From 200 miles high in space, Syracuse native Jeanette Epps answered questions from local school kids and Le Moyne College students from the International Space Station Thursday.
Lights were dimmed in sixth-grade science teacher Latakia Coleman’s class at Brighton Academy when that familiar NASA voice boomed from audio speakers.
"This is Mission Control, Houston, please call station for voice check,” said the voice.
Soon after that a video stream from the ISS, with Epps was floating in front of several computers, microphone in hand, ready to answer questions from students, like what was the recent solar eclipse like from space?
"It was like a dark shadow that was just moving slowly across the earth,” Epps said. “It was absolutely wonderful and beautiful."
Three Brighton Academy students were among those asking pre-recorded questions. That included 11-year-old Ameriyonna Myers.
"Hi, my name is Ameriyonna. I attend Brighton Academy and my question is how do you sleep in space without floating away?” she asked.
“That's a great question,” responded Epps. “We have our sleeping bags and within the sleeping bags we have straps if we want them."
Some students knew about Epps, a member of the latest NASA crew to head to the space station in March, like 11-year-old Aubrey Moore.
“I was surprised and I was proud because it's a small city and not a lot of people get to do that,” she said.
And that’s just what officials like the district’s Director of Science and Technology Dana Corcoran hope these kids get out of watching Epps float around the ISS conducting scientific research. That’s the realization that someone from a poverty-stricken city can dream big.
“They need to see that they can do this. This is possible, they grew up here, they can be a scientist too,” Corcoran said. “They can go into the STEM field, they can make it happen, and I think it’s so important for them to see someone that looks like them in that seat."
It’s something Latakia Coleman says teachers are always striving for.
"Our kids face poverty every day. They face a lot of obstacles every day," she said. "But we as teachers come here every day trying to push them, love on them, give them encouragement that they need to make their goals a reality."
The encounter left at least one student in her class, Javonte Britt, dreaming of blasting off into space.
"One day...not today though. I don't know. Maybe when I'm like 20," he said.
