HOUSTON – Earthbound
students made a long-distance call to the International Space Station (ISS) Wednesday,
courtesy of NASA, as educator astronaut Barbara Morgan and her crewmates prepare
to launch towards the orbital laboratory early next month.
Students spoke
first with the space station's three-man Expedition 15 crew, and then questioned
Morgan, STS-118 astronaut Dave Williams and commander Scott Kelly on their upcoming
spaceflight during an event here at NASA's Johnson Space Center.
"We would
love for you guys to actively participate with us now, and start helping us
figure out the answers to all the big questions we have," Morgan told the crowd
of more than 200 teachers, high school and college students.
Students picked
the astronauts' brains about everything from how they'll cope with separation
from their families to what they hope to see from their unique vantage point
220 miles (354 km) above Earth.
"I taught
for 20 years in a little town out in the mountains of Idaho," Morgan said of
her former teaching grounds in McCall, Idaho. "It's a beautiful spot on a
glacial lake up at 5,000 feet and I'm hoping that one of our passes will take
us over that area."
Angela O'Brien,
a teacher at Mackenzie Middle School in Lubbock, Texas, said Morgan has played
an inspiring educational role during the past 20 years. Morgan
originally served as backup to schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe during
NASA's Teacher in Space program and assumed her educational duties following
the 1986
loss of Challenger and its seven-person crew.
"When I saw
her up there today, I didn't see a 'former' teacher—once a teacher, always a
teacher," O'Brien said of Morgan. The reading and English educator noted that
she will take advantage of the little time Morgan will have to interact aboard
the ISS to inspire the next generation of astronauts.
"If you
think about it, middle schoolers are the ones who will probably be going to the
moon and Mars," she said.
Williams,
an STS-118 crewmember representing the Canadian Space Agency, encouraged the
young crowd to envision themselves as future space explorers.
"When we
were kids growing up, we had dreams of becoming astronauts, and we never
thought that would be possible," he said. "Someone in this audience today could
be an astronaut in the future going on those missions back to the moon and on
to Mars. If you think that's impossible, remember we thought the same thing
growing up."
Justin
Gorski, a 21-year-old student at the University of Rochester, New York, said he
felt moved by the astronauts' words.
"We had the
opportunity to interact with them, and I now realize it's entirely possible to
become an astronaut," Gorski said. "If I personally had a chance, I'd rather go
to the moon. Mars is a little too far for me."
Endeavour
STS-118 crew expect to spend up to 14 days in space following their scheduled
Aug. 7 launch from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Among their
other tasks, the astronauts plan to perform up to four spacewalks, deliver a
fresh load of cargo and install a new starboard-side truss segment to the ISS
during the construction mission.
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