Two hundred miles above Earth, the astronaut described to students what the planet looks like from outer space.

“It’s an incredible sight. It’s as big as the sky on a beautiful summer day,” said Charles Simonyi, ex-Microsoft developer and the world’s fifth “space tourist,” who launched on his second trip to space aboard a Soyuz rocket on March 26. The Medina man has been aboard the International Space Station for just over a week and is expected to land April 8.

Last Thursday during spring break, 33 Carl Sandburg Elementary and Discovery Community School students in grades K-6 participated in a teleconference via ham radio with Simonyi.

Sandburg Elementary was one of only three schools around the world that participated in the teleconference. The other participating schools were Miyahara Elementary School in Japan and CAMUS in France.

Students completed an application process in order to participate and will be required to complete a project based on their experience.

During the 10-minute conversation at Sandburg Elementary, which was moderated by ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station), 20 students had the opportunity to ask Simonyi questions they had prepared. Students took turns coming to the front of the class and reading their question into a phone, equipped with a microphone to project their voice.

Principal Mark Blomquist reminded students to say “over” when they were done with a question.

“What was the hardest part of training? Over,” said students Evan Davis and John Williams.

“I think the hardest part was the rotating chair that makes you dizzy and carsick. Over,” Simonyi said of the chair that spins to get astronauts used to weightlessness.

Grace Harrington asked Simonyi if he gets claustrophobic in space.

It’s very tight, he replied, but “I think of it more as a cozy place in the spacecraft. It’s a very nice feeling. Over.”

Other students wanted to know what it was like landing and taking off in a shuttle.

“Imagine that you are in a baby seat and somebody rear ends your car at 20 miles an hour – that’s landing,” Simonyi said. “And taking off is being in a shaky elevator. It shakes a lot and you feel kind of a lifting movement.”

Life aboard the International Space Station takes some getting used to as well, he said. Astronauts who stay on the station for extended periods are required to exercise a couple hours a day on a treadmill or weight machine. Astronauts also have sleeping bags they can hang anywhere and zip themselves in when they sleep to keep them from floating away.

Another student asked what Simonyi sees in space as he’s coming back to earth.

“During re-entry, the air around the space station is heated up and it looks like Pepto Bismol,” he said as some students and parents laughed. “It’s like a pink fluid that you cannot see through. It’s very interesting and a little bit funny too.”

After the event, principal Mark Blomquist said the experience was “amazing.”

“It’s pretty overwhelming to think we’re talking with people who are 200 miles above the earth’s surface and it was great to be a part of that.”

Wearing a fighter pilot jacket, first grader Brady Guzik said he wants to be an astronaut when he grows up.

“He’s always talked about being an astronaut since he was three,” said his dad, Aaron, adding there’s a mural in his son’s bedroom of an astronaut and a space shuttle.

“So he was definitely looking forward to (the event). He didn’t sleep last night.”