Students from Virginia to Call International Space Station

HAMPTON, Virginia – NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, will host a downlink event Tuesday at 2:10 p.m. between Virginia students and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Alex Gerst on board the International Space Station.

The downlink will be held at the Virginia Air and Space Center located at 600 Settlers Landing Rd., Hampton. Interview opportunities will be at 1:15 p.m. and 2:40 p.m. Media interested in covering the event should contact Kristyn Damadeo at kristyn.damadeo@nasa.gov or 757-864-1090.

First Lady of Virginia Pamela Northam will serve as the mistress of ceremonies. More than 800 students across Langley’s five state region, including Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia will be participating in person or virtually. The student groups include: Boys and Girls Club, 21st Century Community Learning Center and From One Hand To Another, a Not for Profit Organization established by Pharrell Williams to provide educational tools needed for the future success of children.

Students will be able to ask questions about anything they would like to know about life aboard the space station, NASA’s mission and upcoming science investigations.

Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides unique, authentic experiences designed to enhance student learning, performance and interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Astronauts living in space on the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through the Space Network’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS).

Langley’s event is the second of three downlink events happening Tuesday as part of NASA’s Year of Education on Station. All of the 20-minute, Earth-to-space calls will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

Follow the astronauts on social media at:

https://www.twitter.com/NASA_astronauts/

See videos and lesson plans highlighting research on the International Space Station at:

https:/www.nasa.gov/stemonstation/