Space X Commander Raja Chari and Rhar-West Art Museum Executive Director Greg Vadney
NASA astronaut Raja Chari made a stop in Manitowoc yesterday, thanks to the efforts of the Rhar-West Art Museum.
Chari made stops at Wilson Middle School, Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry, and Manitowoc Lincoln High School.
Chari told Seehafer News that he was rather impressed with the quality of questions posed by the Middle School students.
“Every time I go to schools, the teachers are always a little nervous,” he explained. “They are like ‘I don’t know if they are going to ask something embarrassing’…but kids come up with the best questions.”
There was one question in particular that really stood out to the Space X Commander.
“I had one today about the radiation and the flashes we see in our eyes,” Chari revealed. “We talk about it but it’s not something I have heard kids ask. That was a really insightful question.”
He explained that those flashes actually are due to the additional radiation that makes its way through the eyelid, which is a product of not having the o-zone protection we have on earth.
We were able to ask some questions as well, one of which was in regard to the aspects of being an astronaut that aren’t as fun as people may think.
He narrowed it down to the interpersonal interactions, the administrative and preventative maintenance done on the international space station, and surprisingly, spacewalks aren’t as fun as they may seem.
“They don’t feel good. They hurt,” Chari explained. “You can’t make a suit that fits everyone individually, and so where the spacesuit hits your knees, or your shoulder, or your elbows, it’s not like normal clothes. It is actually digging in and pressing. Making your bones and body do things it wouldn’t normally do.”
Chari was born in Chicago but actually has family that lives in the Valders area.
He told us he was very happy to drive around and see all of the places he used to hang out as a kid, including the Rahr-West Art Museum.
