Towson Astronaut Honored By Baltimore County
BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. (WJZ)-- Home sweet home, Astronaut Reid Wiseman gets a hero's welcome in Baltimore County. Wiseman grew up in the Cockeysville area and today county leaders honored his incredible achievements in space.
Mary Bubala has the details.
"As county executive of Baltimore County, do hereby proclaim February 10th, 2015, as Reid Wiseman day."
For the first time since his 6 month journey to outer space, Reid Wiseman returns home. He's given a hero's pin, which is a symbol of bravery and sacrifice.
From his lift off in May to Wiseman's return to earth in November, he served his "county" and "country" well on the International Space Station with incredible spacewalks - making tricky repairs to his incredible tweets from above of his hometown and the world.
And after all our "long distance" chats, I finally get to meet Reid in person.
Mary: "Your feet are back on earth, what does that feel like?"
Reid: "At first it's wobbly and you get tired pretty quickly, but after a week I was feeling pretty good."
"I forgot it's this cold in Baltimore, no it's great, coming off the airport at BWI and driving down York Road to my parent's house it's good to see all the old places businesses still going, it's coming home for me, really what it felt like coming home," said Wiseman.
While home, Reid will meet with local students including many from his alma mater.
"Anything you are doing if you love it – it's worth it and flying into space is worth it, it motivates a lot of kids out there to get involved in science and engineering and if we could do that I think our country is going to do better in the future," Wiseman said.
Reid is home until Thursday, tomorrow he will visit the Maryland Science Center to talk with visitors and answer questions about his experience in space.
Wiseman now lives in Houston, Texas with his wife and two children.