Cohasset astronaut talks to students live from space station: 'A great miracle'

COHASSET − Students, teachers and local officials gathered in the Cohasset High School library Wednesday for an out-of-this-world visitor.

Astronaut Stephen Bowen appeared live on video from the International Space Station to answer questions from a select number of students as he orbited Earth at almost 5 miles per second. School Superintendent Patrick Sullivan introduced Bowen as proof that the "sky is literally the limit" for Cohasset students.

For a few minutes after Sullivan's introduction, the gathering waited in quiet anticipation until Bowen floated into view and hung a large Cohasset banner as a backdrop, which drew laughter and applause.

"I can hear you, can you hear me?" he asked from 250 miles above the Earth.

"We hear you, and we send you a big welcome from home," Sullivan replied. With only 25 minutes available, Sullivan turned the microphone over to students for questions.

Bowen, who grew up in Cohasset and attended the public schools, is a retired Navy captain and the first submarine officer selected to become a NASA astronaut. He has been on several missions to space, most recently in 2011, when he spent nine days aboard the International Space Station. His current mission, which launched March 2 and will last for 180 days, will be his longest.

Nolan Barry, a fourth grader, asked about a typical day on the space station. Bowen said most of the time is devoted to experiments and maintenance, which sometimes involve spacewalks. Crews also exercise for two hours every day to prevent loss of muscle mass.

Bowen said much of the research examines how objects and organisms react to and and behave in micro-gravity environments. Bowen also works on the engineering of the space station, which he called "a great miracle."

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Sixth grader Peyton Phillips asked Bowen about the coolest thing he's seen in space.

"People," he replied, noting his amazement that human beings have occupied the International Space Station continuously since it was launched in 1998. "As long as you've been alive, people have been living in space. That changes how you view humanity."

Other questions were of a technical nature. Till Streppel, a sixth grader, asked how astronauts maintain sufficient water supplies. Bowen answered that they recycle and purify the condensed vapors exhaled by astronauts and lab animals on board. Sweat and urine are also recycled for water.

To third grader Brooke Maggi, who asked about sunlight in space, Bowen explained that astronauts orbit the earth every 90 minutes and experience 16 cycles of night and day every 24 hours. For 45 minutes, it's incredibly bright with no clouds, Bowen said. Then it's incredibly dark and astronauts can see the stars and the Earth, which "is always amazing to look at."

Other students asked about international cooperation aboard the space station, which is operated by agencies from the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia and Japan. Bowen said he feels privileged to work with people from so many different places. Right now, astronauts from the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Saudi Arabia are working alongside Americans on the station, he said.

Junior Leila Omran, an aspiring astrophysicist, asked if relations with Russian cosmonauts have changed since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. Bowen said day to day, nothing has changed.

"We're all in the same boat. We have to work together. It's a bright spot that we're still able to maintain this amazing laboratory in space," he said.

After the program, Omran said she was happy to hear that war hasn't affected relations on the International Space Station. Quoting Neil deGrasse Tyson's "The Cosmic Journey," Omran said "you can't see any of the boundaries that divide us from space."

Recalling his time at Deer Hill Elementary School, Bowen said when he was a kid, the post office ran a competition to design a new stamp. He drew a picture representing the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission of 1975, which marked the first time American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts met in space. The historic handshake between Thomas P. Stafford and Alexey A. Leonov was much celebrated at the time.

Reach Peter Blandino at pblandino@patriotledger.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen talks to Cohasset students from space