Louisiana’s first Earth-to-space call will be from hurricane-stricken city

Photo caption: The Moon over planet Earth. Photo courtesy NASA.

No one from Louisiana has ever made a call to space. That will change Tuesday when earthbound students ring up NASA astronauts orbiting above.

The two astronauts on the other side of the line will answer prerecorded questions from Lake Charles-area students attending a NASA Astro camp. The event will reach 300 children in person and another 5,000 virtually. It’s billed as a way to bring hope to Southwest Louisiana, an area ravaged by major hurricanes in recent years.

“The Lake Charles area was affected by two hurricanes recently and this event is designed to help inspire and excite local students participating in a week-long camp experience,” a NASA statement said.

Students will hear from astronauts Dr. Frank Rubio and Woody Hoburg, who are aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS circles the planet in Earth’s low orbit and houses astronauts from the United States, Canada, Russia, Japan and Europe.

Rubio, a Florida native, was selected for NASA’s 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and a board-certified family physician and flight surgeon. Before he became an astronaut, he was a helicopter pilot who flew more than 1,100 hours.

Hoburg, a Pennsylvania native, was also a part of the 2017 class. He has a bachelor’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned a doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science from University of California Berkeley.

Hoburg piloted the crew to the ISS and docked their spacecraft March 3. Now, amid their research and other projects, they await a call from eager Louisiana students. The event will air at 9:15 a.m. Tuesday on NASA Television and on the agency’s website and app.

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