RUTLAND — Students at Central Tree Middle School asked the questions.
And about 250 miles overhead, members of the crew at the International Space Station answered, while traveling at 17,500 miles an hour orbiting the Earth.
Central Tree students hosted a NASA downlink on Feb. 9 in which two crew members — NASA Expedition 70 Flight Engineer Loral O’Hara and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andy Mogensen — answered about 20 questions during a live transmission.
In advance of the event, students prepared the questions, drawing on their curiosity and science studies. They had been studying things like why astronauts float in space, sixth-grade science teacher Jaime Hughes said.
Hughes was proud that the questions came from her students.
Those questions included everything from what the crew members do on a typical day to what they do in time off, plus questions such as how space work helps understand ocean exploration, which interested flight engineer O’Hara, who had an interest in just that topic, having worked at Woods Hole in Massachusetts.
But do they get bored? One student wanted to know.
“It’s really hard to get bored in the Space Station,” O’Hara said. Especially, she added, when they glance outside and “look at our incredibly beautiful planet,” which they circle every hour and a half.
“The students were so excited to be a part of that experience. They were eager to submit questions,” Hughes said after the event.
“No surprise to me, their questions were well thought out and showed the level of interest they have in this topic. We have discussed many of the questions during class, and it was wonderful to hear the answers directly from the astronauts themselves,” Hughes said.
“While learning about Earth and space, I have set up a burning question board in order to keep up with the questions they want to discuss each day. The astronauts did a great job at offering their insight and personal experiences and addressing the questions.”
The interaction brought the students close to people who have excelled in science-related careers that were out of this world.
“We try so hard to give students real-world connections. This experience was a one in a million chance to really connect to the information being investigated in class. Science is exciting and interesting, and my hope is students leave CTMS with the same level of curiosity and eagerness to learn as they had today. If we can accomplish that, then they will have the confidence to follow their passions,” Hughes said.
“It was a really cool program,” sixth-grader Ainsley Herlihy said. “I’m proud our school was chosen.” She was able to ask the astronauts, “What’s the scariest part about being in space.”
Braelynn Connolly said it was impressive that “a small school got to do something so big.”
“Space is so interesting,” Ainsley said, adding she wanted to learn more about the planets.
”These people get to do so much” on the Space Station, Braelynn said, having asked the astronauts “what do you eat in space and how?”
“I was blown away by the quality of the questions,” school psychologist Beth Foley said. “They were well thought out.”
Foley said it was hard to meet the technical specifications for the videos they shot to send to NASA, a final piece in the yearlong effort to arrange the conference call.
“I consider this a once-in-a-lifetime event for our students,” Foley said. “I was looking for something amazing to bring to our students. I reached out to NASA and completed the proposal last spring.”
The interaction was viewed in other schools, such as Thomas Prince in Princeton and Chocksett in Sterling, as well as senior centers and libraries throughout the Wachusett Regional School District.
It is available for viewing on NASA TV via YouTube, to hear the answers to the student questions: Expedition 70 Space Station Crew Answers Massachusetts Student Questions – Feb. 9, 2024.
In the future, CTMS students may be working in space exploration.
In what Principal David Cornacchioli called “a cool connection,” he said he had gotten an email from 2015 CTMS graduate Timmarie Gallagher, who learned of the conference call through work.
Graduating from college last May, Gallagher works as a biomedical flight controller at the Johnson Space Center.
“I am currently training for backroom support and will be setting up your event this Friday. What a small world! Excited to watch from my end,” Gallagher wrote.
“What an opportunity,” Rutland representative on the regional school committee Sherrie Haber said of the students’ experience.
With so many kids participating, “we have a lot to be proud of” in the local schools, Haber said.
Noting interdisciplinary work and that the students involved are sixth graders, only 11 years old, she said, “It shows them what’s possible.”
