Reaching for answers

Mike Swanson

Students had their brains picked and piqued Friday by an astronaut,

who visited Lake View Elementary School.

Barbara Morgan, an astronaut and teacher who trained with Christa

McAuliffe and the Challenger crew in 1985 and 1986, called on

children and showed slides for more than an hour after her scheduled

departure. A few students watched the clock in typical anticipation

of going home from school, but most kept their hands high in the air

hoping to get one last question answered.

Students from kindergarten through the fifth-grade answered

Morgan’s questions with varying success, going from correctly

guessing the speed of a space shuttle to guessing that Cape Canaveral

and Fresno can both be found in Iowa. Whether they knew the answers,

children’s hands shot in the air in response to all but one of

Morgan’s questions. None took a stab at how to say “good morning” in

Russian. A few minutes into Morgan’s second presentation of the day,

to the school’s fourth- and fifth-graders, one student asked why

Morgan chose such a dangerous job after being a teacher.

“I don’t do crazy things just to do crazy things,” Morgan said. “I

go into space because it’s important.”

Ten-year-old Alex Anunciation needed a more succinct description

before allowing Morgan to move on to her slides.

“Yeah, but where are you actually going?” Alex asked.

Morgan is assigned to a crew destined for the International Space

Station next year, where she and others from all over the world will

take part in an assembly mission. While Alex’s question allowed

Morgan to briefly elaborate on her specific mission, she based the

presentation on general space education.

One of Morgan’s most difficult slides to identify, which showed a

magnificent display of lights spreading across space, stumped the

kindergarten through third-grade group. Ten-year-old Aileen Nava was

the first to guess among fourth- and fifth-graders, quickly rattling

off, “Aurora Borealis,” or the northern lights.

Morgan did a double take and showered Aileen with praise.

“These are actually the southern lights, which go by a different

name, but even people who study space can’t remember its name,”

Morgan said. “You guys are one incredibly smart bunch.”

After Morgan arrived in her astronaut jumpsuit and began shaking

hands with children in the audience to a chorus of applause, she had

to wait for a 7-year-old’s assistance before she could begin her

presentation. Tristin Kelsay manned the slide projector and Morgan

was ready to go.

“I’m out of practice when it comes to mastering high-tech,

classroom machinery,” Morgan said. “I need you young, technologically

advanced kids to help me.”