Feb 9 2018

From The Space Library

MEDIA ADVISORY M18-027 Texas Educators to Speak with NASA Astronaut on Space Station

Pre-service teachers from Houston, Texas, will speak with a NASA astronaut living, working and doing research aboard the International Space Station at 11:35 a.m. EST Tuesday, Feb. 13. The 20-minute, Earth-to-space call will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

The teachers-in-training will travel to the University of Houston-Downtown, for the call to Expedition 54 astronaut Joe Acaba aboard the space station, posing questions about life aboard the orbiting laboratory, NASA’s deep space exploration plans, and doing science in space.

Acaba arrived at the space station on Sept. 12 on his third space mission, and is scheduled to return to Earth later this month.

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 mathematics (STEM). This in-flight education downlink is an integral component of NASA’s Year of Education on Station (YES), which provides extensive space station-related resources and opportunities to students and educators.

The STEM on Station team has been working with pre-service teachers at the University of Houston-Downtown as part of YES. In a science methods course, students have been designing simple experiments that could be performed by astronauts on the space station. Some 150 teachers and students are expected to be on-site at UH- Downtown for the downlink.

Media interested in attending the event should contact Mike Emery via email at emeryp@uhd.edu or phone at 713-226-5806. The University of Houston-Downtown will host the event at One Main Street, Houston.