On April 19, 2023, Colonel Terry Virts visited our school, Durham Academy. Colonel Terry Virts is a retired American NASA astronaut. He talked a lot about space. It was very interesting. Some questions that were asked include:

Q: Can you dunk a basketball in space?

A: No, it would just pop out of the hoop. You could only do it if you did a bank shot (when it hits the backboard and then goes through. The arc of a basketball shot (how it comes up and then comes down wouldn’t work, the ball would just go straight.

Photo Above: Colonel Terry Virts, Former US Astronaut

Also, he mentioned of fun it was to sleep in space. You had two choices, either you could bolt down your sleeping bag so it wouldn’t move or you could not bolt it down and you would be floating while you were sleeping. Cool, right? That’s what Colonel Virts thought. So, instead of being bolted down, he chose to let his sleeping bag float freely in the air as he slept.

He has written a couple of books. Images are below:

One of Colonel Virts’s books: The Astronaut’s Guide to Leaving The Planet (illustrated by Andres Lozano).