Students regaled with tales of space

By Jessica Coleman -- Daily Staff Writer

FRONT ROYAL — It's not every day that high school students get to speak to an astronaut.

But at Randolph-Macon Academy on Friday, they did just that.

Paul Lockhart, a former Air Force pilot and NASA astronaut, regaled enraptured students with tales from space.

With a total of more than 26 days logged in space, Lockhart has flown two missions on the space shuttle Endeavor to the International Space Station, STS-111 and STS-113. He currently works at NASA headquarters as a special assistant in the explorations systems mission directorate.

Lockhart said that as a young boy his ambition to go into space was engendered when he watched the TV footage of the lunar landing on a black-and-white TV and listened to the "deep, throaty voices" of the broadcasters narrating the action.

"You can understand where my dreams began," he said.

When he was older and decided that being an astronaut was his ultimate goal, he sought the advice of an aerospace professor who helped him realize his dream.

"I want to fly in [the space shuttle] so much, I'll clean the toilets if they'll let me," Lockhart told his professor.

Ironically, he said he was unaware at the time that that particular job is one of the many duties of a NASA pilot.

Lockhart told the R-MA students that a career in the Air Force gave him direction and helped him gain important skills that helped him in his space flights.

"What I found is that the journey I took has been just as important as my career at NASA," he said.

A DVD with footage from Lockhart's space expeditions elicited oohs and ahs from the students. Not only did it show the interior of the space station and the astronauts performing space walks to repair the facility, it also showed pictures of the Earth taken by the astronauts on the shuttle. Images of Mount Everest, the coral reefs off the coast of Australia and the northern lights as seen from space generated a lot of interest. Laughter erupted as the DVD showed the astronauts playing with their food and drink, catching bubbles of water and floating peanuts in their mouths as they were suspended in midair.

"It is fun," Lockhart said. "But everything you take in your math and science is what's behind this fun."

Lockhart told students that NASA is preparing to send expeditions to the moon and to Mars, and that these events will likely take place in their lifetime. He said the astronauts who go into space have to be multi-skilled and multi-talented, and urged the students to be well-rounded.

"All of you have your dreams, and I hope for some of you that dream involves aviation," Lockhart said. "I didn't get a chance to walk on the moon, but one of you may."

* Contact Jessica Coleman at jcoleman@nvdaily.com