NASA astronaut and retired Navy pilot Barry Wilmore made a surprise visit to students at Meadowland Elementary School in Sterling on Wednesday morning, sharing stories of his unexpectedly long stay on the International Space Station last year.
Wilmore was one of two astronauts aboard a Boeing Crew Flight Test that launched to the ISS in June 2024. The mission was expected to last eight days, but after the capsule’s thrusters malfunctioned, Wilmore and Suni Williams extended their stay to 286 days.
Wilmore, a Tennessee native, is visiting the area to be honored with the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum’s 2026 Michael Collins Trophy for Current Achievement, along with Williams.
Meadowland art teacher Lane Bolyard is friends with Wilmore and his family and asked if he would be willing to surprise her students. He agreed.
Principal Anna Purdy said they had very little notice, but the team worked quickly to get the proper approvals.
“It just came together miraculously,” she said.
Wilmore spent his 45-minute talk telling students about his time in the Navy running test flights before transferring to NASA for the second half of his career, sharing photos and videos from his time in space, and teaching students about the aircraft and tools that make living in space possible.
A critical piece of equipment for astronauts is their multi-million-dollar space suits.
NASA Astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore speaks with 4th and 5th graders at Meadowland Elementary School during a surprise visit March 25, 2026.
Hanna Pampaloni/Loudoun Now
“This space suit is roughly about $7 million,” Wilmore said, gesturing to a photo of himself in space. “Now we’ve had them for a long time. We’ve done a lot of maintenance on it over the years. This drill on my hip is about a $2 million drill. They cost that much because they have towork every time, and there’s only like 10 of them.”
The suits keep the astronauts’ blood from boiling because of the low pressure above the atmosphere, he said.
“This keeps us alive and provides air enough to breathe when we go outside to work on the space station,” Wilmore said.
Students had many questions about life on the ISS, including what it felt like to fly through space, what it felt like returning to gravity after nine months, how Wilmore spent his time, what he ate, and whether he would return to space if given the chance.
“What’s it like flying through space? You look down at the Earth and you’re flying like Superman,” Wilmore said. “I can’t put it in words. It is amazing to look back at the Earth as it’s going by and all the variety of colors, over the oceans, over the deserts, over the forest, over the mouth of the Amazon River. I mean, it’s just amazing to be able to look at it and see it from thatvantage point. It’s hard to put it in words.”
Wilmore ended his visit with words of advice for the fourth and fifth graders.
Astronaut Barry Wilmore talks with Loudoun elementary students about seeing the northern lights from space during his trip to the International Space Station.
Loudoun Now
“Do you have desires that you want to do in life?” he asked them. “I don’t care what it is, anything you want to do, if you understand mathematics and you understand a lot of things about science, you’re going to open up your opportunities.”
Students who are diligent in their school work, even at an early age, will be better equipped for the future, he said.
“I encourage you to study, study, study, learn, learn, learn, as much as you can, because what you’re learning now today is building on your foundation of what you’ll be able to learn later. So,study all the way through,” Wilmore said.