HOUSTON — Expedition 36 crew members and NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Karen Nyberg, currently orbiting aboard the International Space Station, will speak with students gathered at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center at 9:40 a.m. CDT (10:40 a.m. EDT), Wednesday, June 19.

Students will be able to ask the astronauts questions about life, work and research aboard the orbiting space station. Media representatives are invited to attend and cover the 20-minute air-to-ground event, which will be broadcast on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

To attend the event, journalists must contact Becky Christner at beckyc@cosmo.org or 620-665-9320. The Cosmosphere is located at 1100 North Plum, Hutchinson, Kan.

NASA activities have been incorporated into Cosmosphere summer programs and local Boys and Girls Club activities in preparation for the conversation with the space station astronauts. Linking students directly to the astronauts aboard the space station provides them with an authentic, live experience of space exploration, space study, the scientific components of space travel and possibilities of life in space.

This in-flight education downlink is one in a series with educational organizations in the United States to improve science, technology, engineering and math teaching and learning. It is an integral component of NASA’s Teaching From Space education program, which promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of space and NASA’s human spaceflight program.

For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For information about NASA’s education programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/education

For information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

To follow Twitter updates from Expedition 36 astronaut Karen Nyberg, visit:

http://twitter.com/AstroKarenN