MIDDLESBORO, Ky. — An astronaut who piloted a space mission to the International Space Station spoke with students at Middlesboro Middle School on May 26.
John Shoffner is a pilot in Axiom's space mission. The company conducted the first-ever private mission to the ISS in 2022 since Axiom is a privately-owned company. Shoffner's team is the second privately funded mission to the ISS.
He grabbed a microphone while aboard the ISS and spoke with students back down on Earth, in the town where he's from. Before moving to Knoxville, Shoffner was raised in southeast Kentucky.
He spoke with students about his experience in space and demonstrated low-gravity physics with a ping-pong ball, as well as with floating techniques. He also answered questions from students, one of whom asked if he ever got homesick.
"I don't even have to be doing experiments to get homesick. I miss Middlesboro, I miss the home where I live down there in Knoxville. But up here, on the space station, we have a lot of friends and we're very busy," he said. "This is kind of home for now. I'm not sick for any kind of home for now, I seem to have one going around the world."
Another student asked what happens when he sneezes and demonstrated himself being thrown backward in low gravity.
His mission is dedicated to STEM education outreach, and he said he is going to record videos to show children what it's like to live in space, compared to living on Earth.
"Whatever it is you're doing, keep doing it, if it's what you want," he told one student.