Space web video chat lined up

The first cosmic chinwag via the internet will blast off next week, giving Earthlings the chance to chat to an astronaut orbiting 400km above our planet.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and German ISP T-Online will beam up the live space video chat to the International Space Station (ISS) on 28 November 2006, at 21:15(CET).

ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter will chat to German-speaking space buffs about living in a weightless environment and how his scientific studies are going.

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During the event, questions submitted from the public via the web will be relayed via a moderator to Reiter as he flies over Russia at speeds of 28,000 kilometres per hour in the ISS.

An ESA spokeswoman said web chat and social networking are important communication vehicles for today's youth and the organisation hopes this event will encourage young people to look at space exploration and space science as future career options.

Reiter is the first European astronaut to undertake a long-duration mission on the ISS. He launched into space on 4 July 2006 and will return to Earth next month.

The tech-savvy space agency ESA recently teamed up with Google Earth to provide satellite images showcasing the globe's natural disasters.