Pupils on Earth Taught From Orbit

Forty-one pupils took seats today in the first “space classrooms” as the shuttle Columbia’s astronauts--one sporting a necktie that floated in weightlessness--beamed down a lesson on celestial subjects.

The lesson, taught by astronauts Jeffrey Hoffman and Sam Durrance as the shuttle orbited 218 miles above Earth, lasted more than half an hour, focusing on star formations and the kinds of radiation emitted from heavenly objects.

Twelve middle school students from four Southeastern states gathered at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville for the lesson. Twenty-nine other youngsters were on hand at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., from two nearby schools.

At Marshall, the students seated around a horseshoe desk watched a large television screen quietly and attentively as the astronauts conducted the lesson. Later, students got to beam questions at astronauts Robert Parker and Ron Parise when they got off their work shifts on Columbia.

To mark the occasion of the first space lesson, Hoffman wore a dress shirt and tie. Once they are in orbit, the astronauts usually wear regular casual clothes; they don’t use space suits except for takeoffs and landings.

“When I started thinking about giving a classroom talk in space, I thought back to my own school days and I realized that all of the men teachers I had wore ties,” Hoffman said.

“As far as I know, nobody’s ever worn a tie in space. I thought I’d give it a try and see what it looks like in celebration of this space classroom occasion, and I can tell you it works quite well. You have to be a little careful in zero-gravity as you can see,” Hoffman said, pushing down his floating, burgundy patterned tie.

During the later question-and-answer session, the questions ranged from how the astronauts trained to what they enjoyed the most about the mission.

“Looking out the window at the Earth,” Parise replied to the latter question.

The pupils were chosen for today’s “Space Classroom” because of their scientific interests.