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A trio of astronauts visited with employees at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, on March 18, 2024, to share their spaceflight experiences aboard the International Space Station.<\/p>\n
NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren \u201cWoody\u201d Hoburg, and United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi all served as flight engineers on the Expedition 69 crew aboard the International Space Station last year.<\/p>\n
The astronauts engaged with over 40 center employees during a meet and greet at the beginning of their visit. Employees viewed a 20-minute video that highlighted the astronauts\u2019 preparation for the mission and their time in space. Afterward, they answered questions about daily life aboard the International Space Station.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are people that you see growing up, and you hear about them, but to actually be in person with them is beyond words,\u201d said Emily Wilson, an intern at Goddard. \u201cIt\u2019s really awesome to hear their stories.\u201d<\/p>\n
During their time in space, the Expedition 69 crew studied how materials burn in microgravity to understand spacecraft fire hazards, and they worked with technology to monitor how spaceflight stressors like microgravity and radiation impact the immune system. Bowen, Hoburg, and Alneyadi also completed spacewalks during the mission.<\/p>\n
After their presentation to employees, the astronauts toured Goddard and heard from researchers about the exciting science and missions in work at the center. They listened to a presentation from Dr. Antti Pulkkinen, director of Goddard\u2019s Heliophysics Science Division, and they visited the clean room where engineers are building the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Their time at Goddard concluded at the Hubble Space Telescope Operations Control Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe long history is really amazing, of all the contributions Goddard has made,\u201d Hoburg said. \u201cWe\u2019re truly going after those big fundamental questions about the origins of the universe, and all the kind of inspiring big scientific questions that drive us as humans, and it\u2019s cool to see the contribution Goddard makes to all those big questions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Learn more about NASA\u2019s Expedition 69 at: <\/p>\n