Classes had only been in session for six hours at Mauna Loa School on the Big Island of Hawaii when a phone call came in announcing an opportunity for four students to meet four-time space shuttle astronaut John Grunsfeld, Ph.D.

Even though Grunsfeld was on the island for a vacation, he had accepted the invitation of the director of Gemini Observatories on Mauna Kea to give a presentation to the scientists at that facility the next day, Aug. 24. Kevin Cornwell, father of two students at the school, is the systems coordinator for Gemini Observatories. He received special permission to invite some students from Mauna Loa to attend the lecture.

Principal Allen Lipps selected four outstanding students who had achieved especially high science grades last year as the school’s delegates. Those students were Angelique Thompson, seventh grade; Elena Cornwell, sixth grade; Justin Teehee, seventh grade; and David Kenoi, eighth grade.

Slipping into the very back of the small auditorium just as the lecture was starting, the students sat enraptured by the slides Grunsfeld showed of his trips into space. He also told of fixing the Hubble telescope and of NASA’s current goal of going back to the moon to establish a permanent presence and, later, to have a manned mission to Mars.

When he was finished, Grunsfeld opened the floor for questions. Thompson raised her hand and asked a very detailed question about the effects of two galaxies, each with black holes, colliding with each other. Grunsfeld answered and affirmed the student by saying that she had asked a good question.

Before Grunsfeld was escorted to the telescope site on top of Mauna Kea by Gemini Director Matt Mountain, he took the time to meet with each of the four students, autographed a picture of himself, and took a picture with the group before he left.

Kevin Cornwell escorted the four students down the street to the Gemini Observatory base station for a brief tour of the facility. According to the kids, the most exciting part of the tour was going into the telescope control room and talking via video phone to the control room in Chile, which is six hours ahead of Hawaii. The students talked to a telescope operator who was testing a telescope named Hokupaa, which means “North Star” in Hawaiian. Each student was extremely pleased to have been invited. They had the opportunity to learn about the importance of science in the daily life of an astronaut. All four students expressed a heightened awareness of astronomy and space flight.