Class in Space

The plebes of MA104 and MA255 had a unique pair of guest lecturers in their classes today. COL (R) Jeff Williams ’80 and COL (R) Tim Kopra ’85, astronauts aboard the International Space Station and members of Expedition 47, held a video teleconference (VTC) with the cadets in Robinson Auditorium. Aside from a 90-second loss of signal, the VTC was a great success, with 15 cadets posing questions to the astronauts, who were whizzing above them at 17,500 MPH, some 250 miles up in space. The cadets asked Williams and Kopra a wide range of questions, everything from how they do physical fitness training in space (they work out two-and-a-half hours a day) to how they do their laundry (they don’t; they bring enough clothes to last their six-month mission). While this might have been a math lesson (titled “Connecting Space Travel to Math”), some of the answers the astronauts gave crossed into the areas of philosophy and international relations. For example, Kopra told the plebes that West Point is changing them in ways they will only understand once they have left its gates, and when Williams was asked about working with the three Russian cosmonauts during Expedition 47, he said, “One of the greatest successes of the ISS is the ‘international’ part.” The 30-minute VTC also had some lighter moments that highlighted the personality of the NASA graduates. When Williams was asked if he would volunteer for a mission to Mars if it meant a one-way trip, he said, “I love an adventure, but I’m not a fool!” The duo also posed on screen for a space selfie with one of the cadet questioners. Then, before ending the VTC, Williams and Kopra performed the “Rocket” with the Class of 2019. MAJ Thomas Nelson ’04, course director for MA104, and his team spent more than a year coordinating this lesson with NASA, and it should be one that the cadets remember for the rest of their lives.