MANDAN, N.D. ( KXNET ) — A man who now works for the space program was back in his hometown earlier this week.

Chris Vander Wal is a structural test engineer for NASA working at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. He now works on what’s known as the ET-30 structural strength test team, and their job is to test how strong major parts of the upcoming space launch system rockets.

Vander Wal graduated from Mandan High School in 2016, but returned on Friday, September 27th — when he spent the day in Mrs. Wescott’s eighth-grade earth science class at Mandan Middle School.

“Growing up,” he explained, “you never met anybody, and you think: ‘Oh, those are for the people in Florida. It’s North Dakota, nobody comes out to North Dakota.’ so to come back allows you to kind of connect that bridge, and really be a light for them.”

Right now, NASA workers are preparing for next year’s Artemis 2 mission, which is a manned test flight of the Orion spacecraft. In 2026, NASA plans to launch the Artemis 3, which aims to fly astronauts back to the moon.

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