Reports & Cadet Blog
MESSAGE 19: THE POST & COURIER REPORTS ON BRESNIK’S DOWNLINK EVENT WITH CADETS AND LOCAL SCHOOL CHILDREN
As seen in The Post & Courier, by Bo Petersen
As he flies 200 miles above the earth at speeds of up to 17,500 mph, NASA astronaut and Citadel graduate Randy Bresnik will take questions from students at Laing Middle School in Mount Pleasant.
Bresnik, aboard the International Space Station, will answer questions from Laing students on Friday during a 20-minute window between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.
Citadel cadets and The Citadel’s STEM Center of Excellence will assist Laing students during the live conversation.
Students across the Charleston County School District will also be able to watch and listen, said professor Jennifer Albert, director of The Citadel’s STEM Center.
“Though the event is being held at Laing Middle School, numerous other Charleston County School District classes will also be watching along with others on The Citadel campus,” she said. “Because the live downlink will also be shown on the NASA TV website, STEM teachers in the Lowcountry, across the state and around the country should consider using this exciting STEM-in-action exchange as a teaching tool for their classes.”
Citadel cadets will visit Laing eighth-graders to teach them about Bresnik, a 1989 Citadel graduate and a colonel in the Marine Corps. The cadets will instruct students about the space station and demonstrate how the downlink works. They’ll return on Friday to lead the conversation with Bresnik.
Bresnik was selected from about 4,000 applicants in 2004 to become one of the 11 members of NASA’s Astronaut Class 9, and is the first Citadel graduate to fly in space. Expedition 52/53, Bresnik’s current mission, is his second on the Space Station; the first was in 2009. He is expected to return to Earth in December.
Bresnik, whose Twitter handle is @AstroKomrade, was on board the space station during the recent full solar eclipse, and has been posting pictures on Twitter.
NOTE: THIS EVENT WAS POSTPONED TO OCT 2. DUE TO CAMPUS COMPLICATIONS FROM HURRICANE IRMA