Astronaut Don Pettit

We love OMSI Science Pubs!  They are offered throughout the year at various venues. While a $5 donation is requested, they never turn anyone away.  They are geared towards adults, so sometimes the topics are not appropriate for kids, or are likely to be too technical to interest the average child.  But you never have to worry that the topic will be so watered down that kids won't learn anything.  You also have to be careful to discern which ones are likely to be so popular that getting there early is the only way to guarantee a seat (anything at the small Mission Theater qualifies).  We have gone to many, and generally I am scratching my head wondering why Jasper is the only kid in the audience.  That wasn't the case when we went to see NASA Astronaut and chemist Dr. Don Pettit, which packed the 600-seat Bagdad Theater.  Dr. Pettit has spent a total of 370 days in space on the International Space Station, where he did all sorts of science experiments. He talked about experiments that he did at his own discretion.   Many of them were documented in his marvelous videos, Science Off the Sphere. He thinks his marvelous invention of a simple cup that can be used to drink from normally in zero gravity will endure. Dr. Pettit explained that space is truly at the frontiers of what is known, and often he would do his best to predict what would happen in zero gravity as a result of a simple experiment only to be surprised.  Here is one where he pops water balloons!