This week West Bay Rotary members and up to 60 guests enjoyed an exciting launch into space heading to the International Space Station, and then returning to earth, with NASA Astronaut Stephen G. Bowen! Bowen had just completed his six-month term as Commander of SpaceX Crew-6 on the International Space Station and was here in Maine on a visit with family.

A veteran of space travel, Steve Bowen has participated in three Space Shuttle flights and one term on the International Space Station for a total of 47 days 10 hours, and 4 minutes in space, and 47 hours and 18 minutes in spacewalks.

After graduating from Cohasset High school in Massachusetts, Bowen went on to the Naval Academy, MIT and then a training school for submarine officers and qualified for commanding nuclear-powered submarines, but he was looking towards space. In 2000 he decided to apply to NASA and was selected to be an astronaut candidate out of a pool of 18,000 applicants.

Within eight years he was prepared for his first Space Shuttle flight and was chosen to fly on Endeavor, as a mission specialist, carrying supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. On this trip he participated in three spacewalks logging 19 hours and 56 minutes. Two years later, in 2010 he flew on the Atlantis Shuttle where he conducted two more spacewalks logging 14 hours and 34 minutes. In the very next year, 2011, he was chosen to fly on his third Shuttle replacing an injured astronaut unable to go, making Bowen the first and only astronaut to fly on consecutive Shuttle missions. On this flight he conducted two spacewalks and logged another 12 hours and 48 minutes.

In 2021 he was named Commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission for the International Space Station to launch in March of 2023. On this mission he shared 186 days in space, landing just last month, with six other astronauts, including a Russian pilot and the first Arab astronaut from United Arab Emirates. The mission was packed with work in research and testing used for projects on earth (e.g., recycling 80-90% of their water), as well as geared to solve potential problems beyond the Earth orbit and in the future, not yet materialized. A number of the science projects called for using the astronauts themselves as subjects. Bowen, for example, was assigned to document physical changes in the body over the six months, for which the multitude of blood tests and MRIs only concluded three weeks ago.

Bowen says the work on the International Space Station will continue up to 2030 when it will be sold to private investors. But the moon will be the focus of NASA in the Artemis projects, looking at travel to and from, and as a “gateway” towards the ultimate goal of reaching Mars. He also thinks winged spacecraft will come back.

Bowen’s enthusiasm with exploration and the discoveries in space was contagious when he talked about the experience of these missions, the amazement of the technology of what can be mastered, and simply the excitement of views from space looking at the earth as well as the universe. He says NASA wants to go deeper into space. and he hopes to continue on another mission.Throughout his talk Steve Bowen always emphasized that “flying in space is a team sport” and that while the work was intense, so also was the sheer enjoyment of the experience, it was “fun, work, and relax,” and the bonding and friendships that formed would be lasting.