Once in a while you get to meet some notable people in life and today was one of those days for Laura and me. I’m not really into watching the celebrity scene or seeing famous politicians, but there are certain people that I would be very happy to meet. As a young a boy I couldn’t have named one of my friends who wouldn’t want to become an astronaut. Apparently it was not in my future to become an astronaut, but the fascination never went away.

Dr. George “Pinky” Nelson, member of three shuttle missions including the first mission after the Challenger accident in January 1986.

This afternoon we were lucky enough to have Dr. George “Pinky” Nelson come to our school and talk to us about best practices in science education. I really tried to think of some interesting curriculum directed questions, but my mind kept going back to: How do you go to the bathroom in space? How does the food taste? How do you sleep? and so on…

I tried to limit myself to just a few questions as I’m sure he has been asked every conceivable question. To make a long story short it was a fun experience being in the presence of an astronaut.