HOUSTON — Several lucky students from HISD got an out-of-this-world opportunity Tuesday.
NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station spent part of their orbit answering questions live for students from Worthing Early College High School.
Astronauts Thomas Marshburn, Raja Chari and Mark Vande Hei spent the afternoon answering all types of questions about space, including the creation of artificial atmospheres, the impact of space on the body and, of course, food.
Marshburn and Charri are part of SpaceX Crew-3, which launched back in November. Meanwhile, Hei is currently on pace to break the record for longest spaceflight.
The HISD students were selected out of dozens of schools and organizations from across the country to take part in NASA's educational chat series.
"I've never seen anything like this before," one student said.
Senior and salutatorian Evelyn Barron, who founded Worthing’s robotics club, was among those participating.
"It was cool. This is the first time that Worthing has ever had something like this and it’s nice," Barron said.
Worthing was selected from dozens of schools and organizations across the country that applied to be part of the event, which helps highlight the school’s STEM -- science, technology, engineering and math – curriculum.
“No one really sees Worthing Early College as doing such, so I wanted to make sure our kids were showcased because they definitely do hard work," Science Instructional Specialist Brittany Jackson said.