Astronaut Raja Chari, who grew up in Cedar Falls, will discuss his personal experiences in space at Saturday night’s Wartburg Community Symphony “Star Gazing” concert.

Chari recorded a special video greeting for the April 5 concert, which begins at 7 p.m. in Neumann Auditorium. The program will include selections from Gustav Holst’s “The Planets,” John Williams’ classic themes from the first “Star Wars” trilogy and a suite from Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack for the film “Interstellar.”

Chari spent 177 days in orbit as commander of the NASA SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station, which launched Nov. 10, 2021, and returned to Earth May 6, 2022. He served as a flight engineer aboard the space station, performed two spacewalks and helped in capturing and releasing three SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and two Cygnus cargo vehicles.

In his greeting, Chari discusses his own experiences with music during his school days in Cedar Falls and reflects on the role of music and the arts in his career as an astronaut. After graduating from Waterloo Columbus High School in 1995, he earned a bachelor’s degree in astronautical engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado and a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He now resides in Houston, Texas.

Concert tickets cost $20 for adults and are free for youth 18 and younger and Wartburg College students. Buy tickets at the door or online at www.wartburg.edu/symphony.

Behind the Music, a preconcert talk moderated by Conductor Rebecca Nederhiser, will begin at 6 p.m. in Neumann Auditorium. Guests include organ soloist Karen Black and James Infelt, who created a dramatic video backdrop for the concert.