The Central College community received a message from orbit Thursday afternoon.

Raja Chari — husband of Holly Schaffter Chari, a 1999 graduate of Central — is currently aboard the International Space Station, and had a 30 minute discussion with Central College Professor Andrew Green at the Graham Conference Center in front of a crowd of students, faculty, and community members. Chari is a National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronaut and the current commander of the NASA SpaceX Crew-3 mission which launched on Nov. 10, 2021.

Chari is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy where he received bachelor’s degrees in astronautical engineering and engineering science. He earned a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School.

The program also featured a short presentation from Pavithra (Pavi) Premaratne, assistant professor of physics and engineering at Central. Premaratne is serving as a co-principal investigator for his alma mater, Iowa State University, on a research project developing a 3D printing process for a zero-gravity environment. This work has been submitted to and is being tested by NASA.