NEW YORK -
Three NASA astronauts who flew aboard the space shuttle Discovery during the
recent STS-114 mission met with hundreds of students Tuesday to discuss their
spaceflight and hopefully inspire the next generation of explorers.
STS-114 commander Eileen
Collins and mission specialists Stephen Robinson and Charles Camarda answered questions from children and high school
students at the American of Natural History Museum's Rose Center for Earth and
Space.
"This is
really a chance for us to share what we did on the flight," Collins said.
Collins and
her seven-astronaut STS-114 crew returned
to Earth aboard Discovery on Aug. 9 after a 14-day spaceflight to the
International Space Station (ISS).
In addition
to delivering
tons of cargo to the ISS, the shuttle astronauts also tested out new tools and
methods to inspect
and repair
their spacecraft. Robinson conducted three spacewalks with fellow crewmate Soichi Noguchi, of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration
Agency (JAXA), during the flight. Camarda helped inspect
Discovery's heat shield using an orbital boom tipped with laser and camera
sensors, as well as transfer cargo.
STS-114
pilot James Kelly and mission specialists Wendy Lawrence and Andrew Thomas also
flew on the spaceflight, which marked NASA's first shuttle mission since the
2003 Columbia disaster that
killed seven astronauts.
"This
mission was an engineer's dream," Camarda said of
STS-114.
For Camarda, the visit was a homecoming of sorts. The astronaut
grew up here in New York's Queens borough and attended
Archbishop Molloy High School before pursuing a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering.
Many students and faculty from his high school alma mater came to see the local
astronaut.
"It's such a
great achievement to be able to go into space and onto the moon," said Guy Mangelli, 17, an Archbishop Molloy senior, adding that he
followed the STS-114 flight with interest after the Columbia accident.
Robinson said
that reaching out to today's youth and encouraging interest in mathematics and
other sciences is vital for the future of NASA's space program, as well as
exploration as a whole.
"By the
time we have moon bases, these children will be the people who staff those moonbases," Robinson told SPACE.com, adding that
their enthusiasm also supports astronauts like himself. "The excitement we see
here we take back with us. We go back charged and pumped and ready to carry
on."
Today's
museum visit was the first stop in the STS-114 astronauts' New York City tour.
Collins
will appear on CBS' Late Show with David Letterman tonight, then - with Camarda - throw out the first pitch at the Aug. 31 New York
Mets baseball game while Robinson and fellow Noguchi look on. The astronauts
will then move on to NASA's Small Business Solutions Conference here in New
York, NASA officials said.
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