Spokane students had a chance today to hear astronaut Anne McClain, the Spokane native working at the International Space Station, answer their questions.
It was a part of a video session arranged with NASA by Spokane’s Mobius Discovery Center. Students were videotaped asking their questions and McClain answered a dozen. There were the usual “What do you eat in space?” and “What has been the highlight of your career?” queries. But some went a little deeper.
“My question is what is something that you learned being on Crew X that you wish you knew being on your first mission?" said Shadle Park freshman Chloe Bockelie.
McClain said she’s appreciating every minute and every crew member in her second mission. She said she is more comfortable this time, in part because she had that first mission to prepare. Then she challenged the students.
“I want you to try something that scares you a little bit because your dreams aren't going to come to your comfort zone. You've got to expand your comfort zone in order to get to your dreams," she said.
"The magic doesn't happen inside your comfort zone. You've got to scare yourself a little. And to me, that's a really good sign that you're pushing yourself beyond your boundaries and that's how you achieve amazing things.”
Another student asked about the most challenging part of her training. McClain says an astronaut’s job description involves a variety of skills.
“Everything from physical grit, you know, being in a spacesuit and training underwater is really physically and mentally challenging," she said. "And then the next morning you may get up and you're going to a Russian lesson or having a test and, you know, learning foreign languages. And then maybe the next day you're learning how to draw your own blood and do human research on yourself.”
This is McClain's second deployment in space. She spent 204 days at the International Space Station from December 2018 to June 2019.
This mission began in March. She’s scheduled to return this fall after about a six-month deployment.
