PITTSTON, Pa. — Almost a year after he landed back on Earth after spending 170 days in the International Space Station, Col. Bob Hines, a Mountain Top native and NASA astronaut shared his story with students at Pittston Area High School.
"There's so much fascination about how that technology works with the math and how it precalculates landings. it's all very interesting to me," said senior Wyatt Kazlaski.
"Being that is someone from our area, students can relate to that, and maybe they can work a little bit harder and realize their dreams are attainable," said Tara Craig, Pittston Area's STEM director.
During his presentation, Col. Hines talked about how the generation in this auditorium, could be the generation that goes to Mars.
"It is crazy to think that like one of my classmates could be the one going to Mars," Kazlaski said. "It's surreal."
But before we can land on the red planet, Col. Hines says other things need to happen, like creating an independent food source in space.
One of Hines' major experiments while in space was called XROOTS, which successfully grew tomatoes on the space station.
"They have tried it in the past and they never got them to grow, never actually flower and produce fruit. And about two weeks before we came home, we started getting tomatoes on there and so we had about 15 bright red tomatoes by the time I left it. It was really incredible and just a really neat experience," Col. Hines said.
But this success is just one of the many puzzle pieces needed to one day land on Mars.
"If we're able to grow crops, those can help not only sustain us with nourishment but also produce fresh air for us and help our life support environments on the trip. So, these are a lot of these experiments are multifaceted," Hines added.
Whether the next astronaut is in the audience or not, the students were inspired by the presentation.
"I don't know what I'm going to do," Kazlaski said. "Having that cool little knowing that the path isn't linear. All that stuff is very motivating."
See Skywatch 16 segments on YouTube: