The President of Finland, Tarja Halonen, received a phone call from the International Space Station on Monday. Astronaut Timothy L. Kopra initiated the call, according to Finnish news source Helsingin Sanomat. The phone call lasted about 10 minutes.
Kopra explained to the Finnish President about daily routines in space and how the space station orbits the Earth once every 90 minutes. Kopra claims that he has never slept as well as he has in space.
Kopra is of Finnish decent as his grandparents moved from Finland to the United States roughly 100 years ago. His grandfather is from Karelia while his grandmother is from Helsinki.
Kopra says he was very honoured to speak to the President of the Republic of Finland and that he was very proud to be a Finn in space holding a Kalevala medal.
(Photo/Helsingin Sanomat)
Fortunately the president was at home and it didn’t go to voicemail…