Retired NASA astronaut and Air Force Col. Paul Lockhart answers some questions at Morgan Academy on Dec. 18. Photo by Tom Markland

SHEPHERDSTOWN – Students at Morgan Academy traded their usual afternoon lessons for a front-row seat to space exploration on Dec. 18, as retired NASA astronaut and Air Force Col. Paul Lockhart visited their classroom, bringing stories from his time traveling to and from the International Space Station.

Lockhart, who flew two space shuttle missions and served as commander aboard the International Space Station, spent the afternoon breaking down the science of space travel in a way designed to engage the young audience. However, he said those scientific and technical details are secondary to a broader goal.

“For the younger kids, it’s really about jumpstarting their curiosity, helping them understand the world is bigger,” Lockhart said.

The visit came together after two students, with the help of their family, invited Lockhart to speak, an offer he said he was happy to accept as the school year approached the holiday break.

“There’s no better way to spend the end of a week as we approach Christmas than to spend it with the young ones,” Lockhart said.

During the presentation, Lockhart walked students through a full space shuttle mission from launch to landing. He explained how spacecraft need to reach speeds of about 17,500 miles per hour to remain in orbit, allowing them to circle Earth every 90 minutes and see sunrises and sunsets every 45 minutes. He invited the students to imagine the rumble of liftoff, the weightless environment of orbit and the challenge of returning to Earth with a single opportunity to land safely.

Lockhart also described daily life in space, from sleeping strapped into a sleeping bag to keeping food and tools from floating away. He detailed spacewalks performed to help assemble and maintain the International Space Station and showed images of Earth that he took from orbit.

Throughout the day, Lockhart spoke with two groups of students at Morgan Academy: one younger, grades K-5, and another full of older students, up to eighth grade.

Lockhart said his message evolves as students get older. While younger audiences respond to the excitement of rockets and spacewalks, older students benefit from understanding how broad the space program truly is.

“Everything that they study is an integral part of spaceflight,” Lockhart said. “Whether it’s health, whether it’s writing, whether it’s music, whether it’s understanding the body, all of that is an integral part of spaceflight.”

Renewed public interest in space exploration, fueled in part by recent launches by companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin, makes outreach to young students, the next generation of potential engineers and astronauts, especially important, according to Lockhart.

“Space technology is going to be absolutely critical to humankind,” Lockhart said. “From a health perspective, from a data perspective, from a technology perspective, it’s also going to be critical to us from a national security perspective. We’re laying the groundwork for three decades now, a group of individuals and young people that will follow the young engineers that are now supporting SpaceX.”

He said today’s launches often generate the same excitement he remembers from earlier eras of space exploration, particularly among young engineers.

As the visit concluded, Lockhart encouraged students to keep asking questions and to see themselves as part of that future.

“In this group here, who knows,” he told the students. “We might have that person that’s going to live on Mars someday.”