UPDATE! Polaris Dawn Crew Calls St Jude Hospital From Space

hello everyone I'm Shan Johnson East an Olympic gold and silver medalist and world champion gymnast those achievements were some of my most exciting moments of my career today however I'm wearing a different hat that of a mom to three incredible kids which makes today's event even more meaningful to me I'm thrilled to be part of something truly out of this world we are joined by some very special guests today the patients and families at St Jude Children's Research Hospital St Jude plays a pivotal role in how the world understands treats and defeats Childhood Cancer and other life-threatening diseases and what makes today extra special is that we're connecting with you directly from space the crew of Polaris Dawn is currently orbiting Earth on a mission that aims not only to advance human space travel but to improve life back here on Earth as well they are dedicated to supporting St judee's Vital Mission through their journey by raising funds and awareness to help find cures and save children I'm particularly excited because today we'll start with astronut Anna Menan medical officer aboard the dragon spacecraft right now and the author of kisses from space this book not only shares the inspiring story of space exploration but also the power of love to overcome any distance Anna will you read your book to these Brave patients at St Jude alongside your children James and Grace Anna why don't you tell us what inspired you to write the book and then take it away with your reading hi Sean hi everyone hi James and Grace I am so excited to talk with all of you today and also get to read a book that's really special to me this book kisses from space is a story that I wrote for you James and Grace to remind you that I love you and that I'm always thinking of you even when we're apart but I'm also excited for another reason and that is the fact that this book raises is money for St JW Children's Research Hospital I co-authored this story with Carrie vosik and it is beautifully illustrated by Andy harkes and all of our proceeds are going to benefit the this hospital and the incredible work that they do so without further Ado let's read kisses from space gather round my sweet dragons your mama is back snuggling close cuddle up on my lap I'm home from my mission it was hard to be aart but while I was gone I held you close in my heart our family of dragons loves being together at home on adventures what ever the weather we swim in the ocean in the stand we leave tracks we hike up big mountains with you on our backs we snuggle in hammocks watch stars in the sky the bright constellations in front of our eyes then my mission to space took me far in a way I knew we were sad that you had to stay we knew that the distance would make us all blue so we put our heads together and knew just what to do you put teddy bear in my suitcase I had notes in your covers I promised to bring back all the treasures I discovered I dove into the sea calm my breath flowed my Pace I practiced floating weightless just as I would in space a shark in the dark taught me how to be brave a dolphin found seashells for you in a cave my training continued the mountains were calling I learned to be strong and get up after falling I tromped and I stomped big prince in the snow I melted ice ice with my breath but grew cold tired and slow then I thought of our hikes and how you never ever stop laughing and racing to reach the tip toop your giggles and strength help me climb Miles and Miles I dance on the rocks and chose stones to bring you Smiles I felt so alone Mr Snuggles even more then I saw all the stars and I knew it was time to explore I flew to the Launchpad and buckled in tight they counted 10 9 8 then at last we took flight Up Up and Away our rocket ship sword I bounced in my seat as the huge engines roared hi and higher we Rose through the sky who knew that a dragon could fly up so high Zoom whoosh were our ship changed its Pace my wings lifted up I was floating in space everything started floating even teddy bear too then I gathered up kisses and blew them home straight to you I danced through the dark and high-fived the moon I Sommers saled I flipped and told Mars see you soon next I set off in search of one final thing a treasure I hoped would make your heart sing shooting and falling it came from afar I knew when I saw it I would bring you a star then I turned and I saw the most beautiful view the bright shining Earth that holds all of you I called time to go home so we put on the brakes and flew down through the clouds past the mountains and lakes we gently splashed into the ocean of flu our ship safely home one step closer to you I'm so glad to be back I missed you so much your cute Wiggly noses your sweet gentle touch I saw so many sites I'll tell you stories for years now our Adventures Continue my sweet Dragon dear you see when we're apart we're not really alone I'll send kisses from space and I'll always come home because not even the mountains the sea or the Stars could ever compare to this family of ours I'm sending you kisses from space James and gra hi Anna they say that distance makes the heart grow fonder and you're so far away we all miss you more than ever you want to say [Music] hi they're they're say Whispering hi so and that they miss you so you might not hear it and I just lost James over the side of the couch say hi want to go say hi James I love you guys I miss you guys too that was wonderful Anna thank you for sharing kisses from space with us now let's all send a space size kiss back to Anna and the crew ready everyone three two one that was terrific now the Polaris Don crew would love to chat with you guys and answer some questions from space first I'll let Anna kick it off with some introductions awesome Sean thank you I'm going to have my crew mates come in to the picture with me and I will introduce them give us one second all right first up is our commander Jared isaacman and then we have our mission specialist Sarah Gillis floating into view and now we have Mission pilot kid potit and back to you Sean yay great to meet all of you we have some wonderful questions Alonso is first up take it away Alfonso and ask them your question hi hi question uh my question is what will be the temperature when you're outside in space that's a great question when we're outside in space you can have really big temperature extremes because you're either in the Sun or you're in the shade um and so we we'll experience up to plus orus 250 Dees and cold right now because it's dark out there oh my goodness that's so wild thank you Alonso may you are up what question do you have for them can you see the sunrise and sunset from space we see the sunrise and sunset so much we actually see each one about 10 every 106 minutes so and it is honestly one of my favorite views the Sun Peaks Over the Horizon and the whole world just lights up and or the whole world goes to sleep and you just get to witness this hour after hour and it's so beautiful our Earth is so beautiful that is so cool thank you mabery John or actually Thompson Thompson is up next you have a wonderful question ask away do she shooting stars in space do we see shooting stars in space there's so many things that we see we've seen a lot of stars out there we see the sun just like Anna talked about every 106 minutes we go through a sunrise and sunset and you can actually see the line across the sky on Earth one side's dark and one side is light it's so cool and we're probably going to be flying over your house in the next few minutes that is so cool thank you Thompson John what is your question how do you stay attached to the rocket during a space walk I'm also incredibly tired oh that's a that's a really good question so we have this uh umbilical in tether that attaches to our spacit and then it comes back inside our Dragon here and it's what gives us our oxygen and it keeps us from getting too hot outside and it gives us like lots of good sensor information on this really cool heads up display that we have so the dragon and our space dudes really work well together and that's what keeps us attached so we don't float away during our space walk thank you John Micah Micah has the last question you're up Micah do people live in space and do you want to live in space well right now we are living in space um there have been people living in space on the International Space Station for over 20 years now um and someday we might even make it to another planet and get to live there uh but for now we're living in space for 5 days and we'll be home pretty soon thank you Micah thank you to all the kids for asking such insightful questions and to the astronauts Anna Jared kid and Sarah thank you guys for this historic moment in space we've learned so much today and we are so thrilled to have been part of the families and patients at St Jude are so grateful for all you're doing and we're eagerly awaiting your safe return to Earth I'll pass it to you guys for some closing words thanks Sean it was such an honor to get to share space with all of you guys today I loved your questions and I love getting to read with you we are cheering you on from up here and we will be so excited to connect again when we're back on our and share stories bye for now