So the question is, ‘Who are Spock’s parents?’

That call, heard on NASA TV, came from NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson aboard the International Space Station last night as he radioed down to Mission Control here in Houston late last night.

If you know the answer - like this sci-fi addicted space reporter - then don’t go blabbing. The query from space is apparently Anderson’s way of carrying on a pop-culture tradition set by NASA astronaut and all-time U.S. spaceflyer Michael Lopez-Alegria.

During his seven-month stint as commander of the station’s Expedition 14 mission, Lopez-Alegria routinely called down movie lines (he said he’d make use of the station’s video editing equipment as a hobby) to flight controllers and challenged them to match the lines to their respective films.

Near the end of the mission, with his well of movie lines running dry, Lopez-Alegria switched to rock song trivia, playing part of a song and then challenging flight controllers to come up with the next line. It may sound like good fun, and apparently that’s the point. 

The brief exchanges are meant to add some levity to the busy, stressful schedules of astronauts in orbit and the flight controllers who watch over them.

Returning astronaut Sunita Williams, who served with Lopez-Alegria and then stayed on for the start of Expedition 15 to hand over to Anderson, has a tradition of her own. She and her crewmates have been playing ultra-long distance dedications from space for folks back on Earth.

Last night, Anderson jibed flight controllers when they’re answer to the previous day’s question - involving Abbott and Costello’s ‘Who’s on First?’ routine - didn’t quite meet his specs.

Then he threw down the Spock lineage inquiry for today. If you listen close, you might hear flight controllers beam up the answer later tonight.

So, who are Spock’s parent’s?

Don’t worry, Clay. I won’t spoil the fun.

P.S. - Remember that time when they saved Spock’s brain? Classic.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 16th, 2007 at 10:07 am and is filed under Science of Fiction, Space & Astronomy, Strange News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.