Isolated thunderstorms this evening. Skies will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%..

Isolated thunderstorms this evening. Skies will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.

Some of the items on display at the National Museum of the Marine Corps's temporary exhibit, “Spaceflight: The Marine Astronauts."

Maj. Gen. Charles Bolden Jr. was administrator of NASA from 2009 until 2017.

Sgt. Joseph Acaba is one of three Marine astronauts training to go to the moon in 2024 as part of NASA’s Artemis program.

Some of the items on display at the National Museum of the Marine Corps's temporary exhibit, “Spaceflight: The Marine Astronauts."

At a recent panel discussion featuring Marine astronauts at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, questions ranged from how their experience as a Marine helped them to how they use the bathroom in space.

“That’s my favorite topic,” Sgt. Joseph Acaba answered to a room full of chuckles. Acaba, a Marine Corps reservist, is one of three Marine astronauts training to go to the moon in 2024 as part of NASA’s Artemis program.

Acaba was joined by fellow astronauts Maj. Gen. Charles Bolden Jr. and Col. Robert Cabana for the Aug. 13 panel discussion, “Journey to Space: Stories of Marines.” The panel ran alongside the museum’s temporary exhibit, “Spaceflight: The Marine Astronauts,” which includes information about all three panelists and is on display until January 2024.

Also on the panel were Sgt. Katie Maynard, NASA’s chief of protocol, and Master Sgt. Randolph Harris, deputy chief of NASA’s Enterprise Management Office.

Maj. Gen. Charles Bolden Jr. was administrator of NASA from 2009 until 2017.

Bolden was NASA’s administrator from 2009 to 2017. Before that, he flew four Space Shuttle missions, including the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope and the first joint mission between the U.S. and Russia.

He talked about his initial response to the idea of the joint mission. “I have no interest in doing that,” Bolden said. “I don't wanna fly with any damn Russian… I've trained all my life to kill them and them to kill me.”

But Bolden said his supervisor at NASA persuaded him to have dinner with the Russian cosmonauts.

“The three of us talked about our families… we talked about the kind of world that we wanted our kids to grow up in.” And after the dinner, he changed his mind. “It is the time I cherish more than my other 14 years in the space program because of the opportunity to meet them and learn that you really can work with anybody.”

The relationships forged by Bolden on the STS-60 mission helped lay a foundation that eventually led to the International Space Station. Cabana, currently NASA’s associate administrator, was part of the first assembly mission for the space station and one of the first people to set foot on the vessel. Acaba, the only active astronaut on the panel, traveled to the space station twice, in 2012 and 2018.

Sgt. Joseph Acaba is one of three Marine astronauts training to go to the moon in 2024 as part of NASA’s Artemis program.

Asked to recall memorable moments, Acaba said, “Probably the most memorable is the first time you see Earth from space… It is just amazing to have that view. To understand the work that went into getting us up there… We’re lucky to fly into space.”

The panel fielded questions from people of all ages, including one that surprised Bolden. One little girl, sitting on her mom’s lap, asked whether any of the astronauts flew on the Saturn V rocket, which powered the Apollo missions in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

“How old are you?” asked Bolden, “How do you know about the Saturn V?”

None was a part of the Apollo missions, but Cabana told another story.

“When I was a midshipman at the Naval Academy, the physics honor society took a field trip to the Kennedy Space Center, and I got to see Apollo 13 launch to the moon,” he recalled. “Jim Lovell was a Naval Academy graduate. He was the commander, a Naval aviator, a test pilot and an astronaut. I said, ‘You know, maybe I could do that,’ and so that was pretty awesome.”

Your comment has been submitted.

There was a problem reporting this.

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.

We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

Real-time social media posts from local businesses and organizations across Northern Virginia, powered by Friends2Follow. To add your business to the stream, email cfields@insidenova.com or click on the green button below.

Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.