Astronaut Ron Garan Beams Down

Col. Ron Garan, the astronaut and SUNY Oneonta grad who keynoted his alma mater’s commencement last May, beamed back into the Hunt Union Tuesday, Feb. 8, to communicate with city pupils.
The national teleconference involved only four school districts from around the U.S., but Garan, who will rocket in March to a mission on the International Space Station, made sure Oneonta was one of them.
About 1,000 local students, from Oneonta Middle School and Center Street, Valley View and Greater Plains elementary schools, participated in the hour-long session broadcast from the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Garan joined the Air Force after graduating from SUNY Oneonta in 1982, and completed his first space mission in 2008.  In March, he will be joining Europeans and Russians on the international mission.

Astronaut Ron Garan during a closed-circuit national conversation Tuesday, Feb. 8, from SUNY Oneonta’s Hunt Union.