Pope speaks to astronauts

At 3:00pm local time this afternoon (in Rome), from the Atrium of the Paul VI Hall, His Holiness, Pope Francis spoke directly by means of an audio/video link to the team members of Mission 53 aboard the International Space Station (ISS) which is orbiting 400km above the earth's surface.

The personnel aboard the ISS include: Randolph Bresnik (USA), NASA Commander; Paolo Nespoli (India), ESA Engineer; Mark T. Vande Hei (USA), NASA Engineer; Joseph Acaba (USA, born in Puerto Rico), NASA Engineer; Sergey Ryanzanskiy (Russia), Engineer; and Alexander Misurkin (Russia), Engineer.

In the Atrium at the Paul VI Hall, to assist with the dialogue, were the President of the Italian Space Agency (ASA), Robert Battiston and the Director of the Earth Observation Programme on behalf of the European Space Agency (ASE), Joseph Aschbacher.

The interaction continued for 20 minutes during which time, the Holy Father was able to speak with the astronauts.