When astronaut Robert Hines looked down at Earth from the International Space Station, Caledonia was so small he could barely see it through his long lens camera.
But on Friday morning, Hines spoke to sixth graders at Caledonia Middle School about remaining resilient through life’s unexpected challenges, since his goal was originally to be a pilot, not an astronaut.
“Astronaut wasn’t really on my radar at all,” Hines said. “… The thing is, you never know what twists and turns are going to be thrown at you. It’s really important to have some resilience, to stick with your goals and keep going after them, but to realize there’s more than one path to get there. And you never know what opportunities are going to open up.”
Hines said his first flight experience as a child, arranged by his grandmother, was actually intended to scare him away from becoming a pilot into a safer profession. But after experiencing aerobatics for the first time, he was hooked.
In college, Hines studied aerospace engineering and then got a master’s degree in engineering. Then, he joined the Air Force, moving to the Columbus Air Force Base for flight school. There, he met his wife, Kelli, and made the family connections that tie him to the area.
But after years of serving as an instructor pilot, fighter pilot and test pilot, Hines was selected to be a part of the 22nd class of astronauts for NASA in 2017. He trained for two years to prepare for a mission.
Eventually, Hines received a call saying he would be the pilot of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station, along with three other astronauts: Kjell Lindgren, Jessica Watkins and Samantha Cristoforetti. The crew would become first-time fliers on the spacecraft they named “Freedom.”
Hines said this mission set a record for making the fastest rendezvous with the International Space Station, getting from the Earth to the station in just 15 hours on April 27, 2022. The crew also set a record for the fastest return, descending to Earth in just 4 1/2 hours on Oct. 14.
Between these records, Hines and the crew spent 170 days in space conducting experiments. About 250 to 300 experiments were ongoing at any given time, including robotics, how gravity affects the human body and growing tomatoes in space for the first time.
Hines explained to the students different ways that living in zero gravity affected the astronaut’s lives, including eating, sleeping, using the bathroom and more. But in their free time, he said, astronauts mostly enjoy looking out the window.
“What an incredible privilege it is to get to look down on the planet from that vantage point,” Hines said. “The earth never ceases to amaze. Every orbit around, something has changed, and it’s different and it’s just incredibly beautiful.”
Hines then walked the students through the next few phases of planned space exploration, referring to the sixth-graders as “The Artemis Generation,” since their generation will most likely be the first to see humans walk on Mars.
“During your lifetime, you guys will get to see that kind of thing,” Hines said. “So if any of you guys have an interest in science, engineering, math, those kinds of things, there is a place for you in NASA and the world of space right now because it is booming.”
CMS Principal Jeannie Jernigan said she was grateful Hines came to speak to her students about the process of going to space, as she saw many of her students inspired by his story.
“Based on some of the reactions I’ve seen, it has lit up some people into thinking, ‘You know, I might could do that,’” Jernigan said. “It’s not just about the pilot that goes there. They have scientists, they have doctors, they have all sorts of engineers going into space. It’s attainable. It’s someone who’s been to Caledonia and they were on the SpaceX Crew-4.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 40 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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