Astronaut speaks to STARBASE students

Neoletti Jackson, left, and Nykevia Crenshaw of Mrs. Jackie Allen’s fifth-grade class at Peter Crump Elementary School, speak with former Air Force pilot and NASA astronaut Lee Archambault while visiting Maxwell’s STARBASE.(Official Air Force Photo by Bennett Rock)

Photo Details / Download Hi-Res

Astronaut speaks to STARBASE students

Published Jan. 25, 2010
By Carl Bergquist
Air University Public Affairs

MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- Former Air Force pilot and NASA astronaut Lee Archambault visited Maxwell's Science and Technology Academies Reinforcing Basic Aviation and Space Exploration, or STARBASE, program Jan. 14 to mentor STARBASE students.

Colonel Archambault was at Maxwell-Gunter to speak to students at Air War College and was invited to also speak to STARBASE students by the program's director Chip Haughton.

The colonel told members of a Peter Crump Elementary School fifth-grade class the STARBASE program was "on the right track," and he was glad they liked mathematics because "math is a fundamental tool for a lot of stuff."

"In high school, math was my favorite subject. I didn't do well in some of it, but it is ok not to do well if you try," he said. "When you challenge yourself you sometimes get it wrong, but it it's ok to get it wrong if you learn from your mistakes."

Colonel Archambault said the "neat thing" about challenging yourself is that you learn not to be afraid to make mistakes as long as you do your best. He said he was involved in sports at the University of Illinois, and it is also important to develop both your mind and your body.

"Sports not only keeps your body in condition, but it also helps you develop teamwork," the colonel said. "When we flew in space, we were a team and had to work together as a team. NASA likes people who have played sports."

Colonel Archambault said he became involved in the space program because he grew up in the same Chicago neighborhood as Astronaut Eugene Cernan who, in 1972, was the last man to walk on the moon.

In response to a student's question about the dangers of going to the moon, the colonel said it is dangerous, but life itself can be dangerous.

"You could get killed going to the moon, but you could get killed walking home from school," he told the students. "We build in a lot of redundancies into the spacecrafts to help make it safer. But, life is about taking risks, and we do our best to minimize the risk."

Another student asked why we went to the moon, and Colonel Archambault said it was to find out what was there. He said the experience helped "build a picture" of our past and "give us a sense" of our future, and NASA wants to go back to the moon. A third student wanted to know if there was life on the moon, and the colonel said we had not found life there, but scientists are beginning to think there is water on the moon, and that might have once supported life.

Colonel Archambault said he accepted the invitation to speak to the STARBASE class because NASA is interested in promoting study programs about space.
"NASA is extremely supportive of these kinds of programs, and we are enticed to support them, too," he said. "One of our new director's top priorities is educational outreach programs."

Colonel Archambault was an F-111 Aardvark and F-117 Nighthawk pilot in the Air Force, and was accepted for astronaut training in 1998. He flew as an Astronaut Support Person aboard Space Shuttle flights STS-111 and STS-114, as the pilot of STS-117 and commander of STS-119. He has logged a total of 27 days in space.