CARIBOU, Maine — Caribou and Stockholm students will have a chance to chat with NASA astronaut and Caribou native Jessica Meir on April 13, according to the school district.
Meir is expected to talk to RSU 39 students about returning to Earth from the International Space Station during the pandemic, as well as her ongoing scientific research and future endeavors.
Meir first journeyed into space in September 2019, and achieved her lifelong dream of going on a spacewalk in October of the same year. During that time, she and fellow astronaut Christina Koch also made history, as it was the first ever all-woman spacewalk.
During Meir’s 205 days in space, she completed 3,280 orbits of earth — a trip of 86.9 million miles.
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Meir remained in space until April 17, 2020, returning to Earth amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Shortly before returning, she said in a video posted to the International Space Station Twitter account that it was “surreal” to see the pandemic unfold on Earth while still in space.
She said the feelings from social distancing and self-isolating are not unlike what she and her fellow astronauts had been experiencing in space.
“We maintain regular contact with people back home,” she said in the video. “We talk weekly to our family, friends and loved ones with video conferences.”
This will not be the first time Caribou students have interviewed Meir, as she answered student questions via an in-flight education downlink on Oct. 29, 2019, from space. And in 2016 she visited Caribou High School, where she graduated in 1995, and spoke with students and staff.
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