Benita Mahanta of Houston, one of the Assamese students whose questions were answered by Mike Fincke from the space station Alpha

Guwahati, July 11: From his temporary home in space, US astronaut Mike Fincke has sent a message to Assamese children: “Never give up.”

The message from Mike, who prides himself on being “Assam’s son-in-law”, was relayed to earth through NASA during the annual convention of the Assam Association of North America. The two-day event was held at Austin, in Texas, from July 3.

Mike, 37, is married to Renita Saikia, who is also associated with NASA. He and Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka have been staying at the space station Alpha since April 21.

Replying to a host of questions sent to him by Assamese children from Guwahati and other parts of the world, Mike said: “To all the kids out there, the world is really a big place and there are a lot of interesting things. I hope all your dreams come true. I would like to encourage you to study hard and to work hard and to be a good person. Never give up.”

A member of the “Assam 2004” organising committee, Dil Deka, e-mailed the transcript of the question-answer session to The Telegraph. He described the convention as “an out-of-the-world experience”.

The children were curious about a host of subjects, ranging from accumulation of “space junk” to what astronauts eat in space.

To a question on sleep and dreams in space, from Aranyak Saikia of Guwahati’s Don Bosco School, Mike replied: “I sleep kind of standing up just floating on air. It is great sleep. You see, with all the hard work that we do in space, we get very tired. So, we sleep well. I have nice dreams, just like on earth. I just happen to sleep a little bit better here.”

The astronaut said, in response to a query by Benita Mahanta of Houston, Texas, that the nine minutes of high acceleration to reach orbit aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket was “among the happiest” in his life. “It was so incredible, you could see me smiling from ear to ear.”

A few days before blast-off on April 19, Mike had said in an e-mailed message to The Telegraph that he would “definitely play some Bihu songs” and “even try the first Bihu dance in space”.

He kept his promise.

For the Assamese NRIs assembled at Austin, the NASA image of Mike trying a Bihu dance aboard the space station was one of the highlights of the convention.

The 1989 alumnus from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology floored the gathering at the convention, including special invitee Zubeen Garg, when he said in Assamese: “Shraddheya raiz. Moi Asomor jowai Mike. Moi Asom aru Asomiya manuhok bor bhal pao. Aaji moi aponalokak mor antarar pora subha iccha jonaiso (Respected audience, I am Assam’s son-in-law Mike. I like Assam and the Assamese people very much. Best wishes to all of you from my heart).”

A gamocha adorning his spacesuit, he added: “As I wear this khati (authentic) Asomiya gamocha on my shoulders, I think back of my visit to Assam two years ago with my family. What a wonderful time I had! I have no words to describe it. The love and affection of the Assamese people brought me closer to Assam. Besides the scenic beauty, the rich culture and natural resources of Assam left me spellbound.”

Mike and Renita have two children, Chandra and Tarali. The younger one is only a month old and has yet to see her father.

Mike’s sojourn in space is for six months.