Brunswick Middle School students ask questions to astronauts in space

BRUNSWICK — Brunswick Middle School eighth graders asked questions to astronauts aboard the International Space Station as part of a live broadcast on Tuesday. Science Friday partnered with NASA for an educational program in which students nationwide participated by submitting questions. Eighth grade science teacher Veronica Richardson said she saw an email from Science Friday soliciting student questions. Students in her intervention and enrichment one class developed a list of questions, and two of them were picked. "Space is not a part of our eighth-grade standards, but it's part of intervention and enrichment," she said. "We are looking for other opportunities for kids to either extend past the standards or to think about things outside the box in a little bit of a different way, so this was a cool opportunity to connect with astronauts on the (International Space Station)." Brunswick students Olivia Lee and Blake Miles each asked a prerecorded question to astronauts Don Pettit and Barry "Butch" Wilmore while they are in space. According to NASA, Wilmore is one of the two astronauts who flew to the International Space Station for a flight test in June. The capsule they took was returned to Earth without people aboard because of safety concerns, and the pair are now slated to come home this spring. A group of Brunswick Middle School students watched the livestream during a watch party on Tuesday. During the broadcast, Blake asked how astronauts know whether it was day or night in space. "We orbit the Earth every 90 minutes, so we get 16 sunrises and sunsets per day, per 24-hour period," Wilmore said. "To regulate our body clocks, our circadian rhythm, we turn the lights off inside the space station, and we turn it on during our waking hours." Olivia asked how living on the International Space Station changed the astronauts' understanding of the universe. "I can make observations, and then I have to think about them a bit and talk with other people and read books, and slowly my understanding of what's going on around us can improve," Pettit said. "Some of these observations are subtle, like zodiacal light. It's the light scattered off, basically, construction debris when our solar system was built, and you can see it right before or after sunrise or right after sunset." To watch the entire broadcast on YouTube, visit tinyurl.com/3hm9w45c. Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.