WARNER ROBINS, GA — Saturday at the 24th annual Young Astronaut’s Day at the Museum of Aviation was a family occasion for 10-year-old Zachary Nakoski. During lunch, Zachary Nakoski hung out with his parents, Michael and Cindy Nakoski.
The elder Nakoskis were at the event manning a U-2 high altitude reconnaissance aircraft display. In particular, the Nakoskis were showing off the high-altitude, full-pressure flight suit worn by U-2 pilots.
Cindy Nakoski, who retired from the Air Force’s U-2 program in June, is an authority on the suit. She told the first- through eighth-graders at the museum the outfit was very much like an astronaut’s.
She explained that even through the suit seemed fairly soft while on the ground, when fully pressurized at high altitudes it felt about like the Diet Coke can she passed around for them to hold.
She also let students sample the same “tube food” pilots eat. It was peach flavored.
For his part, Michael Nikoski, an Air Force master sergeant and U-2 crew chief at Robins Air Force Base, modeled the suit and answered questions.
“Ever been to the moon?” one younger student asked.
Michael Nakoski had to answer no, but did say with the right equipment it would be a great trip.
Aside from spending lunch with his parents, Zachary Nikoski spent the rest of the day going to his choice of Young Astronaut’s Day’s 23 workshops. The sessions carried titles like Play Dough Planets, Stomp Rockets, Slime, Math Mania, Parachutes, Moon Rocks, Engineering and Astro Training.
Zachary said his favorite was called tall towers.
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Young Astronaut’s Day held at Museum of Aviation