Graduates at the University of Connecticut will be getting an unusual address on one of their most special days this year, the Associated Press reported.
Alumnus Rick Mastracchio will be delivering his graduation speech from space. On May 10, the school of engineering students will get to hear Mastracchio's address while he orbits the globe on the International Space Station.'
His recorded address will be shown on the video boards at Gampel Pavilion to about 5,000 people, including more than 400 graduating seniors and their families, and several members of Mastracchio's family, including his wife, Candi.
"I remain a bit nervous," said Kazem Kazerounian, the dean of the engineering school, who helped set up the unusual graduation speech. "We have never tried anything like this before, and I know that the world will be watching us. So, while I'm excited, I still have to have my fingers crossed."
According to the AP, Mastracchio earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and computer engineering from UConn in 1982. He will receive an honorary doctorate.
Having spent more than 51 hours on space walks outside the orbiting laboratory, he is set to wrap up his fourth trip into space, an eight-month stint aboard the space station.
The speech was recorded over the weekend and beamed back to NASA. It will be sent to UConn on Thursday after the file is converted.
This won't be Mastracchio's first contact with a Connecticut audience from space.
"Last month, he and colleague Steve Swanson did a live question-and-answer session from the space station with children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, which has a new building since the December 2012 shooting that killed 26 people," the AP reported.
"This is at least the third astronaut to give a commencement speech from space, NASA spokesman Jay Bolden said. The first two both occurred at the University of North Dakota, including an address in August by astronaut Karen Nyberg. The other was a brief live "drop-in" by astronaut Mike Fincke in 2004 during a speech by NASA chief Dan Golden."
Mastracchio is scheduled to fly back to Earth aboard a Russian spacecraft on May 13.
