And NASA astronaut Dr. Janice Voss had no problem answering the question at a visit to Foothill and Saratoga elementary schools on May 24.

"There's a fan to make sure everything goes down," Voss said. "And there are sidebars to hold you down while going to the toilet to make sure you don't drift away."

The children in the multipurpose room at Foothill erupted in giggles. Voss said she appreciated the question since it's one many adults are afraid to ask her. Voss' visit to the schools occurred as the result of an astronaut outreach visitation program through the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, where Voss works.

"This is the first time I've ever been able to shake hands with an astronaut," said Foothill Principal Helen Sullivan to students at the assembly. "I'm not going to wash my hands all day. I'll bet we have some future astronauts here at Foothill."

Sullivan explained to students that Voss, originally from Rockford, Ill., became an astronaut in 1991 and has logged more than 49 days and traveled 18.8 million miles in space. She has orbited the earth 779 times. Voss played the students a video of one of her travels into space, which included eating and dancing minus gravity inside the shuttle and views of the moon and earth from space, as well as a spectacular spacecraft descent down the runway.

"We came down through the reds and oranges of the sunset at Kennedy Space Center as we landed," Voss said.

Voss told students she wanted to become an astronaut after reading A Wrinkle in Time, a children's classic about traveling through the cosmos and the 1963 Newbery Medal winner by Madeleine L'Engle.

Voss displayed dehydrated and vacuum-packed space food to the students, such as macaroni and cheese, as well as dried apricots, almonds and chocolate-coated peanuts, or M&Ms.

Principal Marybarbara Zorio said Saratoga Elementary School initiated the opportunity to participate in the astronaut outreach program, which receives more than 2,000 applications a year. A cancellation in Voss' schedule permitted her to travel to the South Bay, since she also has friends who live nearby that she wanted to visit. Voss has plans to move to the area in October; she recently accepted a position at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field.

"What are the chances? This is so exciting," said Saratoga parent Donna Page. "She's an incredible role model for the girls at our school. Our girls can see that they can become astronauts. We are very thrilled to have Janice here."

Zorio said that in addition to learning about the space program and Voss' five missions to space, students participated in pre- and post-assembly activities focused on the relevance of space-related products such as Pampers diapers and Dustbuster filtering systems.

"I hope students took away the excitement of exploration and risk taking, and that she was a female and that this program is available to anyone," said Zorio.

Adrienne Eller, a Foothill fifth-grader, said she's met astronaut John Glenn before, but meeting a woman was even more motivating. Fifth-grader Shea Sullivan said it was exciting to meet someone who had seen planets and moons, since her class is currently studying space as part of its curriculum.

"It's cool that females have the right to go up in space just like men do," Adrienne said.