Students from Missouri, Mississippi to Call Space Station

WASHINGTON, July 13, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Students in St. Louis and southern Mississippi will get to ask questions of NASA astronauts on the International Space Station during two events next week as part of NASA's Year of Education on Station. Both Earth-to-space calls are 20 minutes long and will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website. These calls connect kids with astronauts to learn more about the International Space Station, science and exploration.

Saint Louis Science Center in St. Louis, hosts the first downlink on at 12:20 p.m. EDT Wednesday, July 18. Summer camp attendees visiting the center will connect with NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor. The Saint Louis Science Center is at 5050 Oakland Ave., St. Louis. Media interested in attending should contact Mindy Peirce at [email protected] or 314-286-4683.

NASA's Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi, hosts the next downlink at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, July 19. Second-to-10th-grade Astro Camp participants from Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas and will speak with NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold. The event takes place at Stennis' Infinity Science Center, 1 Discovery Circle, Pearlington, Mississippi. Media covering the event should contact Valerie Buckingham at [email protected] or 228-668-3898.

Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides unique, authentic experiences designed to enhance student learning, performance and interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Astronauts living in space on the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through the Space Network's Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS).

Auñón-Chancellor also will participate in an interview with the Wall Street Journal Digital Network at 9:50 a.m. July 19. The interview covers space medicine and the space station's contributions to advance knowledge about long-duration spaceflight.

ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Alexander Gerst will connect with the KRAFTWERK Open Air Concert in Stuttgart, German, at 3:50 p.m. (9:50 p.m. Stuttgart time) Friday, July 20.

Follow the astronauts on social media at:

https://www.twitter.com/NASA_astronauts

See videos and lesson plans highlighting research on the International Space Station at:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

SOURCE NASA