A Cosmic Classroom

"Can you see constellations in space?" one student asked. (When the space station lights are turned off, astronauts see the Milky Way.) "How and where do you sleep?" another asked. (Drew demonstrated getting into a vertical sleeping bag and zipping it up.)

Asked how it felt to enter space for the first time, Morgan declared it "absolutely wonderful, and I imagine that going into space for the hundredth time is also wonderful." Laughing as she rotated to one side, she added, "You can be upside down in one module like this and still feel like you're right-side up."

Asked whether she had had a special teacher or mentor, Morgan replied: "That was the Challenger crew. They were my teachers, and I believe they're teaching us today, too."

Some adults applauded. Cheryl McNair, whose husband, Ron McNair, died in the Challenger accident, later said, "My husband believed greatly in education and inspiring children to learn and explore and do the best they can, so this is a continuation to motivate them to achieve."

Afterward, students gathered in a simulated module of the space station, where earlier in the week they had gone on mock missions to the moon and other space destinations.

"It just totally blew my mind that we were able to talk to someone who was . . . miles above us," said Charlotte Torres, 11, an incoming sixth-grader at Hammond Middle School in Alexandria, who added that she would like to explore Mars someday.

Sally Little, 12, of Woodbridge, said: "I thought it was really cool that they wanted to talk to us. They have a million better things to be doing, and yet they chose to talk to us about what life in space is like."

Three former astronauts were also on hand at the learning center to answer questions, including Joe Allen, who recalled his attempt to drink cocoa in space. The cocoa bounced down his chin and into his shirt, he said. "And my experiment proved that I was sticky for a week."