NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney talk to students at Freedom Crossing Academy in St. Johns County during a live presentation | Noah Hertz, Jacksonville Today
Published on November 10, 2026 at 3:14 pm
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In a first for St. Johns County, students at Freedom Crossing Academy had the opportunity to connect live with two NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
Students at the K-8 school packed into the school’s cafeteria Tuesday to see and hear two astronauts aboard the space station, Jessica Watkins — the first Black woman to live and work on the ISS — and Luke Delaney — a UNF alum who grew up in Volusia County — answer their questions via a live feed.
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The two gave rapid-fire answers to inquiries like “What’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened aboard the space station?” (When a crew member forgets about the lack of gravity during a mealtime and food is suddenly floating everywhere, Watkins says) or what their favorite activity aboard the space station is (floating around the ISS and looking out the window, Delaney says).
Several students described hearing their questions answered by the astronauts as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Seventh-grader Keira, a self-proclaimed “space nerd,” proudly declared, “I am going to be an astronaut.”
Keira’s question for the current astronauts? “How has living in space changed the way you look at Earth?”
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Watkins told students that seeing the Earth from space is a reminder of how fragile our planet is.
“You can see how small and thin our atmosphere is, and also just how interconnected we all are. We are connected to our environment — you see the oceans and the continents all kind of come together, they form the clouds and the weather as well,” she said. “We as humans are a small part of that system that’s all interacting together. It really drives home the perspective that we are on this one planet together and we have to work together to help protect it.”
Astronauts beam down from ISS
The chance for Freedom Crossing students to hear directly from two astronauts didn’t come around overnight. It started more than a year ago when the school’s former principal, Melissa Lime, got the ball rolling.
Lime, also a fan of space and NASA’s work, thought the live Q&A could be the culmination of some space-themed activities in which students had been participating.
After working with the school district and applying to NASA’s In-Flight STEM (that’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Downlinks program, it finally came together.
Once the school was selected to chat with the ISS, nearly 100 students applied to have their questions pre-recorded and sent to the astronauts. Ultimately, 24 students were picked to record themselves asking the astronauts about their experiences.
The result was “mind-boggling,” says fifth-grader Pearl, or “exciting, cool” and “amazing,” according to sixth-grader Lily.
“You might be the next astronaut in the future we’re talking to,” Freedom Crossing Principal Cassandra Hurst told the crowd of students.
If their excitement during the event was anything to go by, she may be right.
