Friday, May 20, 2011

Pope’s 1st chat with astronauts in space will be streamed live by Vatican

The Vatican says Pope Benedict’s XVI’s audio and video hookup Saturday with the International Space Station will be streamed live on the Internet site of Vatican Radio and CTV, the broadcasting arms of the Holy See.

While the pontiff is expected to greet all the crew, the Vatican says he will chat in particular with the two Italian astronauts aboard, Paolo Nespoli and Roberto Vittori.

Vittori is carrying a silver medal donated by the pope. 

The others on the space station are Russian and American.

The hookup was originally set for May 4 after the shuttle Endeavour was due to dock with the station. 

But an electrical problem set back Endeavour’s launch until May 16.