Spokane’s own astronaut Anne McClain answers kids’ burning questions aboard the ISS in live video chat with 1,300 students, ‘You can do anything from Spokane’

Spokane astronaut Anne McClain’s digital homecoming Tuesday kicked off with a fervor.

McClain’s return to her alma mater Gonzaga Preparatory School had more than a few similarities to the U.S. Army Colonel’s launch to the International Space Station as a member of NASA’s SPACEX Crew-10 mission just a few months ago . Anticipation clung in the air of the private school’s gymnasium as the countdown ticked away to the drumming of the feet of giddy children – a roar that sounded almost like a Falcon 9 rocket taking off.

The Mobius Discovery Center hosted more than 1,300 elementary and middle school students for a “downlink” with McClain, a rare opportunity to chat via satellite with an ISS crew member. Students were able to ask Spokane’s space traveler about her background and training, le