IMPERIAL • Astronaut Sandra Magnus, a Belleville native, was aboard the final mission of NASA's space shuttle program this summer. It was her third trip to space, and she took along a banner signed by students at St. Joseph Catholic School in Imperial, where her nephews Nolan and Logan Hall are students.

Magnus, of Houston, returned the banner to the school last week. It had traveled more than 5.2 million miles and orbited the Earth 200 times.

She answered questions from students, including what she ate in space (creamed spinach was among her favorites, as was a cheese quesadilla with black beans ... the meatloaf, not so much) and how astronauts play (throwing M&Ms at each other was fun, Magnus said, but there's a shortage of sports games for space. She thinks Quidditch, a game played by characters in the "Harry Potter" series while atop flying broomsticks, might work).

And she answered questions from the Post-Dispatch.

Q. What have you been doing since the shuttle trip?

A. This. It's typical after a shuttle mission, or even a space station mission, to spend a period of time doing public outreach and talking about the mission. I've got about another month of this, then I'll go back into technical work.

Q. Do you worry about the future of space exploration?

A. We'll continue to explore. The challenge that we have is NASA is an agency that requires five to 10 years to bring a plan to fruition because you can't just build a rocket in a day. And so the challenge for us is to keep the country focused. We're a very short-term culture. People focus for a month or two months or two years or four years, and we need a 10-year focus. ... But I think we're going to continue to explore. It's what we do as a country and as a species.

Q. What made your most recent mission different from previous trips into space?

A. The crew of four was unique to this mission. That was actually very challenging, doing the work of six or seven (astronauts), with four people.

Q. How did you choose what to bring into space with you?

A. I usually try to choose things from organizations I'm familiar with or my family's familiar with. I flew a lot of things from schools on the Illinois side of the river, too. I have a T-shirt that I'm taking back to my high school (Belleville West), and to Missouri University of Science and Technology. Things like that, that encourage other people to follow their dreams.

Q. You're frequently described as "the last female shuttle astronaut." How do you view that title?

A. Well, I think it's a little, I don't want to say silly, but it's not an important milestone because I'm not the last female astronaut ever. I just happen to be the last one who flew on the shuttle. I feel very honored to have been part of the last shuttle flight.

Q. You're an avid soccer player who was sidelined by NASA so you didn't get hurt. Are you planning to start playing again?

A. There's a list of sports that we're restricted from doing within a year of flight. If you get hurt, you can't go, and you're in training and people are counting on you. So it's actually kind of inconsiderate even to put yourself at risk when they're counting on you to be intact to fly the mission. I'm hoping to start again in January.

Q. What's ahead for your career?

A. I have to see. I still have another month of this, and I'll go back to the technical work and we'll see where it goes from there. It's something I need to start thinking about when my lifTwo e slows down a bit.