Priest River students launch into action at annual rocket event

PRIEST RIVER — For most of us, the fastest we will ever travel is roughly 550 miles per hour in an airplane. However, for former astronaut Thomas Marshburn, he went from 0 to 17,500 miles per hour in just eight-and-a-half minutes when he launched into space for the first time on Expedition 66.

Marshburn, who worked for NASA for 28 years before he retired in 2022, joined Priest River Elementary School students Monday for the students’ annual rocket launch event, led by fifth grade science teacher Chris Naccarato.

When welcoming Marshburn to the stage, Naccarato reminisced on past times when astronauts were driven to their launch site via an astro van. Now, he said they are transported in a white Tesla. While the school was unable to get a Tesla for Marshburn, Naccarato gifted him with a Hot Wheel-sized version of the vehicle to commemorate his time at the elementary school’s launch.

Marshburn went to the International Space Station three times in his career, spending nearly an entire year in space — a total of 337 days. He also completed five spacewalks in his time onboard.

"Can anybody guess how many times a day the space station goes around the earth?" he asked the audience, to which students eagerly yelled out answers like “a year,” and “three months.”

Actually, he said, the ISS revolves around the earth 16 times in one 24-hour period.

“When you’re an astronaut aboard the space station, you see the sunrise 16 times a day and you see the sunset 16 times a day,” he said to students’ amazement.

Training to go into space, Marshburn said, is a very intense experience. Astronauts need to be ready for anything, from engine failure to landing upside down in their rocket in the middle of the ocean. If that isn’t hard enough to train for, he added, the space shuttle also has roughly 5,000 individual switches that each astronaut needs to memorize.

Marshburn said he wasn’t sure if he would ever make it to space after his first mission failed to launch — or “scrubbed” — five times due to bad weather. During their sixth attempt to launch, he said his crew was sure they weren’t going to make it, and they eventually fell asleep in the rocket waiting for takeoff.

“Nine minutes before the actual launch, we heard from the launch control center, ‘You’re actually going to launch now,’” he said.

The crew of six launched, and within a few hours, they were on the ISS, bringing the total number of occupants to 13.

It took a long time for Marshburn to get used to life without gravity. In the first few days aboard the ISS, he said he was constantly running into walls and knocking things down.

Trying to describe the difference between earth and the ISS, Marshburn said things that are easy on land are really hard to do in space, and vice versa. For instance, he said lifting a heavy suitcase at home would be an easy task in space, but taking a shower would be impossible because the water would go everywhere.

Being in space is also incredibly physically demanding, he told students.

“You have to spend about two-and-a-half hours every day in space exercising,” he said. “At zero [gravity], your bones and your muscles would waste away. It would be like lying in bed — even worse than lying in bed all day, all the time.”

While riding on a stationary bike, a seat isn’t needed in space, just pedals and a spot to put your back against the wall, Marshburn said. Without gravity, there is no need to “sit” on the bike.

At the end of his presentation, Marshburn talked to the students about what NASA is planning to do in the next 10-15 years. In the 2030s, he said, the organization plans to have a person walking on Mars.

“Today, that person is your age,” he said. “So that means you could very well be that first person who is going to walk on Mars, in this room, right now.”

Marshburn encouraged the students to continue studying hard and working toward their goals, no matter how big or small they may be.

“If you want to go to space,” he said, “I hope I see you up there.”

The annual launch event was created by Naccarato 32 years ago when he realized he wanted to give his students a more hands-on learning experience when teaching them about space and the work that NASA does. Since his creation of the National Astronauts in Classroom Association, Naccarato has welcomed 26 different astronauts to Priest River for 51 appearances at various events.

This year, after facing some difficulty, the science teacher said he feels that the quote, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” fully encapsulates the work that goes into creating this experience for the kids at the elementary school each year.

“Pulling this off this year was a truly challenging thing,” he said. “It’s pretty incredible how this all happens.”

    Students help prepare, launch, and repair rockets during the half-day event.
  

    Former astronaut Thomas Marshburn talked with students about his time in space.