HANCOCK COUNTY, Miss. – Students, educators and families are encouraged to interact with NASA by becoming part of the Educator Astronaut Program’s (EAP) Earth Crew. Earth Crew is aninteractive Web-based program that immerses participants in space-related educational activities.

Just like the thousands of NASA employees who contribute to the exploration of spacewithout ever going into orbit, students can participate in NASA missions and research by joining theEarth Crew. Earth Crew members get e-mail updates about new projects, take part in explorationactivities and, best of all, offer suggestions to NASA personnel about upcoming missions.

To become a member of the Earth Crew, teams must have one sponsor who is at least 13 years of age and who can receive e-mail, and one of the crewmembers must have nominated a teacher forthe Educator Astronaut Program.

If you would like to be part of the Earth Crew and have not yet nominated a teacher for theEducator Astronaut Program, there is still time left. If you know a teacher who inspires you to reachfor the stars, visit the EAP Web site at http://edspace.nasa.gov, by April 30 to nominate him or her tobecome part of NASA’s astronaut corps. Instructions on how to become a part of the Earth Crew arealso located at this Web site.