Astronauts land at Friday Harbor Film Festival

Have you ever dreamed of meeting and talking with actual astronauts? You can during the Friday Harbor Film Festival. Astronauts Pete Freeland, John Creighton and Dr. Terry Stanford will participate in the Festival and speak after the film screenings of “Apollo 11” and “Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo.”

These films highlight the work of astronauts and the behind-the-scenes workers who make the space program possible. Freeland will speak Friday after the 10:15 a.m. screening of “Apollo 11” and after the 4 p.m. screening of “Mission Control.” Creighton and Sandford will speak after the Sunday screening of “Apollo 11.” The three will speak following the screening of “Mission Control” Saturday evening.

Freeland was an aerospace engineer for the Space Shuttle Program. Beginning in 2007 he worked with high school STEM programs, developing an Introduction to Aerospace Engineering course, training teachers, and teaching students. Later he was an adjunct faculty member at San Diego State University. He is now the director of the PoSSUM Mission Readiness Program, leading logistical and spaceport operational planning. Freeland is a former U.S. Air Force high-altitude pilot and a successful actor.

Creighton (Captain, USN, Ret.) worked as a NASA astronaut in the Space Shuttle Program, flying several missions and logging over 403 hours in space between 1979 and his retirement in 1992. He participated in all the key decisions following the “Challenger” disaster, helping to shape the plan for resuming safe manned space flight.

Sandford worked in the Space Shuttle Program. She met Creighton when she was his instructor in a space shuttle simulator in 1978. They eventually married.

She left NASA in the early 1980s to attend medical school and pursue her career as a physician.

The Friday Harbor Film Festival is Oct. 25-27. Information and tickets: FHFF.org.