HOUSTON — Students from the STARBASE Atlantis Naval Air Station education program in Corpus Christi, Texas, will have an opportunity to experience the excitement of spaceflight first hand. They will be participating in a live in-flight education downlink with the International Space Station on Wednesday, July 23, from 9:15 a.m. to 9:35 a.m. CDT. The live question and answer session will feature Expedition 17 astronaut Greg Chamitoff.

Fifth and sixth grade students and STARBASE Atlantis alumni will participate in the downlink. In preparation for the event, the students participated in activities to learn about the space station and the Expedition 17 mission objectives and experiments.

The Corpus Christi STARBASE students are partnering with sister STARBASE academy students in Meridian, Miss. for the event. Also present will be students who attend the Corpus Christi latch key program as well as members of the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi community.

NASA’s education downlinks support the agency’s efforts to encourage students to study and possibly pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM. These events, facilitated by NASA’s Teaching From Space Office, use the unique experience of human space flight to promote and enhance STEM education.

The downlink will air live on NASA Television and be streamed on the NASA Web site at:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For information about NASA’s education programs on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/education