NASA Astronaut Presents Vt. Flag

From Shuttle to Rochester School

Five years after his first visit, NASA astronaut Mike Massimino, brother of Joe Massimino of Rochester, returned to Rochester School Wed. Nov. 26 to make a special presentation.

"The last time I was in Rochester, I gave the school an American flag that had been on a space flight," Massimino told the Herald, "but this time, I brought a Vermont state flag that I took on my shuttle flight in March 2002, along with a montage of photographs and a NASA STS 109 crew flight patch from that flight."

He made his presentation to Principal Bob Gray at two assemblies (one for the elementary students and one for the middle and high school) held in the school auditorium.

When Massimino visited in 1998, he had yet to fly in space, so he spoke with the students about what it was like to become an astronaut and the work he did while training. In March 2002, his life-long dream came true when he was part of the crew on the space shuttle Columbia. During that flight, he walked in space and did work on the Hubble telescope.

"I wanted to do a follow-up visit in Rochester so I could tell the kids what it felt like to fly in space," Massimino said. "The kids had lots of good questions. I showed some slides and snippets of videotape from the launch and the flight and answered questions, concentrating on what we did on our flight and what it was like to fly in space." He also talked about the current NASA projects he's working on.

"Right now I’m working as a CAPCOM, which is a spacecraft communicator at the mission control center," Massimino explained. "When the next flight goes up, I’ll communicate with other astronauts. I may also go on another flight at some point, but I haven’t been assigned to one yet."

"I think many people don’t know that we have people in space right now," he continued, noting that, in his role as a CAPCOM, he occasionally talks with American astronaut Mike Foale and Russian cosmonaut Sasha Kaleri, who are currently manning the international space station.

To keep his skills sharp, Massimino also does a lot of training in simulators, takes classes, flies T-38 jets, and practices space walking in the neutral buoyancy lab, a 200 ft. by 100 ft. by 40 ft.-deep pool.

Massimino said he would like to see a crew land on the moon again.

"It’s been over 30 years since we’ve been there and I hope someone gets to go back while I’m still an astronaut," he noted. "We’d like to go back to establish a lunar lab post. The Apollo flights visited and collected samples, but the astronauts didn’t stay long and didn’t establish a base there. That’s what our hope is."

Having a visit from a "real live" astronaut may have inspired some area youngsters to think about a career at NASA.

"The students returned from the assembly and were all talking about space, and what it would be like up there without gravity," said fifth grade teacher, Faye Severy. "The younger children were role-playing themselves as astronauts. It was a nice opportunity for the Rochester students to experience the larger world around them, beyond our secluded valley."

By Martha Slater