Oct 30 2017

From The Space Library

MEDIA ADVISORY M17-129 Ohio Students to Speak with NASA Astronauts on Space Station

Students at Shaker Heights High School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, will speak with NASA astronauts living, working and doing research aboard the International Space Station at 10:10 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, Nov. 1. The 20-minute, Earth-to-space call will air live on NASA TV’s Media Channel and the agency’s website.

NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba, who are currently aboard the International Space Station on Expedition 53, will be asked questions by select students. Discussion will include topics about living aboard the space station, NASA’s deep space exploration plans and science in space.

Vande Hei and Acaba both arrived at the space station Sept. 12. This is Vande Hei’s first space mission and Acaba’s third. In their time aboard the space station, Vande Hei conducted two spacewalks and Acaba conducted one. Together they will return to Earth in February 2018.

Shaker Heights High School was selected through a competitive process to host a downlink with the station. Across the district, students have been preparing for the event by studying the space station, the biographies of Vande Hei and Acaba, and the current research and activities happening aboard. Students also are learning about the cosmos through the high school’s planetarium and astronomy classes. Student art inspired by space exploration will be displayed before the downlink begins.

Media interested in attending the event should contact Kristen Miller via email at miller_kr@shaker.org or phone 216-295-6144. Shaker Heights High School is at 15600 Parkland Drive in Shaker Heights.

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). 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 M17-128 NASA Highlights Science on Next Commercial Mission to Space Station

NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Nov. 2, to discuss select science investigations and technology demonstrations launching on the next Orbital ATK commercial resupply flight to the International Space Station.

Orbital ATK is targeting Saturday, Nov. 11 for the launch of its Cygnus spacecraft on an Antares rocket from pad 0A at Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia.

Participants in Thursday’s briefing will be:

• Elwood Agasid, deputy program manager of the Small Spacecraft Technology Program at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, will discuss two missions, Integrated Solar Array and Reflectarray Antenna (ISARA) that will demonstrate increased downlink data rates for CubeSats, and Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration (OCSD) that will be the first demonstration of space-to-ground laser communications with CubeSats.
• Stevan Spremo, project manager for E. coli AntiMicrobial Satellite (EcAMSat) at Ames, will provide an overview of an experiment to study spaceflight effects on bacterial antibiotic resistance and its genetic basis.
• Matt Zymet, executive director for Advanced Formats at National Geographic, will provide an overview of a virtual reality project that brings footage for a program that teaches viewers about the breadth and depth of Earth and Space.
• Michelle Lucas, founder and president at Higher Orbits, will discuss the Go For Launch! program and one of the winning student experiments that will study the role of nitrogen on the growth of Microclover, a resilient and drought tolerant legume, in microgravity.

To participate in the teleconference, media must contact Kathryn Hambleton at 202-358-1100 or kathryn.hambleton@nasa.gov by 10 a.m. Thursday, for dial-in information.

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live online at: [1]

The Cygnus spacecraft will carry crew supplies, scientific research and hardware to the orbiting laboratory to support the Expedition 53 and 54 crews for the eighth contracted mission by Orbital ATK under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract.