Earth experiences have meant more, astronaut says

Space station astronaut Daniel Tani visited the Mount Prospect Public Library Tuesday for a series of presentations and appearances at the urging of his oldest brother, Dick, a longtime library trustee.

Standing-room-only crowds of adults and children met him at each event, with people jockeying for a chance to get an autograph from or a photo with the man who spent four months on the space station last year, missing the funeral of his elderly mother who was killed in a Lombard car accident while he was orbiting the Earth.

Acknowledging the "unbelievable honor it was to be given the opportunity and privilege" to serve as an astronaut, Daniel emphasized in an interview that while his job is in space, his life is on Earth.

"I know that living in space is the envy of many people. So I don't want to downplay it. But there are more important things for me than being an astronaut," he said. "Spending time on the space station makes my Top 10 list of exciting life events but not my Top 3. Watching my children born and growing up is a bigger thrill."

The youngest of Rose and Henry Tani's five children, the Japanese-American astronaut said in an interview he remembers well the stories told by his parents of the time they spent with Dick in a detention camp in Utah during World War II when fear about loyalty of Japanese citizens was rampant.

"I don't think that knowing those family stories had an effect on my choice of occupation, but I have to think that they had an effect on me from the perspective of my patriotism," Daniel said. "It is a point of honor for me that both my family and my nation survived this black mark in our history."

Daniel, a 48-year-old Houston resident and Glenbard East High School grad, credits his three older brothers, but particularly Dick, with his love of math, puzzles and games, as well as for his curiosity.

"All of my brothers are technically-minded, but Dick, who is 19 years older than me, came back home to live after he graduated from college. So I spent a lot of time with him when I was young," he recalled.

Daniel has logged 130 days in space and has completed six spacewalks which he told his audiences are "fun, but physically demanding."

The father of two (with one more on the way) said that he hopes to be included on the crew of another shuttle before the program is scheduled to end in 2010.

He compared the experience of living on the space station with going on a camping trip.

"You need to sleep differently and eat differently but once you get used to it, it is very enjoyable," he explained. "My four months on the space station went by very quickly. I was never bored and was thrilled to wake up every morning."

Communications with family members was easy via e-mail and phone, he said.

"Yes," his brother, Dick, said, "it was quite a thrill to pick up the phone when it rang and find Daniel on the other end, calling us from space."

Between space missions, Daniel is the group manager for the space station branch of NASA. He and his team consult on space station related issues like the addition of a module or the repair of a malfunctioning system.

"We present the astronaut point of view on anything that affects the space station," he said.

"Right now at NASA we are not looking for new celestial bodies. We are doing research to see how people can function for long periods of time in space so that we can do great explorations in the future," he said.

"It is in our human nature to go over the next hill or ocean and right now what is next for us is Mars."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Video</h2> <ul class="video"> <li><a href="/multimedia/?category=9&type=video&item=326">Astronaut Dan Tani talks at Mt. Prospect library</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>