WHAT: Student scientists connect with ISS astronauts
WHEN: Thursday, Nov. 15
11:35 a.m. – 1 p.m.: Education program
11:45 a.m. – 12:05 p.m.: 20-minute live ISS downlink
WHERE: Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum
Moving Beyond Earth gallery
Seventh Street and Independence Avenue S.W.
WHO: Gen. J.R. “Jack” Dailey, director, National Air and Space Museum
Claudine Brown, assistant secretary for education and access, Smithsonian
Tony Miller, deputy U.S. secretary of education
Leland Melvin, associate administrator for education, NASA
Jeff Goldstein, center director, National Center for Earth and Space Science Education
As part of International Education Week, students will have the opportunity to speak with NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Kevin Ford on board the International Space Station about living and working in space. All participating students are involved in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, an on-orbit educational research opportunity that allows students to design and send experiments to the space station. Williams has been involved in activating the latest round of SSEP experiments brought to the station aboard the SpaceX Dragon in October.
In addition to the more than 200 students participating at the museum, 10,000 students are expected to participate via live webcast. This program is presented by the National Air and Space Museum, the U.S. Department of Education, NASA, and the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education.
Interested media must RSVP to mitchellac@si.edu.
Watch live on National Air and Space Museum's USTREAM Channel - http://www.ustream.tv/channel/smithsonian-national-air-and-space-museum
# # #
This image of the International Space Station and the docked space shuttle Endeavour, flying at an altitude of approximately 220 miles, was taken by Expedition 27 crew member Paolo Nespoli from the Soyuz TMA-20 following its undocking on May 23, 2011 (USA time). The pictures are the first taken of a shuttle docked to the International Space Station from the perspective of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Onboard the Soyuz were Russian cosmonaut and Expedition 27 commander Dmitry Kondratyev; Nespoli, a European Space Agency astronaut; and NASA astronaut Cady Coleman. Coleman and Nespoli were both flight engineers. The three landed in Kazakhstan later that day, completing 159 days in space.