Apr 25 2016

From The Space Library

MEDIA ADVISORY M16-045 NASA Puts Dallas Students on Phone with Orbiting Astronauts

Students in Dallas will have the opportunity to speak with two astronauts living and working aboard the International Space Station at 11:15 a.m. EDT Tuesday, April 26. The 20-minute, Earth-to-space call will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

The event will be hosted by the School for the Talented and Gifted at the Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet Center. Students from the Cedar Hill, Dallas, DeSoto, Duncanville, Grand Prairie and Lancaster Independent School Districts also will participate.

Expedition 47 Flight Engineers Jeff Williams of NASA and Tim Peake of ESA (European Space Agency) will answer questions from the students. Williams launched to the space station on March 18 and is scheduled to return in September. Peake launched on Dec. 15 and will return in June.

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas will begin the downlink with a voice check call-up to the station. Rep. Johnson is the first African-American and first female ranking member of the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

Media interested in covering the event should contact Cameron Trimble at cameron.trimble@mail.house.gov. The Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet Center is located at 1201 East 8th Street.

This in-flight education downlink is an integral component of the NASA Office of Education’s efforts to improve science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teaching and learning in the United States. Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station through the agency Office of Education’s STEM on Station activity provides authentic, live experiences in space exploration, space study and the scientific components of space travel, while introducing the possibilities of life in space.