Jan 16 2018
From The Space Library
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-012 Massachusetts Students to Speak with Astronauts on Space Station
Students at Framingham State University (FSU) in Massachusetts will speak with astronauts living, working, and doing research aboard the International Space Station at 12:15 p.m. EST Friday, Jan. 19. The 20-minute, Earth-to-space call will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
Students will make the call to Expedition 54 astronauts Joe Acaba, Scott Tingle, of NASA, and Norishige Kanai, of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), aboard the space station, posing questions about life aboard the space station, NASA’s deep space exploration plans, and doing science in space.
Acaba arrived at the station Sept. 12 on his third space mission, and is scheduled to return to Earth in February. Tingle and Kanai arrived Dec. 19 and are scheduled to return to Earth in June.
FSU is the alma mater of Christa McAuliffe, a payload specialist on space shuttle Challenger’s STS 51-L, which was lost during launch in 1986. McAuliffe was going to be the world’s first teacher in space, and FSU is the home of the McAuliffe Center, one of Challenger Center’s more than 40 learning centers. The McAuliffe Center received more than 200 questions from 83 students from a wide range of majors at FSU, and chose 25 questions to be asked during the downlink. Some 250 students are expected to attend.
Media interested in attending the event should contact Lisa Vernal via email at lvernal@challenger.org or phone at 412-337-3880. The event will take place at the McCarthy Center Forum at Framingham State University 93 State Street, Framingham.
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, which provides extensive space station-related resources and opportunities to students and educators.
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-013 NASA Briefing Thursday Will Preview Upcoming US Spacewalks
American and Japanese astronauts aboard the International Space Station will embark on a pair of spacewalks Jan. 23 and 29 to service the station’s robotic arm. Experts from NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) will preview this work in a briefing at 2 p.m. EST Thursday, Jan. 18, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Live coverage of the briefing and spacewalks will air on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
Participants in the briefing are:
- Kenneth Todd, NASA’s International Space Station Operations integration manager
- Tim Braithwaite, CSA liaison office manager
- Zeb Scoville, NASA spacewalk flight director
- Sarah Korona, U.S. spacewalk 47 and 48 officer at NASA
Media wishing to participate in the briefing in person must request credentials from the Johnson newsroom no later than 4 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 17. Media interested in participating by phone must contact the newsroom by 1:45 p.m. Jan. 18.
Expedition 54 Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei of NASA will lead both excursions, joined by Flight Engineer Scott Tingle for the spacewalk on Tuesday, Jan. 23, and by Flight Engineer Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on Monday, Jan. 29. Live coverage will begin at 5:30 a.m., with the spacewalks beginning about 7:10 a.m. or earlier, if the crew is running ahead of schedule.
The objective of the Jan. 23 spacewalk will be to replace one of two redundant latching end effectors (LEE) on Canadarm2, the station’s robotic arm, which has experienced some degradation of its snaring cables. A spare LEE will replace the current LEE B. The Jan. 29 spacewalk will be devoted to securing the degraded LEE B on the station’s Mobile Base System rail car as a spare. Similar work was conducted on the robotic arm’s LEE A during a series of spacewalks last October.
These excursions, U.S. spacewalks 47 and 48, will be the third and fourth in Vande Hei’s career and the first for both Tingle and Kanai.
