Tuesday, January 25, 2011 — On Friday morning, third-grade ESL (English as a Second Language) students at A.T. Allen Elementary School in Concord were able to communicate with Aerospace Engineer Will Moore, a 2004 graduate of Albemarle High School, who is currently working for NASA (National Aero-nautics and Space Admini-stration) in Houston, Texas.

ESL teachers Wallace Barboza and Joanne Christ-man, from Albemarle, have been teaching their students about space, the moon and NASA. The students contacted astronauts online, watched NASA videos and added their names to a list that will travel by microchip to Mars on the next Rover mission.

“We’ve all been fascinated by everything that goes on at NASA,” Christman said.

“And we’ve been trying to provide real-life experience to the kids,” Barboza said.

Looking for ways to lead the students in applying the language skills they have learned, Christman decided to contact Moore about a Skype session.

“I’ve known Will ever since he was about the age of these children,” Christman said.

Moore agreed to a Skype session with the classroom, and a date was planned. The original date for the session had to be changed because of the weather, but a special class time was finally arranged.

On Thursday, the students practiced for the Skype session.

“The students wrote their questions for Will and practiced them yesterday,” Christman said.

On Friday, the students had their questions ready for Moore.

Barboza set up the computer equipment, and soon, Moore appeared on the Smartboard screen in front of the students.

“Welcome to our class this morning,” Christman said to Moore.

The students asked Moore a variety of questions about the space program.

A student named Victor asked about transportation to and from the space station.

“The astronauts on the space station now will fly down in a Russian capsule,” Moore said.

“It basically just falls out of the sky. We also use the space shuttle to transport crew members.”

According to Moore, the space shuttle is also used to transport parts to the station.

“At this point, we’re done building it,” he said.

“We’re just bringing up spare parts to last until 2020.”

Victor asked Moore another question, that, according to Christman, interested many of the students. He wanted to know what caused the fire beneath rockets during launch.

“The fire is actually thrust coming out of the engine,” Moore said.

“The engines are filled with liquid hydrogen and oxygen. The explosion you see causes the shuttle to lift off.”

Third-grader Alex wanted to know what countries the astronauts came from.

“They come from lots of different countries,” Moore said.

“There have been astronauts from all over the world, and they mostly go to space through our space program.”

Moore informed the students that the astronauts communicate with each other mostly in English.

“The Russians sometimes like to use their own language, and we use translators,” he said.

“But mostly we speak in English because it’s such an international language.”

One student asked Moore, “Do you tell the astronauts what to do?”

“Indirectly, I do,” Moore said.

“Last week, I worked on the Russian space walk and scheduled activities for the crew on the ground.”

The Russian spacewalk took place that morning, while Moore was still connected by Skype to the classroom.

Many of the students’ questions dealt with how the astronauts live in the space station, and Moore talked to the children about life on the space station.

One thing he talked about was the way the lack of gravity affects the astronauts.

“When there’s no gravity, it allows their backs to relax,” Moore said.

“Their bones and muscles stretch out a little bit, and they get a little taller.”

According to Moore, the lack of gravity determines the way the astronauts eat and sleep.

“If a food is crumbly, the crumbs will go everywhere,” he said.

“They have to be careful what they eat. A lot of the food is dehydrated so they can store it for a long time.

“The astronauts get to taste test their food before they go to space. They get a buffet of foods they can choose from.”

When astronauts sleep, they strap themselves down to keep from floating, Moore said.

“Imagine a sleeping bag with straps around it,” Moore said.

“They strap themselves down to give them the feeling of being in a bed.”

According to Moore, the space station is about the size of a football field, made up of modules that are roughly the size of a school bus. Each astronaut has his or her own sleeping area that is approximately the size of a closet.

“It’s their own private space,” Moore said.

“They can bring pictures of family and friends, personal items and videos to watch for their space.”

The students also had questions about NASA’s future plans, particularly about trips to the moon and Mars.

“The entire goal of NASA is space exploration,” Moore said.

“Right now, they are trying to figure out their next project. The next big thing is to get to Mars. With our technology, we could do it.”

After the third-graders said their thanks and good-byes to Moore, they moved on to another classroom, and Moore spoke further about his job to the teachers and others present.

“I love working with the space program,” Moore said.

“There are a lot of new opportunities in private space industry, but it would be great to stay with NASA.”

Moore has been interested in space and flight since he was very young.

“My second-grade teacher always talked about the space program,” he said.

“And it’s something I’ve always loved.”

Initially, Moore wanted to become a pilot.

“As I went through my school, I was more interested in rockets and space craft,” he said.

He attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, and after graduating began looking for a job.

“I got this really awesome offer from NASA,” Moore said.

“I kind of fell into it.”

Moore said that he was saddened to hear of the shooting in Arizona, particularly as Mark Kelly, husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was injured in the incident, is a space shuttle commander for NASA.

“The whole space program is really sad that Rep. Giffords was shot,” Moore said.

 “Her husband was in Houston, scheduled to be commander of the next shuttle mission, when it happened. I’m not sure if he is still going on the mission.”

Moore is qualified to undertake a number of different duties for NASA.

“I can work as an orbital communications adapter,” he said.

“That’s when I monitor the whole crew on a computer network.”

Moore also organizes and formats crew procedures and works as a long-range planner, which was the job he did for the Russian spacewalk.

“I’m hoping to go to Russia through my work,” Moore said.

“Once I finish a little more training, I’ll be qualified to go to Russia.”

“It’s impressive to be 25 and part of NASA,” Christman said after speaking with Moore.

“He had that passion since he was a little boy and just followed his dream.”