Students at St. Ambrose School in Brunswick had the experience of a lifetime on March 6 with the historic opportunity to interact live with three NASA astronauts on the International Space Station.
Thanks to a NASA Education Downlink that St. Ambrose applied for last summer, the students were able to ask questions of the astronauts Nick Hague, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams of Expedition 72. St. Ambrose was one of only a few schools across the country that was selected for the live learning opportunity.
School officials and students had been preparing for the event for months. Some of the prep work involved learning more about NASA and its mission and work, as well as enjoying school-wide STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) problem-based learning experiences. They used many of NASA’s educational resources as they prepared to talk with the astronauts.
(See photo gallery above.)
The live broadcast was shared through NASA’s live link. Students and others across the state and the world could join the broadcast to hear and learn from the astronauts. St. Ambrose students in grades preschool through eight tuned in on the large screens in their classrooms to watch and listen to fellow students ask questions of the astronauts and to hear their responses.
Students from grades 1-8 were chosen to ask questions that were pre-recorded. The recordings were played during the broadcast and the astronauts answered in real time.
Among the questions posed were how astronauts don’t float away during spacewalk, how do they eat and drink if everything floats in space, what happens to the trash they make, what is a typical day like in space, what type of experiments are they working on, do they get the internet in space, how do they communicate with earth, what do the planets and things on earth look like from space and how do they wash their hair in space.
They learned that tethers are used to connect the astronauts to the spacecraft during a spacewalk.
As for trash, it is collected and placed in a special vehicle that is released. It burns up in space, disposing of the trash.
A typical day in space starts with a back flip for astronaut Wilmore. Why? “Because I can,” he quipped, demonstrating the move.
Williams said the experiments vary. In some cases, they draw blood samples to check on how they metabolize food. The samples are frozen and will be tested when they return to earth.
While discussing food in space, the astronauts said they enjoy eating everything. When they can get fresh fruit, it’s a treat. They showed an orange floating around the cabin and demonstrated drinking from foil-like pouches.
Students enjoyed hearing Williams describe how she washes her hair. “I only wash it about twice a week,” she said, explaining it’s a process. She starts by squeezing some water from a pouch into her hair, then adding a little shampoo, massaging it through her hair and rinsing it out with more water squeezed from a pouch.
“It turns out great, don’t you think?” she quipped, as her hair floated freely above her head.
The astronauts explained that they use satellites to help communicate with NASA officials, family and friends on earth.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t time to answer all the students’ questions. As the broadcast ended and the astronauts did backflips, students applauded.
Fourth-graders Bobby and Ethan said after learning from the astronauts, they would love an opportunity to visit space.
“You could do like a million backflips in a row,” Ethan said. “Zero gravity seems awesome. I’d love to be in space one day, maybe in a rocket. I’d love to try it.”
Sixth-grader Emeline said she would love to work for NASA some day. She wants to be a biochemist and is interested in seeing how plants could grow and sustain life in space.
Lisa Cinadr, head of schools/principal, said everyone was very excited about the opportunity to interact with the astronauts.
“We’re so blessed to provide these kinds of learning experiences that give our students opportunities to REACH (to be resilient, empowered, accurate, creative, harmonious), grow and achieve opportunities to dig in and find their gifts and talents and … see what could happen for them. I anticipate there will be one student or more from St. Ambrose Catholic School going to Mars or the moon,” she said.
Students also were excited to be interviewed by Spectrum News 1 and WKYC-TV 3 after the broadcast.
Cinadr said they learned that among the schools tuning in for the session were a school in Columbus, Ohio, another in India and at least one school in the diocese.
Click here to watch the St. Ambrose session with the astronauts. Another highlight video can be viewed here.