If E.T. can phone home, so can NASA astronaut Jeff Williams. Williams, a member of the International Space Station’s Expedition 13 crew, will talk to students from the Winter School District in Wisconsin from 10:35 a.m. to 10:55 a.m. EDT Thursday, May 18. The event will be live on the Web and NASA TV’s Public and Media channel.

Williams and Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov will answer questions about their mission from students in grades 3-12. This is a milestone for Williams as Winter, Wis., is his hometown, and his parents are expected to be in the audience. The downlink is generating community-wide involvement to encourage students to pursue careers in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.

NASA TV’s Public, Education and Media channels are available on an MPEG-2 digital C-band signal accessed via satellite AMC-6; 72 degrees west longitude, transponder 17C, 4040 MHz, vertical polarization. In Alaska and Hawaii, they’re on AMC-7; 137 degrees west longitude, transponder 18C, at 4060 MHz, horizontal polarization. For digital downlink information and links to streaming video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For information about the crew and the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

For information about NASA’s education programs, visit:

http://education.nasa.gov