Exciting to Meet Astronaut Scott Parazynski for Lunch at Kennedy Space Center (KSC)

Lunch with Astronaut Scott Parazynski

Excited for the opportunity of meeting an astronaut for lunch. Yes, I would be one of many but still …. it is an astronaut. My first thought was he had only been to the International Space Station and not walked on the moon BUT as I read up on Scott Parazynski before the lunch. There were many  surprises for me of Scott having space walked a lot. The research ahead of the luncheon was very educating. If you are going to the Kennedy Space visitor Center read up on the Astronaut of the day. Go to either the luncheon or the encounter. Make sure you meet an astronaut.

Scott Parazynski walk in space with P6 Solar Array repositioning

Lunch was simple but elegant buffet with chicken, vegetable, salad, and desert. For drinks there was soda, iced tea, or Tang. The tables were laid out in white table cloths with water glasses and silverware already setup. It was going to be a nice lunch.

Scott appeared with slides and a microphone. He covered his many shuttle launches and opened the floor to questions. The children in the luncheon had lots of questions each handled with a verbal answer as well as a slide. It was incredible how Scott could go to exactly the right slide. We were shown many slides of the many missions as well as Scott climbing Mt. Everest. Yes, this man is multi-talented and has done more in one lifetime than many do combined.Having flown on the Shuttle Discovery and Endeavour Scott mesmerize us with the facts and pictures.

Scott Parazynski Astronaut Photo courtesy of NASA

Scott is a doctor and was the physician on hand when John Glen went back into space aboard Shuttle Discovery. Scott has been on five Space Shuttle flights and seven space walks. His space walks have been extraordinary for repairs Russian Space Station Mir and the Hubble Space Telescope. Scott has done seven Extravehicular activities (EVA) where he walked in space during repair activities. Reading up on his activities is immensely impressive to realize how much this one man did as part of teams in Space. How much they were part of our future and now our past by repairing the Hubble Space Telescope we are able to view into deep space.

Astronaut Scott Parazynski repairs a damaged ISS solar panel Photo courtesy of NASA

Scott spoke about this space mission where he repaired a Solar Panel on the International Space Station (ISS). Doing the repair had many challenges one being the large gloves needed in space and not wanting to puncture them. Seeing the man in person, realizing all that he did, one cannot help but be in awe of this human being. The courage to fly into space and WALK in space is beyond my ability. The fact that someone did and lives a life of incredible adventures is awesome. Scott has a great website with numerous pictures of his many adventures both in space and on the ground.

Shuttle Endeavour NASA Kennedy Space Center Photo by Eileen Ludwig

Resources

Many of the resources used to fill in the details of this article are found here:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Parazynski
• http://www.parazynski.com/
• http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/parazyns.html
• http://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/index.html
• Follow Scott Parazynski on twitter @spotscott
• Great pictures from NASA http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/

Travel Articles

This article is one of many written by Travel Writer Eileen Ludwig about NASA Kennedy Space Center

• How to Best Tour NASA Kennedy Space Center
• Become part of NASA tweetups http://www.examiner.com/technology-in-orlando/become-part-of-nasa-tweetups
• Kennedy Space Center Star Trek Exhibit, Star Trek Live, Star Trek Halloween Costume Contest
• Media Release: Orange County Resident One of 150 NASA Tweetup GRAIL twin lunar Delta II rocket launch
• Delighted I was one of the lucky 50 For Final Shuttle Landing Atlantis #NASATweetup #STS135 Landing attendees

If you have the chance of meeting an Astronaut for lunch or in an encounter, make sure to do it. My lunch and admission was part of a Media group of Central Florida Bloggers meeting with Andrea Farmer the Public Relations Representative for Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

• Facebook http://www.facebook.com/KennedySpaceCenterVisitorComplex
• Website http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/
• Twitter @ExploreSpaceKSC
• Calendar with Space Shuttle photography from award winning journalist Red Huber http://www.orlandosentinel.com/os-shuttle-calendar-htmlpage,0,5146468.htmlpage
• NASA calendar http://www.thespaceshop.com/2012calendar.html