NASA Astronauts to Speak with North Carolina, Virginia Students

Students from North Carolina and Virginia will have separate opportunities next week to each hear from a NASA astronaut living and working aboard the International Space Station.

The two Earth-to-space calls will air live Tuesday, Jan. 9, on NASA+, NASA Television, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media. Follow events online at: https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv.

At 9:20 a.m. EST, NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli will answer prerecorded questions from students at Thales Academy in Raleigh, North Carolina. In preparation for the education downlink, students will participate in an annual Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Day that will include presentations about the space station by Marc Fusco, one of NASA’s solar system ambassadors. Students also will participate in hands-on activities, including making space related art, building bottle rockets, and launching a model rocket.

Media interested in covering the North Carolina event RSVP no later than 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 8., should contact Janice Holton at: janice.holton@thalesacademy.org or 919-882-2320.

At 1:05 p.m., NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara will answer prerecorded questions from students across the state of Virginia through an event hosted by the Virginia Space Grant Consortium. These students studied life aboard the space station and participated in a Plant the Moon Challenge where they worked to grow plants in lunar regolith simulant for the Artemis mission.

Media interested in covering the Virginia event must RSVP no later than 4 p.m. on Jan. 8., to Kristyn Damadeo at: kdamadeo@odu.edu or 202-465-5190.

For more than 23 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked aboard the space station, testing technologies, performing science, and developing the skills needed to explore farther from Earth. Astronauts living in space aboard the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Near Space Network.

Important research and technology investigations taking place aboard the International Space Station benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future exploration.

As part of Artemis, NASA will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars. Inspiring the next generation of explorers – the Artemis Generation – ensures America will continue to lead in space exploration and discovery.

See videos and lesson plans highlighting research on the space station at:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

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Katherine Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1288
katherine.m.brown@nasa.gov

Sandra Jones 
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov