Immanuel Lutheran Students Meet Former Wisconsin Astronaut

STEM Shuttle Visits Marshfield

Marshfield, WI (OnFocus) A special shuttle landed Monday at Immanuel Lutheran School with a former astronaut on board.

While it wasn’t a space shuttle, the Dream Flight USA STEM Shuttle from Wausau offered students in grades 4-8 a chance to learn more about space technology through hands-on lessons and experiments.

Immanuel Lutheran students also attended a short presentation by retired astronaut Mark Lee, whose hometown is Viroqua, Wisconsin. Lee occasionally travels with the Dream Flight motor coach and shares his experiences from completing four NASA spaceflights.

“The kids were really engaged,” said Principal Karen Bahn. “He talked to the whole school what it was to be an astronaut.”

Lee shared video and photos from astronaut missions in space and talked about the missions he took part in, which added up to 33 days in orbit. He finished by telling the students that they could one day be astronauts, too.

The shuttle visit fit in well with the current science curriculum in the upper grades, Bahn said. The visit was made possible by the Parent Teacher League.