![]() |
| Renita and Mike Fincke with son Chandra |
Guwahati, April 15: This festive season, Bihu songs will be heard 240 miles away � from earth, that is.
US astronaut Mike Fincke, who will stay aboard international space station Alpha for six months, has promised to �definitely play some Bihu songs� and �even try the first Bihu dance in space�.
Married to an Assamese, Renita Saikia, Fincke will blast off for the space station on Sunday with Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka from Baikanour.
The international space station is a global partnership programme supported by 16 nations.
In an e-mail correspondence with The Telegraph, Fincke, 37, said: �I have been honoured to marry into an Assamese family and have been blessed to visit Assam. I am impressed with Assamese cultural richness.�
The Nasa astronaut and his wife, who visited Assam last year, have a five-year-old son named Chandra, Assamese for moon.
Fincke will also take a gamocha (scarf), which is an integral part of Assamese culture, to the space station.
�I am bringing with me to the international space station a gamocha and some Bihu music to remind me of your beautiful state. I may even try the first Bihu dance in space, and when I fly over India I will look for the mighty Brahmaputra river to guide my heart to Assam. Happy Bihu!� he wrote.
Yesterday, Fincke spent time with his family members, including his in-laws, before he and Gennady were quarantined in preparation for blast-off. Renita, daughter of Houston-based Rupesh and Probha Saikia, described her husband as a �jolly good man�. Fincke has acquired a �functional knowledge of Assamese�.
A 1989 batch alumnus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Fincke became an astronaut in 1996, but has never been in space.
The space mission is the realisation of a lifelong dream for Fincke, who has been attracted to the moon since his childhood. �It�s all very exciting and something that I have always wanted to do. It�s the calling for my life and a dream come true for certain,� he wrote.
Despite the joy, he is a trifle worried. �If something goes wrong, I can�t get the next flight back home.�
Though he will be in space, Fincke�s heart will be here on earth, with Renita. She is expecting their second baby in June. | 