Polaris Dawn astronauts Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis have flown furthest from Earth than any women in history. We celebrated their achievements with thousands of students.

The Kansas City Royals and Supercluster joined forces again this year to bring the excitement of space exploration and human spaceflight to students, teachers, and baseball fans from around the area. School Day at the K, held on Thursday, May 8th, is a yearly celebration of STEM that includes speakers and on-field experiments with the last two years being centered around NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope.

This year's (very) special guests were Polaris Dawn Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis and Mission Specialist and Medical Officer Anna Menon. The pair greeted and spoke to 12,000 local students before the space-loving Kansas City Royals walloped the Chicago White Sox, the new Pope's favorite team (news of his papacy rang through Kauffman Stadium during the game).

The astronauts were honored with facilitating the first pitch of the game, doing so gracefully and successfully to much applause. Menon and Gillis were also presented with the Buck O’Neil Legacy seat dedication, which remains one of Kansas City’s greatest honors, recognizing those who make a difference in the community.

Buck O’Neil was a legendary first baseman and manager in the Negro Leagues, most notably with the Kansas City Monarchs, where he played from the 1930s to the 1950s. He became the first Black coach in Major League Baseball when he joined the Chicago Cubs’ staff in 1962. Beyond the field, O’Neil was a tireless advocate for preserving Negro Leagues history and helped establish the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City.

Supercluster's Robin Seemangal and Jenny Hautmann were at Kauffman Stadium for School Day at the K, demonstrating the Astronaut Database to students and teachers while gifting Polaris Dawn-themed Astronaut Database baseball cards and Supercluster's commemorative School Day at the K posters to those in attendance, produced just for this special day and signed by Menon and Gillis.

The Polaris Dawn crew, led by Jared Isaacman and piloted by Scott Poteet, flew to the highest Earth orbit since the Apollo era and successfully performed the first commercial spacewalk. Supercluster also produced Astronaut Baseball cards for both Isaacman and Poteet that were gifted to students that attended School Day at the K.