NOTE TO EDITORS: News media and the public are invited to observe the first
of a novel series of one-hour news webcasts about the International Space
Station on Oct. 4, 2001, at 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT), accessible on the
Internet starting from http:// quest.arc.nasa.gov/calendar
NASA will kick off a web-based news series for students about the
International Space Station (ISS) tomorrow, which is also the first day of
World Space Week.
NASA public affairs officer and mission commentator Kyle Herring of Johnson
Space Center, Houston, will provide an overview of ISS during the first
webcast, 11 a.m. to noon PDT (2 p.m. to 3 p.m. EDT) on Wednesday, Oct. 4,
2001. Webcasts enable viewers to watch live video, listen to audio and
interact in real time on the Internet with experts.
“This is the beginning of an exciting, new series of news webcasts for
students about ISS,” said Susan Lee, of the NASA Quest website at NASA Ames
Research Center in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley. Students can
participate in the NASA-sponsored Internet events without pre-registering.
“Basically, my job is to take a technical conversation heard by the flight
controllers and astronauts and explain it in terms the public can
understand,” Herring said.” In 14-1/2 years with NASA, I have worked 60
missions in the ‘front room’ of Mission Control.”
In 1999 the United Nations (UN) named Oct. 4 – 10 as World Space Week to
commemorate significant events in space history including, the Oct. 4, 1957
launch of Sputnik, which was the first human-made object launched into
Earth orbit. Also, on Oct. 10, 1967, the UN ‘Treaty on Principals Governing
the Activities of States in the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer
Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies,’ went into effect.
The NASA Quest worldwide webcast, ‘ISS – A Home in Microgravity: Station
News Network,’ is one of many activities occurring during World Space Week,
which continues until Oct. 10. Another on-line space week activity
featured on the same Quest website is ‘Classroom of the future, Farming in
Space Activity,’
The Farming in Space activity relates to NASA’s interest in long-term,
human flight and potential colonization of the moon and planets. Plants can
be an important part of bioregenerative life support systems in which food
is produced and human waste recycled. Internet audience members can check
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/calendar/ for the latest schedule for the
space-farming event, which is taking place in the first week of October.
The Quest calendar also has a link to ‘Functions and Statistics:
International Space Station: Up to Us,’ slated for Space Week. In
addition, a link to ‘Classroom of the future,’ from the calendar, is listed
with Internet activities to start on Oct. 9.
For more details about Space Week, an international event, please go to:
http://history.nasa.gov/spaceweek.html
For additional information about the Quest Space Week Internet webcasts,
chats and other Internet events, please call Lee at 650/604-0766. She also
can be reached via e-mail at slee@mail.arc.nasa.gov
