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By ADAM RUSSELL
Staff Writer

Astronaut and Navy Capt. Lee Morin, M.D., Ph.D., who has logged more than 14 hours on multiple spacewalking missions, signed autographs, posed for pictures and answered questions for several dozen children and parents at The Discovery Science Place on Saturday.

Morin, who is currently working for NASA alongside Lockheed Martin engineers on design specifications for the new Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, which will replace the outgoing shuttle program, made the visit as part of the "Planets Family Day" event.

The current program will culminate in an expected six-person launch and orbit of the CEV, which is much like the Apollo capsule designs of the past, in 2014. The CEV will be capable of docking with the International Space Station and landing on the lunar surface of the moon, hopefully by 2020, said Morin.

"The long-term goal is to establish a station much like the International Space Station on the lunar surface," Morin said. "The objective is to learn how to live and work in space."

Morin said that a science-based event he attended in junior high, much like the one at The Discovery Science Place, inspired him to learn more about science and math and ultimately led to his current career. He did not consider becoming an astronaut until he was 43, however.

Two days out of the month, Morin and his fellow astronauts take time to visit with school children and dignitaries.

"We visit with the senators too ... they write the checks," he said laughing. "But I definitely prefer the kids and the energy that they bring."