content for a variety of outlets
including broadcast, film and the Web. This collaboration was made possible
by The Commercial Space Act of 1998.
MirCorp press/media contact:
Jeffrey M. Lenorovitz
The InfoWEST Group
Telephone (U.S.): +1 (703) 448-5669
Telephone (U.S. mobile): +1 (703) 615-3646
Telephone (France): +33 6 80-85-86-25
e-mail: jleno@infowestgroup.com
