POTTSTOWN — Anyone who has ever stood in front of a class and taught about space travel, or who has traveled to space themselves, at some point faces the eternal question.
No, it’s not “are we alone?”
Everyone knows the eternal question is “how do astronauts go to the bathroom in space?”
It was on a quest to answer this question for a student that high school science teacher Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger found herself on the NASA website where, as chance would have it, NASA announced it was looking for teachers to go to space.
A few years of grueling training later, and there she was, on the International Space Station.
On Friday, there she was in Pottstown, speaking to a group of educators participating in the Space Exploration Educators Conference program run by the Challenger Center and taking place for the very first time outside of Texas.
Learning about Artemis
She was joined by Daniel Newmyer, who has never been to space, but as the director of education at Space Center Houston, which is visited by more than 250,000 educators annually, he sure knows a lot about it.
Newmyer focused his comments on the Artemis program, which, in April, sent four astronauts into orbit around the moon and the greatest distance humans have ever traveled in space.
Artemis 1 was unmanned and tested new systems, while Artemis 2 was manned.
Artemis 3 will test integration with private space agencies SpaceX and Blue Origin, and Artemis 4 aims for “boots on the moon” by 2028, said Newmyer.
“Those who went were the most kind, real humans I’ve ever known. One thing to understand about space flight: It’s not just about the rocket. It’s about the people who are doing it,” Newmyer said.
It had several firsts. Improved communication meant “we had real-time science happening between the astronauts and mission control. We saw meteors hitting the moon’s surface for the first time, and it was also the first time a solar eclipse has been seen from the moon.”
One thing to realize about space travel, he said, “is when you look back at Earth, there are no borders, just the home we all share, and it changes how you think,” Newmyer said.
And when today’s students become tomorrow’s astronauts, “that’s what they will see,” he said.
Curious, challenged, courageous, champions
Those are the four words that Metcalf-Lindenberger says are her guidestar.
She grew up in Colorado, where you could see the stars at night, the daughter of a math teacher and a science teacher. In retrospect, it seems her life was destined to take the path it has.
Her already strong interest in science was enhanced by her junior high school science teacher, Mr. Jordan, who had a class bring in food waste that they distilled into ethanol “that made the whole school stink and then made his lawnmower run,” she said.
Inspired by astronauts Sally Ride and Kathryn Sullivan, and later the tragedy of teacher-astronaut Christa McAuliffe, Metcalf-Lindenberger went to Space Camp and assembled a model of the space shuttle Challenger growing up. She was particularly taken with Discovery’s mission to carry the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit.
Metcalf-Lindenberger attended Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, where she earned a degree in geology and ran track and cross-country. She spent a summer with a group studying rocks outside of Yellowstone, “which was amazing, except for the grizzly bears.”
All prepped for a Peace Corps tour in Kazakhstan, her life took a detour when the trip was cancelled because the Asian nation was deemed unsafe.
Plans changed
“I went from having a plan to my life to no plan, so I pivoted, went back to school and got my teaching certificate,” and went on to teach science at Hudson’s Bay High School in Vancouver, where the graduation rate was just 50 percent. It was here, trying to keep students interested, that she began to talk about space travel and found herself looking up the answer to the inevitable toilet question.
In 2004, NASA accepted her into the astronaut program.
In April of 2010, exactly 20 years after building that model of the Discovery space shuttle, Metcalf-Lindenberger rode the actual Discovery shuttle to the International Space Station, where she spent 15 days during which, for the first time in history, there were four women on the station. She is the 53rd woman and one of only four educators to fly in space.
Metcalf-Lindenberger said there are everyday human functions (yes, including using the bathroom) which become more complicated in space, such as medicine. “We got a lot of headaches because the air is so dry in the ISS. It has to be to prevent moisture from building up, which is not good for electronics, and to prevent mold growth,” she said.
Exercise, to protect bone density in a zero-gravity environment, is also important, which is why astronauts there exercise for two hours every day.
But perhaps it is the basic function of eating, which is the most important. Not just because it’s more complicated, but because “when humans break bread together, no matter what country you’re from, we realize we’re all the same.”
To date, crew members from 71 different countries have served on the space station.
Life after space
After returning, Metcalf-Lindenberger was instrumental in making the space station a better living environment for crew members. In 2012, she commanded the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 16 mission, during which she and a crew lived underwater for 12 days.
“A lot of times, I did not tell my mom about what I was doing until it was over. She worried a lot. My dad was really into it and would have gone to space with me if they let him,” she said.
She retired from NASA in 2014 and went on to become a geologist who investigated and treated impacted or contaminated groundwater, soil, and sediments.
Metcalf-Lindenberger believes it is imperative for educators to be embedded and involved in the space program and other sciences.
“I think we really need good people, curious people in classrooms,” she said, particularly at middle school age. “Kids remember their middle school teachers,” she said, “because we can help kids see what they are capable of in their future.”
And that’s where Challenger Centers come in.
Challenger in Pottstown
The space shuttle Challenger exploded on Jan. 28, 1986, 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven crew members.
“In the aftermath of the Challenger tragedy, the crew’s families came together, firmly committed to carrying on the spirit of their loved ones by continuing their education mission. In April 1986, they created Challenger Center for Space Science Education,” according to the Challenger Center website.
The families’ vision was to create a place that would inspire children, where students could conduct experiments, collaborate to solve problems, and immerse themselves in space-like surroundings.
To date, Challenger Center has reached more than 6.5 million students globally.
Metcalf-Lindenberger is chair-elect of the Challenger Center Board of Directors
The Challenger Learning Center at Pottstown, which opened in 2022 and is the only Challenger Center in Pennsylvania, “flies” students on a variety of space-related missions designed for elementary and middle school students in grades 5-8.
To date, it has provided STEM experiences to 60,000 students, said Montgomery County College President Victoria L. Bastecki-Perez.
But last week, it was the educators doing the missions as part of a program called the SEEC (Space Educators Exploration Conference) Summit.
Previously held annually at Space Center Houston, the Official Visitor Center for NASA Johnson Space Center, SEEC invites educators from around the world to experience the rigor and wonder of space exploration. The three-day conference features immersive sessions with NASA scientists and engineers, hands-on experiences inspired by astronaut training, and opportunities for educators to connect and collaborate.
Mike Kincaid, president and executive director of the Ch