PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — For a group of Brown University students and space enthusiasts, the Fall 2026 semester got off to an out-of-this-world start.
Before the start of classes, NASA astronaut and Brown alumna Jessica Meir met remotely with around 75 students and faculty from 250 miles above the Earth’s surface aboard the International Space Station. Over the course of an hour, Meir talked about how she became an astronaut, described what it’s like to work in an office/laboratory that circles the planet at 17,000 miles per hour, and answered questions from attendees. She also gave a guided tour of the ISS, floating from room to room, iPad in hand. The tour included a view from the space station’s Cupola, an observation module that offers a panoramic view of the Earth below.
Jim Head, a professor and veteran planetary scientist at Brown who has worked with NASA astronauts for years, facilitated the conversation and relayed students’ questions to Meir, who was introduced by Brown President Christina H. Paxson. Specific details from the conversation are required to remain private, as the meeting was part of the routine behavioral health support that NASA provides for astronauts during long flights on the ISS. But Head said the event offered a behind-the-scenes look at what astronaut life is really like.
“Brown students, from first-year arrivals to senior graduate students, are of course regularly pondering what their life after Brown will be like, and whether their future will be personally and professionally rewarding,” Head said. “Jessica’s palpable excitement to hear and answer the questions from Brown students was clearly an indication to them of the excitement and fulfilment that can accompany careers in science and technology.”
Meir earned her bachelor’s degree at Brown in 1999, before going on to receive a Ph.D. in marine biology from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In 2013, she was selected as one of eight members of the 21st NASA astronaut class. Her first trip to space came in 2019 as part of NASA’s Expedition 61, a 125-day deployment to the ISS. Meir made history during that flight as part of the first all-woman spacewalk, which she undertook with fellow astronaut Christina Koch. In 2020, she was one of 18 astronauts selected for Artemis, NASA’s effort to return humans to the surface of the Moon for the first time since the Apollo program ended in the 1970s.
On her current mission, Meir serves as commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12, the 12th crew rotation mission of SpaceX's human space transportation system, which arrived at the ISS in early 2026 and will return late this year.
Head, who worked on the Apollo program and has helped to train NASA astronauts for decades, helped Meir to meet her first astronaut while she was a Brown undergrad, facilitating a meeting with John Glenn. She also took Head’s legendary Earth, Moon and Mars class, receiving the highest grade in the course’s history.
Head said he was beaming with pride as he spoke with a former student who was living her dream in space.
“My goal as a Brown professor is to help train the next generation of planetary geoscientists,” Head said. “But a more basic goal is to help each student recognize their own strengths and talents and to place opportunities in their paths to enable them to explore these. Fulfilling careers then come in many forms, and becoming an astronaut as talented, articulate, friendly and knowledgeable as Jessica Meir is certainly one path to personal and professional fulfilment.”
Karunmay Aggarwal, a Brown junior with astronaut dreams of his own, said he relished the chance to chat with one of his heroes.
"It was an awesome experience!” Aggarwal said. “For someone who wants to be the ‘next up,’ it’s pretty cool to see an idol answer my questions. I've never heard anyone talk live from space, so that's a good bucket list item. And, of course, I am hoping to be up there as soon as possible.”