Students at the Wallingford Public Library in Wallingford, Connecticut, will speak with NASA astronauts living and working aboard the International Space Station at noon EDT on Thursday, July 6. The 20-minute, Earth-to-space call will air live on NASA Television’s Media Channel and the agency’s website.

Expedition 52 Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer will answer questions from students ages 5 and up gathered at the library. 

Whitson launched to the space station Nov. 17, 2016. Fischer launched to the station in April. Both astronauts are scheduled to return to Earth in September.

For more information on the downlink, contact Allison Murphy at 203-284-6435 or amurphy@wallingfordlibrary.org. The library is at 200 N. Main Street.

The Children’s Department of the library has structured its summer reading theme, Race to Space, around the downlink and will be exploring the space theme throughout the summer break. Various science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) activities will be offered in the Children’s Department through Aug. 12. Additionally, library visitors will be able to view official artifacts from an archived NASA collection, and students will participate in monitoring the growth of seeds that have been harvested from tomato plants grown on the space station.

Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides unique, authentic experiences designed to enhance student learning, performance and interest in STEM. This in-flight education downlink is an integral component of NASA Education’s STEM on Station activity, which provides a variety of space station-related resources and opportunities to students and educators.

Follow NASA astronauts on Twitter: @NASA_astronauts.

For more information, videos and lesson plans highlighting research on the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation