Students Conduct Live Conversation With Orbiting NASA Astronauts

Nov. 15, 2012

Ann Marie Trotta
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1601
ann.marie.trotta@nasa.gov

Ciandra Jackson
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-2924
ciandra.t.jackson@nasa.gov


RELEASE: 12-401

STUDENTS CONDUCT LIVE CONVERSATION WITH ORBITING NASA ASTRONAUTS

WASHINGTON - More than 9,500 student participants from the Student
Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) took part in a live video
downlink with International Space Station Expedition 33 Commander
Sunita Williams and Flight Engineer Kevin Ford. The long-distance
conversation took place Thursday at the Smithsonian National Air and
Space Museum in Washington.

The event was co-hosted with the Department of Education and the
National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) and
was carried live on NASA Television.

The downlink is an annual event held in honor of International
Education Week, a joint initiative between the Department of State
and the Department of Education that celebrates the benefits of
international education and exchange. Approximately 130 students from
D.C.'s Stuart-Hobson Middle School participated in-person in the
Moving Beyond Earth Gallery at the museum. The rest of the students
participated virtually from across the country. Selected students
from both audiences had the opportunity to ask questions of Ford and
Williams about life, work and research aboard the orbiting
laboratory.

Following the live Earth-to-station exchange, NASA Associate
Administrator for Education and two-time space shuttle astronaut
Leland Melvin gave a presentation and encouraged the students to
study science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

"You are the scientists, engineers and astronauts of tomorrow," Melvin
said. "America's future of scientific research and space exploration
is in your hands, and there's no better way to prepare yourselves for
those grand adventures than to start pursuing a STEM career now."
Jeff Goldstein, director of NCESSE, which sponsors the SSEP, also
addressed the students and shared recent program highlights. SSEP is
an on-orbit educational research opportunity that allows students to
design and fly experiments to the space station through a
collaboration with NanoRacks, LLC, which is working in partnership
with NASA as part of using the space station as a national
laboratory.

Other participants in the education activities included Deputy
Secretary of Education Anthony Miller, Smithsonian Assistant
Secretary for Education and Access Claudine Brown, and Director of
the National Air and Space Museum Gen. J.R. "Jack" Dailey.

This in-flight education downlink is one in a series with educational
organizations in the United States and abroad to improve STEM
teaching and learning. It is an integral component of NASA's Teaching
From Space education program, which promotes learning opportunities
and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique
environment of space and NASA's human spaceflight program.

For the NASA TV replay schedule and streaming video information,
visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For information about the International Space Station, visit:


http://www.nasa.gov/station

For information about NASA's education programs, visit:


http://www.nasa.gov/education


-end-



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